#f18 – The F18 Catamaran podium may have looked settled even if the positions had not been agreed with 3 races to go. Belfast Lough offered a minefield today for the competitors to make their way through in light variable wind, and unfortunately the young Americans were the first to falter.

Race 1 (13) saw Glenn Ashby and Brett Goodall power away from the pin end of the line while the committee boat side had little breeze. Those that tacked off to clear air or try the right hand side of the course got left behind and this included USA team Taylor Reiss and Matthew Whitehead. Girvan Bontemps and Benjamin Amiot rounded the windward mark in the top 5 while Gunnar Larsen and Ferdinand van West got caught up in the traffic behind.

Ashby/Goodall went on to secure the first of three bullets for the final day. Who know's what their overall position might have been without the hull damage on Day 3. Bontemps/ Amiot closed the gap on Larsen/ van West but Reiss/ Whitehead were now looking at third place.

Race 2 (14) saw Bontemps/ Amiot again get in front of Larsen/ van West until the last downward leg but Gunnar somehow got in front before the finish.

In the final race (15), a shift at the start and light winds on the left hand course stranded half of the fleet. Simon (Nobby) Northrop/Josh O'Brien and Grant Piggot/Simon Farren restored a bit of pride for GBR leading into the windward mark. Larsen/ van West emerged from the middle of the fleet and worked their way into 2nd place behind Ashby/Goodall with Bontemps/ Amiot back in the fleet with Reiss/ Whitehead.

After 14 years of competing in F18s, Gunnar Larsen was finally World Champion with Ferdinand van West.

At the prize giving, Gunnar thanked the sponsors North Down Tourism and Northern Ireland Tourist Board for a great event. He also congratulated Event Chairman David Taylor and Race Officer Bill O'Hara and all 160 volunteers. This was the first time all 15 races were sailed in the World Championship with great racing, weather and race management, the hospitality was second to none and the welcome from Northern Ireland surpassed previous World Championships. It may be a long time before Ballyholme YC see another F18 World Championship but he recommended any class to come here and enjoy the craic.

F18 Results:
1. Gunnar Larsen and Ferdinand van West NED
2. Girvan Bontemps and Benjamin Amiot FRA
3. Taylor Reiss and Matthew Whitehead USA (1st Junior)
4. Morgan La Graviere and Armaud Jarlegan FRA
5. Tim Mourniac and Jean Christophe Mourniac FRA

6. Lois Berrehar and Hugo el Pomellac FRA (2nd Junior)
9. Robert Solune and Riwan Perron FRA (3rd Junior)
10. Helge and Christian Sach GER (1st Master)
20. William Sunnucks and Freddie White GBR (2nd Master)
21. Grant Piggott and Simon Farren GBR (3rd Master)
22. Sven Lindstadt and Marne Odefey GER (1st Mixed)

#f18s– The F18's experienced 3 seasons today in Bangor, Northern Ireland at the 2014 F18 World Championships. After last night's Ballyholme Yacht Club "home hospitality" and with a few sore heads, the day started off with little wind and vertical rain. Thankfully the forecasted breeze and sunshine started to set in just as the fleet went afloat, and the day finished with 20 knots, sunshine and rolling waves.

After only 1 race yesterday, the fleet were a little eager resulting in 2 general recalls and the resultant black flag start when everyone got away clean in just 6 knots of breeze.

Despite the delay and being ferried out to the start in a high powered Rib, local helm Adrian Allen was still four minutes late for the start having had to go to his daughter's graduation this morning at Queens University. 

Most of the fleet plumped for the right side of the course and GBR's Grant Piggot and Simon Farren found themselves first at the windward mark with a large lead over FRA Rouges/Souben and GER Tonne/Sunnocks. With a 20 degree shift to the right, a mark boat was positioned below the gate to signal a course change starboard and shortened.

Unfortunately Grant mistook this for a shortened course and proceeded to the finish line under spinnaker where he dropped it and turned to watch the others off up the beat. He somehow managed to regain first place by the next windward but had lost the lead and on the run was passed by Patrick Demesmaeker and Klass Victor from Royal Belgium Sailing Club followed by the French Mourniac's and the German Sach brothers.

Thankfully by Race 3, the fleet decided that they were fed up with general recalls and everyone got away cleanly. Still in light winds, it was the turn of the a clean youth team from Florida - Taylor Reiss and Matthew Whitehead - to show the rest of fleet a clean pair of hulls and lead the way home from the first mark. The Sachs brothers backed up their earlier light wind showing to take second and the overall lead.

A little more wind for Race 4 got things a bit excited. Gunnar Larsen and Ferdinand van West were clean first off the start line followed out by Reiss/Whitehead over to the left.

Unfortunately for Glenn Asby and Brett Goodall, a Dutch boat barged in below them forcing them head to wind at the Committee Boat and having to gybe off and find clean air behind the rest of the fleet. At the other end two French boats bounced off the pin end mark boat onto port and then took out the Irish crew of Dermot McHugh and Siobhan Keogh. More wind on the left saw many of the boats coming into the windward mark on port although the extra power made "threading the needle" and finding a gap more easy than normal. As the breeze started to build there were a few flogging kites on the downwind legs but Larsen/ van West showed their pedigree to finish ahead of the French crews of Lois Breeder and Hugo le Pomellec, followed the Mourniac family.

