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...brought to you by the

National Twelve Owners' Association

Welcome to The Latest Chapter! The season is well under way and open meetings are coming thick and fast, with a range of venues to suit everyone over the next month or so. As well as looking ahead to these there's an update on the GUL Series and Scottish Champs at Annandale. Don't forget to check out the Upcoming Events where there is a fantastic opportunity for youth sailors.

In this issue:

GUL Series and Scottish Champs at Annandale

Annandale Sailing Club gave us their usual warm welcome last weekend (with some help from John Hugo's wine cellar). Once again the sailing was excellent if a little breezy and the race officer fitted some good courses in Castle Loch including a trapezoid which seemed suitable for a championships event. There was some really close racing amongst the hardy fleet that braved the conditions with the Storeys in their foiling Feeling Foolish mixing it with the Dead Cat Bounces throughout the weekend. The Nick and Tanya Copsey were the most consistent over the 6 races, taking the magnificent Scottish Daily Express Trophy with a race to spare. Ed Willett and Sarah Smith took the Mariner Mug for the first AC boat sailing Ed's vintage Mark 9. You can read the full report on the 12 website and find out why Ed and Tom Storey were awarded the Ladybird Book on the forum. The weekend was also notable for proving a 12 with a foiling rudder was just about more likely to stay upright than an GP14 in those blustery conditions!

GUL Series #2 at Salcombe

We head down to Salcombe in South Devon for the third round of the GUL Series 2014 and can expect the usually combination of exciting and challenging racing in the idyllic Salcombe Estuary. As it's the Bank Holiday weekend, there will be one race on Saturday starting in the afternoon, two on Sunday and one on Monday morning so there's plenty of travelling time (or beach or shopping time!). This year we'll also be holding a short Crew's Race for the Fowey Pot trophy between the 2 races on Sunday. The Notice of Race and pre-entry details will be up on the website soon.

If you want some inspiration, look no further than Tim Laws' videos of the first 3 races in 2011. These have to be the best sailing videos ever...

Race 1 - http://vimeo.com/23639212
Race 2 - http://vimeo.com/24324159
Race 3 - http://vimeo.com/24645580

Upcoming Events

The N12 Youth Championships take place at Hykeham SC on 26th April. The prize for first place in this event is phenomenal - free entry to Burton Week and a Feeling Foolish with t-foil rudder for the event! If you're U21 or know anyone who might be interested in borrowing a boat, check out the preview on Y&Y and get in touch with Gerald Copsey who is organising the event.

Also at Hykeham SC on the Sunday (27th April) is the start of the Midland Area 2014, with the series also taking in Trent Valley SC (11th May), Staunton Harold SC (17th May) and Carsington SC (18th May) over the next few weeks.

The Thames Area series is at Spinnaker SC as I write (20th April) and will visit Desborough SC next (10th May).

The Burwain SC open meeting is also underway today (20th April) for the Northern Area, Vintage Series and ANEYC trophy. Next up for the Vintage Series will be the Midland Area open at Staunton Harold.

After the Scottish Championships, the Scottish Area series for the Lairwell Trophy heads to Cramond Boat Club on 25th May. For the details see the forum post.

If I've got my geography right, that means we've got the most northerly and southerly N12 events on the same weekend! The entry for the European Event at Carnac is now over 100 boats and the 12s are into double figures. The sailing promises to be great and the socials legendary! You can check out who's going from the 12s and enter yourself on the event website.

Dates for your diary

Hykeham 26th April - Junior Championships
Salcombe 3rd-5th May - GUL Series #3
Carnac 24^th-28^th May - European Event
Shoreham SC 21st-22nd June - GUL Series #4
Burton SC 28th-29th June - Vintage Championships
Pevensey Bay 23rd-26th August - Burton Week 2014 including Burton Cup and National Championships
King George SC 27th-28th September - Inland Championships

A full list of fixtures for 2014 can be found on the N12 website.

As a final thought, now is a great time to get yourself a new 12 for the new season. There are some great boats of all types on the for sale list from one of the newest Paradigm 2s to ribbed and clinker Vintage boats. The doubled bottom boats (Feeling Foolishes, Big Issues and Numinouses) look great value and with a t-foil rudder added could win Burton Week.

I hope you see you at Salcombe!

Chris Day
N3526