International 14 World Championship Final Series - Brits lead

by Neil Patchett on 8 Jan 2010 CST Composites International 14 Class World Championship Final Series – Day One.

Archie Massey and crew Dan Wilsdon won race one of the Final Series in the Gold fleet today in a 5-10knot sou’easter sailed out of North Harbour, Sydney.

Wilsdon said it took them a while to get it together as they had duck a bunch of boats out of the start. But once the black boat Gill Carbon Express got a break it never let go of the lead.

The defending world champion Massey showed plenty of class in a race held in a fading breeze or as former champion Rob Greenhalgh of Great Britain simply put it: 'Archie sailed well today, really well.'

But Massey and Wilsdon did not have it all their own way and were kept under pressure from the Canadians Andrew McCorquodale and crew Rob Paterson in Orange Whip. Paterson said it was their best sail of the regatta so far and that the boat is 'feeling pretty good. We have good boat speed at the moment'.

'That was a good race today … we seem to be going just as well in the light as in the heavy,' Paterson said. 'The boat feels really dialed in.'

Former world champion Greenhalgh and crew Phil Harmer in Smash it finished third today after having to battle up through the fleet and deal with the sometimes fickle breeze.

'We had opportunities and had to work hard at changing gears as the wind decreased,' he said.

Greenhalgh may have had to fight hard for his third place today but he was full of praise for the venue sailed from the Manly skiff club in North Harbour, Sydney. 'This is an excellent venue and we are getting great courses.'

Those courses are being delivered by a race committee led by former champion sailor Peter 'Snubby' Moor who has had the challenge of fitting in the 109-boat fleet, albeit in two fleets, to the confines of Sydney Harbour and its traffic.

British sailors Roger Gilbert and Ben McGrane finished in fourth, followed by Australians Mark Krstic and Andrew Wilson.

In the Silver Fleet, Anthony Haines and Kevin George (GBR) were first today followed by countrymen Chris Kameen and Doug Walker, and then Germany’s Axel Reinsch and Felix Weidling.

Racing continues on 8 January out of Manly, Sydney Harbour.

Provisional Results 7 January

Gold Fleet
1, Gill Carbon Express (Massey/Wilsdon, Great Britain) pts 3; 2, Too Late to Stop Now (Krstic/Wilson, Aus) 7; 3, Smash it! (Greenhalgh/Harmer, Great Britain) 7; 4, Seldon (Gilbert/McGrane, Great Britain) 9; 5, WSI – Internet (Partingtons, Great Britain) 13.

Silver Fleet
1, Alpha Plus UK (Haines/George, Great Britain) 71pts; 2, Scribble (Kameen/Walker, Great Britain) 74; 3, Goldfinger (Reinsch/Weildling, Germany) 75.

More info including full race results are at www.i14worlds.com