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Club News

Event report: B14 Open at Whitstable Yacht Club

Posted: Thursday, 23 July, 2015

Event report by Mark Barnes:
The 4th installment of the B14 National TT circuit took place at WYC on the weekend of the 18 - 19th July. Local favourites going into the event were Seavolution North Sails (Mark Barnes/Charlotte Jones).
Saturday was a testing day for both the fleet and Race Officer Richard Ledger (with Assistant R/O Abby Ledger), as the wind seemed to come from every direction in varying strength. Overnight leaders were Flying Donkey (Mark Watts/Clare Stubbs).
Sunday dawned and a rip raring south-westerly force 5 - 6 greeted the fleet after a night of Turbo Pimms and beer. Through the fog of recovery, a sober fleet hit the water and headed out to do battle. Some of these high powered skiffs headed for the shore as the breeze built, but the contenders had a gladiatorial battle over 3 races with little to chose from Flying Donkey and Seavolution North Sails. with a 1, 2 a piece it all came down to the last race. With the lead changing several times on the first beat, then into the downwind whilst holding a slight lead, Flying Donkey gybed in a monster gust and was flattened so ending their challenge assuming nothing happened to the new leader, Seavolution North Sails put the peddle down and never looked back, taking out the event with a win, captured on video by the committee boat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPUrjhYbcaw
Richard and Abby did a great job running their first event, just wish we had more time between races to refuel (joke). Bruised and battered the conditions on Sunday were perfect. Thanks to all the support crew, and to Alex Cheshire, who photographed the event (see her pictures here and here). Full results can be found at wyc.org.uk/on-the-water/results.
Next event for the B14s is the Europeans at Rock Sailing Club in Cornwall on the 5th - 8th September. There should be 3 WYC teams attending the event with daily reports on Y&Y.