The first pursuit race was sailed on Sunday 21 September 2014. A changed and shortened course saw the boats sailing from a harbour start, to the Bellbouy and to a harbour finish. The Channel Marker leg was removed as the start was later than intended.
The boats left individually according to their handicap and rounded the Bellbouy to port. A 10 to 15 knot South Easter made for an interesting beat to the Bellbouy and a straight run back to the harbour for most of the fleet.
In hindsight – the offshore course paid more than the inshore course taken by Jellybaby, Wild Thing and Tehilah who all had to escape the clutches of the land.
Wild Thing once again had to be content with whizzing down the original course (to the Channel Marker and then the Harbour) in order to make any sort of decent headway. Of course they overshot the layline (fun being the paramount thought on the old surfers minds!). The charge back down to the harbour did see Wild Thing pass Jellybaby who, with only two intrepid souls on board, were having a lesson in how NOT to drop a spinnaker just outside the harbour mouth.
Taking the consolation prize Wild Thing did the trip in 1 hour 35 minutes – 2 minutes and 37 seconds faster than winner, Rob Smith on Tikalox, but not fast enough to gain first place as they started 33 minutes and 19 seconds after Fling.
The prize for sailing must go to Jellybaby though, who sailed two up and held their own all the way.
Final Results:
| Rank | Boat | Class | HelmName | TCF | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tikalox II | Muira | Rob Smith | 0.89 | 1 |
| 2 | Spirit of Sprite | L26 | Mark Dawson | 0.910 | 2 |
| 3 | Fling | Sadler 26 | Paul Martin | 0.800 | 3 |
| 4 | Sewen | RCOD | Charlie Hills | 0.89 | 4 |
| 5 | Wild Thing | Pacer 27 | Russel Morgan | 1.007 | 5 |
| 6 | Jelly Baby | J27 | John Tudehope | 0.947 | 6 |
| 7 | Valiant | Villian | Philip Stunden | 0.859 | 7 |
| 8 | Tehilah | Flamenca | Freddie van Rensburg | 0.85 | 8 |
The Sailing Committee has decreed that the bulk of their future events will be sailed around the furniture with only a small portion of events being sailed around the cans.
