B14 TT at Weston Sailing Club

B14 TT at Weston © Matthew Amiss

The 'Unicorn of Doom' during the B14 TT at Weston © Matthew Amiss

Unicorns and large snakes!

The weekend of the 14th/15th June saw the B14 fleet descend on Weston Sailing Club for the much anticipated TT series event and final pre-nationals warm-up.

As is becoming more common for the TT events, the event kicked off on Friday night with some pre-race boat tuning and a warm up session with Weston SC's new bar managers, Toby & Dawn, who just happen to also be B14 sailors - a match made in heaven for the fleet.

Saturday dawned with a light northerly and sunshine.

Race 1 saw a patchy race course with some fairly large snakes to fall foul of as well as some huge ladders for those with either the luck or foresight to be in the right place. Team Ullman Sails (Mark Watts/Chris Bishop) joined up some of these magic ladders on the first beat and were never seen again. Behind P&B South (Ben McGrane/Olivier Vidal), in the second outing of their newly fettled ship, picked up where Ben left off at last year's World Championships to lead from the rest of fleet with 770 (Simon/Nikki Hadley) showing their recent light wind form to take 3rd.

Race 2 and the fleet headed off into a fading breeze. Team Ullman Sails once again hooked some ladders and led comfortably around the top mark from P&B South, but it wasn't to be. The breeze shut down for those behind and ultimately the race was abandoned/postponed/some general confusion, particularly for those at the front that missed the signals..

Race 2 (Take 2) saw the breeze building as thunderstorms rolled through the surrounding area delivering anything from 2 to 20 knots and everything in between. The start line saw the welcome return of Team Customised Composites (Paul Roberts/Rob Taylor) who decided to try and park the boat in the bunch at the pin end but clearly forgot about the wings (too much Quarter Tonner sailing perhaps!) and promptly took out Team Ullman Sails. P&B South made the best of the first beat and led the fleet round, maintaining their lead to take the win. Team Ullman Sails fought back from last off the line to take second with the grey boat (Scott Gray/Charles Coulborn) showing good pace to take 3rd despite claims of limited time in the boat and rusty manoeuvres.

Race 3 and the breeze had built substantially, much to the surprise of all those set up for a day of light breeze. Oddly the race officer signalled 2 laps so it was off for a 20 minute dash around the course with the first beat ultimately deciding the order as the run developed into a one gybe hard pressed blast across Southampton water. It was again the familiar sight of P&B South and Team Ullman Sails at the front. P&B South gaining the upper hand on the first beat to take the win. Troublegum (Alan Davis/Toby Barsley-Dale) rounded out a consistent day to take third place and the final overnight podium place.

With a short sprint back to shore the fleet relaxed around tents and the Weston Bar. The Wattsy/Alan sponsored Turbo Pimms kicked off the evening before a welcome (for some) return of the Crews Union! Paul 'Giff' Roberts got most of the attention having taken out team Ullman sails in race 2 (Crewed by the Crews Union Leader!), faired his daggerboard to an evil sharp serrated edge that injured poor Rob, and to top it off didn't even bother to enter. This was duly rectified with the award of the Unicorn of Doom, later seen performing some strange dance moves and receiving further abuse from the fleet as Wattsy unleashed some "interesting" games on the fleet... the rest is a little fuzzy.

Day 2 dawned with a more solid 10 knot gradient but again from the shifty North.

Race 4 saw a repeat of Race 1. Team Ullman Sails hooked into the ladders on the first run and second beat and were gone. Behind the sore heads battled the shifts and at times interesting wave patterns over the 4 lap marathon with P&B South just pipping Troublegum on the line for 2nd.

B14 TT at Weston - photo © Matthew Amiss

Race 5 and Troublegum had the best of the first beat to lead round from P&B South and Leaky Pipes (Gerry Fermor Brown/Leaky), who were recovering their usual light wind form. Some kite sheet issues (some would say helm too slow on the tack line issues!) led to Troublegum losing the lead, only to further suffer as they rounded the bottom marks and sailing straight into a line of starting 4000's. P&B South slipped through this 4000 wall of death and were never troubled. Behind a 3 way battle ensued with Team Ullman Sails coming back into the mix. The final run saw Troublegum, Leaky Pipes, and Ullman Sails arrive at the bottom together. Leaky Pipes just taking 2nd from Ullman Sails. Troublegum unfortunate to drop to 4th.

Going into the final race P&B South had the upper hand, Ullman Sails needing nothing worse than a win for a chance to take the weekend. Behind Troublegum held 3rd with Leaky Pipes breathing down their necks.

Race 6, as with day 1, saw a final 2 lap sprint. P&B South led at the first mark from Trunky (Kathy Sherratt/Charlotte Jones) with Ullman Sails chasing in 3rd. At the bottom of the next beat P&B South and Ullman Sails had moved to 1,2 as it all got very close with P&B south close covering the every move of Ullman Sails. A split in breeze saw P&B South leave space for Ullman Sails to break right, when they converged at the top mark Ullman Sails had snatched a solid lead and Trunky had come right back into the mix to pressure for 2nd. Down the final run Ullman Sails could only watch in horror as P&B South and Trunky hoisted, hooked into a monster thread of pressure and proceeding to twin rack down the inside. Ultimately Ullman Sails and P&B South converged with nothing in it. Both split at the bottom gate.. A better drop on Ullman Sails looked to have given them a slight advantage but this was undone by jib sheet issues on the tack. Heading for the finish Ullman Sails could not quite cross P&B South, the event ultimately coming down to half a boat length on the line! Trunky taking a very solid third.

Overall P&B South took the win (great to see Ben back in the fleet). Ullman Sails looked strong in second. These two managing to find the best consistency over the weekend. Leaky pipes made a late comeback to snatch third from Troublegum.

With 17 boats (despite a lot of usual names missing) it was a great weekend with a strong showing from visiting and local boats plus close racing across the fleet. Weston were fantastic hosts and the combination of low cost entry, cheap bar, free camping, close race course and good race management in trying conditions made for an excellent weekend. The excitement now builds towards the Nationals in Paignton in 4 weeks where we expect any one of 5 boats could take the title.

Overall Results: