Two young officers (YOs) from BRNC travelled to Galicia in Spain to take part in a sailing regatta marking the 300th anniversary of the Spanish Naval Academy.
The Escuela Naval Militar hosted YOs from 12 European countries over the Easter leave period to compete against each other for the ‘Las Anclas’ trophy.
The regatta also included a number of civilian sailing teams from Spain, France, Italy and even Norway.
BRNC was represented by Midshipman (Mid) Joe Howell and Officer Cadet Jessica Beckett, accompanied by Lieutenant Paul White, one of the navigation instructors at the College.
The competition provided a fantastic opportunity to learn about different Naval Officer training that takes place around Europe.
The races were split into three long courses on the first day and two shorter courses on the second, with only four of the placings counting towards the final result.
Having never sailed the Snipe dinghies and struggling with wind or lack of it on the practice days, the team set out with fairly mediocre expectations for the final results.
However, by the time the race had started the wind had picked up considerably and the team were starting to get to grips with the Snipe – a dinghy more technical than the trusty Bosun, which is what the BRNC team had spent the most time training in.
The BRNC team finished in seventh place against the six other Naval academy teams on day one, which was a fantastic result having just learnt to sail the Snipe, and 47th out of the total 60 teams taking part.
Of these 44 other non-military sailing teams the majority were high-level competitors.
After getting to grips with the boat on the second day, the team managed to climb to fifth position out of the academies, beaten by Norway, Germany, Poland and one of the Spanish academy teams.
Lt White said: “For these two YOs to have the opportunity to represent the RN and meet their peers in other Navies from across Europe so early in their careers in an excellent way of showing the inter-operability of allied forces.
“This time they met as friends in the more relaxed yet competitive environment of a regatta; next time they will likely be operating together as part of a multinational task group or on exercise.”
BRNC also sent a dingy sailing team to represent the RN at a regatta in Italy. The team finished in third place out of 17 teams, losing out to a very good Spanish team and a tactical Chinese team.
Two crews from BRNC took part in the World Pilot Gig Championships held off the Isles of Scilly over the early May Bank Holiday weekend.
Bacchante finished in 85th position, while Leander finished in 126th place out of 137 boats. Bacchante won the H heat which saw them collect a trophy on the world’s stage, with Leander competing in heat K came in fourth.
