Gul National 12 Series at Ripon Sailing Club

National 12s at Ripon © Alison Hampshire

National 12s at Ripon © Alison Hampshire

National 12s at Ripon © Alison Hampshire

The Vale of York fog cleared to reveal a good mix of 15 boats being rigged on the banks of Ripon Sailing Club ready for the 7th Gul Series open. The wind however had not made an appearance yet and the forecast was not predicting great things to come.

The crews assembled for briefing by the race hut and the first race commenced on time with a very light breeze from the South. The beat up to the first mark favoured those that managed to get clear wind, Howard Chadwick and Cathy Joseph in 2266 making it around the mark first closely followed by Tom and Robert Stewart in 3544, Patrick Hamilton and Gail Kaye in 3502, Philip David and Emma Hampshire in 3499 and local sailor Tim Hampshire and Beth Miller in 3330 completing the first group around. Philip kept well to leeward to put him on starboard coming into the next mark but sailed into dead air and dropped back. Will Mitchell and Lois Spooner in 3479 made the most of the clear air to catch up before the second mark but lost the momentum and dropped back into the following pack. Tom slowly pulled away from the others who spent the rest of the race swapping positions and searching for the remnants of the dying wind.

At the end of the race Tom had a clear lead with Tim Hampshire coming in second and Patrick just getting the better of Howard. Once again Ripon showed that in light winds we can still get close racing between the various ages of N12s; foiling, Admirals cup, double bottomed and Vintage being the order of boats across the line. Unfortunately the wind decided to take a break for lunch along with the rest of the fleet and then failed to make a re-appearance. The race officer postponed the start of the second race and as the wind died to a flat calm it was reluctantly agreed to abandon races. While the Northern Area group took this as an opportunity to have a relaxed area meeting in the sunshine, the younger crews chased each other around the water paddling spare Topper and Q'ba hulls. The rest had a leisurely de-rig, some preparing for the following days race at Yeadon.

Tom did the honours with presenting the Gul awards and thanked the race team, galley and the support from Ripon Sailing club members. Thanks to Gul for their generous sponsorship Tom was able to spread the awards through the fleet, including furthest travelled going to Angus from Scotland and crew Jonathan from Milton Keynes. Club Commodore, Dennis Altoft, presented the trophy and prizes for the open and thanked those that attended for the friendly competitive sailing. The day was rounded off by a meal provided by the club caterers and some fun games for the young and a quiz for the not so young.

We will try and order a little more wind for next year but hope that you enjoyed the event and we will see you all again next year.

Overall Results: