International 14 Easter Tray at Itchenor Sailing Club

 15 International Fourteens attended this year's Easter Tray event at Itchenor Sailing Club over the Bank Holiday weekend. The three-day event is the traditional curtain-raiser for the class and is the first cross for the gun teams with their sights set on the World Championships in August.

Day one was a tight battle between POW winners Glenn Truswell & Ed Fitzgerald and current world champions Archie Massey & Harvey Hillary. Both teams were evenly matched over three windward-leeward races, with Massey & Hillary finishing the day on top with a 1,2,1. Behind Douglas Pattison & Mark Tait were locked in a three-way battle with Andy Fitzgerald & Richard Dobson, and Katie Nurton crewed by Cam Tweedle.

Day 2 and Olympic hopeful and ex 49er World Champion James Peters joined the party crewed by another ex-14 world champ Tom 'Tingtog' Partington. The 'scratch team' went straight to work on Massey and Truswell, taking the first race of the day and following that up with a 2,3 for an impressive debut.

For Monday's racing, the race team switched from windward-leeward to two long-distance harbour races changing the emphasis from handling and tactics to navigation and speed. Again the top three were engaged in an epic battle, with Massey & Hillary finding another gear to open up a gap on Truswell & Fitz, with Peters & Partington a click of down but comfortable in third.

Overall Results:

Pos Boat Name Sail No Helm Crew R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 Pts

1st Zog 1565 Archie Massey Harvey Hillary 1 ‑2 1 2 1 2 1 1 9

2nd Scrumpet 1553 Edward FitzGerald Glen Truswell 2 1 2 ‑3 3 1 2 2 13

3rd Amaising Masie 1557 Katie Nurton Cameron Tweedle 7 ‑8 7 6 5 4 7 6 42

4th Marilyn 1561 Douglas Pattison Mark Tait 3 5 5 4 4 5 (DNC) DNC 43

5th Penguin Dance 1559 Tom Partington James Peters (DNC) DNC DNC 1 2 3 3 3 46

6th Think Pink 1566 Andy FitzGerald Rich Dobson 4 3 3 5 9 6 (DNC) DNC 47

7th 1548 Julian Pearson 6 6 4 8 7 ‑9 8 9 48

8th Tartan Fraulein 1523 Kimball Morrison Harry Kennedy 9 11 8 (DNF) 10 7 9 7 61

9th Synchronicity 1567 Martin Jones Ian Lodder (OCS) 4 DNF DNF 6 10 4 4 62

10th Booby 1570 Geroge Yeoman Jack Yeoman 5 (DNC) 6 DNC DNC DNC 5