First Irish boat home in Race 4 was local crew Andrew Gallagher and Michael Gunning despite being squeezed out at the final mark by a boat coming in on port and having to crash gybe on the wong side of the course. Unfortunately the protest committee didn't agree that their shout of protest was within the allotted 3 seconds - something to learn for next time. Another visit to the protest room saw the Finnish crew first withdraw their original protest and then be told that they hand't completed the course properly as they had capsized at the bottom mark and drifted past it rounding the other "gate" mark instead of rerounding the original one. More learning points.

A fouth race of the day, Race 5 saw gust of up to 20 knots and everyone twin wiring. The Finnish crew found themselves on the wrong side of the start line but everyone else got away clean. Morgan La Graviere and Armaud Jarlegan from Nantes found themselves first in front of Glenn Ashby and Brett Goodall at the windward mark. By the downwind gate Larsen/Van West squeezed ahead of the Australians. Adrian Allen and Barry Swanston were leading the local fleet while many were pitchpoling and capsizing. Others were breaking rudders while one unfortunate crew discovered the "salami slicer" with a suspected broken arm.

At the end of the second day with 5 races, Larsen/ van West leads from Ashby/Goodall and the young Americans Reiss/ Whitehead. Tomorrow's forecast looks set for more of the final conditions with 15-20 knots, rolling seas and sunshine. America's Cup sailor Glenn Ashby was heard to bemoan the length of the course today hoping for something a bit shorter tomorrow. Unusually for a crew, Brett however is "loving it' and just can't wait!

#f18 – After 4 years of preparation, the F18 World Championships are finally here. The dinghy parks at Ballyholme Yacht Club are full of International sailors with their catamarans getting measured and weighed for registration. This morning we had the Radio Ulster team down for a broadcast on the Good Morning Ulster radio program with Irish F18 representative Adrian Allen and F18 Competitor and America's Cup sailor Glenn Ashby telling the locals to come down and watch the event. They were also asked for their predictions on the World Cup match later on this afternoon which will be screened in the club - Glenn favoured France while Adrian pitched for Germany. We'll see later.

The Opening Ceremony will be held in Ward Park on Sunday 6th July at 6.00pm with a procession of flags from the 14 visiting countries, a welcome from North Down Mayor Peter Martin and F18 President Olivier Boyvn and some Irish dancing. There is live music in the afternoon at the Ward Park Bandstand from 4.00 - 6.00pm. Everyone is very welcome to attend.

It has been a quick twelve months since Alison Stobie from North Down Tourism travelled with Adrian, crew Barry Swanston and BYC Rear Commodore Mark Mackey to Marina di Grossetto, Italy to launch the 2014 event and "collect the baton" from the 2013 event team. Their Opening Ceremony was great craic with thousands of spectators, and as always we hope to increase the fun here in Bangor. North Down Tourism had a great display at the 2013 Worlds, giving out 300 T shirts to competitors from across the world who all now know of Bangor and our hospitality. Alison even managed to get on local TV on the water with one of the local Italian celebrities.

There has been a huge amount of effort by Adrian Allen, Event Chairman David Taylor and his team of BYC members getting the Club and Parks ready, and the Ballyhome Yacht Club Executive in planning for this event. We must also thank North Down Borough Council for their huge support both financially and in organising this great event, as well as NITB and all of our other sponsors.

There is a practice race in the afternoon on Sunday 6th July at 13:30 before the Opening Ceremony. Racing will be held as close to the shore as practical in keeping with modern racing. Spectators should be able to watch the racing from Seacliff Road, Bangor and the "Sunken Gardens" beside Ballyholme Yacht Club. Official racing starts at 11:00 on Monday 7th July.

Australian Glenn Ashby was wing trimmer on the Emirates Team New Zealand AC72 in last year's America's Cup. He is a multihull specialist, with 14 World Championships across three classes to his name.

Ballyholme Yacht Club, host of the 2014 F18 World Championships, is delighted that the 37 year old sailmaker from Bendigo Yacht Club in Victoria will be helming with child-hood friend Brett Goodall as crew. He has won the F18 Worlds three times already. The F18 is a fast catamaran with a spinnaker and double trapeze crewed by two people and is a fully International Sailing Federation (ISAF) recognised class.

Goodall has been on the entry list for some time, but until now his helmsman was unknown. Brett: "I'm happy Glenn will sail with me in Ireland. Glenn has been out of F18 sailing for some time and has focussed succesfully on the A-Cat. But this feels like a sort of homecoming to get back on a F18 again". Olivier Bovyn, International F18 Class President said " I am confident Ballyholme will provide our Class with a top quality event, merging proper and fair sailing with friendly sailor parties, and I am certain success will reward all your efforts and involvement in building up such an important organisation. Further to this, I would like to sincerely thank all funding partners, from proud sponsors to local governing bodies, whose support makes this 15th F18 World Championship possible. Wishing you all the best".

Ballyholme Yacht Club is highly experienced in running events of this magnitude and has among its members three World Champions and 11 Olympic sailors. BYC Is delighted to have club member Bill O'Hara as Principal Race Officer. Bill is an Independent Sports Professional and an Olympian, and Principal Race Officer for the Volvo Ocean Race. The Jury Chairman will be Ewan McEwan (GBR) who is Chief Umpire of the Extreme 40 series.

The club is located on the eastern side of Bangor on Ballyholme Bay in Belfast Lough where racing will take place. The Lough is one of the best sailing waters in the UK with few hazards and little tide.