Gul GP14 World Championship at Mount's Bay Sailing Club - Overall

Day 4 - Thursday 02 August 2018

After the Wednesday lay day, and what turned out to be the best day for sailing, we were all itching to get out into what was forecast to be a sunny F3 all day. The morning race clinic with Matt Burge and Simon Potts was well attended while the rest of us tinkered with settings and taped up battered boats in the dinghy park. With the first ever Platinum Fleet having been designated after the first discard kicked in on the Tuesday, we now had green spots (don't ask why green!) on the leading boat of Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe (Burwain SC).

Ross Kearney and Ed Bradburn (RNIYC/South Staffs SC) were the pathfinders for Race 6 with Andrew Clewer and Sarah Collingwood (Poole YC) having the best start and almost looking to round windward first before the wind dropped slightly on the right leaving the door open for Andy Smith and Phil Hodgkins (Bassenthwaite SC). The first reach of this race was probably the best of the regatta. Not exactly screaming but you could at least get on the plane. The positions at the top remained the same throughout with the course proving relatively easy to defend.

Monkey and Sarah celebrating a second place in Race 6 during the Gul GP14 Worlds at Mount's Bay - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

By Race 7 the wind was starting to drop off a little, going from the F3 in Race 6 down to a F2/3. With pathfinder Steve and Jack Bennett (Shustoke SC) on the move the light wind bandits of Neil Marsden and Derek Hill (Blackpool and Fleetwood SC) won with Mike Senior and Chris White (South Staffs SC) in second.

As there had been an unconfirmed hint of a third race just in case the conditions were not suitable to run two tomorrow we hung around and voted with our boats. Sure enough the flag went up and we were to have a third race of the day (Race 8) which was started by pathfinder Ger Owens and Melanie Morris (Royal St George YC).

Now, the GP14s do have a reputation for close, boat on boat racing however it did seem that the RO and dropping F2 winds were determined that we should get closer! Fortunately for myself and Dodge we manged to get around windward in the top fifteen. A quick look behind upon hearing the shouting revealed that the other 100 odd boats all reached it together and parked up. We made extremely slow but steady progress and then started to hear cries and whistles for the safety boat.

Crowded coming into the mark during the Gul GP14 Worlds at Mount's Bay - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

Parked up on the gybe mark, and probably not expecting to be called on, it took a few minutes to alert them. The rescue was required due to an in-boat helm and crew incident. Crew Geoff Edwards had apparently vented his frustration at being rafted on the mark by punching the boom. Unfortunately for helm Nick Deverux, Geoff packs a punch to rival Anthony Joshua and the boom knocked Nick clean out and into the boat. Perhaps it was the fashionable and bushy facial hair the pair have that confused vet Matt Burge into thinking he was back at work but he sailed over to examine the prone Nick. Thankfully for Nick, the emergency vet decided not to take his temperature, possibly owing to the wet suit restricting access. After his short nap Nick was sent to A&E for a check-up and was cleared to sail the next day. The ferocious beast that is Geoff Edwards was rewarded with the daily WOW (Wally of the Worlds) award and sent back to his enclosure to calm down. Matt got redress for his heroics and Mike and Chris won the race.

Thanks must go to our Champagne race sponsors, Creation Covers. Post-race ice creams were provided by Cornish company Callestick Ice Cream, Gibson Sails and Yachts and Yachting Magazine were race sponsors with spot prizes from Optimum Watches and English Braids providing the Buddy Group prize.

Day 5 - Friday 03 August 2018

Going into the last day Mike and Chris had the overnight lead, one point ahead of fellow club mates Ross and Ed. Given the flukey results there was still a mathematical chance of the top seven being able to win it but realistically they were sailing to get into the top six prize winning positions.

There was much speculation about whether there would be a race at all given the light winds and uninspiring forecast but the RO once again managed to get us out there and commendably got all the races in for the regatta.

Richard Abendstern and Izzy Waterfall during the Gul GP14 Worlds at Mount's Bay - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

Ger Owens and Melanie Morris (Royal St George YC) were pathfinder again for the final race of the event (Race 9) and we slowly floated away. The leaders Mike and Chris were first round windward and for the rest of us we all seemed to hit the mark together and with no wind which lead to the inevitable shouting and us all rafted up together again. With a different wind direction and course area to the rest of the week we had a nice view of the shore and mount at all points of the race. For me this was the highlight as we seemed to get caught up in every possible incident at the marks. And then it was all over, a fantastic event at a stunning venue.

Mike Senior and Chris White win the Gul GP14 Worlds at Mount's Bay - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

After the first day of racing, and three races, Mike and Chris were lying fourteenth overall and many had written off their chances of winning this week. They went on to win three races and finish a comfortable ten points ahead of Ross and Ed who had a brilliant event themselves, not managing a race win but had all of their counting results in the top ten. Neil Marsden bettered on his Barbados performance to finish third with the 2016 world champs Shane and Taxi relegated to fourth. Nick Craig came fifth, Matt Burge sixth. Having won a race is unlikely to have dampened the disappointing overall result for national champs Ian and Andy who just had one too many high counting results outside of the top twenty. Their disappointment mirrored that of Mike and Chris' last year when they narrowly lost to them for the Nationals title. The strength and breadth of the competition in the Class will hopefully see them renewed and back in the future to battle it out for the title.

World Champions, Chris White and Mike Senior in the Gul GP14 Worlds at Mount's Bay - photo © Michelle Evans

Other notable mentions go to Gingerboats' Andy Smith and Phil Hodgkins (Bassenthwaite SC) who managed to win two races to finish twelfth overall.

In the Silver Fleet Ciaron and Tim Jones finished an outstanding sixteenth overall, taking a couple of Platinum Fleet scalps. In the Bronze Fleet, George and Neil Meredith got a couple of great results in the twenties and finished first Bronze and fiftieth overall.

Winners of the Silver Fleet, Tim and Ciaron Jones in the Gul GP14 Worlds at Mount's Bay - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

Winners of the Bronze Fleet, George and Neil Meredith in the Gul GP14 Worlds at Mount's Bay - photo © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

Thanks to final race and spot prize sponsor Exe Sails. Overall Buddy group sponsor was West System Resin and Gurasu and Maciej provided the prosecco. In a first for the Class we had fireworks as part of the closing ceremony which were kindly sponsored by Amco Drilling (Richard Instone) and Primal Cure (Steve Bennett). Fuse provided free 4G WiFi all week to the event and tracking was provided by Sailing Southwest/Tracace.

Lady St Leven presented the keeper prizes which were sponsored by Harken, Gul, Craftinsure, Paintcraft, Duffin and Marine 13 with trophies from Gurasu for first lady crew trophy, Ann Penny for all female boat and Laura and Andy Thompson sponsored the Race 9 trophy in honour of their father Ronnie.

Overall Results:

Full list of prize winners, photographs and videos can be found on the GP14 website at www.gp14.org/worlds2018