B14 Inland Championship at Datchet Water Sailing Club

Light winds for the B14 Inlands at Datchet © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Light winds for the B14 Inlands at Datchet © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Light winds for the B14 Inlands at Datchet © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The B14 flying circus headed to what was looking to be a sunny Inlands, making a change from the usual wet and windy affair. The only problem was the wind gods were not going to play ball. Those coming from afar decided to stay at home, but the core of the fleet travelled.

Day 1 consisted of waiting around for the breeze to fill in. It had not by 1500, so the decision was taken to postpone until Sunday as there is a curfew on the water of 1700. On que at 1600 a light breeze filled in for a while which 4 boats took advantage of for a bit of practise. The rest had either headed to Swinley mountain biking or the pub.

After a late evening at the pub, the fleet arose to another day of light airs with projected kick off at 1000. Following an initial postponement, the racing got under way at 1030 in 2-4 knot winds.

With a square line, Ullman Sails 1 (Mark Watts/Chris Bishop) and Troublegum (Alan Davis/Kathy Sherratt) lead the charge to the left, with Seavolution/North Sails (Mark Barnes/Ruth Oliver) and P&B (Oliver Vidal/Ben McGrane) leading the charge into pressure on the right. The dice was rolled and the wind shift on the left overruled the pressure on the right. At the windward mark it was Ullman Sails 1, Troublegum, Ullman Sails 2 (Carl Raynes/Guy Raynes) and Seavolution/North Sails. Ullman Sails 1 went right, the next 3 left down the run into pressure. The following pack led by Blue Badge (Mike Bees/Ferrett) went right and rolled the fleet heading left. Snakes and ladders were coming in to play.

Rounding the leeward mark, Ullman Sails 1 led from Blue Badge and P&B. Up the beat the bulk of the fleet headed left for the shift. It arrived on queue and the leaders tacked to consolidate their lead. Those heading right again slipped down the slippery pole. At the windward mark, Ullman Sails 1 had a commanding lead and P&B had passed Blue Badge. With tight racing hunting pressure down the run, there was a right old ding dong going on in the pack. With the first 3 having a nice sail to the finish gybing in clear air, the next 5 were nip and tuck. Coming into the finish it was Harken (Simon Hadley/Nikki Hadley) slipping through, followed by Seavolution North Sails from Troublegum, multi gybing in a battle royal to close out 5th. The rest of the fleet crossed the line in close formation.

Race 2 and the main protagonists decided they wanted the pin to head left. Ullman Sails 1 won that by rolling their wing over the pin end buoy without touching it, but also backing up Seavolution North Sails and P&B into the second row. Seavolution North Sails ended up spinning for a post start incident putting them to the back. Heading in to the top mark it was Ullman sails 1 followed by Suffolk Sails 2 (Chris Duffin/Harvey Nott) and P&B. Down the run Harken was on a charge followed by Seavolution North Sails. At the leeward mark, it was Ullman Sails 1, followed by P&B a fag paper width in front of Suffolk Sails both heading out right, with Blue Badge and Harken heading left. Up the beat, the fleet predominantly went middle left. Seavolution North Sails rang the bell on the left and hit the new shift and pressure. At the windward mark Harken rounded first only to clip the mark and spin. Next was Ullman Sails 1 followed by Seavolution North Sails 1 and P&B. Having lost 3 places on the spin, Harken got back into focus and sqeezed past P&B in the fading breeze down the deep reach to the finish. Order at the finish was Ullman Sails 1, Seavolution North Sails, Harken, P&B and Troublegum.

Light winds for the B14 Inlands at Datchet - photo © Tim Olin

With no further steady breeze, the R/O abandoned for the day and sent the fleet ashore. Ullman Sails 1 took the event followed by P&B and Seavolution North Sails beating Harken for the last podium place on count-back.

A well run event in testing conditions. Hopefully we'll have more breeze on our return next year. With the closeness of the racing, the teams heading down under to McCrea in Victoria, Australia for the Worlds, look like they are going to have some very close racing.

More Tim Olin photos can be found on flickr here.

Overall Results: