National 12 events 2005

NABURN PADDLE

A total of 10 boats competed for the Naburn Paddle, Yorkshire Ouse SC’s National Twelve Open Meeting.

Sailed over the weekend of 4 and 5 June, 7 boats took part in the Saturday race, enjoying a longer race to the southern extremities of the club’s sailing area in blustery conditions for the Jubilee Cup.  Philip and Helen David took an early lead which they held to the end, with Bernard Clark and Paul Walmsley maintaining second place throughout the race.  Vince and Fiona Phillips and Brian Herring and Ros Stephenson battled throughout the race for 3^rd and 4^th positions with the Phillips’ eventually pulling away in the final lap.  Simon Moss and Peter Rawson, who had suffered gear failure in the practice race but had patched up a suitable temporary repair for their missing jib track, took 5^th with Ian Purkis and Martin Ellis in 6^th.  Brian Miatt and Margaret Purkis suffered a catalogue of rigging disasters and retired from the race.

With an extra 3 boats joining the fleet for Sunday’s races, and the need to get 3 races completed during the day, the start lines were busier and the races shorter.  The Race Officers set a course on the upstream section of the sailing water for the first race and with much lighter winds the fleet only sailed 2 laps.  The 3 leading boats established their positions early with Clark and Walmsley leading the pack from Howard and Thomas Steavenson and Mark and Emma Simpson.  David and David closed the gap but were unable to get past the Simpsons, finishing in 4^th position.

The final 2 races, sailed for back to back after lunch, were sailed in the lightest of airs and it took some boats over half an hour to get to the first mark.  Clark and Walmsley showed their love of the conditions, with Simpson and Simpson taking 2^nd, Vince Phillips, now crewed by Thea Armstrong in 3^rd and David and David in 4^th. The final race saw a little more wind than there had been at the end of the previous race, and Clark and Walmsley took line honours, followed by David and David.  It was interesting to see 2 double bottomed N12’s in the prizes at an event normally dominated by older designs.

Final positions:

1^st                                Bernard Clark & Paul Walmsley, YOSC, Cheshire Cat N2938

2^nd                               Philp and Helen David, YOSC, China Doll N2545

3^rd                                Mark and Emma Simpson, SDSC, Big Issue, N3472

4^th                                Howard and Thomas Steavenson, TSC, Big Issue, N3479

1^st Vintage boat            Philip and Helen David, N2545

Jubilee Cup                  Philip and Helen David, N2545