International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week at Royal Cornwall Yacht Club - Day 3
by George Yeoman 29 Aug 2019 11:16 BST
26-30 August 2019
Wednesday was the POW race, the one-race National championship, and the fleet arrived to a wet and changing breeze.
The Race Officer chose to postpone for one hour which was absolutely the correct choice as the fleet launched in to a building Northerly with nice flat seas allowing for shifty tactical racing, whilst releasing the carbon i14 machines downwind.
The obvious arrivals for the main event were the new boats. There were two factory ready B6s and a cuckoos nest home build from Liam Stacpoole. They all looked very smart, and barring some teething issues showed that they were right on the pace out of the box.
The tradition for the POW is six lap sausage/triangle courses with no shorten course, but luckily in the variable 15/20 knots this was not going to be an issue.
The race got off to a clean start with Neale Jones/Ed Fitzgerald, Douglas Pattison/Mark Tait, the Partington's and Jack Hawkins/Chris Thomas getting the jump on the fleet at the starboard end. As the fleet worked their way up the shifty beat the new B6s of Archie Massey/Harvey Hillary and Andy Fitzgerald/Rich Dobson, and Dan Holman/Alex Knight starting pulling through to the front group.
But at the top mark it was the early leaders who led the fleet away down wind with glamour full-on sailing. Unfortunately the group was cut to 4 when Hawkins/Thomas took a quick dip, but this enabled a full on battle royale to occur between them, Fitzgerald/Dobson and Andy Shaw/Rob Struckett. This group saw 15+ place changes over the remaining laps with Hawkins/Thomas taking the initiative up the final beat and never relinquishing followed by Shaw/Struckett and Fitzgerald/Dobson. Dan Holman/Alex Knight were also making a charge till a broken lower forced an early end to their challenge.
At the front of the fleet Jones/Fitzgerald has stretched their legs and opened up a big gap on the rest of the fleet. The Partington's and Massey/Hillary traded blows until damage left the Partington's alone to chase the leaders but had to settle for second, with Pattison/Tait in third followed by Hawkins/Thomas.
However, this was not the end of the drama. On arrival back to shore it was noted a number of boats had not sailed the correct course taking the starboard leeward gate mark on the triangle. After a number of retirements and a protest the Partington's took the win and the National Championship to add to their World Championships title in 2018.
Two more days of racing remain with the prize for the week all to play for after some heavy discards... on to Thursday!
National Championships Final Results: (after protest)
If you finished in the top ten at the International 14 nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here
Place | Sail No | Boat | Helm | Crew | Club |
1 | 1559 | Penguin Dance | Andy Partington | Tom Partington | Hayling Island SC |
2 | 1561 | Marilyn | Douglas Pattison | Mark Tait | Itchenor SC |
3 | 1558 | ‑ | Jack Hawkins | Chris Thomas | WPNSA |
4 | 1544 | Pamela | Andy Shaw | Rob Struckett | Itchenor SC |
5 | 1566 | Dragon | Andy FitzGerald | Rich Dobson | Itchenor SC |
6 | 1523 | Tartan Fraulein | Kimball Morrison | Jeremy Fowke | Itchenor SC |
7 | 1548 | Beast 2 | Julian Pearson | Richard Sheridan | Netley SC |
8 | 1517 | Poppet | George Yeoman | Jack Yeoman | Itchenor SC |
9 | 1527 | Blue Fire | Phil McDanell | Luke Broughton | Itchenor SC |
10 | 2 | Trinity | Tobias Merkel | Jan‑Martin Luhrs | Flensborg YC |
11 | 1531 | Eagle 2 | Andy Penman | Chris Watson | Itchenor SC |
12 | 1529 | Flesh & Blood | Robin Pascal | Martin Pascal | Itchenor SC |
13 | 1554 | Magic Roundabout | Pete Crockford | Tom Stacpole | Restronguet SC |
14 | 1557 | Amazing Maisie | Katie Nurton | Cameron Tweedle | Royal Yacht Squadron |
15 | 1503 | Fawkes | Tristan Walker‑Hutt | Tom Clayton | Marconi SC |
16 | 1488 | Elizabeth | Dominic van Essen | Simona Saccani | Itchenor SC |
DNS | 1534 | Carbon Catapault | Julian Antier | Boris Fritsch | CSL Ufolep / CNBPP |
DNS | 1539 | Fandango | David Williams | Ian Lodder | Itchenor SC |
DNS | 1530 | Smash It | Martin Jones | Charlie Elliott | Itchenor SC |
DNS | 1562 | Agnes | Alasdair Cattenach | Paul Anderson | Prestwick SC |
DSQ | 1553 | Scrumpet | Neal Jones | Ed FitzGerald | Itchenor SC |
RET | 1500 | ‑ | Jack Elsby‑Hartman | Hugo Helene | Royal Cornwall YC |
RET | 1565 | Zog | Archie Massey | Harvey Hillary | Itchenor SC |
RET | 1568 | ‑ | Liam Stacpole | Wayne Barnicoat | Restronguet SC |
RET | 1556 | Helly the Pelly | Daniel Holman | Alex Knight | Netley SC |