Vintage Champs

N12 Vintage Championships held at Burton Sailing Club

Saturday 25th and Sunday 26 June 2016.
 
Although the numbers were a little down on previous years because many of the Vintage stalwarts had a number of pressing reasons why they couldn’t attend, we had a very pleasant, fun and keenly competed sailing weekend alongside the N12 Fest fleet.
 
SATURDAY     
 
RACE 1 - The forecast for the Saturday was not encouraging with little wind and heavy downpours predicted but five (5!) China Dolls and one each of Mr Jones (the original), and a Mark 4a lined up for the first race..... and waited...and waited...and waited for the wind. It took 50 minutes for a breeze to appear having gone through 150 degrees. The wind filled in on the last lap and first boat home was Philip David crewed by Tricia Peacock in N2545, but it was very close with the first five boats finishing within seconds of each other. Martin Clarke in his first outing in N2708 crewed by son Matt was very last, but that was to change as the weekend progressed and the boat got tuned up!

And then it was lunchtime! It was good to see Diane Thornton from Earlswood Lakes spectating. Dave Peacock had cunningly set up the Derwent Handicapping timing onto a spreadsheet which was then fine tuned by (totally independent) Kevan.

RACE 2 - Alan Mason in N1607 and Martin Clarke set off at go, then at 4 minutes Paul plus Gerald Copsey sailing Mr Jones, with the big three at 5.  There was very little wind at the start and so the whole fleet was bunched up together even before getting to the first mark but the wind direction changed and filled in. Dave was first to spot this and led the race from the first mark.

RACE 3 -  In spite of the approaching race start time, the fleet and most of race team sheltered in ‘hanger’ during torrential downpour except for Dave who ‘sat it out’ in his boat on the pontoon! Gerald had to retire owing to crew mutiny due to the cold but a good breeze filled in at the start so the “slow” boats got away. The only “fast” boat to get through the leading bunch was John Sears who won the last race. John also won overall, tying with Philip but winning on discard.

The EVENING - Brian Herring arrived to sail his Starfish on the Sunday and Gerald departed with Mr Jones in tow; he has promised to re-appear with said boat at North West Norfolk. There was an excellent BBQ followed by a totally original quiz from Paul Bilton, with many answers strangely being “12”. It was great fun but the questions in the last round about Marylyn Monroe and women’s measurements got a little weird.

SUNDAY
 
The forecast was much better, with no rain, but it was quite windy initially.

RACE 1 -  The Race Officer set a line biased to the committee boat end, but at 30 seconds to go the wind shifted to favour the port end. Dave started at port end, then the wind shifted back but he was well clear at the first mark. John and Philip closed the gap by the finish.

RACE 2 -  John got away at the start and was well ahead at the beginning of the last lap. Dave got a shift that John missed on the last beat and closed the gap. On the next leg (a broad reach that became a run) Dave got onto John’s transom and got water at the gybe mark. Dave led down the final reach and down the fetch to the finish with Philip was very close behind. The back four had some very close racing but we sadly lost Brian through gear failure.

LUNCH – Graham Camm took N2487 for a spin to initiate an interested potential N12 member from Sutton in Ashfield  SC. Sadly no tweaking but Paul got a serious telling off for not leading the kicker control aft as previously instructed!

RACE 3 -  Same thing happened on this start as in first race but this time Philip spotted the shift which favoured the port end and went for it. He led at the first mark and for the rest of the race. Dave and John had quite a battle for second with John taking line honours. The back four again did battle; all to play for Paul and Martin with a 4thand 5th each but Paul got clear to record a 4th to Martin’s 6th clinching 4th overall.
 
There was a deep and profound symmetry to the results with the three “fast boys” sharing the honours,  but the one other prize to mention was the Concours D’Elegance which went to Martin for his fab restoration of N2708.

OVERVIEW - Great sailing on both days. Saturday was a little tricky but Sunday was superb. The numbers were disappointing considering the great venue, but joining with the 12 Fest saved the day numbers wise. Burton SC would like us back next year and we would like to go back because they really did us proud with excellent courses, great catering and facilities plus a fab piece of water to sail on; very special thanks to Bill Hooton and Craig Hellon from Burton, and Kevan and Janet, for their hard work before and during the event.
Contributed by Dave, Kevan & Janet, and Paul.

Footnote for next year: Only three of the Turner Collection were on the water this year (“Mr Jones” and “China Doll” plus N2487) with “Smuggler” and “Starfish” sitting the event out. Next year hopefully “Whisper” plus N2524 should also be available to be sailed. P

Results