Weston Open Meeting

The wind at Weston took no notice of the forecast and the competitors were blessed with fantastic conditions. The wind was a force 2-4 with a hint of sunshine and some tricky shifts to keep the competitors on their toes. 6 races were run over the weekend, 3 back-to-back each day, with expert timing from the race team.

Steve Norbury, a former National 12 champion who hadn’t been in a 12 for twelve years, got back into his old boat N3373 in preparation for the National 12 class 70^th anniversary regatta at Northampton and was soon showing that he hadn’t forgotten any of the old skills. Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne won the three races on Saturday with Caroline Martin and Andy Douglas taking a string of seconds. On Sunday morning, Steve was spotted in the boat park with a tape measure getting his mast settings back to the way he left it in 1994. This seemed to pay off as he won race 4, although he had to fight for it as newcomers Sam & Fiona Mettam were first to the windward mark and Steve only managed to get past on the second beat. In race 5 Steve led off the start but was overtaken by Graham and Zoe on the penultimate beat, who took the race. In the final race, Kevin & Lesley Iles were hot off the line, making best use of the ebbing tide. After much place changing on the next few legs with shifty conditions and a confused chop, Kevin extended his lead on the final planing reach as Steve and Andy had a luffing match with Graham & Zoe, to take the gun.

Photo: Olly Straker

Results 

1^st N3492 Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne

2^nd N3373 Steve Norbury & Andy Hill

3^rd N3455 Caroline Martin & Andy Douglas

4^th N3491 Kevin & Lesley Iles

5^th N 3439 Brian & George Kitchin