International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Race at Rock
by Luke Boughton 31 Aug 2017 07:02 BST
28 August - 1 September 2017
After coming off the back of tumble Tuesday, the fleet headed out for the biggest day of the week, the Prince of Wales Cup. With a short delay before launching due to a lack of wind the fleet headed out with an 8 knot north westerly slowly building.
With some dirty swell still moving across the course the fleet fired off the starboard end of the line before splitting evenly. With Roger and Ben having a tuning run out to the left with Douglas and Mark, they charged into the top mark first and second, Douglas and Mark just shooting round the windward mark in the lead. Team Roxanne followed Archie & Harvey with stalwarts Andy & Rich rounding 5th.
Firing down the first run there were close battles all the way through the fleet, with Douglas and Mark holding the charge of the Roger and Ben while "the kids" Neale & Ed were pushing Archie & Harvey, resulting in Neale & Ed nipping inside at the bottom mark. Two laps sped past with the lead changing in every leg, while the chasing bunch were nipping on the heals waiting for a mistake. On lap three Andy & Rich came charging, passing Neale & Ed while they faffed changing settings and removing the "jungle" of weed from their foils.
This set up for a grandstand charge for the finish, with crews tiring and helms giving it all the chat, it all started kicking off.
Douglas & Mark lost out to Roger & Ben after some sublime boat handing in the latter stages of the race. While in the battle for the podium spot Archie & Harvey made a late charge trying to push Neale & Ed into a mistake, despite the horrendous finishing Neale & Ed hung on and claimed a solid podium.
With the new boys #atthefront George & Jack having a clean race, they were pushing forward as the race wore on, finishing a strong 7th. Sadly just missing out of joining the crews union for Jack.
It was a cracking POW with 2 hours of hard racing. More photos on the International 14 Facebook page.
Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the International 14 nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Entrants | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | GBR 1541 | ‑ | R Gilbert / B Mcrane | 1 |
| 2 | GBR 1561 | Marlyn | D Pattison / M Tait | 2 |
| 3 | GBR 155 | Roxanne | N Jones / E FitzGerald | 3 |
| 4 | GBR 1563 | Puff | A Massey / H Hillary | 4 |
| 5 | GBR 1557 | ‑ | K Nurton / N Ash | 5 |
| 6 | GBR 1530 | Smash It! | A FitzGerald / R Dobson | 6 |
| 7 | GBR 1517 | ‑ | G Yeoman / J Yeoman | 7 |
| 8 | GBR 1548 | ‑ | J Pearson / J Hunter Hamilton | 8 |
| 9 | GBR 1519 | ‑ | O Sloper
H Mclean | 9 |
| 10 | GBR 1523 | ‑ | K Morrison / J Fowke | 10 |
| 11 | GBR 1527 | Blue Fire | P MacDanell / L Boughton | 11 |
| 12 | GBR 1500 | ‑ | L Stacpoole / H Stacpoole | 12 |
| 13 | GBR 1531 | Eagle 2 | A Penman / C Watson | 13 |
| 14 | GBR 1529 | ‑ | R Pascal / M Pascal | 14 |
| 15 | GBR 1558 | Pink Dragon | K Hien / T Merkel | 15 |
| 16 | GBR 1551 | Not Yet Dead | C Smith / I Smith | 16 |
| 17 | GBR 1488 | ‑ | D Van Essen
S Saccani | 17 |
| 18 | FRA 18 | ‑ | B Fritsch / R Thibaud | DNF |
| 18 | GBR 1554 | ‑ | P Crokford / C Bell | DNF |
| 18 | GBR 1556 | ‑ | D Holman / D Ash | DNF |
| 18 | GBR 1545 | Hoff | J Reid / E Dyer | DNF |
| 18 | GBR 1559 | ‑ | A Partington / T Partington | DNF |
| 18 | GBR 1562 | ‑ | A Cattanach / P Anderson | DNF |