Gul B14 Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

Gul B14 TT at Rutland © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

A cold misty and mirror calm Rutland Water greeted the B14 teams that had ignored the forecast and made the trip from as far afield as Falmouth to kick off the 2018 calendar with the season opener and Inland Championship.

With the fleet held ashore waiting for the breeze teams took chance to catch up on news after the winter hibernation and for some put their boats back together after their recent return from Tasmania and the World Championships. Special mention to Mark Barnes for rescuing newly crowned world champion Nick Craig's lost spreaders and mainsail on route and then helping him put his boat back together. You have to wonder sometimes how he is so fast on the water when you marvel at his shoreside antics that saw him looking puzzled and rolling in the mud before finally getting his boat back in shape.

As the 2 o'clock final call on racing came the inevitable postponement for the day prompted a very patchy breeze that saw 3 teams take to the water to brush off the winter cobwebs whilst the rest of the fleet got in some early beers.

The evening saw the 2017 Gul TT Series prize giving and dinner at the Old Pheasant pub. Superbly organised by Mark Barnes who took the overall 2017 series title with Charlotte Horlock. Runner up Mark Watts/Chris Bishop also taking home the prize draw headline prize for the 2017 GUL B14 TT series, 2 nights courtesy of Watergate Bay Hotel.

Mark Watts with wife Kathy win a Watergate Bay Hotel in the 2017 TT series prize draw - photo © B14 class

With a few old faces making guest appearances in the fleet the evening rolled on late and lively with generous amounts of wine and good banter. Question was doing the rounds, who would parachute in to crew GUL/North Sails as stand in crew had to bail on Saturday morning. Certainly added to the spice on the weekend.

Sunday dawned with a fleet of sore heads and a misty windless lake. However the sun and eventually wind arrived for a glorious spring day and the promise of as many short course races as practical. A prompt start caught some of the fleet off guard despite the PRO's gentle reminders as the fleet set out into a patchy 5 knots with gusts and handy shifts if you were lucky/talented and big ugly holes of doom if you were not. Late to the track was GUL/North Sails, but made they did though 40 seconds late.

Race 1 a very slippery looking "Trunky" Kathy Sherratt/Josh Wilce led out "Harken" Nick Craig/Toby Lewis) chased hard by "Griptec" Mark Watts/Tim Rogers (returning after a 10 year break!) However it wasn't long before Nick Craig took the first ladder of the day to hold his kite round the leaders on what was to become a rather annoying tight reach to get across to the outer course in each race.. We are still puzzled how Nick managed it as the rest of the fleet headed down the lake in gusts and choice language. Griptec pulled through to 2nd keeping Harken honest on the next lap with Trunky unlucky in 3rd.

Time for a little rest and the interval performances from the Cherub fleet as you try to puzzle out how a foiling cherub, one with massive sails and various others performing acrobatics are going to finish up on their final run. Great fleet and very entertaining.

Gul B14 TT at Rutland - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Race 2 and this time it was Griptec that led out but the combined brains of Harken had it all worked out by the top mark and despite Griptec trying to do something about their tactical supremacy it was no use.. Trunky took a convincing third closing out a pattern for the races to come.

Nick won Race 2 in style. How does he do it. good starts and just a mind-boggling ability to string together a route through the holes. GUL/North Sails (Mark Barnes/Steve (first time I’ve crewed) Norbury (first time in a B14)) decided to join the party as Griptec decided to try a spot of knitting with the sheets on the first reach. Trunky strong in second. The final beat saw Griptec hook into a massive shift and roil into second at the top mark only to get nailed by a hole/header and end up bouncing off the top mark for a bit of spinning and relegation to 4th behind GUL/North Sails.

Race 3 and this time it was Griptec that led out but the combined brains of Harken had it all worked out by the top mark and despite Griptec trying to do something about their tactical supremacy it was no use. Griptec closed out 2nd and Trunky took a convincing 3rd.

This opened up the battle for 2nd. Who was going to take the bragging rights in the car home out of Mark Watts and Kathy Sherratt!

Race 4. Harken led out of the start whilst Griptec got a bit trigger happy and had to return for being OCS. Dead and buried the battle for marital bragging rights looked to be swinging Trunky’s way as they looked solid two racking sailing through to leeward of displacement mode Gul/North Sails forcing their sails to backwind and nearly capsizing them to windward (there is a first time for everything). Down the run a new gust line brought the fleet down to the leaders but for some reason everyone seemed to ignore Griptec putting the legendary Tim “Stig of the Dump” Rogers through his paces gybing down the gust line to appear back in the front group. Up the final beat Harken led effectively closing out the event. Griptec pulled through to 2nd from a consistent Trunky 3rd.

Race 5, and with the wind now increasingly funky Nick somehow found pressure in the middle of the line and embarrassed us all again. Griptec largely becalmed just 10 boat lengths to windward peeled off right and dug themselves into the right-hand corner. As the beat unfolded Harken sailed off (boring!!) Gul/North Sails looked solid in 2nd but Trunky was out on the left also looking horrible. Cue massive left shift. Griptec now dead and buried. Trunky coming back from the dead to 5th. Steve Hollingsworth/Elliiot Holman and Marlow (Dan Cowin /Amir Shamsuddin) in 3rd and 4th improving all day and starting to really mix it up. Special mention to Dan/Amir in their classic division boat (Rondar hull/alloy rig using the wrong sail number for those that confused!)

Griptec started to doubt their math as it looked like Trunky could threaten for 2nd overall. Not to worry there were 3 boats for them to pass. Halfway down the run Trunky had sailed a blinder, hooked into pressure and shot through to 3rd. Uh oh! Final beat and by this time the wind had turned this to a 1 tack beat. GUL/North Sails clipped the windward mark in 2nd and spun so allowing Trunky to close and get the inside gybe on them to the finish. Griptec were on a comeback and closing to the lead 5. Final run and it was all fun and games as boats tried to find the best pressure. usually involving the bloody water tower being in the way! Coming in to the finish and Griptec joined the gaggle of 3rd-6th. Could they rescue 3rd?

In the end Harken made it a perfect scorecard, Tunky superbly consistent in 2nd and Gul/North Sails held on for 3rd.

Firsts all day for Harken to show why they are World Champions and to take another title for the cabinet. Well sailed boys.

2nd. Calculators out and it was a tie.. On countback Griptec taking second. Trunky disappointed in 3rd. Possibly a first for the B14 fleet with husband and wife on the podium in separate boats?

In the end a great event. 5 good races with slick courses and turnaround. Kudos to the race team with 4 fleets to manage and changeable wind. Really a first-class effort.

A huge thanks to our sponsors Gul for their continued generous support that has kept many of the fleet warm over the winter months.

Focus now moves to Stokes Bay in a few weeks where we expect to see the bulk of the fleet return. Let’s hope not to repeat last years running aground on the race course issues and we look forward to the now infamous Rum happy hour and Quiz.

See you all there!

Overall Results: