In spite of a very unpromising look to the wind forecast on the
Sunday morning 8 National Twelves tuned up to compete for the very
beautiful trophy – a silver National Twelve first sailed for in 1937.
The majority of the fleet were decidedly line shy, all being nervous of
being carried too far, too soon by the strong tide. Notable exceptions
were Fran Gifford and Chris Edwards who were each a couple of lengths
ahead as the bell rang.
The downwind leg to the first mark saw much place changing as boats fell
into or avoided the numerous holes in the wind. Fran crewed by Clare
Hunter was first of the still fairly tightly bunched fleet to round the
mark. John Ibbotson and Charlotte Stewart were close behind with Mike
and Alex Storey well placed in a Final Chapter leant to them by the
Edwards.
The course comprised four loops around a couple of buoys well up river
from the clubhouse then a long beat back to finish on the club line.
Fran and Clare pulled well away from the rest of the fleet whilst
sailing the loops chased by John & Charlotte and David Wilkins & Adele
Cameron who had managed to recover from rounding the first mark last.
Places were gained and lost throughout the fleet through getting right
or wrong the fine balance between sticking o the bank in less tide or
stemming the tide and enjoying the freer and stronger wind further out
into the river.
The long beat back to the club saw Fran & John deciding to opt for a
course nearer the bank whilst David favoured the “offshore” route and
managed to close the gap. As the leading boats reached a part of the
course just a few hundred yards from the club David & Adele managed to
second guess the zephyrs of wind and passed John & Charlotte and then
Fran & Clare and then hold the lead for no more than 5 minutes to the
finish. John & Charlotte also crept past the luckless Fran & Clare who
had lead for all but these final minutes. These three boats all finished
within 90 seconds of each other.
Mike and Alex Storey finished fourth and now are determined to join the
double bottom club.
Results
