International 14 Easter Tray at Itchenor Sailing Club
by Glen Truswell 27 Apr 2011 11:42 BST
23-24 April 2011
The glorious Bank holiday weekend saw 28 International 14s (including 2 visiting German boats!) battle it out for the coveted Easter Tray at Itchenor Sailing Club.
With so much raw horsepower at hand, winds of between 4 and 10 knots proved to be sufficient enough to generate some considerable excitement during the 3 day, 5 race 2011 season opener.
True to I14 code of best practice, the “social” box was ticked by way of an indulgent superheroes dinner party followed by a late night after party to thank the Germans for their heroic attendance at the event!
Given their previous season’s performance, it was no surprise that Roger Gilbert/Ben McGrane 1541 showed great form throughout. In reality they were only ever beaten across the finish line by Glen Truswell/Chris Blackburn 1543 in race 3 and by Andy Partington/Tom Partington 1540 followed by Truswell/Blackburn in race 5. In between time Sam Pascoe/Alex Knight 1498 pulled together an extremely consistent series of predominantly 3rd places, while local boat and I14 connoisseurs, Douglas Pattison/Mark Tait 1544 also showed flashes of brilliance twice also finishing unchallenged in 2nd place to Gilbert/McGrane.
In the end though Gilbert/McGrane took the overall win, boat speed ensured Truswell/Blackburn second and consistency secured Pascoe/Knight third over Pattison/Tait who finished fourth.
Overall Results:
1st 1541, Roger Gilbert & Ben McGrane, 5pts
2nd 1543, Glen Truswell & Chris Blackburn, 8pts
3rd 1498, Sam Pascoe & Alex Knight, 13pts
4th 1544, Douglas Pattison & Mark Tait, 14pts
5th 1484, Tom Heywood & Ed Clay, 19pts