Oceanair International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week at Hayling - Day 2

Bithell & Pascoe smash Weymouth Town Trophy

A three race mini-series was sailed on Friday at Oceanair International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week with the combined result counting as race 3 in the overall standings. Stuart Bithell & Sam Pascoe dominated the day with straight firsts to emphatically win the Weymouth Town Trophy.

We spoke to Sam Pascoe after the racing, "It doesn't get much better does it? It was a changeable day - we started off with a Westerly of around 10-12 knots, having floated out there in nothing. The wind came in with one rain cloud and the race officer did a spectacular job to get one quick race in that breeze and it dropped off right towards the end. The wind then swung round 90 degrees to the south and we started the second race in 8 knots and it picked up to 12 knots again in the last race."

Stormy skies over Hayling Island on day 2 of International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week - photo © Angus Peel

On the differences that contributed towards their flawless day Sam said, "Flat water always helps our boat, we do struggle a bit more in the chop and that can neutralise the speed difference that we've got - our boat definitely likes the flat water. We also had three cracking starts - Stu got us off the start line first pretty much every time."

Ladies of the International 14 fleet

We talked to Christina Bassadone, who sails with crew Damian Ash about the challenges of sailing an International 14, "I absolutely love it, it's such an awesome boat to sail. I think I'm quite lucky being at the back of the boat as it's not as physically demanding and I don't have to bust it in the gym quite as much as Damian! I love the boat, I love the speed - it makes sailing enjoyable again after flogging it in the back of a 470 for a number of years. It's a fun boat and there are lots of great people in the class."

International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week day 1 - photo © Mary Pudney

On whether other ladies should come into the International 14 fleet Christina said, "That's a difficult question to answer. I'm reasonably tall and reasonably strong so I don't find it perhaps as physically demanding as maybe someone who might be 5'2" for example. It suits my style of sailing as I like more physical boats and I like the challenge. You need to have strength to do it, without a doubt, but not nearly as much as you need in the front of the boat."

Katie Nurton, who sails with Damian's brother Nigel, said, "It's more about being a bit lighter than being a girl in the fleet - in some conditions we feel a little bit underweight and we're not as competitive. It took me a very long time to get good in windy weather - I was very cautious and took it step-by-step. We didn't go out when it was out of our comfort zone very much, I think some of the men are a bit more gung-ho."

"I don't know why there aren't more girls, I think it could be because the boat is a bit intimidating, but I think that's more of a mental thing than a physical thing - you don't need to be very strong to helm a 14. At the last Worlds in the top ten the range of helm weights was from 60 to 115 kilos so that just shows you the range of sailors who can be competitive in a 14 if you find the right person to sail with."

Katie Nurton & Nigel Ash at International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week - photo © Mary Pudney

On how she got into the International 14 fleet in the first place Katie said, "15 years ago I was living in a house share in Lymington with two 14 sailors who basically said I had to get a 14, so I did. I'd never trapezed before and they kept setting me up with these massive 100kg blokes who were not very co-ordinated and just too big and not very agile, so I was really wondering if I'd made a terrible mistake. Then Damian, who I knew, said I've got this brother who's done a lot of windsurfing but has never really sailed, but he's very athletic. So I said we'd give it a try and that was that really!"

Sam Pascoe mentioned that Katie is known as the 'Queen of Bimble', to which Katie replied, "I'm not actually a natural person for that, I've just kind of grown into it I suppose, and learnt to enjoy it! Nigel is the one who makes sure we're super-focused on the water while I do the off-the-water details."

We asked Sam about Katie's day on the water, "Katie had a glamorous second race today - it was good to see her back to her best. Her new boat looks beautiful and when I joined the class she came third in the worlds in conditions quite like we had today. She's now got the same hull shape as us and sailed around Archie (Massey) and Ben (McGrane) to take second in that race which was brilliant to watch."

Weymouth Town Trophy Results:

Prince of Wales Cup Week Results after Day 2: (race 3 is the overall result for the Weymouth Town Trophy)