Going through changes

We take a look at the B14 fleet in the build up to their Worlds in Sydney

With the B14 world championships in Australia fast approaching and a recent change from aluminium to carbon masts, the next month looks set to be a very exciting time for the class.

At last year’s World Championship in Italy it was officially decided by the B14 Class Association to adopt a new full carbon mast. The old mast was similar to a 49er rig with the bottom section made out of aluminium and the top section made out of fibreglass. At the end of 2004 the class officially commissioned CST in Sydney to manufacture the masts. Prominent UK B14 sailor Mark Barnes told us a little more. “The carbon mast has been in development for four years now by CST. The UK boats have been fitted in the UK and prepared by Ovington boats and the Australian boats have been fitted and prepared by CST themselves so we have a very close specification between the two. The UK and Australian fleets are primarily driving the change to carbon. The other fleets around the world tend to be less active or less competitive so we are not really sure if they are buying carbon or not. The boats that are predominantly buying the carbon rigs are tending to be the ones that are going to the Worlds in Australia.” If we work on the assumption that there will be 45 to 50 boats then at the Worlds I would say approaching 50 percent of the teams will have the new carbon masts.”



Currently many classes are either considering the change to carbon masts or have just gone through the change. Often this change brings little to no difference in performance, so we were keen to know if the B14 was much different with the carbon mast. “At the moment there is not a great difference,” explained Barnes. “The new mast is about three kilos lighter so obviously on a 14ft boat this will have a pretty dramatic effect on the pitching moment of the boat in short chop. One of the most obvious things that we have noticed with the new mast is that the boat is starting to be able to carry a wider weight range. Also we are now sailing them with a bit more rake than on the old aluminium rig because the top – although it is gust responsive – is stiffer in relation to the rest of the mast than the aluminium one was. The aluminium mast was almost bullet proof from the top spreaders down.” Because of this lack of a major speed advantage there are still plenty of people in the class that are using aluminium rigs and doing well with them. Barnes says that he would be extremely surprised if there was not an aluminium mast inside the top ten

As a result of the change to carbon masts the sail shape had to be redesigned as the new rig obviously has different characteristics to the old one. “What we have done is taken the existing designs - the Simkin which originally came from the Ullman cut, and the Norths - and modified them,” explains Barnes. “When the fleet changed from aluminium to carbon we found that the sails were too full and were pretty slow. What we have done is to take fullness out of the sail by changing the luff curve, because it is a flat cut panel that is how the sail gets its shape. There are several boats going to the worlds with Simkin sails and carbon masts. Personally I am taking a suit and we are also taking a suit of North LGs - they are the in-house sail that has been developed by Norths. This sail has had very little tweaking because it was flatter anyway.” He adds that the North sails are what Matt Searle used to win the Nationals and the Europeans. Although currently the UK is dominated by two sailmaking companies there are other sailmakers who are looking to come into the market in 2006 with different cuts.

The Australian fleet have been very quiet about their sails and what they are doing with them as Australian B14 class president, Kieran Livermore, explains: “The Australian sailmakers have been hard at it developing mainsails to suit the new carbon mast. We all wait to see the results when we line up against the international competition.”

When the UK fleet returns from the Worlds in Australia they are going to get round a table with Norths and start to finalise a design. Barnes says that although they have a fairly good idea of where they want to go with the sails they just want to confirm what the Australians are doing. “We think there will definitely be some surprises from the Australian camp. There is one boat that comes straight to mind: Marty Johnson and Micky Halkes. We do not currently know what sails they are using but we do know that they have been doing some rig development. The event will be on their home waters so there is a good possibility that they will show us a clean set of heels or we might do the same to them - we are not sure. I suspect there will not be a great deal of difference and it will be a case of who has got the right cut and rig set-up combination. I suspect that the Australians are very similar to ours but we will not really know until we get there.”

