International 14 Fortitude Trophy at Itchenor Sailing Club

International 14 Fortitude Trophy at Itchenor © Caroline Gosford

International 14 Fortitude Trophy at Itchenor © Caroline Gosford

The weekend provided a mix of conditions from 8-20 knots, sun and torrential rain squalls, but the latter did not dampen the event which saw a mix of 10 boats out over the two days.

Saturday dawned with a nice light shifty breeze for the 7 boats out. Glen and Ed showed great boat speed lead the fleet round in race 1, however behind them their was a great battle between Katie, Rich and Pascal's. An unfortunate incident at the first windward mark left the Pascal's stopped in the water allowed Rich and Alex to sail into 2nd place. Katie was hot on the heals and pushed into 2nd place and the last leeward rounding only for Rich and Alex to pick up a nice shift to the finish line to retake 2nd place.

The second race of the day, the fleet struggled to cross the start line on starboard and it was a case of tacking as soon as possible and heading out to the right into more pressure. Once again Glen showed his pace advantage to lead the fleet round to the win, followed by Katie and the Pascals to take 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The 3rd race of the day and the conditions were dropping off and tide had turned. Andy Fitz with Jock crewing for him, read the conditions and sailed well to take solid 2nd place to Glen, who once again took the win on the shifty course with Katie taking another solid 3rd place.

Sunday dawned with stronger winds in the 15-17 knot range at times which allowed for some great racing. With a few different boats out on the water and Jock back helming his B4 the fleet headed down to the start line.

Race 4 saw Andy Shaw and Rob Struckett come in from Port and head out to the right showing some great speed in their B6, with Glen heading out a bit more to the left. At the windward mark the fleet were close together and jostling for space to hoist the kites. Glen and Ed, were able to stretch out and use their superior boat speed to take the win from Andy. In 3rd place fresh from the class training in Lymington, were Jock and Emily, who in their B4 really showed a marked improvement in boat speed around the course.

Race 5 and the breeze was starting to ease slightly, however there was still some good gusts and shifts that allowed for some close racing. Continuing their form was Glen and Ed who once again to the win from Andy Shaw, closely followed by Martin Jones.

Race 6 and the breeze had shifted, the rain squall came in and the it was a close reach to the windward mark, with all the fleet screaming off hoping they were heading in the right direction. The fleet found the mark and set off back down to the leeward mark only for the wind to completely shut off. With boats on either side of the course in search of that elusive wind, Rich and Alex sailed from 5th to 2nd by the time we reached the leeward mark, albeit in a cluster of 5 boats. At the leeward mark the wind was still shifting all over the place and we were back to beating. At the leeward mark Andy Shaw and Martin Jones tacked early and seemed to find some more wind and less tide to creep up to the line, with Andy Shaw taking the win from Glen and in third finding a way through the group of boat was Jock and Emily.

All in all it was a great weekend of racing with a real mix of conditions. The strength and depth within the fleet remains strong and with some older B4's still showing they can be up their mixing it with the newer designs, the class look forward to the Gallon in a couple of weeks time.

Overall Results: