i14 - how the worlds were won

Clubs & Classes

International 14 World Champion, Archie Massey, successfully defended his title on Sydney Harbour and secured the first ever back-to-back titles with a lethal combination of preparation, tactics and boathandling.

Massey has lived in Australia since late 2008 but hails from, and won the title for, Itchenor Sailing Club in Great Britain. His i14 crew for the 2010 CST Composites International World Championship, and for the past year, was the Sydneysider Dan Wilsdon.

 “Winning the worlds a second time … yeah I am happy with that, it is the first time it has been done,” said a laconic Massey.

He said splitting the 109 boat fleet into Gold and Silver fleets on Sydney Harbour was a net positive. “We had so many general recalls and any more boats on the line would have become a nightmare,” he said. “We had a few times where in a nor’ easter, upwind everyone had to hit the Bombora Headland and downwind you want to hit that same headland so we had a bit of a nightmare trying to thread our way through all the upwind boats on occasions so I was glad there were not over 100 boats (racing at once).”

Massey said the foundation for success was laid in the preparation, particularly with using a sailing coach for the first time. “We have been sailing for three months here out in the waves and finally our coach one day said: ‘Your gybing is good, your upwind speed is good but your tacking is midfleet.’ So we went out and just tacked, tacked and tacked.”

There was little argument that Massey and Wilsdon had outstanding teamwork but it was their speed downwind that seemed to stand out. “We foil hard and point the bow lower than most,” he said. “14s pay off if you sail them dead flat.

“In the 18s … and a lot of skiffs … they have not got much rocker so they tend to heel the boat over to give them a natural bit of rocker, whereas 14s pay to sail just dead flat with a bit more foil on and punch it deep.”

He also felt the modified bow of his Bieker 5 hull gave him an advantage. The modification has resulted in a straighter and lower bow in the final metre or so of his boat.

Massey said he had his boat George 1st up for sale for the “right price” but considered the modified Bieker 5 was a ‘special boat”. No matter what happens with the boat, Massey is certain to sail the next i14 worlds at Weymouth in Great Britain.

Paul Bieker, of Bieker Boats, has been a dominant figure in the
I14 class for many year and his designs have won all but one world title since 1999.

Bieker says most of what he knows about boat design and construction was learnt in the i14 class. “The open nature of the rule, the open nature of the sailors, the rapid evolution of the boats, foils and rigs, as well as the excitement of sailing these boats made them
a natural for me,” he says.

Composite Craft in Cowes built George 1st in 2008 to a Bieker 5 design with carbon/nomex using SP technologies’ prepreg carbon.

 While Massey has a special affinity with his Bieker, he has opted for slightly different foils. His World Championship was won with a dagger board that was “super stiff and slightly wider than Beiker’s foil”.

“It’s probably twice the weight of Rob Greenhaulgh’s dagger board for comparison,” Massey said. “Too many 14ers have tended to go too narrow and they simply stall too often, especially in chop.”

Waterat supplied the foiling rudder for Massey. “Larry Tuttle (of Waterat) makes all the best 505 foils and the last three i14 Worlds champions’ foils ...  (they have a) super thin and simple section.

“We have no gybing dagger board.  It’s my belief that any perceived benefit is out-weighed by the extra drag from a non-flush exit between the hull and board … it’s like having weed round your keel.”

CST Composites provided the CST 14 HM2 mast.  The HM2 stands for high modulus 2 and was the only one in the fleet.  Dave Alexander also had one but ran out of time to make the sails for it.  It is the stiffest CST mast. Massey also used a very stiff bowsprit with a large outer diameter.

Alexander of South Australia made the suit of sails, featuring the now standard square-top main, which were a standard mix of carbon and mylar fabrics.

In his standing rigging Massey went for wire lowers, shrouds and forestay but chose Marlow braided PBO for uppers, which he says is a very cheap and easy solution for rigging.

Running rigging featured spectra lines and general ropes and controls lines were Liros ropes, usually Dyneema.

While Massey has good reason to be happy with his bag of i14 titles he now has another goal in his sights.

“For the next season and a half I will concentrate on the 18s, Rob (Greenhalgh) has won the 14s and the 18s and so has Howie Hamlin and that is definitely a goal,” he said.

– Neil Patchett