International 14 World Championship at Geelong, Australia

International 14 World Championship at Geelong, Australia - Day 3

by Tracey Johnstone 11 Jan 2015 22:03 NZDT 3-17 January 2015

Britain's Glen Truswell leads close rival Ben McGrane around the blustery Corio Bay course on day 3 of the International 14 Worlds in Geelong © Rhenny Cunningham / Sailing Shots

Day 3 of the International 14 Worlds in Geelong © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.com

Brits hold onto lead after wild day

The British have given notice that they intend taking out the podium places at this year's I14 World Championships after delivering another commanding performance on Geelong's Corio Bay.

Britain's Glen Truswell and Sam Pascoe took first place across the line. Ben McGrane and James Hughes were second and the heavier and strong-wind specialists Richard Bone and Chris Rodway were third. Continuing on their dominating form, Andy and Tom Partington were fourth and defending World Champion Archie Massey and crew Harvey Hillary were fifth.

There was some boat yard anxiety this morning as the clouds cleared and the wind built. Massey found his post-Race 2 fix-it job on the jib sheet didn't work and he had to scramble around for some quick drying glue. Truswell was seen doing a last minute number on his sheets, making sure all were solid for a heavy race. Other teams were going similar checks in anticipation of a tough day ahead.

Heading out to the course the capsizes started, and it wasn't long before some teams turned tail and headed home. For those who made it to the start line they enjoyed a clean start. On the committee boat end Truswell, McGrane and Massey were together.

"Archie was beneath us and Ben above us. We all got lifted up slightly. Ben came out best from that start. After the first tack we got lifted inside of Ben and just cleared him at the windward mark. Once we found the reach mark, we were first to hoist. We got a little away there and then down the second reach we got a huge gust and had to drop the kite. There was a big shift on that second reach of about 30 degrees with about five more knots of breeze.

"On the next beat Ben gained quite a lot by going hard right so we had to work quite hard down the next run to get away from them," Pascoe said. Even with gusts of over 20 knots Pascoe said they weren't fazed.

"Ben had some trouble with his jib on the last run which finally gave us some breathing space," Pascoe added.

Tom Partington talked after the race about survival conditions today. "We got a knot in our kite at one stage. Then when we got down towards the leeward mark the waves were really lumpy. It was quite tricky conditions. We are normally faster in those conditions, but we have new sails and we haven't quite found the right tuning for that sort of breeze," Partington said.

Day 3 of the International 14 Worlds in Geelong - photo © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.com

Massey had another disappointing day today, finishing in fifth across the line. "We spent all day chasing our set-up. We just struggled all day long. We were better yesterday when we had to hold the jib sheet," his crew Hillary quipped.

"The gap is getting bigger to the guys in front", a down-beat Massey added. Even with two firsts and a second in his results, Truswell is realistic about how he will approach the final four races. "There is a hell of a long way to go. We just keep treating every race as a new one knowing at the end, that to win the world title we are going to need really tidy scores. The fat lady is a long way away as yet so we will keep our heads down and keep working towards nailing ones, two, threes," Truswell said.

Farther down the fleet there were plenty of teams making a valiant effort to get around the course and across the line. There were plenty of retirements with a depleted and exhausted fleet eventually making it back to shore.

Day 3 of the International 14 Worlds in Geelong - photo © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.com

In the overall results, Truswell/Pascoe are in first on four points, McGrane/Hughes in second on six, Massey/Hillary in third on 12 points and Andy and Tom Partington in fourth on 14 points after three races and no drops.

In fifth place overall and leading the Australian Championship point score are Brad Devine and Ian Furlong. Devine went into today's race with a strong expectation that he would struggle against the British teams.

"This is like club racing for them. The big bonus for the Brits is that they sail with the top sailors every weekend, whereas our top sailors only get together once a year, sail for seven races and then not see each other for 12 months. Their racing in that really, close, fast, environment all the time. The Australian guys tend not to do that because we are so isolated. Where their fleet is spread out over several yacht clubs, ours is spread out all over the country. So they have great club racing every weekend with the top sailors," Devine said.

