International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week at Rock - Day 5
by Luke Boughton 2 Sep 2017 09:45 BST
28 August - 1 September 2017
It's fair to say Rock has been a pretty impeccable venue for the 14s. From conditions ranging from "testing" to out right "full on", it has left the whole fleet with food for thought ahead of the Worlds in San Fran, let alone the stunning coast line backing a fleet of carbon fibre machines which have drawn the attention of nearly every passer-by on the beach!
The final day of the Championship Week, racing for the Lowestoft Bowl and Hunstanton Plate, saw Roger & Ben, already crowned National Champions, gunning for the double, with Douglas & Mark nipping at their heels all week. And with the Partingtons and Neale & Ed only 4 points back, Katie and Nigel about to drop a DNF, the podium was all to play for!
The fleet was greeted with a perfect, sunny, 12-15 knots in the mouth of the harbour meaning the flat water start led to a bumpy windward mark, before charging back in to the flat water of the harbour.
Race 1 saw Douglas/Mark, Roger/Ben and Archie/Harvey storm off the ship end of the line and toward the cliffs which had paid previously sailing in this course area. However it was a right hand group of the Partingtons, Ed/Neale and Katie/Nigel who picked up the shifts on the right side of the course to lead a the top mark. These three battled it out with Katie and Nigel taking the bullet and setting up a grandstand finish with Roger/Ben for the weeks prize.
Race 2 and the same windward-leeward course provided plenty of options with the left paying for the first half of the beat and the usual suspects led off the starboard end of the line again. This time Archie/Harvey made it stick leading round the whole race course chased hard by Katie/Nigel and Roger/Ben. These three were attached by a piece of string that culminated in a leeward mark pile up on lap 3 just before the finish. Archie/Harvey rolled the group taking the gun, but in the process infringed Roger/Ben having to take a penalty allowing chasing boats to pip them to the post and breaking their hopes of a first championship win in the new boat! This left Roger/Ben to take the race win and the week on countback from Katie/Nigel who finished the week with a dominant 1, 1, 2!
It's fair to say it has been an epic week with amazing hospitality from Rock Sailing & Waterski Club. The race committee did a stellar job and the free beer after racing each day didn't go amiss either! On to San Fran next year where the top U.K. boats have very little between them... all to play for!
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Helm / Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | GBR 1541 | ‑ | R Gilbert / B Mcrane | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | GBR 1557 | ‑ | K Nurton / N Ash | 2 | DNF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | GBR 1561 | Marlyn | D Pattison / M Tait | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| 4 | GBR 1559 | ‑ | A Partington / T Partington | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 |
| 5 | GBR 155 | Roxanne | N Jones / E FitzGerald | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 20 |
| 6 | GBR 1530 | Smash It! | A FitzGerald / R Dobson | 8 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 28 |
| 7 | GBR 1548 | ‑ | J Pearson / J Hunter Hamilton | 7 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 40 |
| 8 | GBR 1563 | Puff | A Massey / H Hillary | 9 | DNF | 13 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 43 |
| 9 | GBR 1523 | ‑ | K Morrison / J Fowke | 12 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 8 | 11 | 46 |
| 10 | GBR 1527 | Blue Fire | P MacDanell / L Boughton | 10 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 12 | DNF | 50 |
| 11 | GBR 1517 | ‑ | G Yeoman / J Yeoman | 14 | DNF | 9 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 52 |
| 12 | GBR 1545 | Hoff | J Reid / E Dyer | 15 | 8 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 12 | 55 |
| 13 | GBR 1519 | ‑ | O Sloper / H Mclean | 19 | 11 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 61 |
| 14 | GBR 1531 | Eagle 2 | A Penman / C Watson | 13 | DNF | 10 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 62 |
| 15 | GBR 1558 | Pink Dragon | K Hien / T Merkel | 22 | DNF | 12 | 8 | 15 | 14 | 71 |
| 16 | GBR 1529 | ‑ | R Pascal / M Pascal | 11 | DNF | 21 | 21 | 17 | 15 | 85 |
| 17 | GBR 1500 | ‑ | L Stacpoole / H Stacpoole | 17 | 7 | 19 | 20 | DNF | DNF | 87 |
| 18 | GBR 1551 | Not Yet Dead | C Smith / I Smith | 21 | DNF | 17 | 15 | 20 | 16 | 89 |
| 19 | GBR 1554 | ‑ | P Crokford / C Bell | 20 | DNF | 15 | 17 | 16 | DNF | 92 |
| 20 | GBR 1488 | ‑ | D Van Essen / S Saccani | 18 | DNF | 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 92 |
| 21 | GBR 1562 | ‑ | A Cattanach / P Anderson | 23 | DNF | 18 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 96 |
| 22 | GBR 1556 | ‑ | D Holman / D Ash | 5 | DNF | DNF | 23 | DNF | DNF | 100 |
| 23 | FRA 18 | ‑ | B Fritsch / R Thibaud | 16 | DNF | 22 | 22 | DNF | DNF | 108 |
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