National 12 Open Meeting at Aldeburgh

by John Chalker on 23 Jul 2011 The Gill Series proceeded with a weather forecast that included predictions of wind and rain. There were plenty of both on Saturday as a collection of 16 National 12s arrived at Aldeburgh. The event also forms part of the vintage series attracting a collection of clinker boats. However the weather forecast ensured that the ribbed boats all remained at home.

Racing commenced on Saturday afternoon with only four boats taking to the water. A testing beat downriver against the last of the flood tide resulted in Tom Stewart and Rachel Williamson getting too close to the east bank. The consequential broken rudder down haul resulted in a DNF and some swift repairs in the dinghy park. Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne took full advantage to record their first race win of the weekend. The tide had turned for race two with waves building nicely near the Martelllo Tower. Graham and Zoe continued to master the conditions and take another well deserved win from Stevie and Jo Sallis.

The rain cleared overnight but the wind remained consistently above 20 knots. The fleet increased to nine boats but all the vintage boats remained tied to their trailers. PRO Simon Fulford sent the fleet down river to pump, followed by longer leg upriver to the Brickdock. The fleet soon split in two with the T foils leading around the course.

Tom and Rachel preferred the conditions and took the win from Graham and Zoe. At the other end of the fleet the gusts now in excess of 30 knots lead to swimming lessons for several crews. A long debate over lunch on whether to hold a fourth race ended with three boats on the start line.

The fleet were set a course starting with a windward-leeward section followed by a short leg upriver to Chapmans. Tom and Rachel lead the small fleet with a detour including an extra leg to Chapmans. Discussions in the race office concluded that Tom and Rachel followed by Stevie and Jo had completed the course but in an unorthodox way. Unfortunately Bruce and Becca Johnson pushed their T foil rudder too far with catastrophic failure at the back of the boat.

Graham and Zoe won the Ganymede trophy from Tom and Rachel by a single point. Gerry and Margaret Garner were the first finisher not to have won a Gill Prize this year. John and Tom Chalker took the first family and first single bottomed Prize. Thanks must go Simon and Ning Fulford for setting courses to reflect the testing conditions which unfortunately left a high proportion of visitors returning home without unpacking their National 12 website