Trent Valley open meeting

National 12 Open Meeting 9th September 2012
Trent Valley Sailing Club

I woke for the event with not a sign of any wind but glorious sunshine.  Ok, so I live south of the river and local conditions can be peculiar.  However, by the time our Race Officer (Commodore of Trent Valley John Richardson) got the briefing underway, we had a reasonable breeze and still glorious sunshine for the 14 competitors who had dared to take their boats along the treacherous access road.  I had advised an extra 15 minutes’ travelling time for this but I think one or two hadn’t believed me (had they Brian!). This event has grown from being a Vintage & 4-plank event to a mixed MAAT, 4-plank and Vintage event, and a full representation of those elements of the class were present, such as David Peacock (Trent Valley) enthusiastically crewed by Jayden Wood in Paradigm Buster,  Jonathan Twite (crewed by his dad from Nottingham SC) in 4-planker Goosehunter and Fraser Goldsmith crewed by Niamh Wright in Quill.

 

Anyway, to the sailing, a good start for a traditional Trent Valley course of up the river to the top mark and back down to the bottom for a few laps.  One could call it a sausage but due to the bends in the river it would be an interesting sausage.  Due to the wind direction there wasn’t much of a beat, so river sailors who could fine reach did have a bit of an advantage.  Phillip David, crewed by Caroline Hunter, in Out of the Blue from Yorks Ouse led the way having declared that it was good to sail on ‘open water’; compared to Naburn it probably is.  Tom White, with Matt Smith (son of regular MAAT helm Ian Smith) came second and of course followed by Ian Smith with Jenny Chen capably crewing as always.

 

Second race was run back-to-back, or near enough, so we travelled the same course.  A lot of fine reaching and a lot of twitching by the crews to keep boats in best optimal balance and gibs in best setting.  How wonderful it must be to helm a Starfish, ie armchair, does Howard’s crew know how hard she worked?  Of course at this point I must point out amongst the Vintage fleet was Alun Brunton, crewed by Tricia Wood, helming Smuggler (part of the Paul Turner collection) who showed us all how to sail a 12 without reference to speedskins, neoprene boots and possibly buoyancy aids.  Alun is a long-time member of Trent Valley and had coincided a significant birthday celebration with this event and was eager to show us all he had not lost his feeling for the flow of the Trent. 

 

After a very pleasant lunch break, the wind was picking up but still the sun shone – how good is that for September?  So we all were briefed on a new course – ever heard of the Goddard Chicane?  Well it made a reappearance to try to add a proper beat.  The start of the race saw interesting things happen with the wind picking up nicely to a Force 3/4  – Paul Turner lost a shroud, well what do you expect when taking out THE China Doll for her first time in 25 years and John Sears, ably crewed by Catherine Sears, somehow filled up with water – both retired gracefully.   Another of Paul’s boats – Microclipper – was out for a test-drive and crew Fenny Monteiro, helmed by Ben Arlett, was heard to say it got ‘a bit interesting’.  Apart from that there were no other incidents.
 

 

All-round a very good day of sailing, with lovely wind conditions and a full day of sunshine.  Trent Valley at it’s very best, although I say it myself.  Furthest travelled to attend goes to Brian Kitching for bringing Just Lucky crewed by Thea Armstrong (his bestest Burton week crew), closely followed by Howard Chadwick and Cathy Lawson from Yeadon SC, Phillip David and Caroline Clarke from Yorks Ouse, and Ben Arlett and Fenny Monteiro from Blakeney SC.
 
I think all would agree with me we had a great day’s sailing. So my many thanks to our Race Officer John Richardson and team and to Guy Browne who handled our safety craft but was not needed.

 

Added Vintage Report
 
Sunday 9th September 2012 with six vintage boats competing, was also an auspicious occasion for several other reasons:
 
1. Both Smuggler N1650 and China Doll N2403 from the Turner Collection were re-launched after various repairs and restoration; both boats were entered for the open meeting Allen Brunton crewed by Tricia Wood in Smuggler and Paul Turner with Christine Preston in China Doll. (Photos follow)
 
2. It was heartening to welcome teenager Fraser Goldsworth (crewed by Niamh Wright) is his vintage Squid N2042 to the TVSC fleet - and his father has subsequently acquired N2289!
 
3. After racing Allen held his 70th birthday tea party at the club and guests included a number of former N12 sailors - Karen (of course!), John and Barbara Royce, Sue Harkins, Rosanne Royce and John Sears. Mr Royce was heard to exclaim, as Paul went forward at the prize giving to collect the vintage pot “You’re still winning prizes at your age?” J

 

 

 

Overall results

1st MAAT and 4-plank, Tom White and Matt Smith, Midland SC

2nd MAAT, Dave Peacock and Jayden Wood, Trent Valley SC
3rd MAAT, Phillip David and Caroline Clarke, Yorks Ouse SC
 
2nd 4-plank, John Sears and Catherine Sears, Notts County SC
 
1st Vintage, Paul Turner and Christine Preston,Trent Valley SC
2nd Vintage, Howard Chadwick and Cathy Lawson,Yeadon SC
 

 

Boat	Helm	Crew	Boat name	Design	Club	Points	Position	Vintage & MAAT vintage	MAAT
2765	Tom White	Matt Smith	Le Shed	4P China Doll	Olton Mere	3	1		1
3524	Dave Peacock	Jayden Wood	Paradigm Buster	Paradigm 2	TVSC	3	2		2
3499	Philip David	Caroline Clark	Out of the blue	Foolish	Yorkshire Ouse	3	3		3
3316	Ian Smith	Jenny Chen	What more pudding?	Crusader	Midland	7	4		4
2957	John Sears	Catherine Sears	Punkawallah	Pipedream	Notts County	7	5		5
2403	Paul Turner	Christine Preston	China Doll	-	TVSC	10	6	1
3192	Ally Britton	Ann Britton	Alley Cat	Tigress	TVSC	11	7		6
2266	Howard Chadwick	Cathy Lawson	Triada	Starfish	Yeadon	14	8	2
1650	Allen Brunton	Tricia Wood	Smuggler	-	TVSC	16	9	3
2359	James Clark	Rosie Allen	Shotgun	-	TVSC	17	10	4
3157	Ben Arlett	Fanny Monteiro	Perfect Kiss	Microclipper	Blakeney	20	11		7
1657	Brian Kitching	Thea Armstrong	Just Lucky	Chimp	FOS	20	12	5
2042	Fraser Goldsworth	Naimh Wright	Quill	Squid	TVSC	25	13	6
2709	Jonathan Twite	Geoff Twite	Goosehunter	Paper Dart	Nottingham	27	14		8

 
Trent Valley Sailing Club    -    River sailing at its best  –  a bit like sea-sailing but not as lumpy and the tide only goes one way.

 

Report by Christine Preston & Paul Turner

N12 Class rep Trent Valley Sailing Club
 
Photographs courtesy of Pete Browne, Trent Valley member