Second I14 title

Archie Massey tells us how he won the World Championship and his plans for the future

Following on from his win at the International 14 Worlds in Warnemünde in 2008, Sydney-based Brit Archie Massey claimed his second World title last weekend with a race to spare. Our experts tell us that this makes him the fourth person ever to have won back to back World Championships in the 14 class following on from the Kidd brothers from Canada back in the 1980s and Duncan McDonald.

"It is cool. It was the Worlds I wanted last time - last time was very stressful with everything breaking and falling apart," Massey told thedailysail of his latest win.

For this CST Composites World Championship Massey was sailing with a new crew in the form of Dan Wilsdon, a 40 year old who Massey describes as "the keenest sailor in the world". Wilsdon previously crewed for former 14 World Champion Grant Geddes, and he is also bowman on the 18ft skiff Massey drives.

Massey and Wilsdon’s Worlds on this occasion went reasonably smoothly with the exception of one hiccup when in the second qualifying race on day one they were black flagged. This call, that had left them 53rd after day one, was subsequently overturned in the protest room, when the jury found there has been a procedural error.

So how did Massey’s win come about on this occasion? Massey says his long term objective in the 14, even before winning in Warnemünde, was the 2010 International 14 Worlds in Sydney and he has been fortunate that he has had a job that has taken him from the UK to California – where the Worlds were held in 2007 (when Howie Hamlin won) and two years ago allowed him relocate once again to Sydney.

In the real world Massey works for Metaswitch, who manufacture telephone exchanges. 32 years old he heralds from Itchenor, the UK’s International 14 epicentre where he has been racing the boat since leaving university. (While he works for a living, he has slight regrets about not going down the Olympic sailing path. "If I was Dutch or some other nationality, I might have gone for it, but being British it is a little tough to do the Olympics. You have got to do at least eight years. People never get into it in their first four and unfortunately even then we usually have three of the top six.")



Living in Sydney, he and Wilsdon spent three months training on the Harbour prior to the regatta. "We did more practice this time than everyone else. Every time you do a bad tack in a 14 you lose 50 yards. So it is quite easy to make a 100 yard lead just by tacking well." Saying this, Massey hadn’t sailed the 14 much before this. After Warnemünde, his 14 was in storage in Melbourne for nine months, then was dusted off the Nationals in Perth, before returning to storage for a further six month. But since bringing it up to Sydney three months ago, he and Wilsdon have been out training two or three nights a week.

Aside from training on the boat they were well acquainted with the race course between Manly, Middle Harbour and the Heads. "We are pretty comfortable pushing through the waves out there by the Heads when other people might have been a bit intimidated by it all. So we were pushing hard and they were backing off," says Massey.

But most significantly, as was the case in Warnemünde, at the latest regatta they were plain fast. Massey says this was true both upwind and down. "As soon as there was any clear space, we just pulled away from the other boats. If we were in the pack we’d have to duck a few boats, but as soon as we stopped ducking boats we started pulling clear again. So even in the two races where on one we had gear failure, we went straight past people like they weren’t there and finished 12th in that qualifying race. In the Gold fleet race where we got a sixth, we ended up getting racked just up at the top mark when we were in third and had to gybe out and we rounded in 18th. From then on again we just sailed right through people."

In terms of his kit, Massey was sailing his 2008 Worlds-winning modified Bieker 5, with its more pointed bow and slightly less rocker in the bow section than the standard boat. "It cuts through waves much nicer than I think the Bieker 5s do. And also the Pickled Egg boats [the latest Phil Morrison design] as well - they are far too rounded in the bow. They slam a bit too much and bob up and down when the waves hit them, rather than go through them."

Initially Massey’s boat was one of a run of three - the other two going to Katie Nurton and Pom Green, but since then four or five more have been built going to notables such as Mike Lennon and Andy Penman. But none have been as successful as Massey’s.
While Massey has his boat up for sale, if it doesn’t sell he reckons he might modify it further giving the bow more of a wave piercing profile. The next I14 Worlds are in Weymouth and he reckons this will improve the boat’s performance in waves (assuming they sail outside of Portland Harbour).

The all important foils, and in particular the rudder T-foil, for Massey’s boat were made by Larry Tuttle, well known for his 505 foils. Massey used a Tuttle T-foil at Warnemeunder winning the first race there handsomely before it broke. For this Worlds he had a new version of it. Massey reckons his foils is similar to those on Rob Greenhalgh’s boat, in terms of how thin they are. "But I think we had a better rig than Rob, whereas the Australians have got better rigs, but their foils are a bit too flat, so they are slow for that reason. So I think we have the best equipment across all the range and everyone else has something subtly wrong."

Massey’s rig was unique in the 14 fleet this year - a high modulus 2 mast from CST Composites. "It is the same as a CST 14, but it is a couple of millimetres narrower and about 30% stiffer in the bottom sections, which basically means you can end up with a slightly flatter mainsail and between the conditions you don’t need to bend the mast so much, and therefore you don’t need a sail shape that has to cope with all the different mast shape." Dave Alexander, who made his sails (Massey’s sixth different sail maker in as many years) was supposed to be using one as well, says Massey, but wasn’t able to make a sail for himself in time. Massey reckons that the new Selden mast Rob Greenhalgh was using was probably too stiff.

The rig set-up on Massey’s boat is relative simple compared to the competition with a fixed forestay and one string that pulls on the shrouds to bend the mast, rather than having a fully rake-able set-up. Simplicity, Massey confirms, is key. "Generally we set the boat up before the start and then we only have Cunningham and kicker to worry about. And foil control which is pretty important on a 14."

When it comes to sailing technique on the 14, Massey’s principle observation is that he and Wilsdon simply sail the boat flatter. "If you look at all the shots we are just that much flatter - I think our mast is bolt upright whereas other people’s leans over by a few degrees and a few degrees makes a big difference on the Beiker 5s because they have quite an aggressive chine at the back, so if you heel it slightly one way then the chine digs in and causes drag."

From here Massey says he will put his 14 in storage, unless it sells and will now concentrate on the 18ft skiff sailing, Asko Appliances. Racing for the class has resumed on Sydney Harbour and the JJ Giltinan Trophy, the class’ effective world championship, is the next major fixture. "We have been very lucky to pick up Asko as a sponsor and although running with an older boat, the mast and sails are new. It we can sort out our boat handling issues, we're certainly fast enough and stand a chance of doing as well again in the JJs. We also need to get used to the unique nature of reaching back and forth across the harbour in southerly winds."

Once the 18ft skiff season is closed Massey says he will look at his options. This may entail a move back to the UK and the possibility even of changing jobs and moving into the marine industry. But certainly the prospect of being the first person to score a hat trick of International 14 Worlds titles, and achieving this on home waters, is far too attractive an opportunity to miss.