B14 TT at Lee-on-the-Solent Sailing Club

B14 TT at Lee-on-the-Solent © Kathy Sherratt / Alan Davis

B14 TT at Lee-on-the-Solent © Kathy Sherratt / Alan Davis

B14 TT at Lee-on-the-Solent © Kathy Sherratt / Alan Davis

Better late than never, this report has finally been rescued from the outbox of a nameless class member. Sorry for those that have been waiting with anticipation!

The fleet turned up to Lee on Solent with a small but elite group of B14s. Mark Watts and MJ in Brightmile looked to be the team to beat but with Gerry Fermor and Leaky in Leaky Pipes turning up to their first race in 2 1/2 years it just might be that Wattsy and MJ wouldn't get it all their own way. Tony Blackmore with Gii guesting in the Admiral Trailers boat and Amir Shamsuddin and Nick Pye were in their very lovely new (ish - now) Seavolution ship.

Sat was sunny and windy! 18-22knts it turns out. Brightmile launched first and disappeared quickly towards the start. Admiral Trailers had a bit of a tea bagging incident on the way there with the helm losing both contact lens and the crew, his hat! With the sun, wind and the Elite fleet on the next course coming through our windward mark it was to be a challenging day! Seavolution made it to the start in good time, however Leaky Pipes decided to spend the afternoon doing some visualization on shore before venturing out in this much breeze.

Wattsy and MJ in Brightmile, as you would expect in these conditions, shot off the line and into an unassailable lead. Amir and Nick also made a clean start at speed and were approaching the windward mark before Tony and Gii in Admiral Trailers extricated themselves from humping the pin end buoy! Admiral Trailers however were given a lifeline into second when Amir and Nick had a quick swim. This was how it finished after an hour and a half of full on brilliant sailing! Onshore Gerry and Leaky had visualized winning every race they entered that day.

Unfortunately a combination of the yacht racing hogging the Solent, sea state and rapidly falling tide under the committee boat meant the race committee had to call it a day at this point and look forward to a further 4 races tomorrow.

Anybody that knows the B14 fleet knows that it's as much about the onshore event as it is about the offshore. Tonight was no exception with some spare energy due to the short day on the water. A 100% attendance in the clubhouse for early evening drinks, food and a quick go at the hula hoops Leaky had brought with him. then led into rainbow sambuccas (who knew there were 8 different flavours?) and a chance meeting with a 14 year old hula hoop practitioner (and her mum) who had appeared on BGT! Amazing!

Rainbow sambuccas during the B14 TT at Lee-on-the-Solent - photo © Kathy Sherratt / Alan Davis

With the bars closing at 10pm it was gin cocktails, kebabs and ice creams on the beach to watch the fisherman fish and the foxes fight. Yes honestly...

And so to day 2. More sunshine and a lovely 10-15knts. 4 races today and with the course being a little shorter and only 2 rounds the fleet were looking at a close battle. Gerry and Leaky in Leaky Pipes had done with visualization and were now in the physical aspect of their rehabilitation. It was a close start in the first race with all 4 boats in a line trucking upwind. Tony and Gii in Admiral Trailers rounded first with Brightmile, Leaky Pipes and Seavolution in hot pursuit. Admiral Trailers maintained their lead downwind and it was only the keen eyed spot of more breeze on the left of the upwind leg that led to Wattsy and MJ in Brightmile to snuck ahead at the windward mark and subsequently take the win. Gerry and Leaky in 3rd in a close battle ahead of Amir and Nick in Seavolution.

B14 TT at Lee-on-the-Solent - photo © Kathy Sherratt / Alan Davis

The second race of the day had Brightmile once again showing a clean pair of heels to the rest of the fleet. And with many place changes happening between Leaky Pipes, Admiral Trailers and Seavolution it was a very close finish in that order.

The third race saw Brightmile once again go into a good lead off the line and it was Admiral Trailers, Leaky Pipes and Seavolution finishing another closely fought battle in that order.

Leaky Pipes decided to call it a day at this point to fine tune their boat packing up procedure.

With Brightmile once again taking an early lead it was Amir and Nick in Seavolution who took the race to Admiral Trailers and came out on top with Admiral Trailers unable to make any progress towards them.

So Brightmile, Seavolution then Admiral Trailers in the last race.

Mark Watts & Matt Johnson win the B14 TT at Lee-on-the-Solent - photo © Kathy Sherratt / Alan Davis

We would like to thank the Lee on Solent team who ran a great weekend's racing. Thank you!

Attention now turns to the next event, the B14 TT at Weston SC which incorporates the B14 Summer Party! Check out the B14 Sailors facebook page for more details on what we have planned with an emphasis on making the event accessible to newcomers to the fleet.

Finally we are running a class survey which is open to class members as well as other B14 owners/aspiring owners. We would love to hear from you here.

Overall Results: