National 12 Open Meeting - Yeadon Sailing Club

6th October 2024

Short Beats and Wind Shadows

The forecast for National 12 Open Meeting on 6th October at Yeadon Sailing Club didn’t offer much SE winds – 8 to 23mph, 10 deg C and overcast/grey. Well, we didn’t get the 23mph gusts and the SE winds blow across the short dimension of the Tarn which is less than ideal as the surrounding trees do ‘interesting’ things with the wind leading to large areas of wind shadow around the windward marks.

The OOD team tried to make the best of what they were presented and duly devised a course which looked like a macrame pattern for the gathered competitors, however it did manage to give three (almost) beats in the course !

At the start of the first race everyone bar Philip David and Emma Hampshire made the mistake of being too far away from the line in the light winds allowing Philip and Emma establish a lead which they held to the finish. Tim and Chris Hampshire chased hard but couldn’t close the gap. Tony Dufton and Martin Parrish had a good battle with Paul Bradley and AJ Gregory for the first couple of laps but Paul and AJ were suffering with their boat set up and slowly dropped back. The wind shadow effects around Mark no 8 was making it hard to get round that mark for everyone except for Philip and Emma !  

After a pasta Bolognese lunch, the boats except for Paul and AJ were back out on the water for a further two races. Tony had changed his crew and William Moyes one the Club’s new junior sailors was in the front of Twice Shy. The OOD Team took note of the difficulties at Mark 8 and moved it so it was less affected by the wind shadow in the corner of the Tarn. For the second race  everyone was ready for the start leading to a closer race for the first lap. The light winds reflected the different characteristics of the different newer designs with the Feeling Foolish gliding quicker across the water in the light winds than the Big Issue 2 and Philip and Emma took the lead by the end of the first lap and stay there until the finish.

With the Open Meeting places sorted by the results of first two races Philip and Tim decided to experiment in the Feeling Foolish/Big Issue 2 Design Challenge and both crews swopped boats for the last race. This final race was much closer but the Feeling Foolish being sailed by Tim and Chris still led round the course. The OOD Team decided that when the heavens opened as the boats were on their 3rd lap that everyone had done enough for the day and they were finished next time they crossed the finish line.

At the prize giving ceremony the Tarn Trophy was awarded to the winners of the Open meeting, Philip David and Emma Hampshire, and trophies were awarded to the winners of the 2024 Northern Traveller Series, Helm – Philip David and Crew – Chris Hampshire.

Philip on behalf of the visiting competitors thanked the Club, the Race Team and the team who worked hard in the galley to keep us all fed and watered !

Yeadon Sailing Club looks forward to welcoming everybody back to the 2025 open meeting at Yeadon.