Last Roll of the Dice

The B14 World Championship has come to close in the UK

With a force five to six and a forecast for more the PRO chose to keep the fleet in Carrrick Roads for the final showdown of the 2007 B14 World Championship. The wind had held its strength throughout the day and the roads provided a great relatively flat area for the racing.

Race nine and with the line biased to the pin, the leading contenders all hit the left hand shore hard, led by Seavolution (Mark Barnes and Pete Nicholson) and AUS373 (Guy Bancroft and James Patterson). At the top mark AT&T (Tim Fells and Shaun Barber) led by two boat lengths from Seavolution who, failing to make the buoy bailed out to drop back into the mid teens. CSC (Chris Bines and Dave Gibbons) rounded second followed by AUS373. At the hoist an unforced error saw CSC trawl their kite and capsize so releasing AT&T and AUS 373 followed by Ince&Co (Mark Watts and Tim Rogers) and 758 (Tim Harrison and Johny Radcliffe).

The next two laps saw AT&T and Ince&Co fighting for the front from AUS373 and 758.

Up the final beat AUS373 hit the left hand shore with Ince&Co covering 758 up the right hand side to protect fourth overall. At the top mark AT&T had built a solid lead with AUS373 charging in from the right to take second from Ince&Co in third and 758 fourth. With Seavolution making a late charge, fourth to sixth overall was up for grabs.

Down the final run AT&T held on for a comfortable win from AUS373 second, followed by close formation of Ince&Co, Seavolution and 758. CSC had retired from the race to conserve their energy for the final race.

With one race remaining the battle was on with AT&T and AUS374 tied for the Championship. CSC needed a win to stand a chance of taking second overall after their disastrous first race.

Again the pin end paid and was relatively chaos free with the fleet spreading to either side early to escape the tide. The top guys favoured the left hand side of the course early, then spreading after the first few minutes with AT&T, MJF and Ince&Co sticking left, Bonework and CSC hit the centre mid beat and stuck right later. Seavolution lead from the middle left up the first beat but were passed by AT&T at the top mark by two boatlengths.

The pointy end of the fleet was tight early with AT&T rounding in front of Seavolution closely followed by Velocitek, Hyde, MJF and Craftsman Homes.

This was to be the state of the game of the next three rounds with CSC in eighth and Bonework in 11th desperate to break through. The downhill ride was not quite full on but fruity. Those that went out into the channel led by Seavolution lost out slightly to those that went for the wind compression round the headland rather than the tide. At the leeward mark AT&T led from Seavolution by 50m followed by Velocitek, MJF and Craftsman Hoes.

However, CSC were on the move and closing in on the first group showing some fast downwind speed on a big wind line. Up the next beat the fleet headed right with Bonework rolling the dice and heading left. At the windward mark, AT&T Led but had been reeled in by Seavolution to about 30m followed by Velocitek, MJF and Craftsman Homes. CSC was now in the hunt chasing down these latter three picking off MJF and Craftsman Homes over the next round.

Down the run the fleet headed left and with no place changes but compression CSC were hounding Velocitek up the next beat. Bone work had rolled their dice and would not break into the top five on this round.

Up the next beat, CSC passed Velocitek to move into third, now having the leading two firmly in their sites 100-150m ahead. At the windward mark AT&T led by 40m followed by Seavolution with CSC 40m back.

The leading pack all headed left with AT&T protecting their lead but with a big line of wind bringing CSC downwind, the two leaders looked vulnerable. At the gybing point, AT&T gybed into the wind but Seavolution had to wait. When Seavolution gybed CSC followed and came down in much more pressure closing on the leading two. At the finish, AT&T won the race and the Championships followed by Seavolution less than a boat length in front of CSC. This result relegated CSC to third overall.

So with great winds all day the fleet was thoroughly pleased with the conditions that Mother Nature had provided. The Carrick Roads were a great and not so shifty spot to sail and the shallow water did not cause havoc on the fleet.

The fleet would like to congratulate Ian Fraser and his race team on the running of the races and Guy English and his shore management team.

The next event is the Nationals at Weston over August Bank Holiday and with eight boats in the hunt anything is possible and a good turnout, the fleet should be in for a great turnout.