Pathfinder Homes B14 National Championship 2026 at Mumbles Yacht Club - Day 1

Pathfinder Homes B14 Nationals at Mumbles Day 1 © Joe Furneaux

The B14 Nationals is being hosted by the very hospitable Mumbles Yacht Club with a plentiful supply of bacon butties to prepare the fleet for the windiest day of the Champs.

With very little wind forecast for the weekend, the race officer was keen to bang in 4 races but unfortunately the wind didn't play.

A big right hand-shift on the 1st beat of the opening race meant the B14 Goat Barnsie & Jack Kilburn laid the windward mark in one and led from start to finish. Nick Craig crewed by newbie to a B14 Pete Gray pulled through to 2nd with Pete handling the kite like an experienced B14 pro, he's done a bit of other sailing! Paul Taylor & Lucy Loughton were outlarded on the downwind which had now become a close reech to finish 3rd. Ben Cutler-Sharp & Tesni King, Simon & Nickki Hadley and Gerri & Leaky Fermor were not far behind

The wind had gone further right and unstable for race 2. The race officer presciently mentioned that the wind is never good in this direction. We made it the to windward mark in the same time it took to complete race 1 with the wind then evaporating to nothing. The race was abandoned when it was evident that going downwind without a kite was faster than with!

The wind continued to misbehave so after a couple of hours, the fleet were sent home for early showers. Once the covers were on, the forecast 10-12 knots came in nicely!

Tonight is quiz night with the bar already open and a helms vs. crews team being planned, you can find out tomorrow how many points the helms win by!

Results after Day 1: