Vintage National 12s at Frampton

by Zoe Ballantyne on 8 May 2008 A pleasant warm sunny day greeted the small gathering of National 12 sailors, some of which had come from as far as Ripon; the wind was a southerly with an average force 3 throughout the whole afternoon.

Due to the availability of rescue cover, racing commenced at 12:30 with a scratch race then after tea (and pursuit handicaps had been calculated) two individual pursuit races were held. This type of event used the Derwent handicap rules and all races count. The course was a figure of eight, with two beats and small enough to determine lap times.

Race one, Howard Chadwick got off to an early lead which he held for four laps, eventually being passed by Brian Herring who was making most of the lifts around the course and Brian Kitching in the sixth lap. Richard White and John Kilgour both trailed a little in their ‘new to them’ boats. Richard White had to retire from the event. There was little between the first three boats, in terms of lap times and they started together in the second and third races

Race two (pursuit):
John Kilgour started ahead of the ‘pack’, and Howard Chadwick again was first round the first mark for the later starters. This race was again close with the three faster boats separated by seconds. Brian Herring finished first, closely followed by the other boats. The handicaps determined from the first race worked well and at the end of the race there was 1 minute 8 seconds between the first and fourth boats (21 seconds between first and third).

Race three (pursuit)
Howard Chadwick proved this was to be his race, after a couple of laps he managed to get a lead on Brian H and Brian K, but he failed to catch John Kilgour who managed to win the final race. The race was still close with all boats beating on the final leg as the leading boat finished.

Overall results were as follows:

1st Brian Herring and Ros Stevenson (N2468) 5 points
2nd Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson (N2266) 8 points
3rd Brian and George Kitching (N1657) 8 points
4th John Kilgour and Grandchildren (N2607) 10 point