Superior boat handling pays

As RMW Marine's Alister Richardson and Dan Johnson take the International 14's Riva Cup

Alister Richardson and Dan Johnson won the International Riva Cup after three windy races on Lake Garda today. The speed of RMW was certainly good, but what really made the difference was the exemplary boathandling displayed by Richardson and Johnson. For Richardson it was a perfect way to celebrate his 26th birthday and also his last regatta as a bachelor, as he gets married in less than two weeks.

However, the RMW crew met their match in the first race of the day, when Martin Jones and Andy Rice pulled off one of their favourite port tack starts and blasted out to the cliffs on the right hand side. These were the conditions in which Rice and Jones sailed Gill Marine to victory last year, and they sailed a perfect first beat to lead around the windward mark, with RMW hot on their heels.

It was nip and tuck between these two teams, Gill’s superior upwind pace just managing to hold off RMW’s superior boathandling. A tacking duel ensued up the final beat, but Gill had done just enough to hold off the younger team and cruise to victory at the finish.

Behind, an equally close battle for third was taking place between RWO, sailed by Tim Robinson and Zeb Elliott, and Mike Lennon and John McKenna aboard Hyde Sails. It all came down to the final kite drop before the precarious two-sail reach to the finish, when Hyde Sails dropped and rounded inside RWO while Elliott was fighting to get the spinnaker down. Lennon and McKenna blasted across the finish less than a boatlength ahead of Robinson and Elliott.

The start of the next race was heavily port biased and all but a couple of boats were lined up for a port tack start. However, Hyde Sails and RWO were sailing along the line with rights on starboard, and Gill Marine failed to keep clear. Robinson scraped past Gill, but Lennon went into a crash tack and capsized. At this stage of the regatta there was just a point in it for second place overall between Hyde and Gill. Hyde was battling to get upright before Gill could complete a 720 penalty turn, neither task proving easy in the 20+ knot winds. In the end it was Hyde who were back up and running before Gill had completed her turns, and the race was on to see who could get back in contention.

Meanwhile at the front of the fleet, Ian Pinnell and Tim Hancock sailed Pinnell & Bax to first around the windward mark but did a straight hoist on starboard into less wind while RMW pulled off a riskier gybe set on to port, and were rewarded with more breeze. RMW moved into the lead with RWO in hot pursuit. After three laps, Hyde Sails had hauled themselves up the fleet back into third place, ahead of Pinnell & Bax, with Gill recovering to fifth ahead of GBR1512 sailed by Jarrod Simpson and Tim Paull.

Garda saved its windiest weather for the final race of the series. The fleet split up the first beat as they shot out of the line in winds gusting over 25 knots. Gill and RMW were both battling out to the cliffs on the right hand side, with Jones and Rice’s heavier weight giving them a slight speed edge on RMW. These two boats rounded the windward mark a long way ahead of the pack and they extended that lead on the next beat. However at the leeward mark of the second run, with both boats dropping kites simultaneously, Gill rounded up and lost control, culminating in a capsize while RMW sailed off to an easy victory. Lennon and McKenna moved up to second place which they held to the finish, with Robinson and Elliott placing third.

So Richardson and Johnson were worthy winners and have shown they are the new team to beat on the International 14 circuit. Other teams were severely out of practice after a long winter break, with fitness and boathandling errors causing problems for crews in the demanding conditions of Lake Garda. Lennon and McKenna sailed a very consistent series to finish second overall, with Jones and Rice third.


Final results after eight races (one discard)

Pos Boat Team Points

1. RMW Marine – Alister Richardson/ Dan Johnson 8
2. Hyde Sails - Mike Lennon/ John McKenna 16
3. Gill Marine - Martin Jones/ Andy Rice 21
4. RWO – Tim Robinson/ Zeb Elliott 29
5. Pinnell & Bax – Ian Pinnell/ Tim Hancock 31
6. GBR1512 – Jarrod Simpson/ Tim Paull 40
7. GER 185 – Stephan Heim/ Robert Schmidt 45
8. SUI 27 – Andres Gasser/ Philipp Kaenzig 52
9. GER 100 – Stefan Ritsche/ Dominik Entzminger 58
10. GBR 1406 – Tom Trueman/ Jamie Hilton 75