National 12 Open at Trent Valley Sailing Club
by Christine Preston 18 Sep 2011 13:28 BST
11 September 2011
Trent Valley hosted their 2nd Open Meeting of the year, this time a Midland Area Armada Trophy (MAAT), 4-plank and Vintage event, on 11th September. The event proved to follow the year's theme for N12 events, namely a lot of wind.
I could make this a very short report:
- Nine boats arrived
- Eight started the 1st race, and 6 finished
- Seven started the 2nd race and 5 finished
- Four started the 3rd race and 3 finished.
But that would make for a far too short and sloppy report.
So, having taken some quick reviews from other competitors I can now write a better version:
Our Race Officer, John Richardson (Trent Valley Commodore) set an interesting start, for the first race, half way up the river. The start line was somewhat congested by a large lump of stones to the port bank and a bright pink N12 capsized across the middle – Chris Troth sustained an unrepairable boom break and retired. The keen and capable helms of Geoffrey Camm (with Amelia crewing in his own boat), Graham Camm (with Zoe crewing in Shotgun, one of the Turner collection still rigged with winged rudder from the champs), John Sears (with Mark Sears crewing) and Ian Norman (with Nicole Norman crewing) all got away well; but before we even got to the top mark Paul Turner (crewed by Christine Preston) lost his tiller extension several times and turned round; John Sears washed his sails due to tweeking his mast ram somewhere around the top mark and Ian Norman took on a lot of water. It has to be said at this point – IT WAS VERY WINDY, and the Trent is but narrow with a lot of big willow trees on either side. You can interpret this as an awful lot of tacking in heavy conditions.
Your author is now relying on others' recollections now.
It seemed to be a reach all round the course, with remarkable events still to be observed such as Graham and Zoe capsizing at the bottom mark allowing eventual winners to be Geoffrey and Amelia.
The second race saw a more refined start in front of the club house. Ian Norman got off to a flyer, hotly pursued by Graham, Geoffrey and Paul. The doldrums were not dull, crews needed to be agile flipping from both sides of the boat to keep it flat. Then once in clearer wind gear failure attacked Paul again as his whole rudder fell off the back of the boat, despite reuniting rudder and boat he decided enough was enough trying to catch up from the back of the fleet and retired with dignity still intact. Graham and Zoe capsized again giving Geoffrey and Amelia the advantage again, but this time G&Z were forced to retired as the ‘unlocking nut' on the foiled rudder unlocked – a feature already experienced at Brightlingsea. The remainder of the fleet completed a third energy-zapping lap with Geoffrey and Amelia leading the way home.
At this point lunch was a welcome break, with commentary provided by shore-based spectators that gusts had been up to 35knots!
The third race, again started in front of the club house saw four boats start but unfortunately Tom White ran out of steam part way through. Graham was left attacking from the front as Geoffrey was needed for childcare ashore. The finish became a dual of courage between Ian Norman (with Nicole Norman crewing) and John Sears (with Mark Sears crewing) as each tussled for 2nd place in the growing windier conditions. John crossed the line 2 seconds in front of Ian, but then both ceremoniously capsized trying to turn into the canal mouth.
My thanks go to the safety boat crews who were ever vigilant but thankfully not required too much as we were all able to right ourselves. But thanks go to one crew who enabled our camera man to keep close attention on all events on the water and to record them for posterity.
It does make a change though to report an event at Trent Valley with too much wind when in previous years readers may remember us trying to get upstream in no wind at all.
Overall Results::
1st overall - Geoffrey Camm & Amelia Hall, 3414 Piuma al vento
Geoffrey and Amelia also take the Trease Tankard for 1st AC boat at the event
2nd overall - Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne, 2359 Shotgun
Graham & Zoe also take the John Mee Salver for 1st Vintage boat at this event
3rd overall - Tom White & Pru Dixey, 2765 Le Shed
Tom and & Pru also take the as yet undefined prize for the 4-plank boat at this event
My thanks to all who attended for making such a go of it.
Also my very grateful thanks to John Richardson our Race Officer and all his helpers, and to all our safety boat crews, all of whom we could not have held this event without their presence and voluntary support.
And if anyone as a spare prize they could donate for 4-plank N12 sailing at Trent Valley – please let me know.