International 14 PoW Week: Prince of Wales Cup

International 14 Prince of Wales Cup race 2015 © Hugh Maclean

International 14 Prince of Wales Cup race 2015 © Hugh Maclean

The infamous race was scheduled to take place on Tuesday 30th June and obediently the fleet had assembled. Unfortunately, the weather gods had not been informed of our plans, and when the time for the race start arrived, the dismal postponement flag hung from the pole like a limp rag and the fleet prepared for a day of twiddling their thumbs.

Whilst some psychic individuals had the foresight to remove their sailing gear and opt for the more appropriate beach attire of shorts, others took a different tack. Some may say it was a attempt to psyche out their opponents, others may assume that the tales of the cold Scottish weather are nothing but myths.

Either way, the last people to peel off the neoprene were the team all the way from Scotland, who later donned the equally risqué kilts, if the tales surrounding this item of clothing are to be believed!

Sadly, no amount of clothing preparation could convince the wind to appear, and a dejected fleet finally conceded that it was time to put the carbon to bed and start on the rum...

The next day the forecast was for zero wind all day and a 10am start was planned to try and make the most of nothing! This was a big call to make given that this was the night after the PoW dinner and there were a few sore heads amongst the fleet...

As expected the 10am start time came and went with not a breath of wind on the race course, and the fleet was held ashore with a postponement until 2pm. As all great racers will tell you, when you cannot sail there is only one thing for it. It was time to hit the go-kart circuit just in case a winner could not be decided on the water.

On the racing drivers return, many tales were told of light drivers, faster karts, and karts that wouldn't turn right. Needless to say, when all of the racing excuses had cleared they finally conceived that Neale Jones had indeed taken the gold medal on the track, whilst Australia's Scott Cunningham had decided that corners were for wimps and instead took on a hedge.

Eventually at 2pm the wind arrived bang on time and the fleet launched into a building breeze, which reached a very unexpected 20+ knots once everyone was in the starting area. This was then followed by most teams frantically changing rig settings backwards and then forwards as they took a gamble on whether the wind was going to hold in for the entire PoW race.

The starting hooter sounded a clean start, with Archie Massey/Harvey Hillary leading the fleet into the right hand corner with Douglas Pattison/Mark Tait and Glen Truswell/Sam Pascoe in hot pursuit. Truswell/Pascoe took the lead round the first mark with Pattison/Tait in second. A number of the fleet were caught out by the close proximity of the windward mark to the moorings, and many had to duck and weave between the yachts to reach it.

Unfortunately, following the bear away, some were caught out on the hoist and found themselves in the drink. Hugh Maclean/Ed Dyer suffered damage to their main sail and unfortunately had to limp home. Meanwhile, Tom Watkins/Isabella Hartland had a run in with one of the many jellyfish that had made the bay their home during the week, and after a swim they decided to return to the beach to begin the repairs. Whilst battling for places in last year's wonder boat, Crumpet, Andy Peake/Graeme Oliver heard a bang as their jib head detached itself, and they too made for land.

The breeze remained around 20knots for the first 4 laps, which led to some fruity racing both at the front and back of the fleet. Unfortunately for the final two laps the breeze quickly dropped to almost nothing and became very patchy. The last long beat of the race was snakes and ladders with the young Magma boat picking up from 7th to 3rd, rounding the windward mark just ahead of Andy/Tom Partington in the last of the wind.

After a little confusion when the final lap was drastically shortened the race finished with Glen Truswell and Sam Pascoe claiming the championship title for the second year in a row, with Douglas Pattison and Mark Tait only a boat length behind! In third were Andy Shaw and Adam Lees again only metres in front of the Partingtons. Archie Massey and Harvey Hillary took the 5th place slot, and the boat finished just hours before the PoW week began took 6th place at the hands of Neale Jones and Ed Fitzgerald.

Overall Results:
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