Ripon Gul Series

The Vale of York fog cleared to reveal a good mix of 15 boats being rigged on the banks of Ripon Sailing Club ready for the 7th Gul Series open. The wind however had not made an appearance yet and the forecast was not predicting great things to come. The crews assembled for briefing by the race hut and the first race commenced on time with a very light breeze from the South. The beat up to the first mark favoured those that managed to get clear wind, Howard Chadwick and Cathy Joseph in 2266 making it around the mark first closely followed by Tom and Robert Stewart in 3544, Patrick Hamilton and Gail Kaye in 3502, Philip David and Emma Hampshire in 3499 and local sailor Tim Hampshire and Beth Miller in 3330 completing the first group around. Philip kept well to leeward to put him on starboard coming into the next mark but sailed into dead air and dropped back. Will Mitchell and Lois Spooner in 3479 made the most of the clear air to catch up before the second mark but lost the momentum and dropped back into the following pack. Tom slowly pulled away from the others who spent the rest of the race swapping positions and searching for the remnants of the dying wind.

At the end of the race Tom had a clear lead with Tim Hampshire coming in second and Patrick just getting the better of Howard. Once again Ripon showed that in light winds we can still get close racing between the various ages of N12s; foiling, Admirals cup, double bottomed and Vintage being the order of boats across the line. Unfortunately the wind decided to take a break for lunch along with the rest of the fleet and then failed to make a re-appearance. The race officer postponed the start of the second race and as the wind died to a flat calm it was reluctantly agreed to abandon races. While the Northern Area group took this as an opportunity to have a relaxed area meeting in the sunshine, the younger crews chased each other around the water paddling spare Topper and Q’ba hulls. The rest had a leisurely de-rig, some preparing for the following days race at Yeadon.

Tom did the honours with presenting the Gul awards and thanked the race team, galley and the support from Ripon Sailing club members. Thanks to Gul for their generous sponsorship Tom was able to spread the awards through the fleet, including furthest travelled going to Angus from Scotland and crew Jonathan from Milton Keynes. Club Commodore, Dennis Altoft, presented the trophy and prizes for the open and thanked those that attended for the friendly competitive sailing. The day was rounded off by a meal provided by the club caterers and some fun games for the young and a quiz for the not so young.

We will try and order a little more wind for next year but hope that you enjoyed the event and we will see you all again next year.

 

 

Overall results

Rank	Fleet	Sail Number	Club	Helm	Crew
1st	DB	3544	Northampton	Tom Stewart	Robert Stewart
2nd	Admirals Cup	3330	Ripon	Tim Hampshire	Beth Miller
3rd	DB	3502	Burwain	Patrick Hamilton	Gail Kaye
4th	Vintage	2266	Yeadon	Howard Chadwick	Cathy Joseph
5th	DB	3499	Yorkshire Ouse	Philip David	Emma Hampshire
6th	Vintage	2531	Yorkshire Ouse	Vincent Philips	Gfiona Phillips
7th	Vintage	1657	Chew Valley	Brian Kitching	William
8th	DB	3479	Sunderland	Will Mitchell	Lois Spooner
9th	Admirals Cup	3334	Ripon	Katy Phillips	Ellie Clark
10th	Vintage	2345	Winsford Flas	Brian Herring	Ros Steavenson
11th	Admirals Cup	3331	Yorkshire Ouse	Simon Moss	Thomas Moss
12th	Admirals Cup	3356	Yeadon	Andrew Cowling	Catherine Ward
13th	Vintage	1483	Yorkshire Ouse	Ian Purkiss	Margaret Purkis
14th	Admirals Cup	2966	Chelmarsh	Gavin Gulliver-Goodall	Christopher Hampshire
15th	Admirals Cup	2153	Forfar	Angus Beyts	Jonathan