National 12s at Grimwith

 

A small but competitive group of Northern 12s met at Grimwith Reservoir to compete in the Northern Open Meeting Series on what must be one of the best pieces of inland water in the North.  A shifty breeze and some excellent courses paved the way for a good day’s sailing some 1000ft above sea level.

 

Race 1 saw Bernard Clark and Henry Mark get a superb start only to get the wrong side of shift allowing John and Alison Cheetham to take the lead, closely followed by Neil and Katy McInnes, then Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson in 3^rd place.  Despite some closing and widening of gaps, this remained the order throughout although the fleet was still very close together at the finish, with the exception of John and Alison who demonstrated superior speed throughout and were never seriously challenged.

 

Race 2 involved much more place changing in the shifty winds as boats were backed off and then lifted by shifts of up to 90 degrees.  Despite all the changes, the first three boats were within 50 yards of one another at the finish.  The result this time being 1^st John Cheetham, 2^nd Howard Chadwick and 3^rd Neil McInnes, with Bernard Clark finishing uncharacteristically in 4^th place again.

 

For the final race, the winds appeared to be dying fast which cause Bernard to drop out, closely followed by John having pulled his main halyard up the inside of his mast accidentally?  This left Howard and Neil to race for the overall honours of second place.  With only two boats out, both managed to make poor starts in the dying wind which fortunately filled in again just after the start.  At the first mark, after a hard fought first beat Howard was two boat lengths clear of Neil and this gap remained throughout the next three down wind legs.  On the final beat Howard opened the gap slightly whilst keeping a cover on Neil to finish first and hence second overall.

 

Overall Results

 

1^st      N3209                   John and Alison Cheetham

2^nd     N3384                   Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson

3^rd      N3216                   Neil and Katy McInnes

4^th      N3382                   Bernard Clark and Henry Mark