National 12 events 2005

Gill Series 2: Nottinghamshire County SC

A cool Easterly breeze greeted competitors in the Gill International (based in Long Eaton) National 12 dinghy series event at Notts County Sailing Club over the weekend. Nearly thirty of the lightweight high tech 12 ft dinghies arrived from all over the UK including Cornwall, Hampshire, Essex and Wales to compete. Saturday saw its fair share of spills and thrills as the wind gusted to force 5 and a number of boats capsized, Sunday was calmer, and the sun shone for much of the time.

Racing was very close throughout the fleet, though the leaders left it to the last race to decide the event winner. Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne from Burghfield (Reading) won the first race, with Ian and Alex Gore from Up River (Essex) winning the third race and having three seconds, meaning it was level on points into the final race, so it was all to play for. After some close racing it was won by Graham Camm giving him the meeting.

Steve Sallis from Lincoln won the second race on Saturday, crewed by Notts County Hon Secretary Lindsay Ogden, with some consistent results he was third overall. Further down the fleet there was plenty of competition, but it was consistency that paid.

Entertainment on the Saturday night included a scavenger boat race, where teams had to build racing sailboats from an assortment of polystyrene, polythene, plastic bottles and garden canes, followed by a rules talk and quiz.