In second on the Australian Championship point score is the over-50s team of Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry. They had a great, but tiring day, finishing in sixth place, ahead of Devine. "We got a bit tired and a bit brain dead near the end, missing the lay-line. Other than that we got around and kept it upright.

It's always good to be ahead of Brad," a smiling Irwin said.

Day 3 of the International 14 Worlds in Geelong - photo © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.com

Racing continues tomorrow with Race 4 of the series scheduled to start at 2pm.

Results after Day 3:

Pos	Nat	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	GBR	1543	CRUMPET	Glen Truswell	Sam Pascoe	CCSC	1	2	1	4
2	GBR	1517	POPPET	Ben McGrane	James Hughes	NSC	3	1	2	6
3	GBR	1519	ZHIK CST	Archie Massey	Harvey Hillary	ISC	2	5	5	12
4	GBR	1550	PENGUIN JUICE	Andy Partington	Tom Partington	HISC	4	6	4	14
5	AUS	661	DEL BOCA VISTA	Brad Devine	Ian Furlong	WA	6	3	7	16
6	GBR	1527	TBC	Richard Bone	Chris Rodway	BBSC	9	8	3	20
7	AUS	663	RONSTAN/IRWINSAILS	Lindsay Irwin	Andrew Perry	BRYC	14	4	6	24
8	GBR	1520	ROBOROWSKI	Katie Nurton	Nigel Ash	ISC	5	11	13	29
9	AUS	666	EL DIABLO	David Hayter	Trent Neighbour	RQYS	7	19	8	34
10	AUS	656	TOO LATE TO STOP NOW	Mark Krstic	Cameron Mc Donald	BRYC	8	13	18	39
11	GBR	1530	SMASH IT	Andy Fitzgerald	Richard Dobson	ISC	10	7	23	40
12	AUS	659	WEMBLEY PLUMBING	Stuart Sloss	Ben Lawrie	PDSC	22	9	9	40
13	AUS	645	DIRTIEST SANCHEZ	Scott Cunningham	Dave Parker	MCCRAE	23	10	10	43
14	AUS	652	FLAUNT IT 652	Ron Scherwinski	James Lanati	BRYC	17	12	14	43
15	GER	28	JUST IN TIME	Georg Borkenstein	Eike Dietrich	WSCW	13	23	12	48
16	AUS	673	ZERO	Tony Carr	Scott Cole	PDSC	16	14	21	51
17	AUS	670	STEALTH	David Lugg	Dave Bramley	WA	20	20	19	59
18	AUS	644	RON JEREMY	Chris Vaughan	Matt Balmer	SYC	26	18	16	60
19	AUS	657	DO YOU GET IT YET	Roger Blasse	Andrew Gilligan	BRYC	33	17	11	61
20	USA	1187	MORNINGSTAR	Terence Gleeson	Evan Sjostedt	SWYC	11	24	28	63
21	AUS	647	QUICKSHIFT	Cameron Elliott	Sam Batt	PDSC	25	21	22	68
22	CAN	619	ISLAND GIRL	Dan Cunningham	Ian Struthers	RCYC	12	34	27	73
23	AUS	637	DEVINE INTERVENTION	Graeme Everett	Andrew Wilson	WA	31	22	20	73
24	AUS	662	CARBON COMET II	Luke Devine	Eike Ehrig	PDSC	21	32	26	79
25	AUS	642	READ BTW THE LINES	Adam Syme	Daniel Farthing	SYC	36	16	31	83
26	AUS	674	ARGO XVII	Ben Austin	Peter Nicholson	RGYC	30	45	15	90
27	AUS	649	GIVIN IT SOME GRUNT	Greg Coutts	Jason Close	BRYC	29	36	25	90
28	GBR	1531	EAGLE 2	Andrew Penman	Chris Watson	ISC	24	40	32	96
29	GBR	1548	BEAST II	Julian Pearson	David Edge	WSC	15	15	68F	98
