The B14 arrived at Porthpean Sailing Club on Thursday to sun and fantastic outlook to prepare for the Nationals.

Friday arrived, rain and no wind. However, after a 1 hour postponement, The fleet launched. There would be a 2 hour delay between race 1 and race 2 whilst the fleet awaited the breeze.

Throughout the races there was very tight racing at the front with a right old ding dong in race 1 between Team Harken (Nick Craig/Toby Tastic Lewis) and Team Gul/North Sails (Mark Barnes/Charlotte Char Jones). The latter pulled away and won as Harken battled with Demelza (Peter Knight/Jane Reeves) and Team North Sails/Troublegum (Alan Davis/Rich Bell). Race 2 was a repeat with the first 2 exchanging position but ending up with a repeat of the first race with the first 2 having nothing between them cross gybing into the finish, again going to Team Gul/North Sails.

 

Race 3 and this was the one where most action happened. The main protagonists ended up near the back, but Team Harken rolled the dice on the second beat and banged the corner and jumped the fleet coming in on pressure to lead into the finish over the last lap and a half of the 3 lap race from Donkey (Mark Watts/Chris Bish Bishop) and a recovering Team Gul/North Sails.

Race 4 and the pin pile up occurred but Team Gul/North Sails Pulled off the jump and led from Start to finish protecting the hard left but being hounded by Donkey and Team Harken all the way till the last run where they squeezed a little ground.

 

 

So overnight Team GUL/North Sails lead from Team Harken, Donkey and Team North Sails/Troublegum. After a hard long day on the water, the fleet enjoyed Go Pro footage off Team Harken and the commodore's reception. Tomorrow may or may not happen as big winds and seas hit the SW. One thing is sure this event is going to go down to the wire.

 

Results after Day 1:

PosSail NoHelmCrewClubR1R2R3R4Pts
1st 795 Mark Barnes Charlotte Jones Whitstable SC 1 1 ‑3 1 3
2nd 796 Nick Craig Tobytastic Lewis Frensham Pond ‑2 2 1 2 5
3rd 791 Mark Watts Chris Bishop  Weston SC (DNS) 5 2 3 10
4th 787 Alan Davis Rich Bell Weston SC ‑4 3 4 4 11
5th 785 Peter Knight  Jane Reeves Restronguet SC ‑5 4 5 5 14
6th 728 Alex Horlock Jim Pearce Exe SC 6 ‑8 6 8 20
7th 724 Stephen Hollingsworth  Elliot Holman Restronguet SC 7 ‑9 7 9 23
8th 772 Kathy Sherratt  Dee Clamp Weston SC ‑11 6 8 10 24
9th 789 Henry Metcalfe Jasmine Husband Restronguet SC 9 ‑12 9 6 24
10th 764 Tony Blackmore Naomi Pound Starcross YC ‑10 7 10 7 24
11th 723 Patrick Seyler Steve Coello Porthpean SC 3 10 ‑13 12 25
12th 774 Jeremy Hawkins Suzanne Hawkins Porthpean SC 8 ‑11 11 11 30
13th 750 Gary Parks Saskia Autumn Restronguet SC ‑13 13 12 13 38
14th 749 Will Rand Querine Van‑Meurs  Lymington Town SC 12 (DNF) DNS DNS 44
15th 736 Craig Brown Liam Stacpoole Restronguet (DNS) DNS DNS DNS 48