B14s have a windy weekend

16 boats make it to Weston for some furious action

Sixteen B14’s gathered for what was to be a very wet and windy open meeting at Weston Sailing club. The first start kicked off with about 20knts from the south-west making for shifty gusty conditions. Searle / Bell took an early lead which was never to be challenged, followed by Fisher / Barber on good form fresh from a break. Fells / Cunningham and Hayes / Dwyer fought it out right to the line with Fells just getting the advantage. Some of the newer faces to the fleet retired electing to wash the Weston mud off their sails and take an early shower.

The second race followed a similar pattern with Searle / Bell leading Fisher/Barber although a brief swim by Searle almost threatened the lead. Dan Willett / Stuart Phillips sailed an excellent race to take third ahead of Hayes / Dwyer and Fells was missing in action after a bad capsize. Fells / Cunningham came back to form to win race 3 whist a brief visit down the mine forced Searle / Bell to retire. Hayes was second and Matt Flint / Simon West put in an excellent performance to finish third. A special mention is deserved to Sandy who halfway through race 1 revisited his breakfast following a good session at the bar on Friday night.

Sunday dawned even windier with gusts later reported to have reached 30 knots. Many of the fleet stayed ashore leaving the tough guys to fight it out. The action was thick and fast and Fells / Cunningham were fast out of the blocks to take the lead which they held to the finish. Searle / bell pushed hard behind, falling at the last hurdle but still holding on to second. Fisher / Barber put in another solid performance to take third with Matt Flint / Simon West hanging on to fourth. In what was to be the final race Searle / Bell held the lead all the way from Fells / Cunningham to take the event whilst Hayes / Dwyer came in third having recovered from a bad swim in the previous race. With the wind looking on the increase the race officer abandoned the final race giving everyone a well earned early shower.

1st Matt Searle / Rich Bell, 5pts
2nd Tim Fells / David Cunningham, 7pts
3rd Steve Fisher / Neil Barber, 11pts
4th Dave Hayes / Sean Dwyer, 13pts
5th Dan Willett / Stuart Phillips, 17pts
6th Matt Flint / Simon West, 32pts