Oceanair International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week at Hayling overall

by Mark Jardine on 20 Jun 2016 After the drama of the Prince of Wales Cup on Saturday, and the first ever female helm winning the famous trophy, the conclusion of International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week could have been a bit of a damp squib, but in the end it was anything but, with the breeze finally arriving and the top three ending up separated by a single point in the overall standings.

Stu Bithell and Sam Pascoe started the day clear at the top after a blistering performance in the Weymouth Town Trophy on Friday, but the strong winds were to bite 2012 Olympic Silver medallist Stu with his lack of time in the class, 'It was interesting! We had good speed in the breeze but with the limited time I've had in the boat I was a little bit rusty on the handling, so going round the corners proved to be a bit tricky in Hayling Bay! We had a little swim at the bottom of the run in the first race while we were in the lead and we had another swim in the second race at the top of the second beat where we were either first or second. A few mistakes really which in this fleet is quite costly.'

In the end Stu and Sam just stayed ahead of the charging Roger Gilbert and Ben McGrane who had two bullets on Sunday. We spoke to Ben after the racing, 'There was a bit more breeze today and it was quite bumpy out there which made the boat handling harder. It's always been the conditions that we've gone better in - the boat's a bit more suited to it and we just had a good day really. Stu and Sam were still looking pretty quick if they could have kept it upright! It's a big part of 14 sailing and nice to see that Stu can't just jump in every boat and sail it perfectly at first attempt!'

Third overall went to Archie Massey and Harvey Hillary who finished on equal points with Roger and Ben. Archie was philosophical after a jib sheet snapped in the penultimate race when they were leading by 100 yards and took the wrong course in the final race, 'We dropped a place because of that and then lashed it between races two inches from the track and that was our setting for the final race which is not really ideal. Then, because we were playing on the foredeck between races, we didn't see the course change. It's still been an awesome week and it was great to be back on the pace - particularly in chop.'

Archie and Harvey are sailing a decade old 14 and have a new hull in build which has some radical features, 'We're using our old ship for the worlds as it's a safe bet, but the most radical thing on our new Cuckoo's Nest design is that our gantry can slide fore and aft on a track - in light winds or windy weather we can bring the rudder right under the hull and in windy conditions we can put it way back so we don't sink the transom so much when we put it in negative mode. Otherwise it's really, really low volume and that's a huge risk to be perfectly honest - it's an untried hull design.'

We asked Stu about the feeling of winning Prince of Wales Cup Week but not the one-race National Championship, 'It's quite odd really - I came here knowing that the main event is one race. It's a little bit disappointing having not won that. We know we've not won the week even though we have won the week if that makes any sense!'

Harken UK's Ben McGrane is in favour of the one-race concept saying, 'I think it's all quite good really. I think it opens it up a bit to more people potentially winning it. I think it carries a lot of prestige, it's held in high regard and I don't think there's any will to do things any differently. I've won the week and also won the PoW Cup before and it's nice to win both of them. I've had some proper battles in the PoW race and I think that makes it quite special. It's a different way of doing it but it's not necessarily a bad way of doing it - it's fun.'

Archie Massey agreed, 'It's always a very exciting race. I don't want to change it!'

Stu Bithell was hugely enthusiastic about the 14s, 'They're brilliant boats, brilliant people, they really are at the top end of development and technology. It's a good fleet and very exciting. I hope I'll be back for more. Obviously when Glen gets fit he'll be back in his boat (Glen Truswell broke his foot before the championship and Stu stepped in to helm his boat) but I'd love to come back and have another stab at it.'

The 2016 International 14 World Championship will be held at the Yacht Club de Carnac in France from 25th August to 2nd September.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	155	Stuart Bithell	Sam Pascoe	Castle Cove SC	1	2	1	-4	3	7
2nd	1541	Roger Gilbert	Ben McGrane	Hayling Island SC	-5	4	2	1	1	8
3rd	1519	Archie Massey	Harvey Hillary	Itchenor SC	2	1	3	2	-4	8
4th	1555	Neale Jones	Ed FitzGerald	Itchenor SC	3	6	-9	3	2	14
5th	1560	Dave Dobrijevic	Chris Thomas	HISC	6	9	-10	5	5	25
6th	1543	Andrew Peake	Graeme Oliver	Wilsonian SC	8	7	4	11	(DNF)	30
7th	1548	Julian Pearson	Matt Reid	Orford SC	7	8	7	-13	11	33
8th	1544	Ed Browne	Mark Tait	Hayling Island SC	-12	10	12	6	7	35
9th	1559	Andrew Partington	Tom Partington	Hayling Island SC	4	3	5	(DNF)	DNC	42
10th	1546	Charles Duchesne	Tom Bracewell	Itchenor SC	(DNC)	12	17	7	6	42
11th	1523	Kimball Morrison	Jeremy Fowke	Itchenor SC	14	11	-16	9	9	43
12th	1527	Philip McDanell	Luke Boughton	Itchenor SC	11	-16	15	8	12	46
13th	1557	Katie Nurton	Nigel Ash	RYS	9	5	6	(DNF)	DNC	50
14th	1512	Steve Fisher	Andy Ramus	Hayling Island SC	21	(DNF)	14	17	8	60
15th	1530	Andy FitzGerald	Richard Dobson	Itchenor SC	(DNC)	DNC	8	16	10	64
16th	1531	Andrew Penman	Chris Watson	Itchenor SC	19	14	19	12	(DNC)	64
17th	1529	Robin Pascal	Martin Pascal	Itchenor SC	17	15	18	19	(DNC)	69
18th	1532	Adrian Williams	Andy Brown	Hayling Island SC	15	13	22	20	(DNC)	70
19th	1520	Paul Jenkins	Peter Jenkins	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	18	17	21	14	(DNC)	70
20th	1499	Christina Bassadone	Damian Ash	Itchenor SC	16	(DNF)	11	15	DNF	72
21st	1552	Andy Shaw	Adam Lees	Itchenor SC	10	(DNC)	13	DNC	DNC	83
22nd	1517	George Yeoman	Jack Yeoman	Itchenor SC	13	(DNC)	20	DNF	DNC	93
23rd	1488	Dominic van Essen	Simona Saccani	Itchenor SC	22	19	23	(DNC)	DNC	94
24th	1549	Martin Jones	Ian Swann	HISC	(DNC)	DNC	27	10	DNF	97
25th	1550	Tom Watkins	Isabella Watkins	Itchenor SC	(DNC)	18	24	DNF	DNC	102
26th	1554	Peter Crockford	Jack Elsby-Hartman	Restronguet SC	20	(DNC)	25	DNF	DNC	105
27th	150	M Thomson	Hugh Mclean	Itchenor SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	18	DNF	108
28th	1524	Conway Parke	Robert Masterman	HISC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	21	DNF	111
29th	1489	Alasdair Cattanach	Paul Anderson	Prestwick SC	(DNC)	DNC	26	DNC	DNC	116