National 12 Open at Ranelagh Sailing Club
by David Wilkins 9 Jun 2007 10:21 BST
3 June 2007
8 National 12s for the Ranelagh open © Nick Price
In spite of a very unpromising look to the wind forecast on the Sunday morning 8 National Twelves tuned up to compete for the very beautiful trophy – a silver National Twelve first sailed for in 1937.
The majority of the fleet were decidedly line shy, all being nervous of being carried too far, too soon by the strong tide. Notable exceptions were Fran Gifford and Chris Edwards who were each a couple of lengths ahead as the bell rang.
The downwind le to the first mark saw much place changing as boats fell into or avoided the numerous holes in the wind. Fran crewed by Clare Hunter was first of the still fairly tightly bunched fleet to round the mark. John Ibbotson and Charlotte Stewart were close behind with Mike and Alex Storey well placed in a Final Chapter leant to them by the Edwards.
The course comprised four loops around a couple of buoys well up river from the clubhouse then a long beat back to finish on the club line. Fran and Clare pulled well away from the rest of the fleet whilst sailing the loops chased by John & Charlotte and David Wilkins & Adele Cameron who had managed to recover from rounding the first mark last. Places were gained and lost throughout the fleet through getting right or wrong the fine balance between sticking o the bank in less tide or stemming the tide and enjoying the freer and stronger wind further out into the river.
The long beat back to the club saw Fran & John deciding to opt for a course nearer the bank whilst David favoured the “offshore” route and managed to close the gap. As the leading boats reached a part of the course just a few hundred yards from the club David & Adele managed to second guess the zephyrs of wind and passed John & Charlotte and then Fran & Clare and then hold the lead for no more than 5 minutes to the finish. John & Charlotte also crept past the luckless Fran & Clare who had lead for all but these final minutes. These three boats all finished within 90 seconds of each other.
Mike and Alex Storey finished fourth and now are determined to join the double bottom club.
Overall Results:
1st 3481 Cooked to Perfection, David Wilkins & Adele Cameron (Spinnaker Club)
2nd 3494 Monkey Business, Jon Ibbotson & Charlotte Stewart (Royal Harwich Yacht Club)
3rd 3431 Zippy, Fran Gifford & Clare Hunter (Aldeburgh SC)