30	AUS	639	REACTOR	Ian Arber	Drew Farrar	PDSC	38	30	30	98
31	AUS	631	VENTURA	Steve Vance	Blake Vance	PDSC	43	35	24	102
32	USA	1177	LUCKY DOG	Ron Boehm	John Gilmour	SBYC	28	37	37	102
33	AUS	651	DRONGOLAYO	Cameron Dale	Adam Evans	SYC	27	44	34	105
34	CAN	616	SABOTAGE	Lauren Laventure	Jason Lemieux	RCYC	18	47	42	107
35	AUS	672	GILL CST	Dave Alexander	Dan Wilsdon	ASC	68U	26	17	111
36	USA	1162	ERIS	Chris Rutz	Michael Radziejowski	RYC	19	54	41	114
37	AUS	638	PHR	Ben Strong	James Patterson	SYC	49	29	39	117
38	AUS	655	PINK BITZ	Nigel Smith	Dane Stead	PDSC	48	33	36	117
39	GBR	1546	HARTLAND SHIPPING	Charles Duchesne	Tom Bracewell	ISC	41	28	50	119
40	AUS	654	SHARK BAIT	Tim Vance	Greg Vance	WA	44	41	35	120
41	AUS	671	CRAZY HORSE	Anthony Anderson	Mike Mcdonald	MCCRAEYC	68U	25	29	122
42	USA	1186	ATOMIC PUNK	Kirk Twardowski	Michael Lazzaro	RYC	39	38	45	122
43	GER	218	TOURISTEN EXPRESS	Bjoern Frasch	Oliver Peter	SVW	32	27	68F	127
44	AUS	648	ZULU	Sam Duncan	John Warren	SYC	45	43	40	128
45	AUS	668	RUMBALLS	Scott Davis	Daniel Vaughan	BRYC	52	46	33	131
46	AUS	627	DEEP PURPLE	Phil Vance	Andrew Vance	PDSC	35	31	68F	134
47	AUS	660	REPEAT OFFENDER	Stephen Edmunds	Tom Edmunds	SYC	40	53	44	137
48	GBR	1529	PINK FLESH	Robin Pascal	Martin Pascal	ISC	56	48	38	142
49	AUS	667	PTG	Phillip Tomamichel	Geoffrey Tomamichel	BRYC	37	39	68F	144
50	AUS	653	MONKEY WRENCH	Brec Mitton	Peter Knispel	ASC	42	42	68F	152
51	GBR	1551	NOT YET DEAD	Colin Smith	Imogen Smith	ISC&BBSC	57	52	43	152
52	AUS	235	JOANNE	Ian Cunningham	David Cunningham	MCCYC	34	51	68F	153
53	GER	13	IDEFIX	Julian Retzlaff	Fabio Pfisterer	WSCW	51	58	46	155
54	AUS	628	DONKEY ON THE EDGE	Philip Strong	Jeffre Klemm	SYC	62	50	47	159
55	ITA	1488	ELIZABETH	Dominic Van Essen	Simona Saccani	ISC	54	59	48	161
56	AUS	675	BLACK BETTY	David McGeoch	Bridget Mcgeoch	BRYC	50	49	68F	167
57	JPN	119	SURIMI	Yasutaka Uto	Satoshi Ishida	ENOSHIMA	60	57	51	168
58	AUS	669	BACK IN BLACK	Robert Vickery	Arron Vickery	SYC	46	55	68F	169
59	AUS	630	WINDJAMMER	Christian Wangel	Henrik Wangel	ASC	64	56	49	169
60	AUS	664	HOBO	Wayne Frankcombe	Marcus Korobacz	SYC	47	68F	68S	183
61	AUS	605	POWERED BY RUM	Brian Long	Frederic Papon	BRYC	53	62	68F	183
62	AUS	609	DEATHWISH	Marcel Bucek	Scott Curtis	RGYC	58	60	68F	186
63	AUS	658	BEACHED AZ	Jason Dixon	Pat Agar	ASC	55	68F	68F	191
64	AUS	601	WALKING ON WATER	Richard Thomas	Luke Thomas	PDSC	61	63	68F	192
65	AUS	345	TBD	Takashi Furugaki	Kenichi Hagiwara	ENOSHIMA	65	61	68F	194
66	AUS	646	FLAUNT IT	John Taylor	Martyn Tribe	BRYC	59	68F	68S	195
67	AUS	665	ARGO XVI	David Lorimer	Freya Vickery	SYC	63	68F	68F	199