Ripon SC open meeting

Despite the forecast of winds in the high 20s and gusts in the high 30s from storm Amy, we pressed on with the Ripon Open. It wasn’t looking promising when we all assembled but after a short delay to galvanise enthusiasm we headed out.

Traditionally the National 12 Open is at RSC on the first Saturday of October, this year it was opened up to any other double hander sailors that wanted to join in and expanded to a two-day event. Saturday was still the official N12 Open but Sunday allowed any that wanted to stay on to get a second days sailing in. On Sunday, everyone joined in with the morning pursuit race and sailed in one double hander fleet for the afternoon races. We awarded separate prizes for Saturday and Sunday.

The National 12s fielded 4 double bottom, 1 admiral's cup and 2 vintage boats for the weekend with sailor ages from 18 to happily retired. The harsh conditions kept the vintages ashore over the weekend. Bernard & Paula took to the water in a winged rudder Foolish, the only foiling boat this year although there are at least two boats planning to convert for next season. This weekend was not the best conditions to get to grips with the handling of a foiling boat, Philip & Em in a non-foiling Foolish showing Bernard (and everyone else) the way round in all 3 races. Tim & Steve in the Big Issue 2 had an early finish in the first race due to equipment failure but came back out to put in two solid seconds to finish behind Philip.

Philip & Sarah Wherry’s first trip to Ripon resulted in a fair bit of swimming, but in between times they had good speed in the Final Chapter. The huge gusts, sudden lulls and big wind shifts proved challenging for Neil & Paul in the Baggy Trousers, a prolonged capsize putting them out of the first race, a 4th in the second race curtesy of Philip & Sarah retiring, and a prudent early shower by the 3rd race.

The day finished with a late lunch followed by the prize giving before boats were packed up. Those staying for the weekend enjoyed a pleasant walk around the lake to build up an appetite for the double hander evening curry night provided by Ali.

The survivors from Saturday were joined by a handful of club single hander sailors, notably light on numbers for some inexplicable reason. With the wind having swung more Northerly, it was less shifty but had bigger swings and stronger sustained spells. 3 Miracles had stayed over for the weekend and headed out along with 2 National 12s and Chris & Dante sailed a club Vision in lieu of the vintage they had been loaned by Ian, to join the morning pursuit race. Chris was doing well until the first spinnaker hoist, with Dante’s foot firmly planted on the sheet it was a quick capsize. Philip & Em managed to pass all but the visiting Miracle of Wayne & Angela, who held them off to claim 1st.

After lunch, two back-to-back races were completed with the full fleet back out. Philip & Em stretched out a good start in the first race to take the win but a miss-timed tack into a vicious header in the second race resulted in a capsize and retirement. The Miracles of Wayne & Angela and Graham & Helen battled it out through both races, Wayne & Angela managing to keep ahead in both.

Chris & Dante enjoyed playing with the asymmetric on the Vision but ultimately found it was slower round the course. Tim was sailing with a new crew for Sunday, Iole, making steady improvements through each race. The last race saw them first to the windward mark and hold 1st for most of the race with some great close racing against Philip & Em until their capsize. Alas Tim & Iole also succumbed to the same fate later and slipped from first to last but did manage to finish.

Special mention must go to Dante and Iole. This was Dante’s first experience of sailing, the plan was to crew for Chris in Ian Purkis “Margie”, possibly not the best weekend to pick but youthful enthusiasm shone through. Iole has only recently completed her level 2 and it was her first experience of racing in a National 12, a very different proposition to the training boats she was used to. Both survived brutal gusts, massive headers and capsizes, and came off the water smiling and looking forward to the next N12 event.