Flashback to July 11 2014 The 2014 Nation’s Cup on lake Garda was an epic battle between Cumbley and Couch at a venue surrounded by thousand foot cliffs, the latter would go on to win the championship but only after a match race royal. Both worthy of the title, couch hunted down his nearest rival in a pre-start game of cat and mouse in race 8 which saw them both weaving in and out of parked up solos who themselves watched the drama unfold with as much fascination as I did on the committee boat.
I like to think my summing up of those two competitors was both humorous and accurate. My biggest disappointment, not having photos of the two in action.
“Andy Couch leads the Nation's Cup here in Riva del Garda but only on count-back from reigning champion Charlie Cumbley. Michael Sims is a further 10 points behind and Andy Tunnicliffe is fourth. Pete Mitchell, Tim Law and Chris Brown fill fifth, sixth and seventh and Dave Mitchell, Ian Houston and Ian Hopwood complete the top ten. Shane MacCarthy (IRL) is thirteenth and Gerard Post (NED) is fourteenth. Friday is the final day of racing and with an early start of 9 a.m and three races scheduled, it should be enthralling. With 2 discards coming into play if the three races are completed there is still much to gain or lose. Both Andy Couch and Charlie Cumbley are big hitters and these two do seem to be destined for a showdown. I am divided as to who could take the title if it does go down to these two fine sailors. This is the Liverpool team of ’77' against the Arsenal of '89'. This is the mighty hitting of Botham against the stylish batting of Tendulkar. This is not Ainslie versus Scheidt because neither are Scheidt. Couch is wearing the fabled yellow jersey as event leader and what is certain is that we will have a British yellow jersey victory.”
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