28th August 2012-08-28
By Sophie Richards
A shifty westerly breeze greeted National 12 sailors at Pennington Flash
over the bank holiday weekend for the Summer Event, which is part of the
National Gill Series. In the first race it was business as usual for
National Champions Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne who made the most of
the shifts along the long first beat. They were closely followed by John
Cheetham crewed by daughter Alison but as the gust came through during
the race Steve and Joanne Sallis’ Dead Cat Bounce came through to take
second, followed by the Feeling Foolish of Christian Day and Sophie
Richards.
The second race saw the breeze drop and the foiling rudders loose their
advantage. Christian and Sophie managed to hold off Graham and Zoe
throughout the race to take the bullet. Locals Gareth Williams and Jen
Turner roll tacked their way into third, but Steve and Joanne Sallis
sneaked past them in the final beat. The race however did not end there,
as a protest relating to room at the windward mark led to Graham and Zoe
retiring from the second race.
In the vintage fleet, who were competing for the Shotgun Trophy
(significant in its size, as it is the stern of the National 12,
Shotgun), Howard Chadwick crewed by Cathy Lawson won both races. Paul
Turner with Christine Preston gave Howard a run for his money, coming in
second, with Ed Willet crewed by Haydn Griffiths in third.
Before the BBQ was lit and the beers were ordered, the Crew’s Race
finished off proceedings on Day 1. Six brave crews took to the tiller,
desperately trying to find someone other than their helm to crew for
them! The wind remained light as Matt Smith crewed by Jenny Chen led the
way up the first beat, closely followed by Joanne Sallis and Tom Storey.
A few jibe marks spread the fleet out a bit more (it looks a lot
different from the back of the boat!) and Zoe Ballantyne moved up the
fleet to contend for the lead. Matt Smith though held on to first place,
followed by Zoe with Tom Story, crewed by his Dad, Ed, coming in third.
At 10am on Day 2 the not so happy campers (who had survived a night of
heavy rain) and the slightly happier competitors that had gone
home/stayed in a B&B took to the water in a very light breeze for the
annual pursuit race. This saw the boats start according to age, with the
vintage fleet having four minutes on the admiral cuppers, six minutes on
double-bottomed boats and a full eight minutes on the Dead Cat Bounces.
30 minutes into the hour-long race it was all a little busy at the back
with the Dead Cat Bounces coming through the rest of the fleet, but this
didn’t discourage Howard Chadwick, who by this time had, along with the
vintage designs of Paul Turner and Angus Beyts, if anything extended his
lead! By the time the hour was up the Dead Cat Bounce of Graham and Zoe
had made it into fifth, with Ian Smith’s admirals cup design holding on
to fourth but the three vintage boats held on to the top three places
and Howard and crew Harriet Lee were the clear winners.
The wind then completely died off and a postponement was put up. The
wind was definitely worth waiting for though! In the final two races
Graham and Zoe wrapped things up getting ahead of Steve and Joanne in
both races. Christian and Sophie fought off Nick and Tanya Copsey in
both races, with a photo finish between the two boats in race 4. Nick
and sister Tanya were sailing very quickly with their retro fitted
t-foiling rudder on their Feeling Foolish. Ian Smith and Jenny Chen, had
fantastic starts in both races and held on to the position of first
Admirals Cup boat throughout. In the vintage fleet it was Ed and Haydn
who won race three, but Howard fought back to take the bullet in race 4,
despite concerns that the stern of Shotgun would not fit on his
mantelpiece!
We look forward to the next Gill Series Event at Hykeham on 22nd and
23rd September.
Overall Results
1st Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne
2nd Steve Sallis and Joanne Sallis
3rd Christian Day and Sophie Richards
The Shotgun Trophy
1st Howard Chadwick and Cathy Lawson/Harriet Lee
2nd Ed Willet and Haydn Griffiths
3rd Paul Turner and Christine Preston
Burton week
Organising an event