GP14 World Championship in Barbados - Day 3

A day for the hiking pads on day 3 of the GP14 World Championships in Barbados © Peter Marshall

Race 4 winners Mike Senior and Chris White from SSSC on day 3 of the GP14 World Championships in Barbados © Peter Marshall

Day 3 of the 2016 GP14 World Championships was a day for creating tales of disaster or triumph that will be passed on from generation to generation!

As is the usual way getting a general consensus from the boat park as to the wind strength is like trying to get the real size of your catch of the day. Suffice it to say it was windy! I'll go with Force 6 gusting Force 7 but don't hold me to that. With the swell, the shifts and the gusts there was a lot going on and probably the most capsizes I've seen in one day, although I wasn't at the now infamous Strangford Loch Worlds.

No need for the disaster plan to be put in place this time and those of us who kept going over either kept getting it back up and trying to get a result or went back to the safety of shore. For once though, the capsizes weren't restricted to the back of the fleet with Sam Watson and Andy Thompson (Nantwich/East Antrim) treating us all by capsizing on the start line! I'm sure there were a few of the front runners rubbing their hands together at the pairs misfortune but they still managed to finish 4th. If they manage a race with the bungs in and without capsizing they might get a win in before the end of the event.

The first beat of Race 4 was hard work! The gusts were coming through were relentless and the hiking hard but in race mode the fleet were all still pushing for a good position round the windward mark. Then came the decision about whether to pop the kite or not. There were great gains to be made if you did with some taking 25 places by doing so but then you had to be able to keep the boat upright if you did.

Sam and Shandy narrowly avoiding a second capsize of the race on day 3 of the GP14 World Championships in Barbados - photo © Peter Marshall

The rest of the race was hard attritional sailing that saw off many boats through breakages. The rudder of Matt Burge and Paul Childs (Poole YC) came off at one point dumping them from the lead and back 10 places, Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe (RWYC/Burwain) suffered worse though when their rudder broke. They headed back in to get a new one but by the time they got back out to the fleet the second race of the day had been cancelled. One of the Barbadian boats had a broken centre board and as it was being towed back in upside down the mast snapped and forced a hole through the hull. However good our resident boat repairer is I don't think we will see them again!

It wasn't all bad news, there were some that really profited from the conditions and it gave Mike Senior and Chris White from South Staffs SC a boost with the win and moving them to 2nd overall. Nick Craig and Toby Lewis are starting to show their class and move into 1st overall. Gary Deighan and Dale Knowles from Bolton SC also enjoyed the heavier conditions of the past couple of days bringing them up too 9th overall. Race 4 gave top 10 places to some who have been out of competitive racing for a while with former GP14 Youth Champion Andy Hately and Ben Pickering (SSSC) getting an 8th and Shustoke SC sailor Steve Bennet, sailing with son Jack, getting 7th.

Hairy times flying the spinnaker with force 7 gusts on day 3 of the GP14 World Championships in Barbados - photo © Peter Marshall

You couldn't really ask any more from this Championships that we have now had four different winners in as many races, will it be five out of five today or will we start to see a front runner dominate?!

Follow the action on the GP14 website, www.gp14.org/2016worlds Facebook: /GP14Class or Twitter: @GP14Sailing

Results after Day 3: (race 4 sponsored by SP Boats)