B14 Worlds Team and Gear Review

The B14 Worlds at Plerin © Christophe Ducarroir

The B14 Worlds were sailed over 5 days in Plerin, northern Brittany, France. With the dominant high pressure zone prevailing, it was the first all light airs Worlds that the B14s have experienced and threw up some interesting facts about the class.

Conditions over the week were 3 – 8 knots, with a 20 – 60 cm swell and up to 2.5 knots of tidal current. Below is a table giving the crew and base weights. The B14 is now weighed as an all up hull weight "base weight" including hull, wings, pole, boom, control lines and jib sheets. This was introduced in 2010 to simplify measuring and with the wide spread adoption of carbon wings was reduced to 91kg (from 95kg) in 2013.

GBR774 P&B was the first none carbon winged boat (in 2nd place!) at 97 kg with the rest of the top 10 weighing in at 91 kg (many with correctors). Showing a level of talent in GBR774 but also importantly that a heavier boat can still be competitive!

Though the first 3 boats were light to lighter crews, the heavier teams lead by GBR788 Seavolution gave a good account of themselves. This re-enforces that the B14 can carry a varied range of weight in all conditions and importantly it should be mentioned that 2nd and 3rd place at the worlds were female crews, hopefully killing an old myth that the B14 is only suitable for male teams!

No one sail maker or hull manufacturer was dominant with a variety of sailmakers represented. The most common hulls were Ovington built (pre 2011) and sails by North One Design. The winning hull was built in 2000 but refitted for 2013. Ovington boats currently start at £4,400 second hand up to the new Seavolution boats at £12,480 plus sails.

The B14 remains a boat where you can expect a long competitive life from the hulls and a choice of leading international sail makers.

If anyone is interested to know more or to arrange a test sail please go to the B14 website and check out the forums.

* Base Weight = Hull, pole, boom, wings, control lines, pins, jib sheets, main sheet.

More information on the B14 website. Photos can be found on flickr.