International 14 Stericker series at Itchenor Sailing Club

A small but very distinguished fleet of current and ex-POW champions turned up for the final days racing on Chichester harbour before boats are loaded into containers to go to the world championships in San Francisco, all looking to get a last indication of pace on an unusually breezy Chichester Harbour.

Race 1 started with a good 15-18 knot breeze from the South-West with a strong incoming tide. Andy & Rich and Neale & Ed opted to start on port to get more of a runway before the first tack, with multiple lead changes up the first beat the order at the first mark was Andy & Rich followed closely by Neale & Ed with Mark & Douglas not far behind. After a bad mark rounding by Andy & Rich, Neale & Ed took the lead and extended down the run to have a comfortable lead by the bottom mark and held this lead until the finish.

With a breakage on the first race from Andy & Rich only two boats were left however the lack of boats did nothing to dampen the competition, both boats again opted to start on port however with Neale & Ed this time getting a slightly better start. They were able to extend their lead through to the finish despite avoiding keelboats, weed and battling with large shifts.

More questions than answers? Maybe, but one thing is for sure the fleet are excited about the prospect of San Francisco and the championship is as open as ever with at least 4-5 British boats able to win the event before you include the challenges from Australia, Canada, Germany and the USA - it's going to be one exciting event!

Series Results: