14 World Championships
Greenhalgh & Co World Champions

31st August 2003

RMW Marine team nail International 14 Worlds with a day to spare, reports Peter Danby from Japan

Rob Greenhalgh and Dan Johnson from Great Britain have won the International 14 World Championship with a day to spare. Their combination of excellent tactics, boat speed and top class handling have made them almost unbeatable in a variety of challenging conditions, and, with five races sailed and the discard now operative, their placings of four firsts and one third already make them unbeatable.
Two races were scheduled to take place today, but a feeble breeze this morning (Saturday) made prospects look bad. However, after a brief onshore postponement, the fleet went afloat and Race 5 started in an 8 knot breeze.

As usual, Greenhalgh and Johnson arrived at the first windward mark with a lead that they were destined to hold throughout the race. The breeze was gradually decreasing, and it was barely holding up to 5 knots as the leading boat approached the windward mark for the second time. Worse was to come, and the race officer took the decision to shorten the race after the two reaching legs.

With Greenhalgh and Johnson now assured of victory, there is still plenty to sail for tomorrow from second place onwards.

Results
1 GBR1482 Rob Greenhalgh Dan Johnson 1 1 1 3 1 7 4
2 GBR1476 Archie Massey George Nurton 2 3 2 12 7 26 14
3 USA1137 Zach Berkowitz Mike Martin 13 2 3 5 4 27 14
4 GBR1481 Andy Partington Ben Vervieres 6 8 9 2 18 43 25
5 AUS616 Lindsay Irwin Andrew Perry 36 12 4 1 9 62 26
6 GBR1484 James Fawcett Bruce Grant 10 4 6 8 11 39 28
7 USA1127 Kris Bundy Jamie Hanseler 14 7 8 6 21 56 35
8 GBR1495 Chris Turner Peter Bagwell 7 13 10 7 39 76 37
9 GBR1483 Victor Brellisford Damian Ash 5 10 19 4 37 75 38
10 AUS617 Alan Vickery Andrew Wilson 8 18 25 9 8 68 43