GBR A wins team racing

Peter Danby (lucky bugger) reports from the pre-International 14 World championship action in Japan

The worldwide International 14 community is flexing its muscles in Wakayama City awaiting the start of the World Championship on Tuesday (26 August).

The fleet have been warming up with two days of team racing. Teams drawn from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, USA and Japan sailed two series of round robins in fairly light breezes, which brought together the USA 'A' team and the Great Britain 'A' team to contest the best of three final, sailed on Sunday afternoon.
 
The breeze for the final was considerably more substantial, at 11-15 knots, and the racing was so close that the outcome could easily have gone either way. Great Britain took the first race, but the USA fought back to take the second, before the Brits managed to secure the overall victory by winning the third.
 
Things have now moved on to the individual World Championship, and the practice race this afternoon (Monday) saw British boats finish in the first three places, with Rob Greenhalgh and Dan Johnson taking first place, ahead of Andy Partington and Ben Vervieres in second, followed by Ian Pinnell and Sam Gardiner in third.
 
Reigning champion Zach Berkovitz won the title in Bermuda last year with Trevor Baylis, but is sailing on this occasion with fellow Californian Mike Martin, who has previously won world championships in the 505 and 18 foot Skiff classes, and would dearly like to do the same in the fourteens. The pair will face strong opposition from a number of teams, including the previous  champions Kris Bundy and Jamie Hanseler from Seattle.
 
Come what may, the battle for the championship is bound to be intense, with several pairings from Australia and Great Britain determined to topple the recent American domination. Canada can be considered as dark horses, and the rapidly improving Japanese sailors will be out to put on a good show in their home waters.
 
With no major construction rules having changed in recent years, developments have mainly been concentrated on rig optimisation and perfection of rudder foils. These have resulted in some surprisingly large gains in boat speed, and it will be interesting to see whether some countries have progressed more than others.
 
It is already obvious that a huge amount of effort has been invested by the host country to make this event a success, and the reward is certain to be a memorable championship.

