Royal Thames Yacht Club claim national team racing title

Twenty-four top teams compete at Oxford Sailing Club for Prince Philip Trophy

27 Mar 25

Close racing for teams sailing Firefly dinghies at the RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championship 2025.

A team from the Royal Thames Yacht Club has won the Prince Philip Trophy after claiming victory at the 2025 RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championship.

Hosted for the first time in the event’s history by Oxford Sailing Club, 24 teams battled it out at Farmoor Reservoir over a weekend of tricky conditions in Firefly dinghies.

The sell-out #rockupandrace championship (22-23 March 2025) was supported by the UK Team Racing Association, RYA, Oxford Sailing Club and kSail.

Fickle winds

With a fairly light but promising forecast for the weekend, Race Officer Keith Sammons of kSail got racing underway in good time on the Saturday.

Good progress was made through the Stage 1 (HLS) round robin with 102 races completed, ready to move into Stage 2 (Leagues) the next morning.

Close racing between two teams in Firefly dinghies at RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championship 2025.

Overnight the scoreboard was led by George Jesters in first place, followed by Royal Thames Academy White, Rutland Raiders and Cumberland Sausages.

Sunday morning, despite a forecast of 10 knots of wind, there was nothing for the 09:00 start time. At around 10:15 one race was completed but the wind then died again.

It was decided to continue with Stage 1 when the breeze made a reappearance and with 144 races completed – 12 for each team – the knockout stages commenced around 14:00.

Two sailors lying down and relaxing with feet over the side of a Firefly dinghy in no wind at the RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championship 2025.

Classic finals

Semi Final 1 saw Royal Thames Academy White winning 2-0 from Rutland Raiders. Semi Final 2 was likewise settled 2-0 with George Jesters seeing off Elmside Neighbours.

The Petit Final was then claimed 2-1 by Rutland Raiders from Elmside Neighbours and in what proved to be a nail-biting final, Royal Thames Academy White won 3-2 from George Jesters to seal the overall victory in a close fight to the finish.

Full results: RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championship.

The winning team from the Royal Thames YC comprised James Hammett & Lainey Terkelsen, Tommy Darling & Zoe Nieveen, Dom Lewis & Cally Terkelsen.

RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championship 2025 winners from Royal Thames Yacht Club with Prince Philip Trophy.

James said: “We had a great weekend at Farmoor, a big thanks must go to the kSail team of Keith and Jo as well as all the volunteers and organisers who made it happen. Despite the wind filling in from almost every direction on Sunday morning, the race team managed to get to almost 150 races before the finals which was brilliant.

“We started strong on day one, winning all of our races, although going into day two we fell short in the final few races of the round robin against two strong ex-Thames Academy teams, Elmside Neighbours and Cumberland Sausages.

“The event culminated with the final four on Sunday afternoon and it was nice to see so many of the competitors stay to watch the finals from the lake wall, it really added to the atmosphere alongside some stellar commentary from Tiger Tellwright.”

Photo finishes

James added: “After progressing through our semi-final we were up against the stage 1 top seed George Jesters, a visiting team from the Royal St George YC in Dublin. The final went down as an all-time classic, full of drama, photo finishes and top class team racing, although I’m not sure the umpires had enough red flags to pull out their bags by the end!

“Most of the credit goes to our crews who (somehow) managed to keep us calm after the first few hectic races. After switching up our starting approach the tide started to turn and we managed to nab the fifth and final race for the win.

“The team is extra proud to take the title flying the Royal Thames burgee, especially in the year celebrating its 250th anniversary, and grateful to the club for all of their support over the last couple of years. All eyes are now set on the Wilson in May!”

View from the water of spectators in front of Oxford Sailing Club at the RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championship 2025 with a Firefly dinghy team changeover on the pontoon.

Rotation

Since the event’s inauguration in 1969, the team racing nationals has traditionally rotated between West Kirby SC in the North West, Bough Beech SC in Kent and Spinnaker SC in Dorset. The event is due to be at West Kirby SC in 2026.

Steve Watson, Event Director, said: “The event changed the regular convention of rotation between three well established team racing clubs. With a complicated planning task of bringing together a range of resources, the event was oversubscribed with arguably the top 24 teams in the British Isles participating.

“The wind played fickle games but a round robin determined the top four teams who fought out the Semis and Finals in strong competitive spirit. Another new name on the Prince Philip wheel! Thank you to the small army of volunteers for their time and expertise.”

Group picture of volunteers and race officials aboard powerboats at the RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championship 2025.

Freya Mason, of Rutland Raiders and the UKTRA Committee, added: “Huge thanks to Keith and the team at kSail for their help in making the event possible, to Oxford Sailing Club for hosting, to all the umpires and volunteers that helped run the racing, to the UKTRA committee for all the work they put in to organise the event, and to all the competitors for making it such a great weekend!”

View all the photos taken by UKTRA Secretary Nigel Vick and find out more at the UK Team Racing Association or find out more about team racing at RYA Racing.