Vintage National 12 Series at Ripon Sailing CLlub
by Howard Chadwick 21 May 2009 00:50 PDT
16 May 2009
A strong fleet of 9 vintage 12s arrived at Ripon SC for the first race in the Witchcraft Bailer series with boats from as far afield as Frampton, Trent Valley, Redesmere and Winsford Flash, competition was hot. The event was a “Derwent Style” handicap event whereby the first race is a normal race on straight timings but the second and third races are pursuit races with the start timing based on race one. The O.O.D. can also further adjust if necessary for race three. The system worked well and resulted in some very close racing indeed!
Race one saw the light breeze filling in and the wind ranging from force 2 to 4. Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson in 2266 took an early lead, however Philip David and Caroline Clarke in 2545 came through to take the lead followed by Bernard and Ellie Clark in 2149. This trio were in close contention throughout the race but with Paul Turner and Brian Herring both challenging hard throughout. At the final mark Howard managed to get the inside line on Bernard the final positions being Philip 1st Howard 2nd and Bernard 3rd.
Over lunch the race team Peter Chignal, Steve Benn and Jennie Clark worked on the figures for race one checking lap times for all boats etc to come up with the starting sequence.
Race two started with an increased breeze (F3-F5) with team Purkis leading off in 1483 closely followed by Tim Gatti, whilst Alan Mason, Brian Kitching went at +1 minute then Brian Herring closely followed by Paul Turner. Howard and Bernard started at +3 minutes with Philip at 3min 35. The format provided excellent racing with the faster boats having to make up the time and overtake the rest of the fleet and the earlier starters. The two China Dolls sailed by Paul Turner and Brian Herring soon pulled through and together with Alan Mason in his 4a set the pace and held pole positions until the end of the final lap when Philip, Howard and Bernard were back in contention. Paul was in the lead at the last mark and with only 150 yards to the finish, but unfortunately had not heard the shortened course signal and tacked off towards the opposite bank allowing Brian Herring to take the gun for first place, Paul finished second, Alan Mason third, Howard 4th, Bernard 5th and Philip 6th, with only 30 seconds between the first six boats!
Race three was sailed back to back and with the wind further increased (F4-F5) but the race team still managed to do some fine tuning on the start times and this time it was Tim Gatti on scratch and Philip moved up to 15 seconds behind Bernard and Howard still on + 3 minutes. The early starters set a blistering pace with Tim Gatti opening a good lead chased by Brian Kitching. At the last mark the pack were once again very close, Brian Kitching managed to get room on Tim Gatti whilst close behind were Howard and Philip with Howard on the inside track and Brian Herring just astern. Only 100 yards from the finish Brian Kitching tacked out from the shore, Tim had dropped off to leeward whilst Howard, Philip and Brian Herring managed to sail a higher course to finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Tim Gatti finished 4th with Brian Kitching in 6th having like Paul in race two failed to realise that he was on the last lap! The first six boats all finished within 20 seconds a testament to the accuracy of the race teams handicapping system which provided excellent close racing throughout.
Overall Results:
1st N2266, Triarda, Howard Chadwick & Helen Nicholson (Yeadon SC) Starfish
2nd N2545, Little Meg, Philip David & Caroline Clarke (Yorkshire Ouse SC) China Doll
3rd N2468, Suzy Wong, Brian Herring & Ros Stevenson (Winsford Flash SC) China Doll
4th N2478, Dolly Daydream, Paul Turner & Christine Marshall (Trent Valley SC) China Doll
5th N2149, Xanthus, Bernard & Ellie Clark (Ripon SC) Sparklet
6th N1657, Just Lucky, Brian Kitching & Alison Dooley (Frampton SC) Chimp
7th N1607, Dilly Dally, Alan Mason & Rob Wilbraham (Redesmere SC) Proctor Mark 4a
8th N2255, Purely Platonic, Tim Gatti & Roger Dooley (Yeadon SC) Proctor Mark 12
9th N1683, My Little Margie, Ian & Margaret Purkis (Yorkshire Ouse) Procter Mark 4a