Anyone can race with CUYC! CUYC often runs racing events open to the entire club. In 2022 and 2023 we ran keelboating days and in 2023 raced Skylark in the Round the Island Race.
If you are interested in racing but have never sailed on a yacht before, we would recommend going on a few CUYC cruising trips first. This will help you to make the most out of racing opportunities. If you are hoping to build towards the race squad, we would recommend getting to somewhere around a day skipper level of sailing proficiency.
To be informed of racing events, contact Arthur and keep an eye on the club mailing list, where opportunities will appear.
The practicalities of the main racing campaign mean that it must be focused down to eight sailors quite early so that they can train together. Whilst the club aspires to run a multi-year developmen, this hasn't happened in recent years.
Yacht racing can be a hard sport to objectively select team members for. The club has a written selection policy, agreed with the university sports service, which aims to help the captains to balance sailing experience with enthusiasm, availability and racing instincts.
The CUYC racing squad usually consists of a mixture of backgrounds. Some have extensive experience of yacht racing, but most either come from dinghy racing or are good cruising yacht sailors moving into racing. The mixture of the two is healthy, as they both bring different skillsets.