International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week at Royal Cornwall Yacht Club - Overall

An incredible week at the International 14 nationals in Falmouth ends, we had everything, windy days, light days, new boats, old boats, controversy and new winners of both the race and the week, what more could you ask for!

We were welcomed as a fleet by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club to Falmouth, a place of great significance for the 14 fleet having hosted more POW's than any other venue, the birthplace of the trapeze and the scene of some incredibly memorable days sailing (mostly in big south easterlies).

International 14 UK National Championships 2019 - the Prince of Wales Cup race - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

New boats were on the water, most notable is Liam Stacpole's new boat "Pat Clifton" which he built with crew Wayne Barnicote and managed to finish after getting two hours of sleep before the first race. The boat looks fantastic and is the most recent of the new "cuckoo's nest" designs, a boat which has proven to be fast and I'm sure this will be no different, in the boats first race the boys scored a top 10 finish, an impressive feat after more boatbuilding than sailing over the last year or so.

There were some older boats in the fleet, most of us will have seen Tristan Walker-Hutt and Tom Clayton's video talking about their reincarnation of Fawkes, a Morrison 12 which they purchased and have been refurbishing over the last few months. The boat looked great and seemed to be going well despite it being the first time they have sailed against any other 14's achieving a 6th place in the second race of the series, these guys are a class act and I'm sure we will see more from them over the next few years.

International 14 UK National Championships 2019 - the Prince of Wales Cup race - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

Other notable older boats are George and Jack Yeoman in a 11-year-old boat which propelled them to a top 6 finish in the POW race and a second-place finish on the first day. George and Jack have been improving since they joined the fleet in 2017 and this just shows where that hard work has got them.

Rankings

The rankings have really been shaken up over the last week with the number of retirements from the POW race and differing fortunes up and down the fleet in the week. Neale & Ed are still flying the flag out ahead with Douglas and Mark comfortably in second. Third to tenth are separated by a little over 100 points which is easily achievable over the next four events, and as we have seen before consistency in results in paramount. Next ranking event is the Tynemouth event which will be shared with the Musto Skiffs, this will be the 14's first trip to Tynemouth in quite a few years however it looks like we will have a great attendance from both northern and southern boats.

International 14 UK National Championships 2019 - the Prince of Wales Cup race - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk