Guy Bancroft and Nick Darlow take B14 World Title

by Peter Campbell on 10 Jan 2009
Australian sailor Guy Bancroft has won the B14 World Championship after a third and a second at his two previous attempts, success coming today at the end of a difficult and hard-fought series on Hobart’s Derwent River. The British team Mark Barnes and Pete Nicholson took out second place after a count back from Tasmanians Nick Richardson and Alan Nicholas.

Bancroft won the B14 Worlds after a third and a second at his two previous attempts. The 51-year-old stalwart of the B14 skiffs, a scaled-down version of the famous Sydney 18-footers, clinched victory with a fourth and a second place in the last heats of the 10 race series sailed out of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

Guy Bancroft finished the Worlds with a consistent scorecard that saw Slybone only twice worse than fifth in the ten heats to finish on 24 points, well clear of the top British boat Seavolution, sailed by Mark Barnes and Pete Nicholson from Whitstable Yacht Club in England on 35 points.

Bancroft and his crew, Nick Darlow, sailing Sly Bone from the McRae Yacht Club on Victoria’s Port Phillip, won the Australian championships last week and, after some ups and downs, won the World Championship from a fleet of 50 skiffs, including 11 boats from Great Britain.

The former International 14 class dinghy sailor has been racing the exhilarating B14 skiff for the past five for six years, firstly with his son Rhys as crew and this year with Nick Darlow. Rhys this year sailed his own boat, Bonework, with Joey Randall as crew, finishing eighth overall and first under 25 years competitor.

Guy Bancroft finished the Worlds with a consistent scorecard that saw Slybone only twice worse than fifth in the ten heats to finish on 24 points, well clear of the top British boat Seavolution, sailed by Mark Barnes and Pete Nicholson from Whitstable Yacht Club in England on 35 points.

The British team took out second place after a countback from Tasmanians Nick Richardson and Alan Nicholas, sailing Pigs Arse, from the Wynyard Yacht Club. They also finished on 35 points but under the countback system the Brits had had two wins, the Tasmanians one.

Fourth overall went to another McRae YC crew, Dave Lorimer and Raf Heale who sailed Toxic to a third and a first place in today’s final races.

British crew filled the next three places – Chris Bines and Dave Gibbons in Quinta Raddison Ltd placing fifth, Nick Craig and Matt Johnson in Team Gill sixth and Mark Watts and George Morris in Simmons & Simmons placing seventh.

Of the other Tasmanian boats, Aviva, sailed by Simon Morgan and Drew Latham from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, placed a creditable 13th overall and second Youth (under 25 year old crew) while Tamar Yacht Club Commodore Richard Fisher and his crew Stuart McDonnell, finished 17th overall in Bugger the Bone.