Team	Win
GBR-A	6
USA-A	5
CAN	4
AUS	3
GBR-B	3
USA-B	2
JPN-A	1
JPN-B	0

Entry list for Worlds

	Sail No.	Skipper	Crew	Hull	Builder	Mast	Sails
1	GBR1431	Colin Smith	Peter Helm	Bieker2	Turner	CST	Irwin / Hyde / Batt
2	JPN112	Kensuke Kita	Takao Washino	Bieker3J	Specialized Marine	Bieker	Alexander
3	JPN106	Ryo Nishima	Yasunobu Yanagisawa	Bieker3	Specialized Marine	Bieker	Alexander
4	AUS617	Alan Vickery	Andrew Wilson	Bieker3	Mas	CST	Irwin / North / Alexander
5	USA1152	John Hele	Stuart Saffer	Bieker3	JMK	CST	Irwin / North
6	USA1114	Gvillaume Vernieres	Reiko Tani	Bieker2	n/a	n/a	n/a
7	JPN99	Yusuke Sugahara	Satoshi Ishida	Bieker3J	Bieker	Bieker	Irwin
8	JPN113	Daijiro Takahara	Yoichi Mori	Bieker3	n/a	Alexander	Alexander
9	GBR1472	Rollo Pyper	Anthony Hains	Morrison11	RMW	CST	RMW
10	US1128	John F Hyde	Peter Shumar	Bieker2	Bieker	Willet	Irwn
11	USA1145	Kirk Twardowski	Tim Burks	Bieker3	Chris Turner	Willet	Irwin
12	GBR1444	Paul Vine	Dave Dobrijevlc	Bieker	Specialized Marine	Bieker	North Sail
13	JPN84	Tsunenori Chiba	Masahiro Ii	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
14	GBR1495	Chris Turner	Peter Bagwell	Bieker4	Ovington / Specialized	n/a	Alexander
15	GBR1461	Ian Pinnell	Sam Gardiner	Bieker3	Specialized Marine	Bieker	P&B
16	USA1117	Brad Ruetenik	Todd Czarnecki	Bieker2	Bieker	Bieker	Alexander
17	GBR1483	Victor Brellisford	Damian Ash	Bieker4	Ovington / Specialized	Bieker	North Sail
18	USA1140	Ted Rogers	Kirk Price	Bieker3	Bieker	Bieker	Alexander / Ullman / Fyfe
19	GBR1486	Dominic Bowns	Gretel Van Raemdonck	Morrison11	RMW	CST	RMW
20	AUS577	Mark Elsworth	James Lanati	Bieker3	Mass Haanen	CST	Irwin / Alexander
21	GBR1479	Andrew Penman	Tim Bastow	Bieker4	Ovington / Specialized	Bieker	Alexander / Hyde
22	USA1150	Ron Boehm	Peta Mohler	Bieker3	Maas	CST	Alexander / Irwin / Ullman
23	GBR1464	Doug Walker	Louise Hickey	Bieker3	Specialized Marine	CST	Hyde / P&B
24	CAN584	Fred Eaton	John Vincze	Bieker3	Jason King Marine	CST	Irwin / Alexander / P&B
25	USA1129	Steve Goodson	Alan Direcks	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
26	JPN83	Susumu Tsuchiya	Masami Ito	Howlett 1B	Ovington	Proctor
27	GBR1462	Kimball Morrison	Chris Kinghts	Bieker3	Specialized Marine	Bieker	Batt / P&B / Irwin
28	JPN108	Yoshihisa Fujii	Naoki Shigeyama	Morisson10	RMW	CST	King / Irwin / North
29	GBR1448	Roger Douglas	Jeremy Reed	Morisson10	RMW	n/a	P&B
30	AUS623	Mark Krstic	Rob Oshlack	Bieker3	Maas	Bieker	Irwin / Alexander / North
31	AUS616	Lindsay Irwin	Andrew Perry	Bieker3	Jason King Marine	CST	Irwin
32	AUS609	Stewart Vickery	Matt Balmar	Bieker	Jason King Marine	Porn Star	Porn Star
33	GBR1442	Charls Duchesne	Martin Pascal	Bieker3	Specialized Marine	CST	North Sail
34	CAN583	Jamie Kidd	Jason Lemieux	Bieker3	Jason King Marine	CST	Irwin
35	AUS622	James McDonald	Jason King	Bieker	Jason King Marine	CST	Irwin
36	JPN110	Takashi Shimozato	Tomonari Tanaka	Bieker3J	Specialized Marine	Bieker	Alexander
37	USA1127	Kris Bundy	Jamie Hanseler	Bieker2	Bieker	Bieker	Alexander
38	JPN107	Toru Kojima	Kei Matsumoto	Bieker3	Specialized Marine	Bieker
39	GBR1487	Ian Teasdale	Matt Chapman	Morrison11	RMW	CST	RMW
40	GBR1482	Rob Greenhalgh	Dan Johnson	Morrison11	RMW	RMW/CST	RMW
41	JPN89	Toshinari Harada	Takao Kawamura	Bieker3J	Bieker	Bieker	Irwin
42	USA1137	Zach Berkowitz	Mike Marton	Bieker2Z	Bieker/Chase/Tuttlc	ICE	Ullman / Irwin / Alexander
43	GBR1481	Andy Partington	Ben Vervieres	Morrison11	RMW	CST	RMW
44	JPN97	Naoki Yamaguchi	Masayuki Nagashima	Morisson8	RMW	n/a	Irwin
45	JPN101	Yoichi Hirane	Kenji Hirade	Bieker3J	Bieker	Bieker	Irwin
46	JPN109	Yasutaka Uto	Takehide Takase	Morisson10	RMW	Bieker	Sobstad
47	AUS602	Anthony Anderson	David Hughes	Bieker3	Larry Grey	CST	Irwin / Alexander / North
48	GBR1476	Archie Massey	George Nurton	Bieker3	Jason Beebe	CST	North Sail
49	GBR1477	Paul Ravenhill	Neil Trickett	Bieker3 modified	Jason King Marine	CST	Irwin
50	JPN90	Kenichi Hagiwara	TBA	Ovington 1	Ovington Boats	Bieker	Irwin
51	JPN111	Eiji Kato	Susumu Shima	Bieker3J	Specialized Marine	Bieker	Alexander
52	AUS400	Mat Lon	Derek Layfield	Bieker3	PADDY	CST	n/a
53	GBR1489	Jarrow Simpson	Harvey Hellary	Biekier4	Ovington	Bieker	Alexander
54	USA1144	Andrew Bates	Eric Arens	Bieker2	Specialized Marine	CST	Alexander
55	AUS624	David Alexander	Don Hart	Bieker3	Alexander	CST	Alexander
56	USA1138	Alan Laflin	Tatsuo Okada	Bieker2	Bieker	Willetts	Irwin / Ullman
57	GBR1484	James Fawcett	Bruce Grant	Bieker4	Ovington/Specialized	Bieker	Alexander / Pinnell Bax
58	JPN55	Kenichi Imai	TBA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a