Fells and Cunningham the victors

At the B14 Worlds at Sail Melbourne

Tim Fells/Dave Cunningham AT&T (GBR) sailed a brilliant series, finishing with a second place and a win, in the final two races, to take out the B14 World Championship at McCrae Yacht Club today.

Sailed on Port Phillip Bay as part of the Sail Melbourne International Regatta, the Championship produced all sorts of weather conditions for competitors, and in the end the Poms were just too good for the Aussies, getting better as the series went on.

Going into today’s final races, the top four boats, Fells/Cunningham, Guy Bancroft/Rhys Bancrofit Bugger the Bone (AUS), Jono Pank/Shuan Barber Snatch (GBR) and Matthew Searle/Richard Bell Sprint (GBR) were all in with a chance, the former two on equal 14 points, the latter two on 16 points.

Both races today were sailed in south to southwesterly winds of around 5-8 knots, on three-lap windward/leeward courses.

In Race 9, Ewan McLellan/Alex Matthews Beercan (GBR) scored a win, with Fells/Cunningham in 2nd and Nils Joliffe/Jon Branch Ray Marine (GBR) 3rd.

Race 10 results had Fells/Cunningham in 1st, Simon Nelson/Andy Ramus NA26 (GBR) in 2nd and Pank/Barber in 3rd.

Local hope, Guy ‘Bangers’ Bancroft did not finish the last day well, with 6th in Race 9 and a 7th placing in the final race.

These results gave Fells/Cunningham the World Championship with 17 points after two race drops, with Pank/Barber 2nd on 22, and Bancroft/Bancroft had to be content with 3rd on 24 points.

Having better finishes as the series went progressed, the Searle/Bell combination finished 4th with 25 points.

Bancroft had said from day one that Fells would be his major opposition, and he was right. The English have won the past three World Championships, and whitewashed the Aussies again; Bancroft the best placed Aussie for this event.

Guy Richie/Lissa McMillan The Nude, from Woollahra S.C. in Sydney, was the next best-placed Australian team, finishing a creditable 6th with 50 points. McMillan has only been in the class for a year, and was thrilled with their result.

Pos	Boat Name	Skipper	Crew	From	Tot	R10	R9	R8	R7	R6	R5	R4	R3	R2	R1
1	NA4	Tim Fells	David Cunningham	UK	17	1	2	1	O	1	-5	1	3	4	4
2	Snatch	Jono Pank	Shaun Barber	UK	22	3	-7	6	1	3	3	3	1	-9	2
3	BuggertheBone	Guy Bancroft	Rhys Bancroft	VIC	24	-7	6	4	F	2	4	4	2	1	1
4	Sprint	Matthew Searle	Richard Bell	UK	25	4	4	2	2	5	1	2	5	-7	-7
5	RayMarine	Nils Jolliffe	Jon Branch	UK	45	6	3	-13	8	4	6	10	6	2	-17
6	NA26	Simon Nelson	Andy Ramus	UK	47	2	8	7	O	O	2	6	12	5	5
7	TheNude	Richard Reynolds	Lissa Mcmillan	NSW	50	8	5	10	-12	6	-14	8	4	3	6
8	Beercan	Ewan McLellan	Alex Matthews	UK	54	11	1	-12	3	8	11	7	10	-16	3
9	MastersApprentice	Kristopher Plain	Michael Brian Plain	NSW	66	5	9	5	4	9	12		F	10	12
10	HuntLeather	Abby Parkes	Sophie Hunt	NSW	70	10	-14	8	13	7	9	-14	9	6	8
11	Teaz	Peter Ray	Gareth Wells	NSW	74	17	12	9	5	-19	8	5	8	-17	10
12	PrioritPowderCoating	Paul Hansen	James Ellis	NSW	76.5	-22	11	3	-19	14.5	10	12	7	8	11
13	EvilEmpire	Martin Johnson	Mike Halkes	NSW	102	9	16	11	11	16	-19	9	S	14	16
14	Smokin	Mike Macdonald	Randall Newman	VIC	102	20	10	14	10	13	15	F	F	11	9
15	WarLord	Ian Cunningham	Scott Cunningham	VIC	105	13	23	17	6	11	7		F	13	15
16	Epic	Bruce Potts	Jo Dyer	NSW	107.5	14	-22	16	9	14.5	13	16	-16	12	13
17	Polygimyst	Scott Kennedy	Megan Taylor	NSW	119	-23	15	15	7	10	22	15	S	21	14
18	FlyingPig	Nicholas Richardson	Sally Richardson	TAS	125	16	19	19	17	12	-21	11	13	-20	18
19	Gadkak	Glenn Cardwell	Adam Desborough	NSW	131	-24	13	20	16	20	18	13	11	-24	20
20	TheDudes	Andrew Grigg	Daniel Grigg	VIC	148.5	18	21	22	14	18	16	F	F	18	21.5
21	NoStringsAttached	Jonathan Bradbury	Nicole Clarginbold	VIC	149	19	18	21	15	17	17		F	19	23
22	FreeBeer	Kieran Livermore	Andrew Payne	NSW	152	15	-27	18	20	F	24	F	15	15	19
23	Fujitsu	Stephen Miller	Jack Thompson	TAS	167	-26	24	23	22	22	20	17	14	-27	25
24	FatalAtraction	Ross Daley	Brendan Druery	TAS	172.5	21	17	24	18	O	23	F	F	22	21.5
25	Perrysleasefinance	John Perry	Greg Dodd	NSW	174	12	20	25	21	21	26	F	S	25	24
26	CraftsmanHomes	Adrian Beswick	John Beswick	TAS	204	-30	28	27	23	23	25	S	S	26	26
27	ThrillsandSpills	Saskia Taylor	David Taylor	VIC	204	27	25	F	24	24	27	F	S	23	28
28	Itshardtobe	Stephen Graley	Graeme Doreian	VIC	211	25	29	26	25	25	F	F	F	28	27
29	NA18	Kelvin Boyle	Rochelle Boyle	VIC	228	29	26	F	26	27	F		S	29	29
30	Moonshadow	Warren Dale	John Lovitt	VIC	233	28	30	F	27	26	F		S	30	30