National 12 events 2005

Gill Series #5: Filey SC

Seventeen boats took part in the round five of the GILL National 12 series held at Filey SC on 16 and 17 July. The event was combined with Filey's annual regatta and competitors therefore shared the water with a wide range of other craft from Toppers to a handful of RS600's. The club set two courses - windward/leeward for the asymmetric boats and a P course for the rest of the fleets.

Races 1 and 2 were sailed on Saturday and were both claimed by Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne. However they did not have things all their own way and were pushed home by Steve Sallis and Jenny James in race 1 and by Brian and George Kitching in race 2. The shorebound supporters enjoyed the chance to sunbathe, swim, build sandcastles, admire the sailing from afar and cool down with ice-creams! The club organised a barbecue on Saturday night with so much food available that they could not even give it away at the end of the evening, and there was a well stocked bar to keep the party going well into the night.

Sunday morning dawned clear, sunny and hot but without a breath of wind. 'Inspector Gadget' occupied his time (and Zoe's) by pressure testing boats which provided a welcome diversion, and after it became clear that the postponement was likely to be a lengthy one various members of the fleet took to the water to paddle and splash and others headed off to sample the ice-creams. Eventually the sea breeze filled in enough to get the racing underway. All was going well in race 3 until the fleet approached the bottom of the run in the P shaped course where the gradient wind mounted a stiff counter attack against the sea breeze. This resulted in many place changes with Camm/Ballantyne eventually emerging first, followed home by John and Alison Cheetham.

The final race was held in the best breeze of the weekend with the sea breeze finally prevailing with a force 3. This saw Camm/Ballantyne swapping places several times with Kevin Iles and Alistair Donaldson, a local 12 year old press-ganged from the beach the previous day. At the finish Iles/Donaldson crossed the line first with Camm/Ballantyne literally inches from their transom.

The class would like to thank GILL for their sponsorship of the series and Filey SC for hosting an excellent event.

Results:
1st Babel Fish - Graham Camm/Zoe Ballantyne, Burghfield SC
2nd Dilbert - Steve Sallis/Jenny James, Hykham SC
3rd The Electric Prune - Kevin Iles/Alistair Donaldson, Thorpe Bay YC

Admiral's Cup
1st Rebel - John & Alison Cheetham, Yeadon SC
2nd Wendy Windblows - Philip & Helen David, Yorkshire Ouse SC
3rd 3287 - Gerry Ledger/Elisabeth Ross, Up River YC

The National 12 team at Filey: courtesy Yvonne McInnes