The oldest video footage of International 14 sailing dinghies
by Magnus Smith 7 Jul 2024 12:00 BST
Could this be the first photo of a sailor trapezing? © G Westell
With the International 14 World Championship starting this month (29th July 2024) in Torbole, Lake Garda - and now this website has a huge video archive available - it might be interesting to look back at how far the class has come in the almost 100 years they have been racing. Most of the footage is from the UK.
Update: we later found PoW Cup at Lowestoft, 1928 and
at Plymouth, 1929 which are both older than our first research show below!
As close to the origin of the class as we can get is the 1930 Prince of Wales Cup at Lowestoft. It looks like a frustrating day for these early three-digit sail number boats.
Some time in the 1930s the West London Hospital Cup was filmed. The 14s are mixed up with older gaff-rigged craft but are not on screen much.
Update: we later found 14s, Raters and gaff dinghies at Tamesis, 1933
One family recently digitised their old cine films, and there is footage from the 1938 and 39 POW events at youtube.com/@Oldi14films-db6gv. We will not list them all here, but please do visit the link for videos from the Thames, Falmouth and Solent.
Finally we have sound, and can see 14s and an International Canoe on the Thames at Teddington in the year 1947. Motor launches are doubtless being cursed heavily.
From some time in the 1950s, this footage of number 107 at Queen City Yacht Club has some great close-ups.
Footage from Bermuda appears at the end of this Fairey Marine promotional film (1950s) which is mostly about the Firefly until 2m28s.
Update: we later found 1950s Central Council of Physical Recreation video features Fourteens at 4m50s
This short video captures 'Black Thursday' from the 1961 International 14 Prince of Wales Cup at Whitstable. There is some great detail shown on the Youtube page for this video which is well worth a read. A wild day indeed!
Pevensey Bay Sailing Club members visited La Rochelle in the 60s or 70s with their i14s, but please excuse the National 12s that appear too.
A promotional video for CORK (Canadian Olympic Regatta at Kingston) 1972 has Fourteens launching at 1m44 and sailing at 3m22s.
Firmly in the eighties now, let's watch 1983 World Championships at Pevensey Bay. The vehicles and clothing on shore really remind us of that era!
At the close of the decade we have footage from the USA - Ziploc Ultimate Yacht Race 1989 - which also includes Ultra 30s. There was an interest in a one-design Int14 for a while...
Finally, and spanning the decades, we have one last video to present. If you want a full historical documentary of the class, then you need Fourteens are Forever (half an hour to watch). With thanks to the National Maritime Museum.
What of the rest?
Do you know the location of any International 14 videos that show racing fleets from the 1930s to the 80s that we have missed? We would love to share these with other sailors. You can submit video links to us for immediate review.
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