The View from an Uffa King
By Christian Day
The National 12’s annual pilgrimage to Redesmere took place on the 2nd
of September. The weekend before at Leigh and Lowton, I had the idea
that I should swap my modern Feeling Foolish design for something a bit
more historic for the Redesmere Midland Area and Vintage open meeting.
I called Brian Herring hoping to borrow one of the more modern boats
from his fleet of vintage 12s but instead was offered the chance to sail
N261, Brian’s most recent restoration project. A quick history lesson on
the N12 website told me N261 was Uffa King built in 1937 and designed by
Uffa Fox.
On Sunday morning at Redesmere I was greeted with fairly unfavourable
sailing conditions and my first look at the boat. She had been
beautifully restored and looked very traditional with her clinker
construction and wooden rig, although as she is a 12, I hear there is
some carbon fibre hidden somewhere!
By the time of the first race the wind had filled in a bit and was about
right for test driving a piece of furniture…
In the light conditions of Redesmere the 75 year old Uffa King was
perfect. Roll tacking was a dream and she ghosted through the water with
her narrow hull – I reckon I covered about half the usually walking
distance of a race crossing the boat!
On the downside, some of the mod cons we are used too weren’t there.
Most notably the dangly pole. The attempt to use and old-fashioned jib
stick almost caused a mutiny with my crew, Sophie. She also wasn’t too
keen on getting back into bailing, and of course being given a running
commentary on what the jib was doing whilst her head was down in the
boat.
As we were trying to get to grips with the boat, Sophie and I could see
a real battle developing at the front of the fleet. Returning Redesmere
open winner Tom White with crew Matt Smith were neck and neck with
Patrick Hamilton and Charlotte Gatty for much of the race. Eventually
Tom got away to take the first bullet of the day. Amongst the vintage
boats, we had a close race with Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson,
sailing N2266 Triarda, to take the lead in the vintage fleet. Paul
Turner and Christine Preston sailing N2487 and Brian Herring and Ros
Stevenson in N1673 completed a fleet showcasing the full span of vintage
12s.
In the second race Brian and Ros got off to a flyer sailing a great
first beat in their Proctor 4A design. However, Patrick and Charlotte
soon pulled into a commanding lead in their Big Issue N3502, the most
modern 12 on show. Just as it looked like it was going to be a day for
the newer boats, we must have started to get the hang of the Uffa King,
or maybe the it was the wind dying, but somehow we sneaked through into
second. Patrick held off a brief challenge and took the win.
By the third race the open meeting was wide open. Tom and Patrick were
the main protagonists with a win each but before the start I realised
that an improbable win in the Uffa King would seal the event. Was our
cruise round Redesmere in a 75 year old boat about to get serious…
…not really. By the time the T flag was lowered the fleet were enjoying
a steady breeze and by about 30 seconds later the win was significantly
more improbable. In the breezy and gusty conditions the Uffa King was a
bit more of a handful and our attempts to accelerate in the gusts seemed
to make us go even slower. I can’t imagine what it is like to sail one
of these in a championships and have huge respect for the crews that
raced them back in the day.
Fortunately for this write-up the race officer had set another excellent
course which criss-crossed the lake, allowing me to report on the
distant front of the fleet (I was starting to get worried about being
lapped at one point). Tom and Matt built a big lead to take a
comprehensive win. This meant they also won the open meeting for the
third year in a row sailing Tom’s relative newcomer of a boat N2765, a
China Doll built in the 1970s.
In the vintage fleet, Howard and Helen made a great effort to take home
the Redesmere Paddle trophy for the first vintage boat, taking a
comfortable second place in the final race. However this wasn’t quite
enough and we ended up with the Paddle – we really could have used it
earlier in the day!
The next Midland Area and Vintage event is on 9th May at Trent Valley.
Overall results
1st – Tom White and Matt Smith, N2765
2nd – Patrick Hamilton and Charlotte Gatty, N3502
3rd and 1st Vintage – Christian Day and Sophie Richards, N261
Burton week
Organising an event