International 14 Easter Tray at Itchenor Sailing Club

International 14 Easter Tray at Itchenor © ISC

15 International Fourteens attended this year's Easter Tray event at Itchenor Sailing Club over the Bank Holiday weekend. The three-day event is the traditional curtain-raiser for the class and is the first cross for the gun teams with their sights set on the World Championships in August.

Day one was a tight battle between POW winners Glenn Truswell & Ed Fitzgerald and current world champions Archie Massey & Harvey Hillary. Both teams were evenly matched over three windward-leeward races, with Massey & Hillary finishing the day on top with a 1,2,1. Behind Douglas Pattison & Mark Tait were locked in a three-way battle with Andy Fitzgerald & Richard Dobson, and Katie Nurton crewed by Cam Tweedle.

Day 2 and Olympic hopeful and ex 49er World Champion James Peters joined the party crewed by another ex-14 world champ Tom 'Tingtog' Partington. The 'scratch team' went straight to work on Massey and Truswell, taking the first race of the day and following that up with a 2,3 for an impressive debut.

Massey & Hillary took the day with a 2,1,2 with Truswell & Fitzgerald scoring 3,3,1. Super tight racing throughout the fleet with two fourth places for Pattison-Tait and another strong series for Nurton-Tweedle.

For Monday's racing, the race team switched from windward-leeward to two long-distance harbour races changing the emphasis from handling and tactics to navigation and speed. Again the top three were engaged in an epic battle, with Massey & Hillary finding another gear to open up a gap on Truswell & Fitz, with Peters & Partington a click of down but comfortable in third.

Truswell & Fitz sailed an epic last work to close the gap to one second at the finish, with Massey winning by a nose. Martin Jones & Ian Loder won the battle for fourth with George Yeoman & Harry Kennedy in fifth.

Monday's final race was another harbour tour with epic twin wire reaching and tactical windward legs criss-crossing the tidal gates. Although Massey & Hillary took another win, the weekend's story was just how tight the racing was throughout the fleet.

Three new pairings, one Team GB Sailor, and seven boats with World or National Championship winners. Fantastic racing throughout the fleet. Fourteens are forever!

Overall Results: