B14 Worlds at Woollhara Sailing Club, Australia - Overall

Light to moderate SE breeze (8-12 knots) with grey skies and intermittent rain. Race 8 with a pin bias in Taylor Bay, saw the fleet split left and right off the line at the second attempt after a general recall.

At the windward mark the leaders had played the right centre of the beat and were AT&T (Tim Fells/Sean Dwyer), CSC (Chris Bines/Dave Gibbons), Gutted Hedgehog (Matt Searle/Andy Ramus), and Ronstan (Jono Pank/Richard Edwards).

On the run back to the leeward gate it was all about staying in the pressure with the leaders coming out of the left hand side and Readycrest (Mark Barnes/Tom Pygall) jibing on the puffs down the centre of the course closing into the top ten from well back in the fleet.

The leaders went left with the exception of Gutted Hedgehog going right. At the top mark the lead bunch remained the same with Boatracer.co.uk (Nils Jolliffe/Jonathon Branch) working their way to the front followed by AT&T, CSC and Ronstan. The majority of the fleet jibed at the top mark and headed down the left hand side with Readycrest continuing to work the puffs down the middle. In a very tight finish the lead changed five times with Readycrest maintaining course position and holding out AT&T. This resulted in Boatracer.co.uk coming into the committee boat end on starboard and taking first only to be OCS’d. This resulted in Readycrest being first home followed by CSC, AT&T, Ronstan and the Plumbers (Peter Ray/Gareth Wells).

Race 9 got under way at the first attempt with a pin bias from Taylor Bay. The fleet again split left and right off the line with the boats that could stay in pressure and negotiate the shifts at the top of the course emerging as the leaders. First round was CSC with PICA (Jamie Mears/Matt Gill), AT&T and Bang Bang (Kieran Livermore/Tim Austin) in close proximity to the following pack.

The leaders again predominantly sought the pressure on the left hand side of the run with The Nude (Ritchie Reynolds/Liss McMillan) gaining the most and leading round the leeward mark. The Plumbers had maintained a position in the top 5 boats as the boats again played the pressure up the second beat. At the top mark the leaders came out of the left with Buggar the Bone (Richard Fisher/Stuart McDonnell) rounding in the top 3. Down the run The Nude again surged into the lead with chasing pack staying in touch as a rain front appeared out of Rose Bay (south of the course). On the next beat those that went left lost out as the wind shifted 15 degrees to the right. The big beneficiaries of this were the Plumbers who led round the windward mark and maintained their lead to the finish. They were followed home by CSC, PICA, Readycrest (again sailing though the fleet) and The Nude.

Due to unstable light breeze and time restrictions Race 10 was not sailed.

On arriving ashore there were two protests that impacted the results. The first between PICA and Gutted Hedgehog resulted in Gutted Hedgehog being disqualified from race 8. The other protest did not proceed which involved Boatracer.co.uk for OCS infringement in Race 8.

This resulted in Gutted Hedgehog winning a very tightly contested World Championships and being the only boat to win two races.

Overall Results:

1st GBR773, Gutted Hedgehog, M Searle & A Ramus 27pts
2nd GBR772, PICA, J Mears & M Gill 28pts
3rd GBR758, AT&T, T Fells & S Dwyer 28pts
4th GBR741, CSC, C Bines & D Gibbons 30pts
5th GBR764, Boatracer.co.uk, N Jolliffe & J Branch 32pts
6th GBR768, Readycrest, M Barnes & T Pygall 43pts
7th AUS368, The Nude, R Reynolds & L McMillan 49pts
8th GBR771, Ronstan, J Pank & R Edwards 64pts
9th AUS373, Nerdwork, M Johnson & M Halkes 68pts 10th AUS370, The Plumbers, P Ray & G Wells 71pts