In terms of competition the event looks like it could well be very open. Barnes says that the top ten places could really go to anyone and he would not like to put money on any specific sailors at this stage. From a UK perspective there are quite a few boats that could potentially win: “UK National and European Champions are Matt Searle and Andy Ramus. They've spent a lot of time on the water this year and got the jump on everyone with the new kit but the rest of the fleet is fast catching up. They are fully revved up to have a crack at their first world title.

“The always consistent Jono Pank and Richard Edwards sailing Ronstan, are out to prove that their metal's still right in the game. They won the Nationals last year but seem to have dropped off the pace a bit this year. They are somewhat of a wild card, but in the last two Worlds they have not been out of the top five. Never to be underestimated is the ever present, current and triple world champion, Tim Fells, crewed this year by previous European and 2003 National Champion Sean Dwyer. This pairing is looking very quick at the moment and are sure to be a threat.

“Tom Pygall and I feel that we stand a very good chance this year and have spent a lot of time working on our new rig set up. A pairing that has been showing great potential but has yet to take home a major event win are Hornet legends Chris Bines and Dave Gibbons sailing CSC. The pair regularly show great boat handling and are a possibility for taking home a prize.

“Jamie Mears and Matt Gill sailing PICA have also been showing great potential. Previous race winners at the 2004 Worlds and Nationals, they now seem to have their reliability issues sorted out and are sure to be really going for it. Rounding out the title challengers are former Inland Champions, Nils Jolliffe and Jon Branch sailing Boatracer.co.uk, this pair won the Holt Tide Ride this year and are blisteringly quick when they get in the grove. I think they are due another big victory soon.”

Livermore thinks that the Australians have a good chance at the event and took us through their top runners and riders. “Early season form from the Sydney fleet indicates current Australian National Champions Martin Johnson and Michael Halkes, Peter Ray and Gareth Wells and Richie Reynolds and Lissa McMillan should build on their results in Italy and be serious contenders for the World title. Ray and Wells have made only a few but very impressive appearances this season. Like Johnson and Halkes they will be hoping the fabulous Sydney 20-25 knot northeasterly sea breeze turns up. The lightweight crew of Reynolds and McMillan will be looking for more moderate conditions, though their 2004 World Championship heat win at Lake Garda in 15-18 knots shows their talent up the wind range. Not far (if at all) behind this trio with great potential are Scott and Cameron Kennedy, James and Angus Luffman and Sophie Hunt and Andrew Payne.

“For the past few years the B14 has developed strongly in Tasmania. When the wind gets up look for the men from the Roaring Forties, Richard Fisher and Stuart McDonnell and Ross Daley and Mike Fuller are two very good strong wind teams. In the category of dangerous dark horses, three very late entries have been made, the first being two time B14 National Champions Guy and Rhys Bancroft. The Victorians placed second in the 2003 B14 World Championship and only two years ago had a long unbeaten run in the class. Current World Champion and JJ Giltinan 18ft skiff crew Tim Austin will be sailing with me this time round. Though lacking miles in the B14, Austin skiff and harbour experience is significant. Current high ranking 18ft Skiff skipper Chris Dixon teams up with B14 champion Clive Watts to produce a potentially impressive team.”

The fact that the UK fleet knows so little about the Australian fleet and vice versa, is a particularly interesting aspect of this class. With only two major fleets in the World sailing on opposite sides of the globe the only chance they get to meet is at their World Championships every year. This leaves the event as somewhat of an unknown in terms of who is going to be fastest, this year even more so than most because of the big change in the rig that has taken place. The UK fleet has over that last few years dominated the event but this could all change this year.

The actual event will be taking place at Woolhara Sailing Club in Sydney. The fleet will be sailing to the north of Shark Island in Rose Bay which is where the 49er Olympic fleet sailed in 2000. At this time of year the sailors should be expecting some pretty strong sea breezes and a short chop that will make life very tricky. Because of the expected sea breezes the first race of each day is scheduled for 2pm with another race to follow back to back.

With a new rig design that the Australians have got to grips with very early and sails still very much in a development stage, this championship should be well worth following. The pre-Worlds start on 3 January and the World Championship proper starts four days later on 7 January. TheDailySail will be keeping you updated on the event so keep a look out.