Gill N12 Series 2003 – Event One
Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club
The long awaited first event of the Gill N12 Series 2003 was held this weekend by Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club at Axbridge in association with the National 12 Owners Association.
29 boats travelled from across the country and were greeted with glorious sunshine and excellent hospitality. 2 races were held on the Saturday and 3 races on Sunday in light to medium breeze with the wind coming from over the Mendips giving extremely shifty conditions testing everyone’s nerves.
The races were extremely close with a great deal of place changing and opportunity for great gains and loses.
Overall Fleet:
Every race had a different winner. Saturday saw Ian & Alex Gore showing great pace winning the first race by the biggest margin of the weekend. In the second race things were tighter with a number of people leading. Eventually Geoff Camm & Amelia Hall managed to overtake Ian & Alex and Phil & Jo Bush to win.
Saturday evening saw much entertainment and a thoroughly excellent seminar on starting given by John Meadowcroft.
Race three on Sunday morning started in stronger breeze. Whilst the leaders battled it out with John & Katy Meadowcroft finally taking the gun from Frances Gifford & Smilie Jon, the middle of the fleet were all still tightly bunched by the final reach. The wind filling from behind led to some 15 boats all converging on the gybe mark at the same time! In the fourth race, after a general recall and the flying of the black flag, Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne combined their first good start of the weekend with a solid nerve to hold on to win. The fifth race was all-important as five boats were potentially able to win overall. This race was taken by Frances & Smilie as their consistency through the weekend showed through allowing them to win the Bristol Open Meeting and the first event in the Gill N12 Series. Second, third and fourth places were tied - with all having won a race.
There were many new faces at the front including locals John Stone and Adele Cameron sailing N3419 who finished 7th Overall with a 2nd and 4th on Sunday; Rob Cannell & Emma Cannell N3344 secured a 4th in the final race and were awarded a special prize from Gill for the most improved performance over the weekend.
1st Frances Gifford & Smilie Jon (N3431)
2nd John & Katy Meadowcroft (N3473)
3rd Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne (N3469)
4th Ian & Alex Gore (N3441)
5th Geoff Camm & Amelia Hall (N3464)
Admiral Cup:
This event saw the Admiral’s cup boats rivalling the Double-Bottoms for numbers as well as for close racing and excitement. Kevin Iles & Liz Ross and Gavin Willis & Chloe Willis had a close fought battle at the front. Jimmy and Steven Miller popped in some excellent results and would have been a serious contender had they sailed on the Saturday.
Throughout the fleet place competition was fierce will plenty of place changing up to and including the final race. Two vintage boats were competing and showed some impressive speed. In particular Richard White & Matthew White, sailing N2134 “Pippin” a 1963 design, had a great start in the second race and sailed an impressive first beat challenging all the fleet to the windward mark.
1st Kevin Iles and Liz Ross (N3373)
2nd Gavin Willis and Chloe Willis (N3389)
3rd Jimmy Miller and Steven Millar (N3315)
After the first Gill event the leaders in the Family Cup are Gavin Willis & Chloe Willis, closely followed by Rob Cannell & Emma Cannell. The Juniors are lead by Chris Bishop & Pippa Jeffries who look like a team to contend with.
The next event in the Gill N12 Series is Derwent Reservoir on the 26th & 27th April.
Geoff Camm & Amelia Hall
NTOA