B14 2009 World Championship - Final overall results

1 AUS778 Guy Bancroft Nick Darlow Sly Bone 1 4 3 25 4 2 4 11 4 2 24 pts
2 GBR768 Mark Barnes Pete Nicholson Seavolution 5 1 12.5 8 1 5 8 5 2 17 35 pts
3 AUS372 Nick Richardson Alan Nicholas Pigs Arse 6 2 16 1 3 3 11 7 5 8 35 pts
4 AUS374 Dave Lorimer Raf Heale Toxic 8 5 5 9 6 7 5 14 3 1 40 pts
5 GBR775 Chris Bines Dave Gibbons Quinta Raddison Ltd 33 12 1 11 2 10 2 9 7 6 48 pts
6 GBR773 Nick Craig Matt Johnson Team Gill 3 7 12.5 10 51 11 6 2 14 3 54.5 pts
7 GBR772 Mark Watts George Morris Simmons & Simmons 7 9 11 4 10 12 1 8 15 51 62 pts
8 AUS7 Rhys Bancroft (Y) Joey Randell Bonework 9 3 4 7 51 17 9 12 6 12 62 pts
9 AUS379 Chris Bibby Scott Cunningham Last Gasp 16 18 2 3 11 20 14 16 1 5 68 pts
10 AUS368 Richie Reynolds Lissa McMillan The Nude 15 10 17 6 5 15 3 1 51 51 72 pts
11 GBR757 David Hayes Sean Dwyer MJF/North 17 17 6 18 51 1 10 4 16 11 82 pts
12 AUS371 Kieran Livermore Jonathan Branch bangbang 10 6 14 24 7 8 26 6 11 51 86 pts
13 AUS137 Simon Morgan (Y) Drew Latham Aviva 11 14 9 2 17 14 28 18 19 10 95 pts
14 GBR758 Tim Harrison Jonathan Ratcliffe Anthill Mob 25 13 7 5 51 4 22 17 12 20 100 pts
15 AUS370 Ian Cunningham David Cunningham The Plumbers 13 11 10 27 51 13 18 15 10 15 105 pts
16 GBR763 Alan Davis Toby Barsley-Dale Hyde Sails 2 16 24 17 9 19 12 23 22 9 106 pts
17 AUS357 Richard Fisher Stuart McDonnell Buggar The Bone 14 19 8 19 51 24 16 25 13 14 127 pts
18 GBR770 Simon Hadley Nikki Webster Compact Pussycat 12 26 21 14 8 23 21 13 18 51 130 pts
19 AUS363 Ben Price (Y) Jim Morgan Just In Time 4 28 28 15 51 6 13 19 51 26 139 pts
20 GBR777 Chris Turner Phil Eltringham Dynamic Ovington Boats 28 21 15 13 51 27 33 24 9 7 144 pts
21 AUS359 Chris Wells Dianne Maynard Epic 18 8 19 51 16 21 25 30 17 21 145 pts
22 AUS375 Peter Ray Karen Branch Octopussy 27 22 23 30 51 16 7 3 24 25 147 pts
23 AUS369 Adrian Beswick (Y) Josh Phillips Strait4devils Budget 23 15 34 31 22 28 36 10 8 16 153 pts
24 AUS376 Sophie Hunt Andrew Payne Hunt Leather 21 23 25 29 12 30 17 27 25 4 154 pts
25 AUS353 Andre Webster Jacob Webster Dodge A Bullet 19 27 26 20 15 36 20 21 20 51 168 pts
26 GBR760 Geraldine Brown Leaky Fermor On Purpose 24 29 20 34 51 9 24 20 31 19 176 pts
27 AUS366 Cole Dabner Rob Moreton The Cunning Plan 32 30 35 12 19 26 29 33 21 13 182 pts
28 AUS151 James Patterson (Y) James Huggett The George 20 24 22 23 23 29 19 22 51 51 182 pts
29 AUS378 Kelvin Boyle Josh Fullenger Siren 31 25 18 32 13 22 23 29 51 51 193 pts
30 AUS377 Ross Daley John Genders Early Warning 29 20 33 22 51 34 15 35 28 18 199 pts
31 AUS182 Simon Baker (Y) Aaron Ellis Power Play 26 41 36 51 14 18 32 32 30 27 215 pts
32 AUS356 Daniel Watson Derek Schaefer B-Sting 39 36 29 16 26 35 38 38 26 24 230 pts
33 AUS226 Gavin Barwick (Y) Simon Legge Esra Tew 34 51 37 33 20 31 27 26 51 23 231 pts
34 AUS152 John Tanton Benn Morgan Not Just Yet 30 43 44 28 18 25 35 34 29 51 242 pts
35 AUS159 William Short Alan Short Partic Nasty Weather 22 34 31 37 24 39 37 37 34 28 247 pts
36 AUS155 Gemma Meincke Danielle McKay Zone 40 35 41 21 21 32 30 28 51 51 248 pts
37 AUS250 Tim Grant Stuart Grant B Alert 38 31 40 26 25 37 42 39 32 51 268 pts
38 AUS367 Stephen Miller Caitlyn Druery Phantom 51 51 51 51 28 33 34 31 23 22 273 pts
39 AUS355 Stephen Mitchell Amy Van Galen Bondi Tram 51 32 32 51 27 41 40 36 27 51 286 pts
40 AUS361 David Cromarty (Y) Cameron Gibson Smokin' 51 37 27 36 31 38 41 40 51 51 301 pts
41 AUS181 Timothy Starkey Mathieu Mongin The Edge 37 40 38 38 33 42 46 44 51 51 318 pts
42 AUS290 Peter Fox Mick Hawes Serious Yahoo 36 39 51 51 32 45 31 41 51 51 326 pts
43 AUS103 Luke Cripps Sam Cannamela Blow Me 51 45 45 39 30 47 49 47 33 51 335 pts
44 AUS104 Benjamin Zamstra Peter Coad Austral Asia Line 51 38 39 51 34 43 39 43 51 51 338 pts
45 GBR728 Trevor Harris Lucy Walter Hey Ho, Here We Go 51 42 42 51 29 40 43 42 51 51 340 pts
46 AUS280 Craig Macaulay Louise Macaulay B+ 35 33 30 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 353 pts
47 AUS313 Shaun Hancock Sam Lowe Bring It On 51 51 51 35 35 44 44 45 51 51 356 pts
48 AUS354 Michael Semelbauer John Semelbauer Bounce 51 46 51 51 36 49 45 48 51 51 377 pts
49 AUS299 Geoff Waldon Rick Boughton Hurricane 51 44 43 51 51 48 47 46 51 51 381 pts
50 AUS362 Roger Board Alex Board Shmoo 51 51 51 51 37 46 48 49 51 51 384 pts