Oceanair International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week at Hayling - Day 2

by Mark Jardine and Angus Peel on 18 Jun 2016 A three race mini-series was sailed on Friday at Oceanair International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week with the combined result counting as race three in the overall standings. Stuart Bithell and Sam Pascoe dominated the day with straight firsts to emphatically win the Weymouth Town Trophy.

We spoke to Sam Pascoe after the racing, 'It doesn't get much better does it? It was a changeable day - we started off with a Westerly of around 10-12 knots, having floated out there in nothing. The wind came in with one rain cloud and the race officer did a spectacular job to get one quick race in that breeze and it dropped off right towards the end. The wind then swung round 90 degrees to the south and we started the second race in eight knots and it picked up to 12 knots again in the last race.'

On the differences that contributed towards their flawless day Sam said, 'Flat water always helps our boat, we do struggle a bit more in the chop and that can neutralise the speed difference that we've got - our boat definitely likes the flat water. We also had three cracking starts - Stu got us off the start line first pretty much every time.'

Ladies of the International 14 fleet

We talked to Christina Bassadone, who sails with crew Damian Ash about the challenges of sailing an International 14, 'I absolutely love it, it's such an awesome boat to sail. I think I'm quite lucky being at the back of the boat as it's not as physically demanding and I don't have to bust it in the gym quite as much as Damian! I love the boat, I love the speed - it makes sailing enjoyable again after flogging it in the back of a 470 for a number of years. It's a fun boat and there are lots of great people in the class.'

On whether other ladies should come into the International 14 fleet Christina said, 'That's a difficult question to answer. I'm reasonably tall and reasonably strong so I don't find it perhaps as physically demanding as maybe someone who might be 5'2' for example. It suits my style of sailing as I like more physical boats and I like the challenge. You need to have strength to do it, without a doubt, but not nearly as much as you need in the front of the boat.'

Katie Nurton, who sails with Damian's brother Nigel, said, 'It's more about being a bit lighter than being a girl in the fleet - in some conditions we feel a little bit underweight and we're not as competitive. It took me a very long time to get good in windy weather - I was very cautious and took it step-by-step. We didn't go out when it was out of our comfort zone very much, I think some of the men are a bit more gung-ho.'

'I don't know why there aren't more girls, I think it could be because the boat is a bit intimidating, but I think that's more of a mental thing than a physical thing - you don't need to be very strong to helm a 14. At the last Worlds in the top ten the range of helm weights was from 60 to 115 kilos so that just shows you the range of sailors who can be competitive in a 14 if you find the right person to sail with.'

On how she got into the International 14 fleet in the first place Katie said, '15 years ago I was living in a house share in Lymington with two 14 sailors who basically said I had to get a 14, so I did. I'd never trapezed before and they kept setting me up with these massive 100kg blokes who were not very coordinated and just too big and not very agile, so I was really wondering if I'd made a terrible mistake. Then Damian, who I knew, said I've got this brother who's done a lot of windsurfing but has never really sailed, but he's very athletic. So I said we'd give it a try and that was that really!'

Sam Pascoe mentioned that Katie is known as the 'Queen of Bimble', to which Katie replied, 'I'm not actually a natural person for that, I've just kind of grown into it I suppose, and learnt to enjoy it! Nigel is the one who makes sure we're super-focused on the water while I do the off-the-water details.'

We asked Sam about Katie's day on the water, 'Katie had a glamorous second race today - it was good to see her back to her best. Her new boat looks beautiful and when I joined the class she came third in the worlds in conditions quite like we had today. She's now got the same hull shape as us and sailed around Archie (Massey) and Ben (McGrane) to take second in that race which was brilliant to watch.'

