Duchy Contracts 2013 Prince of Wales Cup at Restronguet Sailing Club

Douglas Pattison and Mark Tait win the 2013 Prince of Wales Cup © Ed Shelton

The Duchy Contracts 2013 Prince of Wales Cup, a single race for the title of International 14 National Champion, was sailed for in Falmouth Bay under the flag of Restronguet Sailing Club on Tuesday 25th of June. The forecast of 6 to 8 knots of breeze from the southeast was spot on and the race officer had set the expected course of 6 laps of a Sausage – Triangle course. Tradition dictates that regardless of the conditions this race will not be shortened, therefore many of the fleet were surprised to see the windward mark only just visible on the horizon.

After one start abandoned only 2 minutes into the sequence by the race officer, the fleet were well behaved and started at the next attempt under the I flag with only a couple of boats gybing back round the pin end. The first beat turned out to be very one sided, with the right paying and those who hit it hard coming out well in front. This led to Sam Pascoe and Alex Knight leading round the first windward mark, followed by Jamie Reid and George Harston in 'The Hoff', but missing the Hoff suits which were a feature at the last worlds in Weymouth. Douglas Pattison and Mark Tait rounded in third, with the first boat that had gone left up the beat at least 10th.

Down the first run Dan Holman and Jeremy Elliot were flying and had managed to sneak into the lead by the first leeward mark, closely followed by Douglas and Mark, Sam and Alex and Glen Truswell and Chris Blackburn. The right continued to pay for the rest of the race, and turned the beat into a game of guessing the layline from about a mile out. Many people found to their peril that even a pair of quick clearing tacks would lose them up to 100 yards.

For the leading boats the first leg of the triangle was tight, but easily manageable and the second requiring gybes to get down to the leeward mark again. Dan and Jeremy continued to hold off Douglas and Mark and Sam and Alex, even extending from them over the next couple of laps, as the race officer brought the windward mark slightly closer (the leading boats were taking 18 minutes to complete the beat in single wiring conditions) giving an even tighter top reach on the triangle. Through the middle laps of the race reigning champions Ben McGrane and James Hughes crept up through the fleet having gone the wrong way up the first beat, but got stuck between Glen and Chris and Katie Nurton and Nigel Ash in fifth place.

Down the final run (fifth lap) the breeze dropped slightly and Douglas and Mark and Sam and Alex got some separation from Dan and Jeremy and snuck past. Up the final beat it still paid to go right until you hit the layline, with Dan and Jeremy back ahead of Sam and Alex by the final windward mark. Douglas and Mark held their nerve for the two reaches of the last triangle to win the Prince of Wales Cup (for the Helm) and the Torpoint Mosquito Trophy (for the Crew) being declared National Champions.

For the remainder of the trophies, Katie Nurton (6th) just held out Christina Bassadone (7th) to win the Morgan Giles Challenge Bowl and Nora Chichester Smith Trophy for the first lady and first helmswoman in the Prince of Wales Cup race. Julian Pearson (9th) won the Vetrans Trophy for the first helm over 50, and the Marlow Trophy for the first foreign boat was awarded to Sonja Hein and Tobias Merkel from Germany.

The top 6 in the race will all be presented replicas of the Prince of Wales Cup, with the crews being eligible for lifelong membership to the crews union. This year Jeremy Elliott and Chris Blackburn will both be given their crews union ties and lifelong membership to the union with a chance to terrorise helms for ever more.

Free beer was provided after sailing by Oceanair, the foremost purveyor of blinds, window treatments and soft furnishings for the home and the marine environment. The Itchenor fleet then sponsored a second barrel at the evening beach party.

Overall Results: (top six)
If you finished in the top ten in the 2013 Prince of Wales Cup then enter your Gear Guide information here