International 14 European Championships at Travemünder Woche

by Archie Massey on 7 Aug 2014

Right from the off 18-22 knots on the first day, Wednesday, with the forecast not set to change until Saturday at the International 14 European Championship. The water was a black mess, rippling with the small wavelets you get on top of the rolling waves, that you only get when it's nuclear.

Clearly we thought our German friends would call it off... I'm so glad that they didn't though! What a day. Each race was scheduled to be three laps, 30 minute races.

Right from race 1, Archie/Damian ducked the fleet on port aiming for the one tack beat option, learning a trick from the extreme 40s. This proved decisive. Although some port tackers later crossed on the starboard lay, Archie/Damian rounded first and were never challenged, in fact sitting in on each run! Those behind who chased too hard often found themselves in the drink as the wave state was chronic with the occasional vertical backs. Definitely a day to back off a bit. Race 2 went a similar way, with a few more joining in on the port start fun. Dan/Chris sailed a clean 2,2 for the day to sit comfortably second overall.

Race three and four were sailed on the SAP course and the races were even shorter. The spoils went evenly to Glen/Sam and Archie/Damian with a 1,2 each. Again the port tack start proving decisive in each race. Katie/Nigel got a solid third in the first race.

Race five and six were again sailed on the SAP course with live coverage on the big screens. This was because the 505s deemed the SAP course unsuitable for their Nationals, (even though SAP is their principle sponsor), and SAP preferred the adrenaline fuelled 14s. Douglas/Mark came to fore with a 1,2 and Glen/Sam had another solid day with a 4,1. The four was a result of their in-boom sheeting getting stuck. Meanwhile Archie/Damian had a shocker with a 4,10, resulting from a kite-wrap and capsize respectively. The Germans Georg/Eike had an improved day with a 2,3 using their second mast of the week.

So it all came down to the last day with Archie/Damian ahead by four points of Glen/Sam and a further two ahead of Dan/Chris. However the wind was significantly lighter around the 10 knot mark and so it was certainly not a done deal.

In the first race, Glen sailed off to a substantial lead followed by the Peckolt brothers (bronze 49er medallists from Beijing), then Douglas/Tait. Archie/Damian followed in fourth. This meant that whoever won the last race between the top two would win the European Championships.

So... in a touch more wind, the two lead protagonists got off to a clean start, Glen/Sam just failing to roll Archie/Damian coming into the starboard lay line on port. However, they were able to sail around the top mark in first with Douglas/Tait sneaking in between in second. It was looking like race over. But on the reaching legs to the gybe mark, Archie/Damian laid the gybe mark without dropping and then proceeded to extend away from Glen/Sam into the bottom mark. However the race ain't over until the fat lady sings. Glen/Sam put down the throttle and again led at the top mark from Archie/Damian by two boat lengths. Glen/Sam were able to get the first gybe back towards the finish and with the race win were crowned European Champions.

Overall results:

Pos	Sail No	Skipper	Club	Pts
1	GBR 1543	Truswell Glen		15
2	GBR 1519	Massey Archie	Itchenor Sailing Club	16
3	GBR 1544	Pattison Douglas	SC	25
4	GBR 153	Holman Daniel	Bough Beech	29
5	GER 28	Georg BORKENSTEIN	WSCW	32
6	GBR 1520	Nurton Katie	Itchenor SC	46
7	GER 91	Voss Oliver	KYC	50
8	GER 221	Heim Stephan	PBYC	60
9	GER 78	WITTE Jan	SSC	61
10	GER 12	Dirk ROTHER	SVWakenitz	68
11	GER 81	Holste Carmen	WSCW	77
12	GBR 1546	Duchesne Charles	Itchenor Sailing Club	81
13	GER 53	Jan PECKOLT	YCL	86
14	GER 23	Henning UCK	MIYC	88
15	GER 02	Merkel Tobias	FYC	103
16	GER 90	Stefan LAHMER	ASVZR	118
17	GER 218	Bjoern FRASCH	SVW	131
18	GER 230	Axel REINSCH	SVST	141
19	GER 96	Möller Bettina	SSvH	180
20	GER 11	Kai KAHM	svw	197
21	GBR 1508	Smith Colin	Itchenor SC	197
22	GER 180	Meyer Anke	WSCW	200
23	GER 8	Denninger Miriam	STSG	204
24	GER 88	Roocks Peter	SVW	144
25	GER 244	Robert BAUTZ	ASVZR	162
26	GER 20	Kienzler Michael	SVS	180
27	GER 44	Schafft David	SVSS	181
28	GER 14	Bartel Sarah		184
29	GBR 1486	Werner Franziska	ASV z.R.	185
30	GER 154	Preuhsler Thomas	WSCW	186
31	GER 95	Petersen Erik	WSCW	192