International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week at Fowey Sailing

International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week 2022 © Fowey Sailing

International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week 2022 © Fowey Sailing

Eighteen International 14s attended this year's Prince of Wales Trophy week jointly hosted by The Royal Fowey and Fowey Gallants Sailing Clubs. Despite the lower than expected entries, the standard of the fleet was high and included six of the new Beiker 6 'virtual one-design' boats.

Day one of racing was held directly off the entrance to the estuary in an unstable westerly breeze. Current Champions Glenn Truswell & Ed Fitzgerald overhauled current World Champions to take the lead with Douglas Pattison & Mark Tait taking third place on the final run.

Andy Fitzgerald & Rich Dobson initially lead race two only to be overhauled by Glen & Ed and Pattison & Tait. Racing for the top five was proving to be incredibly tight with Massey & Hillary taking FitzGerald & Dobson on the final gate with a neat room call and a double gybe.

The final race of day one was incredibly open. Again Andy FitzGerald and Richard Dobson lead the fleet round the windward mark, and after taking a penalty on the first beat, Truswell & Fitzgerald hunted the lead down to take a clean sweep of race wins. Massey & Hillary patiently worked through to take second, with Pattison & Tait third.

On day two, the fleet sailed in the same race area with an easterly set-up. Massey & Hillary had to stop the run of race wins if they were going to challenge for the title, and they attacked the pin end to control the left-hand side of the course to round the windward mark ahead of Glen & Ed with Matin Jones & Ian Lodder in third.

Massey & Hillary looked set for the race win, having maintained their lead for the whole race, only for Truswell to sail deep on the last run and take victory on the line.

Archie & Harvey avenged this by taking the win in a building breeze in the next race. With Glen leading out to the wing mark, he hit a rogue wave and pulled an impressive tail stand.

Massey & Hillary took another bullet to narrow the lead at the top to two points in the day's final race with one discard.

International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week 2022 - photo © Fowey Sailing

The POW Race took place with a forecast showing the Northerly battling with the sea breeze. After an hour delay on shore Race Officer John Burford decided to move the race area to St Austell Bay and set a fantastic 40km six-lap course as a gusty 14kt northerly finally took hold. Tradition dictates a mix of windward-leeward and triangle laps, with the latter set to ensure the wing mark cannot be sailed directly with the kite. The fleet would compete for one of the most prestigious trophies in dinghy sailing.

Truswell & FitzGerald again took the initiative by taking control of the cliffs on the right of the course. Three Bieker 6's of Jones, Massey and Shaw targeted the middle of the bay and came back on a good heading, but with slightly less breeze. Truswell rounded first with Andy Shaw & Rob Struckett in second and Massey & Hillary third. The three-way battle continued for the next four laps, with Shaw and Massey continually changing positions and occasionally closing in on Truswell, who had chosen a loose cover.

With two laps to go, Massey & Hillary closed the gap to the lead and made a dramatic final challenge for the lead on the penultimate reach. Truswell just managed a tight cross at the gybe mark reminiscent of Britannia and Luna Rossa, giving him the lead to the finish's final reach.

With 50 meters to go to the finish, the northerly breeze gave way, allowing Massey & Hillary to close in on Truswell & Fitzgerald and the finish. Overlapped but not overtaken, Truswell & Fitzgerald took their second consecutive POW title.

Behind, Shaw & Struckett finished third with a great battle for the final 'Crews Union' places behind. Having held a solid fourth place for much of the race, Jones & Lodder capsized to let FitzGerald senior & Dobson through into fourth.

Alex Knight and James Clark then pushed through into fourth as the breeze lightened with Richard Bone & Alex Smith also moved into fifth after sailing a great race in their newly reconditioned B6 v1.

With a strong easterly on the final day and high-seas in the bay, the decision was made to abandon the final day's racing giving Truswell & FitzGerald the Wind Whisperer Series title for a second successive year.

International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week 2022 - photo © Fowey Sailing

POW Week Results: (not shown - POW trophy race)

R1 - Lowestoft Cup
R2 - Lowestoft Cup
R3 - Hunstanton Plate
R4 - Weymouth Cup
R5 - Island Commemorative Cup
R6 - Island Commemorative Cup

International 14 Prince of Wales Cup Week 2022 - photo © Fowey Sailing