Matchtech Rules the Waves!

28/09/2011

Matchtech Energy Sailing, made up of consultants and managers of recruitment firm Matchtech’s Energy Division competed amongst the leading lights of the Renewable Energy Industry in the RenewableUK Sailing Regatta last week.

The Team
The team, skippered by Renewable Energy consultant, Freddie Hall enjoyed an evening of networking at Portsmouth Harbour Yacht Club, before heading out into the windswept Solent for some hard racing.

The Competition
Competition was fierce, with many Celebrity Sailors amongst the fleet – including Mike Golding, Bruno Peyron, Charlie Cumbley and rumours of Iker Martinez, numbering between them 3 Olympic campaigns, multiple round the world trophies and innumerable world records.

First Race
The steep learning curve was quickly surmounted by the ten tough crew as they pushed their Beneteau F40 race yacht to the limits around the course of the first race to finish in a closely fought second place – a great start against 400 other sailors in 40 boats.

Second Race
A quick chance to replenish the reserves of energy with a sarnie and a gulp of water and they were back into it, winning the start and leading to the first mark as the wind increased towards gale force conditions. They worked their arms grinding the big winches and working the sheets until the fingers burned and blisters bleed, driven on by shouts of encouragement from the skipper and superb hiking over the rail – ignoring the burning pain from screaming muscles. Team Matchtech held on to the number one spot throughout and succeeded in extending their lead into the finish to win the second race.

Third Race
The race officer moved the line and changed the course to match the shifting breeze for the start of the final race and again Matchtech were again first to cross the line, but were robbed of this by the signal that they had crossed too early. Unlike Usain Bolt, they didn’t let their heads hang and went back to re-start in solid last place. With quiet confidence, they worked their way through the ranks of boats, passing 22 competitors before the first mark. Some good sail trim on the mainsheet from James “Big Arms” Gammie, constant Jib work from Martin “Take the Pain” Bennell and Richard “Winch Handle” Cookson brought them up to 7th place at the penultimate mark. Swift thinking from Steph “This is Serious” Merry and Justine “Bowchick” Bennett avoided imminent collision with an oil tanker before they drew their last reserves of energy to pass one more boat to finish a heroic 6th.

Prizegiving Ceremony
An exhausted team headed back to the clubhouse for a well earned drink. Maria McCaffery MBE, CEO of RenewableUK read out the results in reverse order from 10th as the anxious team awaited their result. The overall winners were Natural Power & Searoc with a consistent score of firsts and seconds. Second was Gamesa, and third place went to Matchtech Energy Sailing, narrowly beating ETA and significantly bettering last year’s 7th place. Congratulations to all the team for a wonderful and hard fought result.

Results

First Race Second
Second Race First
Third Race Sixth

The Crew

Skipper: Freddie Hall
1st Mate / Bow: Justine Bennett
Navigator: Steph Merry
Trim 1 Martin Bennell
Trim 2 Richard Cookson
Mid Bow Paul Tamplin
Trim 3 Anouska Surrey
Pit 2 / Sewer Laura Baumgartner
Pit Iain Howard
Main James Gammie

About the Event
Each boat was made up of 10 crew, all clients and colleagues in the Renewable Energy Sector. Every team was easily identified with a large banner down the side of the boat depicting the company logo. The top 10 boats had their names read out to all in attendance and results of the race and reports of it are carried in industry media and press, both online and print. A second prize giving will be held at the RenewableUK exhibition in Manchester at which the names of the top 3 boats (Matchtech included) will be read out.