International 14 World Championship 2026 at Kingston, Ontario, Canada - Day 5
by James Cunnison 27 Aug 19:45 BST
18-19 August 2026
Four races done, and with a discard Andy Shaw and Rob Struckett are leading counting a 2,1,1, Glen Truswell and Ed 'McEnroe' Fitzgerald have a 1,1,2. This sets up a three race shoot out for the title, with Glen & Ed discarding a 9th. You come half way round the world, and race your neighbour on the stage at Itchenor.
The course for the day was W5, Sausage, Triangle, Sausage, Triangle, Sausage, beat to finish.
Is that a fish covered in fake tan? No, it was a vertically challenged 'Zog' (Adam Ovington and Stu Keegan) retying their trapeze wires before the start. The lofty heights of the podium ensuring they were "checking over everything", even on the start line!
It set them up nicely. Off the line out the middle, pull the trigger, sploosh! There went Zog's other trap wire. Remember the 5Ps lads!
We started above a US boat, which is always a mistake as they run the gybing daggerboard hard and point straight upwind very slowly.
Tacking out we found ourselves out right, with Andy & Rob launched up ahead. Glen & Ed looked great out left. With enormous leverage on the course it could have been either side. At the top it looked to be the Red Rocket, 'Chilli con Carbon', GER 10 (Basti "Mr Tiki Bar" and Pilski "the German submarine"), but after a couple of shifts, the first kite was the blue of Glen & Ed. Chilli hit the mark and span, setting up a ding dong with Andy & Rob.
The racing was incredibly close and testing, from fully lit up and twin wiring to a wobbly stall in the chop. Lots of close personal battles went on, as the gears changed and one boat or another found a mode. The 14 is great for finding gears as the wind moves, having an adjustable rig really helps when the wind drops.
Some very tight triangle legs saw heroic high modes and ludicrous teabagging. The boats were a lot closer together after 10 days of hard sailing.
At the bottom of the 5th beat the young Germans led, sailing a Bieker 5 that must be as old as they are, looking very tricked out with lovely sails. The German fleet has a bright future, with their second place a record in the team racing.
Andy & Rob were second and slammed tacks on Glen & Ed. A true America's Cup style ding dong. The B6 (Andy & Rob) is a good tacking boat, showing its mobility over the Hollom (Glen & Ed). The Germans split and lost out. Andy & Rob won, Glen & Ed second.
Two days left and a single point separates the top 2. Stu and Adam on Zog climbed back to 25, having kept their noses clean so far they sit third overall as they can discard the latest race, an all Brit podium. The Canadians Lauren Laventure & Jason Lemieux, Olympians Mariah Millen & Justin Barnes, and Haywire and Andreas Koelchi and Basti Pruter & Philipp Kastell are chomping at the bit to break up the British love in, and it's a big day forecast for Thursday's penultimate race.
Two more races to come, you can follow along on www.instagram.com/international.14 or www.instagram.com/corkkingston