International 14 World Championship 2026 at Kingston, Canada - team racing Pre-Worlds event
by James Cunnison 24 Aug 04:11 PDT
18-19 August 2026
The International 14 team racing Worlds has been an event since the 1960s, when teams visiting to race in the UK one race Nationals (the Prince of Wales Cup*) decided to test their boats against the British. This has formalised into a warm up for the class World Championships.
Five teams from each of the Associations took part to see who had the early bragging rights before the main event!
GBR Team:
Helga, 1576 Paul Anderson and Luka De Jong
Bubble, 1569 Andy Shaw and Rob Struckett
Zog, 1565 Adam Ovington and Stu Keegan
Scrumpet, 1553 Glen Truswell and Ed Fitzgerald
Pamela, 1544 James Cunnison and George Selwood
Kingston is very welcoming, and the weather has been very hot! The Canadian fleet have organised an excellent event, the main complaint has been that there are too many socials!
The rules to four-boat team racing is relatively simple on paper, but in the heat of battle it is easier to ignore the maths (fewer than 18 points wins) and focus on two things:
- starboard S course
- 3 in the top 4 - OR - not 7th and 8th
Day 1
The day started light, then built to a lovely 12 knots.
We started with a race against CAN1, who came out the blocks hot. Haywire (CAN) was doing some significant fishtailing in the prestart causing disruption to the GBR teams routine. GBR had a lead at mark 4, Pandemonium (CAN) forced Andy Shaw round, leaving La Dolce Vita (CAN) to push Adam Ovi out in a beautiful mark trap.
Doing 11 knots on the reach Adam was unable to gybe inside Spanish Kiss (CAN), doing a slow tack out instead. Andy was able to lock one boat right, James and Adam sailed through for a 1,2, not last.
Can 2 were handled off the line, and GBR powered through for a strong win, with a 1,2,3 and marginal 4 at mark one. James rolling in to windward down the run wasn't enough to slow the team down, and he even managed to recover to 5th, if not his dignity.
James & George got in on the team racing to shut out a couple of GER boats off the line. Glen and Andy were launched and sailed into a big lead.
However, at the bottom of the run James was slow, and Paul took a penalty from the umpires. This left Paul in a deep 8. James was able to cross three of the four Germans at various points up the beat, with Glen and Andy working hard to control them. In the end the four Germans were able to control James, making him tack more than any of the German boats, a costly manoeuvre, and push him into 7 for GBRs first loss, recording a 7,8.
The race against the USA was largely uneventful with GBR sailing fast to record another win to round out a good round robin.
End of Day one, after a full round robin (4 races per team):
GER: 0 losses
GBR: 1 loss
CAN1 (Loonies): 2 losses
CAN2 (Toonies):3 losses
USA: 4 Losses
Day 2
The Semis were GER vs CAN 2, GBR vs CAN1. The wind was light, with the race officer preparing to jump straight to finals if needed. Luckily the wind filled in as the first boats got out of the harbour.
GBR got off to a good start and their push for a first win of the knockouts was helped notably when Spanish Kiss (CAN) rolled into windward, tapping their pink daggerboard on Paul's rudder Gantry, leaving a mark like a tongue, a true Spanish kiss.
Race two saw a disaster on the run, where no one hoisted. James & George rounded the windward and saw Pandemonium (CAN - a pair of an FX and a 49er Olympian) setting up for the sweep with no kite. They saw an option over the top of the CAN pair if they could get the kite set with La Dolce Vita (CAN) also prowling on the run, but two CAN boats beat them to the set. James & George couldn't make the roll stick and were left hanging out right and then Andy and Glen were forced to do too much giving up the 1,2 in desperation.
No one was too upset that we were going into a decider, the racing being so close and so much fun. At the boat end, James managed to lock out two of the CAN boats, and off the line Haywire (CAN) was stalled and the team on Spanish Kiss (CAN) were barely moving, GBR sailed to a clean easy win.
The final against GER was an anti climax. They had made a sub, James was able to push the sub (GER) back on the first start, and Andy and Glen secured an easy 1,2, with the sub out the back in 8.
The next race was a closer affair, where there was lots of covering and control, Glen and Andy let Stormtrooper (GER) blast off to the lead. Glen was in danger with Chilli con Carbon (GER), but rolled them at the last tack. Paul and the sub boat (GER) were out the back, Paul was able to triumph and complete the race. With the result a 2,3,5, GBR had won.
The lovely Kingston Yacht Club put on an excellent dinner, followed by national skits. These are best remembered in a blur, featuring mild nudity, tinfoil hats (literal and metaphorical), hacky sack with a range of objects, and an entertaining re-enactment of various 'current affairs'. A great night was had by all, and a great way for the competitors to hang out together.
The individual World Championships is under way with two races down, and one day blown off. 2 races are expected today and Glen & Ed are leading the charge with two 1sts, followed by Andy & Rob, and Lauren Laventure & Jason Lemieux in 3rd (and first lady).
Lots of racing to come, you can follow along via:
* The 2027 edition of the UK National Championships is part of the European Championship at Itchenor 18th-23rd July 2027.