Weymouth Town Trophy Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	155	Stuart Bithell	Sam Pascoe	Castle Cove SC	1	1	1	3
2nd	1541	Roger Gilbert	Ben McGrane	Hayling Island SC	2	4	3	9
3rd	1519	Archie Massey	Harvey Hillary	Itchenor SC	4	3	6	13
4th	1543	Andrew Peake	Graeme Oliver	Wilsonian SC	3	9	4	16
5th	1559	Andrew Partington	Tom Partington	Hayling Island SC	5	11	2	18
6th	1557	Katie Nurton	Nigel Ash	RYS	9	2	7	18
7th	1548	Julian Pearson	Matt Reid	Orford SC	11	5	5	21
8th	1530	Andy FitzGerald	Richard Dobson	Itchenor SC	8	6	10	24
9th	1555	Neale Jones	Ed FitzGerald	Itchenor SC	7	10	8	25
10th	1560	Dave Dobrijevic	Chris Thomas	HISC	6	12	9	27
11th	1499	Christina Bassadone	Damian Ash	Itchenor SC	10	8	15	33
12th	1544	Ed Browne	Mark Tait	Hayling Island SC	15	7	14	36
13th	1552	Andy Shaw	Adam Lees	Itchenor SC	14	13	12	39
14th	1512	Steve Fisher	Andy Ramus	Hayling Island SC	12	14	17	43
15th	1527	Philip McDanell	Luke Boughton	Itchenor SC	23	15	11	49
16th	1523	Kimball Morrison	Jeremy Fowke	Itchenor SC	13	20	16	49
17th	1546	Charles Duchesne	Tom Bracewell	Itchenor SC	19	23	13	55
18th	1529	Robin Pascal	Martin Pascal	Itchenor SC	16	18	21	55
19th	1531	Andrew Penman	Chris Watson	Itchenor SC	18	17	20	55
20th	1517	George Yeoman	Jack Yoeman	Itchenor SC	22	16	18	56
21st	1520	Paul Jenkins	Peter Jenkins	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	17	21	19	57
22nd	1532	Adrian Williams	Andy Brown	Hayling Island SC	20	19	23	62
23rd	1488	Dominic van Essen	Simona Saccani	Itchenor SC	21	25	24	70
24th	1550	Tom Watkins	Isabella Watkins	Itchenor SC	25	24	22	71
25th	1554	Peter Crockford	Jack Elsby-Hartman	Restronguet SC	26	22	DNC	76
26th	1489	Alasdair Cattanach	Paul Anderson	Prestwick SC	24	DNF	DNF	80
27th	1549	Martin Jones	Ian Swann	HISC	DNF	DNC	DNC	84

Prince of Wales Cup Week Results after Day 2: (Race three is the overall result for the Weymouth Town Trophy)

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	155	Stuart Bithell	Sam Pascoe	Castle Cove SC	1	2	1	4
2nd	1519	Archie Massey	Harvey Hillary	Itchenor SC	2	1	3	6
3rd	1541	Roger Gilbert	Ben McGrane	Hayling Island SC	5	4	2	11
4th	1559	Andrew Partington	Tom Partington	Hayling Island SC	4	3	5	12
5th	1555	Neale Jones	Ed FitzGerald	Itchenor SC	3	6	9	18
6th	1543	Andrew Peake	Graeme Oliver	Wilsonian SC	8	7	4	19
7th	1557	Katie Nurton	Nigel Ash	RYS	9	5	6	20
8th	1548	Julian Pearson	Matt Reid	Orford SC	7	8	7	22
9th	1560	Dave Dobrijevic	Chris Thomas	HISC	6	9	10	25
10th	1544	Ed Browne	Mark Tait	Hayling Island SC	12	10	12	34
11th	1523	Kimball Morrison	Jeremy Fowke	Itchenor SC	14	11	16	41
12th	1527	Philip McDanell	Luke Boughton	Itchenor SC	11	16	15	42
13th	1532	Adrian Williams	Andy Brown	Hayling Island SC	15	13	22	50
14th	1529	Robin Pascal	Martin Pascal	Itchenor SC	17	15	18	50
15th	1552	Andy Shaw	Adam Lees	Itchenor SC	10	DNC	13	51
16th	1531	Andrew Penman	Chris Watson	Itchenor SC	19	14	19	52
17th	1499	Christina Bassadone	Damian Ash	Itchenor SC	16	DNF	11	55
18th	1520	Paul Jenkins	Peter Jenkins	Eastbourne Sovereign SC	18	17	21	56
19th	1546	Charles Duchesne	Tom Bracewell	Itchenor SC	DNC	12	17	57
20th	1517	George Yeoman	Jack Yoeman	Itchenor SC	13	DNC	20	61
21st	1512	Steve Fisher	Andy Ramus	Hayling Island SC	21	DNF	14	63
22nd	1530	Andy FitzGerald	Richard Dobson	Itchenor SC	DNC	DNC	8	64
23rd	1488	Dominic van Essen	Simona Saccani	Itchenor SC	22	19	23	64
24th	1550	Tom Watkins	Isabella Watkins	Itchenor SC	DNC	18	24	70
25th	1554	Peter Crockford	Jack Elsby-Hartman	Restronguet SC	20	DNC	25	73
26th	1489	Alasdair Cattanach	Paul Anderson	Prestwick SC	DNC	DNC	26	82
27th	1549	Martin Jones	Ian Swann	HISC	DNC	DNC	27	83