The first B14 Ullman Sails TT event of 2011 took place at Rutland Sailing Club on the 26th and 27th March 2011.

It was a light forecast but on the Saturday the fleet were greeted by a Force 3 easterly which gave the crews a chance to blow away the cobwebs in which most cases it was their first outings of the year. 

Saturday brought gusty winds which gave the fleet a lot of opportunities for overtaking downwind, making the racing very close with frequent place changes and most races getting decided on the last run.

Notable performances on the Saturday came from Daniel and Jamie Hare in their first competitive races in the B they were close to the front all weekend and took their turn at leading races on several occasions. Will McGrath and Harry Reece in Seavolution 1 put a very credible first day score line of a 1st and 3 2nd places leaving them just 1 point behind Tim Harrison and Jonny Ratcliffe with 3 bullets.

Seavolution 1 leads Seavolution 2 in the fresh conditions on Saturday (© Tania Samus / www.photoskiff.com)

As predicted the conditions for Sunday were very light. Some teams struggled to make the first start on time due to the changing clocks. For those that made the start the race was very open with everyone getting a share of the lead, Barry Price had the best start and also lead on the first run but it was Will and Harry at the end of lap 1 that got away and held on to take the race from Tim and Jonny which levelled the points.

In the decider it was Will and Harry who took the early and lead round the first lap of this 2 lap race closely followed by Tim and Jonny. It was a tricky last beat with boats splitting tacks in the hope of finding clear air amongst the Musto Skiff fleet. Will and Harry picked there way through the middle, Tim and Jonny went out left and brothers Daniel and Jamie went right. At the top mark it was Daniel and Jamie who had picked up the favourable shift, leading from Tim and Jonny, with Will and Harry in close pursuit.

Tim and Jonny take out event 1 of the B14 Ullman Sails TT Series (© Tania Samus / http://www.photoskiff.com/)

It was Will and Harry who gybed off first in a last attack as they needed to win the race, unfortunately for them there was not enough pressure to support this last move and Tim and Jonny were left to chase down Daniel and Jamie managing to snatch the race on the line. Daniel and Jamie could not have been closer to getting a race win in their first B14 event. These guys are definitely going to be ones to watch when they get a bit more time in the boat.

Next event for the B14s is at Stokes Bay in a fortnight. There are some top skippers in need of a crew for this event so if there are any B14 crews or potential B14 crews who think they may have what it takes to sail these performance boats then make yourself known on the class website.