International 14 Walker Trophy at Itchenor Sailing Club
by Harvey Hillary 17 Apr 2018 01:27 PDT
14-15 April 2018
The 2018 Walker Trophy took place on the 14th-15th April at Itchenor Sailing Club with 12 entries. Named after US sailing legend and ex 14 sailor Stuart Walker, this classic event on the 14 Calendar historically follows a crew busting 'Super Cup' format with four short course each day with a 15-minute target time.
This year's event started in beautiful spring conditions in Chichester harbour with a light and unstable sea breeze with a strong ebbing tide. The gun team of the year, Neale Jones and Ed FitzGerald starting with a bullet in race 1 followed closely by Douglas Patterson and Mark Tait and the father and son team of Andy and Tom Partington. Pattison and Tait dominated the next 3 races deploying Pamala's 'shift-o-matic' mode to good effect in challenging conditions. Jones and Fitz finished second in races 2 & 3 closely followed by Andy Shaw and Rob Struckett with two strong performances. Dan Holman and Damian Ash finished the day with an excellent second behind Pattison-Tait with Jones and Fitz in 3rd.
Cooler conditions on Sunday gave the fleet 3 more races in a patchy 10knot easterly. Andy and Tom Partington took the battle to Jones and FitzGerald in race 5 with the latter easing clear on the 3rd lap to take another win. Holman and Ash finished third. The Partington's showed that they may be an outside bet for the worlds by winning race 6 with Archie Massey and Harvey Hillary making a appearance in a borrowed boat to take 3rd. Jones and FitzGerald took an easy win in the final race with Massey-Hillary in 2nd and the Partington's 3rd.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Helm & Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 1553 | Scrumpet | Neale Jones & Ed FitzGerald | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 1556 | Helly the Pelly | Dan Holman & Damian Ash | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 22 |
| 3 | 1544 | Pamela | Andy Shaw & Rob Struckett | 6 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 27 |
| 4 | 1559 | TBA | Andy Partington & Tom Partington | 3 | 6 | DNC | DNC | 2 | 1 | 3 | 28 |
| 5 | 1561 | Marilyn | Douglas Pattison & Mark Tait | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | DNC | DNC | DNC | 31 |
| 6 | 1530 | Smash It | Andy FitzGerald & Richard Dobson | 5 | 7 | 4 | 8DNF | 4 | DNF | 6 | 34 |
| 7 | 1546 | Jungle Fire | Charles Duchesne & Adam Ovington | 8 | 4 | 8 | 4 | DNC | 7 | 7 | 38 |
| 8 | 1523 | Tartan Fraulein | Kimball Morrison & Jeremy Fowke | 7 | 9 | 6 | DNC | 7 | 8 | 5 | 42 |
| 9 | 1558 | Dragon | Izzy FitzGerald & Neale Jones | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 6 | 3 | 2 | 50 |
| 10 | 1529 | Pink Flesh | Robin Pascal & Martin Pascal | 9 | 8 | 7 | DNC | 10 | 9 | 10 | 53 |
| 11 | 1527 | Blue Fire | Rich Bone & Luke Boughton | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 8 | 6 | 9 | 62 |
| 12 | 1545 | The Hoff | Jamie Reid & Ed Clay | DNC | DNC | 9 | 6 | 9 | DNF | DNC | 62 |