National 12s @ Ripon

A fresh breeze and even a few glimpses of the sun has become the norm for the N12 meeting at Ripon in recent years. The 14 competitors who arrived for this years meeting were not to be disappointed, with a force 4-5 already established by mid morning and gusts well above that throughout the day.

If there were any cobwebs to be blown away, the first race provided plenty of opportunity. With a strengthening breeze and short legs, together with the notorious Ripon wind shifts, crews were having to work hard to keep on the pace. Philip and Helen David in their Baggy quickly established a lead that they were not to relinquish, but there was much place changing in the following pack as they were pursued by Mark Simpson and Tressa King in their Big Issue, Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson in their Design 8 and Bernard Clark and Jamie Kerslake in their Final Chapter. The hard work was rewarded by some exciting offwind legs and a swim or two as the gusts caught out those that were not keeping an eye on what was coming up behind. The strength of the wind also caused a few gear failures, with a broken mast for John Sears and a re-worked transom for John Cheetham.

With a nice lunch on offer and a 30 second sail from the finish line to the jetties, there is no question of back to back races at Ripon, so it was a re-invigorated, if slightly depleted, set of crews who made their way to the start of race 2. The OOD set another good committee boat line and was rewarded with a clean start, from which the usual suspects soon established their usual positions. However, having held off Mark Simpson for most of the race, a minor error at the penultimate mark by Philip David allowed Simpson to slip through and take the gun, with Bernard Clark again in third place.

By the start of race 3, the wind had taken its toll in damaged boats and exhausted/wet crews, and so it was that only 7 boats came to the line. However, those that made the final effort were rewarded with slightly less breeze and yet another exciting race, with both Philip David and Mark Simpson on 3 points. The race became a two way battle between David and Clark, with only inches separating the two boats throughout the race. At the finish line, it was Philip David by a short foredeck, allowing him to take the trophy.

Those competitors that hadn't retired back to the garage to effect overnight repairs enjoyed a well earned dinner in the evening and an early night in preparation for what the forecasters promised would be gales at Grimwith the following day.

Results

1 3217 P.David H.David Yorkshire Ouse Baggy Trousers
2 3472 M.Simpson T.King Scaling Dam Big Issue
3 3447 B.Clark J.Kerslake Yorkshire Ouse Final Chapter
4 3356 H.Chadwick H.Nicholson Yeadon Design 8
5 2487 P.Turner A.Colley Trent Valley China Doll
6 3239 P.Chignell P.Benn Ripon Crusader
7 3216 N.McInnes Y.McInnes Yeadon Baggy Trousers

Phil & Helen David being chased hard by John and Glen Sears in the second race at Ripon SC's N12 open.

Bernard Clark leading from Phil David

Winner of the Witchcraft bailer, Paul Turner