B14 TT Series Round 3 at Whitstable Yacht Club

B14 TT at Whitstable © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

B14 TT at Whitstable © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

The B14 Flying Circus arrived at Whitstable on May 17, eagerly anticipating a weekend of wall-to-wall sunshine, fine sea sailing and the usual superb hospitality offered by Whitstable Yacht Club.

Such was the promise of sun, sand and seafood that Chief Ambassador and Cultural Representative of the 2015 World champs venue, McCrae YC, was lured half way around the world to pull the strings for class Technical Officer Alan Davis, himself making a rare appearance outside of an airport lounge. We also welcomed the return of Chris Lewns, who hadn't stepped foot in a B14 for many years, and 2012 National Champion crew Tom Pygall.

The weather gods hadn't quite read the script, a cloudy Saturday morning and glassy sea leading to a postponement. Once the sun broke through a gentle easterly breeze arrived along the shore and gradually spread out across the Kentish Flats. Down came the AP, and afloat we all went.

Race 1 kicked off cleanly. The breeze was a steady 7mph and pretty much unwavering in direction as well. The pattern for the race was set early on with several place changes in the lead up the first beat but Whitstable Marine (Chris Lewns/Tom Pygall) lead round the windward mark to be jumped by Harken (Simon Hadley?Nikki Hadley) on the dog leg with Seavolution/North (Mark Barnes/Ceilidh Higgs) in 3rd. Down the first leg the first 2 played nip and tuck with Whitstable Marine taking the lead. Over the race they stayed close together with Seavolution closing in but meeting traffic on the last dog leg so -not quite capable of bridging the gap. Blue Badge (Beezer & Ferret) ground clear of the pack to take 4th from Trunky (Kathy Sherratt/Young John).

For Race 2 PRO (Steve Gray) shortened the course somewhat, a welcome move in the still weak breeze. The early leader in this race was Seavolution leading round the windward mark, only to be jumped by Torq (Gerry/Leaky Brown) on the hoist, chased by Blue Badge. Whitstable Marine had not such a perfect start resulting is a spin after misjudging ducking a starboard tacker. At the front Blue Badge eventually found a way past Torq and Seavolution in more pressure out to sea to take the gun, with Seavolution putting another 3rd place on the board ahead of a fast-recovering Whitstable Marine in 4th and Troublegum (Alan Davis/Scott Cunningham) 5th.

With the day drawing on and pangs of thirst and hunger becoming widespread, race 3 was set as a 2-lap sprint. By now the tide was under the fleet upwind and a general recall ensued. After the restart Seavolution took a narrow lead at the first windward mark from Blue Badge and Whistable Marine, the latter being close enough behind to be in control and have first choice of the favoured port gybe in towards the beach with Seavolution heading out to sea for the pressure. Torq was again in contention. Whitstable Marine sailed a controlled race to hold off Blue Badge followed by Seavolution, Torq and Team Ullman/Flying Donkey (Mark Watts, Ruth Oliver).

So at the end of the first day the order was Whitsable Marine on 6, Blue Badge on 7 and Seavolution on 9.

Whitstable Yacht Club surpassed even themselves with great food, unimaginable quantities of beer, tequila and rum, and a fantastic band (Project F) playing under the awning entertaining not just the sailors but also everyone passing by on the beach (Saxon Shore) path.

Sunday arrived with a clear blue sky but little wind and a few headaches and stories of great fun from the night before. However after a delay waiting for sufficient tide to get the support boats launched, a southerly breeze filled in, looking slightly stronger from the shore than the previous day's effort. Upon launching we found it flattered to deceive, with random holes and flat spots surrounded by puffs and the occasional small twister! PRO (Steve Gray) patiently moved the marks back and forth and then wisely waited for the wind to settle.

B14 TT at Whitstable - photo © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

The start of race 4 was a little disorganised in terms of boats lining up, due to the wind shutting off with lee bow tide, with 2 minutes to go making it hard to get position on the line. Whitstable Marine and Seavolution went back at the start, whilst Blue Badge rolled a pair of sixes by (a) pushing the line perhaps a bit too far but not getting called and (b) picking up their own private patch of breeze which failed to engage with any of the boats around them, enabling them to shoot off into an early lead and have their pick of the gusts and shifts coming down the course. At the first windward mark Blue Badge lead narrowly from Trunky. The first two remained unaltered at the leeward mark, with Blue Badge extending over the next beat and Trunky still holding a safe 2nd. At the second windward mark Blue Badge lead narrowly from Trunky, who stayed close only to be dumped in a big hole on the run. At the spreader mark, many of the fleet parked up fighting the tide with Troublegum and Seavolution squeezing the next 2 positions only to be dumped with Trunky as breeze filled in from the right resulting in the race turning inside out in the minor places. The big winners here were HB&R Consulting (Barry Price/Al Storer) who had stayed right followed by Suffolk Sails (Josh Wilce/Will Hall) and Whitstable Marine who were both towards the back and able to take full benefit of the breeze, jumping the fleet. Eventually it returned to the left hand side of the course, but not in time, so resulted in a major shake-up in the order. Blue Badge's lead remained although their fingernails didn't. Trunky rolled the zero as they went from 2nd to near last, necessitating a dip in the sea to cool off and a full service wash for the rig. Whitstable Marine rolled a 7 to pull off the comeback of the century and leapfrog to 2nd. Suffolk Sails (Josh Wilce, Will Hall) also leapfrogged most of the pack to take 3rd followed by Torq and a recovering Seavolution.

Going into the final race Whitstable Marine and Blue Badge were tied at the top, each with 1,1,2,4, ahead of Seavolution and Torq. A fight between Seavolution, Harken and Blue Badge was resolved in that order at the first windward mark with Torq and Trunky also in touch. At the bottom Torq had hit the right hand corner and taken the lead from Blue Badge, the latter getting a nice lift up the inside of Torq on the following beat and rounding the windward mark ahead. Whitstable Marine were back in the pack, leaving Blue Badge to sail conservatively to the finish to take the overall win. Down the run Torq and Seavolution had a ding dong with Torq again staying ahead of Seavolution on the run to take out 2nd and 3rd, and 3rd overall on count back from Seavolution, then Trunky and Harken.

B14 TT at Whitstable - photo © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

The presence of 3 Saganauts, 2 female skippers and 2 female crews in the top 6 shows that despite being a fully powered high performance skiff the B14 is manageable by a wide range of physiques.

A big thank you to Whitstable Yacht Club for putting on another fantastic weekend for us. The next event is TT Round 4 at Weston Sailing Club on 14/15 June, followed by the Nationals at Paignton July 10 - 13.

Overall Results: