Pitchpoles and capsizes

Charlie Duchesne reports from the International 14's Royal Bermudan Trophy

Whatever would de Forest Trimmingham, the legendary Bermudian 14 sailor (who presented the Royal Bermuda Trophy in 1955) have made of this year’s event?

Pitch poles and spectacular capsizes in seriously bumpy conditions on Bracklesham Bay had tired the fleet on Saturday. On Sunday they now faced three back-to-back races out in the Bay for the Royal Bermuda Trophy.

23 International 14s nevertheless made it to the start where the PRO got the fleet promptly away. Breeze during the day varied W to SW from 5 to 18 kts.

In Race 1 Mark Upton Brown sailing with Doug Walker took an early lead - confidently banging the right hand corner while others dithered in the middle. This policy paid off and they lifted all the way to the windward mark on the starboard lay line

Among the less confident boats at the windward mark were Andrew Penman/Tim Bastow in second place (nearly all the way right), Victor Brellisford/Damian Ash in third (quite right but definitely with a bit of left) and Andy Fitzgerald/Louise Hickey (overall rather left).

A good battle ensued for the minor places enabling Upton Brown/Walker to extend their lead. These battles also enabled Mike Lennon/John McKenna to catch up with the chasing pack and ultimately sneak through to secure a solid second place with Brellisford/Ash in third.

In Race 2, Upton Brown/Walker again headed off to the right - but sadly the breeze was not so cooperative and during the beat it slowly swung left to give gains to boats more conservatively playing the shifts. The leading teams of Lennon/McKenna, Brellisford/Ash slowly pulled clear of the fleet - but a big shake up was to take place when a big shift to the south brought Charlie Duchesne/Mikey Warren right back into contention - pushing Tony Dencher and Andrew Hetherington and Fitzgerald/Hickey back into the pack. Despite this big change it was too late to threaten the leading boats.

At the start of Race 3 it was still all to play for with three boats still able to lift the trophy. A dodgy start saw Lennon/Mckenna wallowing in bad air and wakes as the gun went. In contrast, Brellisford/Ash and Upton Brown/Walker were both clean away. By the first mark, however, Lennon/McKenna - having found a good lane and some blistering boat speed upwind - popped out first with Brellisford/Ash trailing by some margin. Upton Brown/Walker pushed hard, but the positions remained the same to give Lennon/McKenna overall victory.

So what would de Forest have made of it? Well, he would have thought it was extremely cold for a July day, he would have been quite astonished to watch the fantastic modern International 14s zooming around the Bay and no doubt pleased that his 1955 trophy is still so hotly contested.


Results

1 Lennon/McKenna GBR1498 (Morrison, Hyde)
2 Brellisford/Ash GBR1483 (Bieker, Alexander)
3 Upton Brown/Walker GBR1455 (Morrison, P&B)