14s and their Easter shenanigans

Reports of the Easter tray and Easter Cup held at Itchenor Sailing Club

International 14 Easter Tray - 18-20 April, Itchenor Sailing Club
By Andy Fitzgerald

A large turnout of 40 boats entered the 2003 International 14 Easter Tray at Itchenor Sailing Club. This was the first meeting in anger of many of the new boats delivered over the winter including the latest Bieker 4 and Morrison 11 designs. With the Europeans being hosted at Hayling Island only 7 weeks away this event could prove be an early indicator of who was hot and who was not!!

In exciting conditions the first race on Friday went to Jon Pudney and John McKenna – storming away in the brisk northerly 4/5 which tested the fleet. This was a worthy race with a long beat to Treloar from Wier, followed by a very exciting run. Bruce Grant and James Fawcett looked like finishing second before visiting Thorney Island unintentionally. Andy FitzGerald and Al Clarke took full advantage pursued by Pinnell and Sam Gardner to finish second.

The weather on Saturday proved to be too exiting with 35 knots of breeze being recorded within the harbour and racing was postponed for the day. Sunday saw a drop in wind speed to about 20 – 25 knots leading race officer to opt for a singe longer race rather than 2 short ones. Difficult wind and harbour conditions at the start of race 2 again test the race officer, leaving him little choice but to set a course that would prove to be one sided. The starboard biased line was won by Jon Pudney who took the lead and never looked back. Paul Vine and Dave Dubrovnik took second place leading a large pack contesting the lower single place order. Again the gusty North Easterly destroyed average boat handling with many capsizes. A short race did not do justice to the many recent joiners to the fleet who are beginning to know their boats. Jon Pudney and John McKenna from Itchenor were a class apart in confidence and boat handling after a 6 month layoff.

1 – Jon Pudney & John McKenna
2 – Andy FitzGerald and Al Clarke
3 – Roger Ewart-Smith & Mike Buchanan
4 – Paul Vine & Dave Dubrovnik

International 14 Easter Cup – Monday 21 April 2003, Itchenor Sailing Club
By Archie Massey


Roddy Bridge in Chichester Harbour

After three days practice during the Easter Tray, 10 International 14s set out from Itchenor Sailing Club for the annual Easter Cup race around Chichester Harbour. The conditions were perfect with 18 knots of breeze, flat water and lots of sunshine.

On the start line, Roddy Bridge chanced his luck with a port flyer and crossed the fleet by 50 yards. However one tack into the race he was swiftly passed by Andy Penman and two tacks in by Archie Massey. First round the top mark was Massey, who, after turning onto the 2 sail reach extended his lead to 200 yards. He later attributed this success to a new dagger board lifting system allowing his crew to raise the board from the wire. One lap into the race saw Bridge and Penman overtake a capsized Massey to round the leeward mark neck and neck. The following beat saw both Bridge and Penman finding good form however Roddy gained the upper hand and pulled away. This he attributed to his new found setting for the rudder foil whilst Penman felt his lack of speed to the flexing of his mast under the loads of the gnav. Bridge and Penman continued to battle it out until Penman capsized suspiciously close to the sand bank and although he swore they didn’t touch the bottom, his crew, Tim Bastow could be clearly seen standing up and pushing the bow off.

This gave the chasing pack including a recovered Massey something to race for. Dave Spragg sailing Pantomime Horse was going well now up to second place however a high speed moment of indecision led to a union of boat and the Winner Bank resulting in a broken dagger board and subsequent broken tiller extension. This put Archie Massey back in the chocolates with a chance for first if he could find the extra pace to reel in Roddy. Roddy continued to show impeccable boat handling, sailing steady as a rock however Roddy’s one Achilles heel, his spinnaker’s frequent attempts to disobey the “Drop it now!” order, were allowing Archie to slowly gain. On the final leg, with glory in sight, Roddy was presented with a huge wake and he elected to slow up to minimise air time, but was confronted with an enormous lull as he eased sheets. A windward capsize looked inevitable allowing Archie a sniff at the lead, however an large gust hit Bridge and with the deft footing of a ballerina, landing his feet neatly back on the rack, Bridge crossed the line to take the win.

Another notable performance went to Swiss visitor Andy Gasser in his new Bieker 4. Sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, the author suspects his race went as follows – “Course >31T2FH8RF, what does that mean? Oh lets just follow the rest”. A little later “There over there, let’s join them!”, “Oh no they went that way!”.

Final Order:
1. Roddy Bridge and Douglas Patisson
2. Archie Massey and George Nurton
3. Andy Penman and Tim Bastow
The rest: Lost in Chichester Harbour !!