K 848

Readers of this blog know that I'm not averse to post English International 14 history if someone makes the effort to contact me. Andrew Roosaak sends along a photo of his dad, Terje Rossaak, sailing K-848, an English, McCutcheon built, Shelley design produced in 1964. Note the wing logo of Anderson Aerosails, one of the first lofts to pioneer the radial cut. Andrew provides some background history of his dad and Chris Bevan partnering in K-848 and some of their exploits with the English fleet. (Andrew wondered if his memory was correct so I checked Tom Vaughan's history and the number and boat name check out.)

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"My late father (Terje Rossaak) and his great friend, the late Chris Bevan sailed Int 14's for many years. They eventually got a new one designed by Shelly, if I remember right. K 848 was, I think, called Samantha. This must have been around 1964 to 1967. Had a black spinnaker.

"They sailed at Ranelagh on the Thames and also at Itchenor.

"I recall stories of the POW cup and others.

"Both were initially asked to sail the Naples Olympics in 1968 for the UK, but as neither were UK citizens, it didn't work out. Chris did sail., for Rhodesia, and narrowly missed out on a medal. Terje went to Naples and trained the either Chris or the UK crew.

"There were two [tales] about accidents that have stayed with me.

"The first was on a race day on the Thames. There was a bit of breeze and a current. On the upwind leg everyone was hugging the bank to avoid the current and hiking hard. It also happened to be a practice day for the rowers on the same piece of water. The sailors thought they should row in the current where the extra work may be worth it. So the banks were busy, the wind blowing and crews hiking hard, behind those massive jibs. Suddenly there was a crunch noise nearby and one of the rowing boats had rammed right through the side of an I-14 nearby. The crew released the sails on the stricken dinghy. The resulting pressure of the righting dinghy simply snapped the rowing boat!

"Another accident involved two rather lovely young girls racing a National 12 on the same area as the I-14's were racing. The girls had some Merlin Rocket crewing experience so were doing OK. But the N12 is a little boat was hidden behind the large I-14 jib...Chris and Terje managed to hit them. The talk in the pub later was that it was no accident! Anyway Chris and Terje spent a couple days the following week fixing the N12 - and that's how Terje met my mother!