Gul Series Update - One event left!

The final Gul Series event of 2016 is fast approaching and as ever, it is one not to miss!

Northampton Sailing Club - 5/6th November

The 2016 Gul Series Finale and Inland Championships takes place at Northampton Sailing Club on 5th and 6th November. There will be three Gul Series and Inland Championships races on Saturday, starting at 12.30 on the Saturday, with a briefing taking place at 11.30am. The prize giving for the Gul Series will take place in the evening. The Inland Championships then concludes on the Sunday with two back to back races starting at 10am.

Saturday evening entertainment includes the traditional Northampton Bonfire and Fireworks Party (please bring along one large firework to help with the display). There will be food from Elaine's superb galley and after the fireworks the club will be hosting a disco.

For those hardy sailors (and their families) free camping is available for the weekend on site, and there is also a wide range of other accommodation options nearby.

Full info can be found here

A breezy Northampton in 2015 and more relaxed conditions in 2013!

Recent N12 Open Meetings

Since last month's latest chapter, the events calendar has been full of National 12 open meetings! We've listed the winners of the below open meetings, with links to reports where available.

Solway YC - Gul Series #6 & Scottish Championships
Phillip David won the Scottish Daily Express Trophy in N3499 - Well done! Full report is here.

Stokes Bay SC - Gul Series #7
Visiting Stokes Bay was a new venture for the National 12s, unfortunately a number of regular 12 sailors were absent for a host of reasons, including the weather forecast, oppie sailing and crews playing rugby! Graham and Zoe won the event - report is here.

Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club - N12 Open
Mark Simpson in N3472 just fought off the Storeys in N3514 to win the breezy open meeting - report and pictures available here.

Twickenham Yacht Club - N12 Open
Well done to John Thornton for winning another Thames Area open meeting! It was also fantastic to see N23 out sailing again - full report here.

Yeadon SC - N12 Open
Fresh from the Scottish 12 Championships, Phillip David continued his winning streak by winning at Yeadon! Full report here.

Ripon SC - N12 Open
Held the day after Yeadon SC's 12 open, it was the turn of Patrick Hamilton to win as he just managed to keep Phillip David behind. There was an encouraging turn out - read more here.

Olton Mere - HD Sails 4-Plank Series Finale
There isn't an official report yet, but there was very close racing, with race 3 finishing in a dead heat.

Vintage Update

The vintage series was more popular in 2016! This year, 3 people qualified with four results - but if there were only 3 events to qualify for the series, there would have been 9 people - certainly something to think about next year.

The Vintage Championships was the most popular event and will continue at Burton SC in 2017, although it would be fantastic to see more entries next year - get the date in your diary!

2016 Vintage Series Results:

1st - David Peacock, N2620 - China Doll
2nd - John Sears, N2403 - China Doll
3rd - Paul Turner, N2403, N487 - Both China Dolls

Creating a Carbon Boom

Not 'tuning' as such, but as winter draws closer, the building a boom guide by Graham & Geoff Camm is a great place to start for a winter project!

The main properties for a boom are for it to be light, strong and stiff. Using carbon it should be possible to make a fully fitted out boom around 2kg.

1. Coat some drain pipe (~75mm diameter) with mould release agent. Or use a length of thick plastic sheet.

2. Wrap uni-directional carbon 200g/m2 around the pipe and wet out with a laminating epoxy. Apply two layers from gooseneck to the mid point of the boom, followed by another two along the whole length. Finish off with a couple of wraps of carbon weave along the full length. Pull tight as you go because any slack will result in a ridge forming during the bagging process.

This bit is really best done with some helpers as handling a 2.5m sticky length of cloth is really tricky on your own.

3. Vacuum bag. Be careful with the bag going into the drain pipe, allow plenty of slack and stuff the bag into the pipe otherwise the vacuum will cause it to burst. Reinforce the ends with a couple of extra layers of 200g/m2 weave.

4. Bond in a gooseneck. Wood or some aluminium / carbon tube reinforced with plenty of carbon should do the trick. Don’t underestimate just how much compression force is on this small joint.

5. Bend test – how much weight for how much deflection? If you can bounce up and down on the middle whilst the ends are supported on books then it should be ok.

6. Varnish.

7. Fit out and go sailing.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to get in contact with Graham!

Carnac 2017 - Enter Now!

The National 12s are returning to Carnac in 2017! Next year, the organizers are taking the best parts of the 2014 event and adding even more - there will be a new inter fleet trophy and a world record attempt! The event is during half term, so no excuses for anyone!

Enter here for more info, and register before 1st November to enter the draw for free entry!!

National 12s - From the Archive

Yorkshire Ouse Sailing Club have been given some brilliant old colour slides of National 12 sailing on the river in the 1950s and 60s. Vince thinks that the originals may have been taken on Robin Stevenson's Leica cameras, using Ektachrome / Kodachrome slide film and they still look fresh today! Some dates and names are found in the small print below the images - there are several well known 12 sailors!

They have now been uploaded - 7 pages of pictures - to YOSC's club website and are available to view here.

Welcome to New Members!

We welcome a new member to the NTOA:

Tim Gray of Stretton, Burton upon Trent - with N3203 (a welcome return)

Upcoming Events

5th-6th November - Northampton SC - Gul Series #8 & Inland Championships

13th November - Tynemouth SC - Tate Winter Trophy

26th December- Royal Harwich Yacht Club - Boxing Day Open Meeting

27th - 30th May- Yacht Club de Carnac, France