National 12 events 2005

National 12 Thames Estuary Championship at Thorpe Bay

High quality group of boats including five past champions and the current holder of the Burton Cup attended the National 12 open meeting at Thorpe Bay Y.C. on the weekend of 4/5^th June.

Race one started in a solid force 4 and was led all the way round the P shaped course by Richard Williams and Stella Brown in Carbon 12, their 1999 vintage Final Chapter design. They were pushed all the way by Frances Gifford and Sophie Mackley sailing Zippy, their 1998 Feeling Foolish design.

Race two began in similar conditions, proving too much for Gifford and Mackley’s 8 year old mainsail which split from leach to luff just before the start. Williams/Brown again established a lead by the first windward mark and this time were followed by Kevin and Lesley Iles in The Electric Prune, a 2004 Big Issue design built by Aardvark Technologies. All seemed boringly stable until halfway up the second beat when a force 6 squall hit without warning, causing most of the fleet to capsize and some unfortunate damage resulting to masts and rudders. However, the first two boats continued to sail the course, managing to keep the hulls under the rigs by wearing round rather than gybing. They were followed home at a distance by the only two other finishers, Caroline Martin and Andy Douglas in Bart and Sue Pelling and Suzie Sallis in Zsa Zsa

Sunday dawned with a relatively moderate force 3 and saw three additional entries. All three races saw close racing between new arrivals Antony & Jo Gifford and Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne at the front. They were joined for the final two races by Williams/Brown, who sailed their discard in the first race of the day having had to return to the shore to sign-on and missing the start as a result. With Gifford/Gifford all three and Camm/Ballantyne following them home each time, this left current Burton Cup holder Willams and Brown with two thirds to go with their two wins from the Saturday to take the event.

With a different design filling each of the first four places and the ages of these boats ranging up to 7 years old, it proves that it is not necessary to have the latest fashion items to win in this exciting development class.

Overall Results

1^st 3450 Carbon 12, Richard Williams/Stella Brown - Final Chapter design

2^nd 3431 Zippy, Frances Gifford/Sophie Mackley – Feeling Foolish design

3^rd 3491 The Electric Prune Kevin/Lesley Iles – Big Issue design

4^th 3484 Antony/Jo Gifford – Bim Daser Dazzler design

5^th 3455 Bart, Caroline Martin/Andy Douglass – Feeling Foolish design

6^th 3492 Babel Fish, Graham Camm/Zoe Ballantyne – Numinous design