International 14 Stericker weekend 2026 at Itchenor Sailing Club

Itchenor Sailing Club © Itchenor Sailing Club

Seven boats raced each day at ISC as part of the ongoing Stericker series for International 14s. On day one we launched to slightly over the forecast 12knts, and were sent to dunes at the harbour mouth, returning to the start at Peacock.

Douglas and Mark (1561) showed they remember everything that took them to third at the Europeans last year, leading out the blocks. Up the first beat they were chased hard by the boat they built in a shed, Pamela (1544), sporting a new bright red t-foil. Crew George Sellwood was racing his first 14 race and finding the groove easily. Kimball and Kai (1523), The Pascal brothers (1558), Charlie and Charlie (1548) and the Gladmans (1566) formed a close pack behind, with 1547 (Dom and Simo) rapidly getting up to speed.

By the bottom Pamela lost the soft shackle on the kite, before it was re-rigged Kimball and the Dragon boat had sailed past, and Jungle Fire had blasted past the buoy with the kite up. The Gladmans had capsized in a large gust just short of the buoy. Beat two saw Pamela reel in Kimball and the Dragon boat, but a capsize on the final gybe robbed George of a podium in his first 14 race.

The wind built and a black cloud overhead lead the fleet to turn for home before the race committee made it official.

Day two had exactly the same forecast. Kai jumped from Kimball in 1523 to Peter in 1572, and Douglas and Mark were replaced by Katie and Harry in 1557. The start for race 1 was at Peacock, racing to John Davis. The move was to start on port and hit the Thorney shore as hard as possible while going outside the red post.

Pamela lined up for the port end too early, bottled it, and started on starboard. Waiting 100m to tack onto port left Pamela 200m behind Katie, Peter, and the Gladmans. The Pascals went left and out the back. Pamela overhauled everyone except Katie. On the second beat Kai dropped the mainsheet on 1572 after a tack directly behind Pamela. Peter got the boat up fast and banged up the John's Folly channel to take second place.

Race two was similar strategically, except the wind was building up the course and the tide turned by the end of the beat. The Gladmans fouled Katie trying while trying a port flyer, leading to a quick capsize at go. Pamela led over to the Thorney shore, with the Pascals, and Peter chasing, Katie menacingly appearing in the channel with more wind, but the last of the adverse tide.

Peter snuck inside at the John's Folly channel again, with the Pascals ran hard aground and Pamela being forced to grind and bounce out while Katie rolled into a lead while the rest of the fleet were faffing. Peter popped out well and Pamela struggled with weed on the board for the rest of the lap.

Katie and Peter had a ding dong the whole way around the course, with Peter and Kai rolling past on the long run to the Gallon line, meaning youth programme sailor Kai has won races in different boats across the last two weekends. Not bad for someone who only started sailing the boat a month ago! Especially rolling past a former PoW winner.

If you would like to crew a 14 at Itchenor and have trapeze experience please reach out to the class by joining this WhatsApp group. There are still boats looking for crew for the Nationals at the end of June.

Race winners Douglas and Mark, Katie and Harry, Peter and Kai.

The series continues all summer. Next up the Bull trophy on the 30th/31st of May.

Stericker Results so far: