Castaways team wins Brummy Boom
- Maryn Wilkes
- Nov 18
- 4 min read
Written by Maryn Wilkes
Last weekend, a Castaways team participated in the Brummy Boom, hosted by the University of Birmingham Sailing Club at Bartley Sailing Club. The idea took shape shortly after Alec and Maryn finished their degrees, and before long a veteran UCLSC squad was assembled for an event that has quietly become a UCL Sailing favourite. Envious of other alumni racing teams with sleek acronyms, the group decided to rebrand the familiar “Castaways” moniker as CLART - the Castaways London Alumni Racing Team.
Maryn had, unfortunately, failed to anticipate that he would no longer be living in the UK by the time the event rolled around, so a long and environmentally questionable Amsterdam-Birmingham flight (sorry, penguins) was required. Fortunately, the rest of the team arrived soon after him and so we made way to our host Peter’s beautiful fresher flat, where we unpacked and moved swiftly on to pre-drinks at O’Neill’s before migrating to Barbara’s Bier Haus - the premier Birmingham destination for karaoke and Jägerbomb-driven regret. The night was lovely and, remarkably, incident-free until one team member - apparently deeply moved by the enthusiastic drinking habits of the surrounding freshers - experienced a sudden and dramatic decline in condition. This forced an early departure to ensure his safe return to our host’s accommodation.
The next morning arrived far too quickly. The schedule indicated that Castaways would be launching the boats, so the team set off for Bartley. A collective lack of sleep produced a small logistical failure, requiring two Ubers and one car (again, apologies to the penguins) to transport our group of six. This same lack of sleep may also explain the defeat in our opening race against Warwick White: Josh and Alec started nearly a minute late, prompting Maryn to attempt a hero-to-zero Mark 1 trap that admirably failed, dropping him from second to fourth. The humiliation proved motivating, however, and the team resolved not to drop another race that day – although this ideal was not achieved without difficulty. Roughly 75% of races saw us in losing combinations at the top mark, thanks largely to Josh whose commitment to starting no earlier than 20 seconds after the gun remained unwavering. At the same time, Sam was losing bailers faster than the rest of us could retrieve them – an achievement of questionable strategic value. Still, some remarkable comeback sailing across the fleet meant that many races were clawed back and won, including one in which Josh managed to catch all three opposing boats on starboard, generously distributing red flags in the process.
It also quickly became clear that Alec and Josh were incapable of avoiding expletives while racing. A particularly emphatic expression of disbelief during an early incident resulted in what we believe to be our first-ever red flag for Rule 69 (bad sportsmanship). Word of this spread rapidly ashore, and soon our competitors were testing whether similar penalties might befall us whenever a “colourful expression of disbelief” was overheard. Thankfully, these attempts were unsuccessful.
After sailing, the team changed into costumes for the first curry sitting at Golden City. Alec donned a beautiful black dress – standing in for a cape – for his Gargamel costume, while the rest of us accompanied him dressed as Smurfs. Despite early promise, the curry proved surprisingly uneventful (it was later suggested that the modern student has become “too soft”), though it did result in a dramatic improvement in “UCL-Durham relations”. The one controversy of the meal emerged when Maryn insisted that the curry was “Katsu-adjacent”, while Josh – self-proclaimed maître cuisinier – informed him he was categorically wrong. This was merely the latest entry in Josh’s ever-growing catalogue of culinary arguments, which is, if we’re honest, quite telling.
Having reconnected earlier in the day with our acquaintances on the Cambridge alumni/PhD team, we were invited to join them for a second “mature” curry (as mature as recent graduates can realistically claim to be). Despite spirited disagreements over the rules of pennying and IBR, differences were eventually resolved and the evening proved highly enjoyable.
It felt only appropriate to end the night at the Birmingham Student Union, a place Ying holds very dear. However, the venue turned out to be a shadow of its former self – quiet, half-empty, and unable to muster even a modest atmosphere despite our best efforts. Disillusioned, most of the team opted to leave at an uncharacteristically sensible hour. Sam, however, decided to stay behind, only to reverse this decision within half an hour. Unfortunately, the rest of the team had already gone to bed, leaving him locked out of the accommodation. It was ultimately our host Peter who discovered him gently folded over a bike rack and kindly ushered him inside.
The next morning, we packed up quickly and made our way back to the club, where the schedule once again decreed that we would be launching the Birmingham boats. Predictably, we threw the first race - losing a 1,4,5 combination on the final beat against Sheffield Black. With the requisite “bad race of the day” now behind us, the team rallied and resolved to win the remaining fixtures. Once again, the victories came through dramatic comebacks in unexpectedly tight matches. In a display of admirable multitasking, Derek also managed to place a winning bid on an eBay auction while we were on the water. By the end of the round robin, we had amassed 12 wins from 14 races, securing second place overall and a spot in the finals against Nottingham Green. Despite Alec’s valiant attempts to sabotage our chances – finishing sixth in two of the three races – two solid 1–2 combinations proved enough to take the win and secure the event for CLART.
All in all, it was an excellent first outing for the team under the Castaways banner, and we hope the momentum continues into future events this year.
The team (Helm / Crew):
Maryn Wilkes (UCL 2025) / Yinglai Wu (UCL ????)
Josh Waha (c) (UCL 2024) / Derek Lee (UCL 2023)
Alec Orr Prosper (UCL 2025) / Sam Walker (UCL 2023)
