B14s at Weymouth and Portland SA

by Mark Barnes on 15 Jul 2008 The fourth round of the B14’s travellers’ circuit was held on 12 - 13 July at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. Twenty B14s attended with close racing throughout. David Hayes and Sean Dwyer, MJF North/Sails, won the event with a race to spare, but the next three places were up for grabs in the final race.

Saturday dawned with light but increasing winds as the day went on. The RO reported an average wind strength of 15 knots, but most of the fleet felt that he must have started taking readings very early in the morning for this to be the case!

By the end of the day the relatively flat water of Portland harbour was giving the B14s a great ride both upwind and down.

Race 1, MJF/North Sails (Dave Hayes/Sean Dwyer) hit hard right, starting on port, ducking the transoms of nearly all the fleet. They were the only boat to head hard right and were rewarded with a comfortable lead. Coming in from the left Seavolution/Blue Marine (Mark Barnes/Pete Nicholson) led the pack but were unable to catch MJF/North sails which held the lead to the finish.

Race 2 MJF/North tried the same tactic and it didn’t work quite so well. Buzz Wagon (Mark Pollard/Richard Hingston) led comfortably at the windward mark and extended their lead over the course of the race. The chasing pack led by Simmons&Simmons (Mark Watts/Kathy Sherratt), Acxiom (Mark Emmett/Allan Stuart), Marlow Ropes (Chris Bines/Dave Gibbons) and MJF/North Sails. The Buzz Wagon held on to win with MJF/North Sails pulling through to second and Simmons&Simmons third.

Races 3 and 4 followed a similar pattern with MJF/North Sails forgoing the front line start to hit hard right and pulling out a lead followed by Acxiom and the Anthill Mob (Tim Harrison/Jonny Radcliffe). Races 3 and 4, MJF/North Sails won from Seavolution/Blue Marine followed by Acxiom in race 3 and Simmons&Simmons in race 4.

Overnight MJF/North Sails led with three bullets, Seavolution/Blue Marine on three seconds and Simmons&Simmons in third with three thirds.

Sunday dawned with light winds. With the first race starting on time, several of the fleet failed to make the start on time. Things were much more mixed at the windward mark this time with the Anthill Mob, though losing the lead several times holding out to show the fleet the way round. With the rest of the fleet closely matched, places were to change with real snakes and ladders. In race 5 the big loser at the last mark was Marlow Ropes, resulting in them going from 4th to 8th. At the finish the Anthill Mob won from Simmons&Simmons and MJF North/Sails.

With one discard, MJF North/Sails, won the event but the next three places were up for grabs.

Race 6 and Hyde Sails (Alan Davis/Toby Barsley-Dale) took up the lead leading out to the middle right with the bulk of the fleet working hard left or hard right. They built a lead which they held to the finish watching a real dogfight develop astern of them. The Anthill Mob did enough to pull through to second Followed by Leaky Pipes (Gerry Brown/Leaky Fermor). Simmons&Simmons had done enough to come second with Seavolution/Blue Marine in 3rd.

B14 - Finall overall results

1st 757 David Hayes Sean Dwyer MJF/North Sails Southport 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 3.0 (DNC) 29.0 8.0pts
2nd 772 Mark Watts Kathy Sherratt Simmons&Simmons Weston SC 3.0 3.0 (4.0) 3.0 2.0 4.0 19.0 15.0
3rd 768 Mark Barnes Pete Nicholson Seavolution/Blue Marine Brightlingsea SC Whitstable YC 2.0 5.0 2.0 2.0 (6.0) 6.0 23.0 17.0
4th 758 Tim Harrison Jonny Ratcliffe Anthill Mob Burnham 6.0 6.0 (7.0) 5.0 1.0 2.0 27.0 20.0
5th 761 Mark Emmett Allan Stuart Acxiom RYA 4.0 4.0 3.0 6.0 (12.0) 10.0 39.0 27.0
6th 764 Mark Pollard Richard Hingston Buzz Wagon Starcross (9.0) 1.0 6.0 7.0 9.0 5.0 37.0 28.0
7th 777 Mark Addison Philip Eltringham Ovington Boats Tynmouth SC (12.0) 7.0 8.0 8.0 5.0 9.0 49.0 37.0
8th 760 Geraldine Brown Leaky Fermor Leaky Pipes KGSC 7.0 11.0 13.0 (DNC) 4.0 3.0 59.0 38.0
9th 775 Chris Bines Dave Gibbons Marlow Ropes/Hyde sails Brightlingsea 5.0 (DNC) 5.0 4.0 8.0 DNC 64.0 43.0
10th 774 Piers Lambert Mark Batt 2 RWracks of Port Brightlingsea 10.0 12.0 10.0 11.0 7.0 (14.0) 64.0 50.0
11th 749 Henry Wells Trevor Hills Group WMYC 11.0 10.0 9.0 9.0 13.0 (15.0) 67.0 52.0
12th 762 M Elkington S Game Winged Monkey Starcross 8.0 8.0 (DNC) DNC 11.0 8.0 77.0 56.0
13th 644 Tony Blackmors Charlotte Jones Sailsport Starcross 14.0 9.0 11.0 10.0 (17.0) 15.0 76.0 59.0
14th 672 Steve Hollingsworth Chris Murphy Smack my B** Up Restrongaut SC 13.0 13.0 15.0 12.0 16.0 (DNC) 90.0 69.0
15th 769 Daniel Cowin Rachel Bennett Chattannaga Cho Cho Ely Sailing Club 16.0 15.0 14.0 (DNC) 15.0 11.0 92.0 71.0
16th 770 Simon Hadley Nikki Webster Compact Pussycat Whitstable YC 15.0 14.0 (DNC) DNC 10.0 12.0 93.0 72.0
17th 711 Tim Rush Chris Bishop Rush Sails 1 RYA 17.0 16.0 12.0 (DNC) DNC 7.0 94.0 73.0
18th 763 Allan Davis Toby Barsley-Dale Hyde Sails Weston SC DNC DNC DNC DNC 13.0 1.0 98.0 77.0
19th 678 Barry Price Alistair Storer T Birds King George SC (DNC) 17.0 DNC DNC 18.0 16.0 114.0 93.0
20th 686 Rick Goddard Matt Knowles Rush Sails 2 BCYC (21.0 DNF) DNC DNC DNC DNC 17.0 122.0 97.0

The next TT is at Starcross on the 26 July.