International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week at Rock in review
by Neale Jones 24 Sep 2017 11:33 BST
28 August - 1 September 2017
One of the lesser travelled to locations on the 14 calendar but a great week in a beautiful holiday destination enjoyed by sailors and families alike.
The fleet descended on Rock with families in tow for the annual meeting of the premier amateur skiff class in the country for an exciting week of exhilarating racing in "the place to be" over the bank holiday weekend.
Day 1
After some concerns over lack of wind spilling over from previous days and an hour's sensible postponement, 24 International 14s from as far away as Germany and France headed out into the Camel for race 1 of PoW week, a single long race for the Hunstanton Plate.
After an incredible turn of boatspeed and great tactical sailing Douglas & Mark showed a clean pair of heels to the entire fleet to lay down a strong marker of their intentions of the week.
Day 2 (Tumble Tuesday)
After an incredible bank holiday weekend in scorching sunshine, real English summer arrived with cloud, rain but most importantly some wind!
This time it was Roger & Ben's turn to lay down their marker as the fleet went from racing to surviving with pitch poles and capsizes all around the race track from even some of the most seasoned teams. As the fleet tumbled and the previous days winners struggled the proven team sailed away from the pack to show that this week wasn't going to be a one horse race.
Day 3
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.
The two winners of the previous day were set for a titanic battle on the choppy Irish Sea for the race we all came for, a one shot race to decide the national championships. Roger & Ben and Douglas & Mark charged off the start line with pace that others were unable to match and Douglas narrowly led at the top mark, a duel that was set to last 2 hours ensued with Roger & Ben's consistency proving too much for the Douglas & Mark and the won the race and with it the title for another year.
Day 4
The fleet where appreciative of a slightly later start time of midday with two races scheduled for the Llandudno Trophy. With sunny spells and a light breeze from the South West the fleet were met with the now familiar Atlantic swell bouncing around Padstow Bay.
It was time for another contender to join the race for the weeks points trophy, in stepped Katie & Nigel who after a disappointing start to the first race showed supreme boats speed that the heavier crews were unable to match to cruise through the fleet for a podium finish and made the boat speed pay in the next race comfortably winning and putting her marker down.
Day 5
Finally conditions yield some flat water for the fleet to really show what these incredible machines can do and a tight finale for the point's trophy.
The fleet had 12-15 knots and a race course set further in the harbour than they had sailed up to now, Katie & Nigel showed great pace again along with Neale & Ed and the Partingtons producing tacking and gybing battles for the full 3 laps of the race with lead changes happening every leg. Katie & Nigel again narrowly edged out Neale & Ed on the finish setting up a winner takes all finale between them and Roger & Ben, the battle was intense all around the track with yet more lead changes on the snakes and ladders course however Roger & Ben showed cool heads to close out the race and win the week on countback.
Special thanks must go to Rock Sailing Club for hosting an incredible event and providing beer and pasta after racing every day and a huge thank you to Spinlock for proving prizes for the week series including the Pro-Tune rig tension gauge.
The fleet now looks ahead to the Worlds in San Francisco next year and with 20 UK boats already confirmed as well as a strong turnout from the German, Australian, Canadian and American fleets it is an event not to be missed.
Prince of Wales Cup Race Results:
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| 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 |
PoW Week Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Helm / Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | GBR 1541 | ‑ | R Gilbert / B Mcrane | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | GBR 1557 | ‑ | K Nurton / N Ash | 2 | DNF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | GBR 1561 | Marlyn | D Pattison / M Tait | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| 4 | GBR 1559 | ‑ | A Partington / T Partington | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 |
| 5 | GBR 155 | Roxanne | N Jones / E FitzGerald | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 20 |
| 6 | GBR 1530 | Smash It! | A FitzGerald / R Dobson | 8 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 28 |
| 7 | GBR 1548 | ‑ | J Pearson / J Hunter Hamilton | 7 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 40 |
| 8 | GBR 1563 | Puff | A Massey / H Hillary | 9 | DNF | 13 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 43 |
| 9 | GBR 1523 | ‑ | K Morrison / J Fowke | 12 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 8 | 11 | 46 |
| 10 | GBR 1527 | Blue Fire | P MacDanell / L Boughton | 10 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 12 | DNF | 50 |
| 11 | GBR 1517 | ‑ | G Yeoman / J Yeoman | 14 | DNF | 9 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 52 |
| 12 | GBR 1545 | Hoff | J Reid / E Dyer | 15 | 8 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 12 | 55 |
| 13 | GBR 1519 | ‑ | O Sloper / H Mclean | 19 | 11 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 61 |
| 14 | GBR 1531 | Eagle 2 | A Penman / C Watson | 13 | DNF | 10 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 62 |
| 15 | GBR 1558 | Pink Dragon | K Hien / T Merkel | 22 | DNF | 12 | 8 | 15 | 14 | 71 |
| 16 | GBR 1529 | ‑ | R Pascal / M Pascal | 11 | DNF | 21 | 21 | 17 | 15 | 85 |
| 17 | GBR 1500 | ‑ | L Stacpoole / H Stacpoole | 17 | 7 | 19 | 20 | DNF | DNF | 87 |
| 18 | GBR 1551 | Not Yet Dead | C Smith / I Smith | 21 | DNF | 17 | 15 | 20 | 16 | 89 |
| 19 | GBR 1554 | ‑ | P Crokford / C Bell | 20 | DNF | 15 | 17 | 16 | DNF | 92 |
| 20 | GBR 1488 | ‑ | D Van Essen / S Saccani | 18 | DNF | 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 92 |
| 21 | GBR 1562 | ‑ | A Cattanach / P Anderson | 23 | DNF | 18 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 96 |
| 22 | GBR 1556 | ‑ | D Holman / D Ash | 5 | DNF | DNF | 23 | DNF | DNF | 100 |
| 23 | FRA 18 | ‑ | B Fritsch / R Thibaud | 16 | DNF | 22 | 22 | DNF | DNF | 108 |
