The One and Only Bristol Brew

On the 6th and 7th December, Bristol University hosted their annual team racing event ‘The Bristol Brew’ at CVLSC which saw 21 teams of 6 come to compete from everywhere from Durham, to Exeter, to Trinity College Dublin, as well as 6 external umpires and an external race officer.

Saturday dawned with little wind; having arrived early in the morning to rig 24 boats and set up the course we spent much of the morning waiting around hoping for the wind to fill in. By 12.30 we had finally made it on the water and managed to complete 47 races before the sun started to set and we all headed back to Bristol.

Sunday morning started with a threatening forecast, and a lot of uncertainty over how the day would pan out, as we arrived in the pouring rain. The first race managed to get under way by 10:30 and mostly the weather held out with a consistent wind. Midday saw a large squall blowing through the racecourse, causing moderate carnage and requiring a lot of quick fixes to be carried out from everyone on the shore. Having completed the set of 105 races, everyone had managed to race against 10 teams, we went into a closely fought

best-of-three final. The final was between BYOB (Bristol Young Old Boys) a university of Bristol alumni team, and Royal Thames Yacht Club. The final result of was 2:1 to BYOB.

It was a great weekend, that couldn’t have taken place without the help and co-operation of everyone from CVLSC, Bristol University, and everyone else so on behalf of the University of Bristol Sailing Club thank you to everyone involved!