International 14 class at the Riva Cup 2014 - Day 3
by Archie Massey 2 Jun 2014 08:44 BST
29-31 May 2014
The race committee had moved the start from 1pm to 11am on the final Saturday. Did they know something we didn't? Don't you either catch the morning northerly or wait till the Ora?
Morning dawned with a 12 knot Southerly at the Fraglia di Vela, Riva and blue skies. By the time we got out to the race track, it was a steady 20 knots...
It looked like Massey-Hillary had it sewn up with a 6-point lead, but they'd already used their discard. The real battle was for 2nd, between Oli Voss and Andy Fitzgerald, separated by one point, with just the 2 races to go. Julian Pearson had an outside chance with a steady set of 4th in the regatta so far.
So with the unspoken gentlemens' agreement in place, the whole fleet set off on port into the cliffs. Andy Partington again showed his pace with his new Ovington B6 narrowly rounding ahead of Massey-Hillary. An early hoist on the reaching leg by "The Voss Dog" or "Vladi-voss-dog", which no one thought possible saw him massively real in the leaders, just not getting Massey by the gybe mark, who skirted across his bows. meanwhile Andy Partington had pulled out with new boat teething troubles. The places remained unchanged with Julian-Martin and Fitz-Dobson, rounding out the top 4.
With his 4th, Fitz needed a win to take 2nd, with Voss 4th or lower. As the wind speed crept north of 25 knots, anything was possible and almost did. Voss retired with a broken rudder, leaving Fitz needing the race win. After 2 laps, Massey-Hillary were in first, looking comfortable, when they capsized! The tiller extension slid inside a loose life jacket strap on a tack!
Andy held a 30 boat length lead when Massey-Hillary righted the boat which was cut to 10, when Fitz-Dobson over stood the windward mark. By the end of the top reach, Fitz held a 30 yard lead, leading into run. Throwing caution to the wind, in uncharacteristic wavey conditions, the two duelled flat out down the run, with Archie just clinching the overlap at the finish. (Fitz later admitted that he didn't fancy luffing, as it would have involved a double gybe later!)
However the best was yet to come. On the long run in, (in distance not in time), the wind topped out at 35 knots. The sleigh ride in was epic. It was reminiscent of "Brad-o'clock" on the Swan River in Perth. The author was grinning from ear-to-ear all evening long.
Overall Results:
Pos | Sail No | Helm
Crew & Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
1 | GBR 1519 | Archie Massey
Hillary Harvey
Itchenor S.C. | 1 | 1 | (dnf) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
2 | GER 91 | Voss Oliver
Ehrig Eihe
Kiel Yacht‑Club | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | (dnf) | 17 |
3 | GBR 1530 | Fitzgerald Andy
Richard Dobson
Itchenor S.C. | 3 | 2 | 1 | ‑5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
4 | GBR 1548 | Pearson Julian
Nick Martin
Weston SC | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ‑7 | 5 | 3 | 27 |
5 | GBR 1523 | Morrison Kimball
Stevens Sean
Itchenor S.C. | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7 | (dnf) | 43 |
6 | GBR 1546 | Charles Duchesne
Tom Bracewell
USC | 6 | 5 | (dnf) | 10 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 44 |
7 | GBR 1549 | Jones Martin
Jones Neale
Itchenor S.C. | (dnf) | dnf | dnf | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | dnf | 64 |
8 | GBR 1531 | Andrew penman
Chris Isatson
Itchenor S.C. | 7 | (dnf) | dnf | 9 | 6 | 8 | dnf | dnf | 75 |
9 | GER 12 | Dirk Rother
Kai Mueller
SV Wakenitz | (dnf) | dnf | 4 | 11 | 7 | dnf | dnf | dnf | 82 |
10 | GBR 1550 | Partington Andy
Tom Partington
Hayling Island SC | (dnf) | dnf | dnf | 1 | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | 91 |
11 | GBR 1503 | Smith Alex
Luke Boighton
BBSC | (dnf) | dnf | dnf | 8 | dnf | dnf | 8 | dnf | 91 |
12 | GBR 1508 | Smith Colin
Helm Peter
Itchenor S.C. | (dnf) | dnf | dnf | 12 | 10 | 9 | dnf | dnf | 91 |
13 | GER 28 | Georg Borkenstein
Eike Dietrich
WSCW | (dnf) | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | 105 |
13 | ITA 1488 | Van Essen Dominic
Saccani Simona
Itchenor S.C. | (dnf) | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | dnf | 105 |