National 12 open meeting at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club

The low cloud over the tops as you drove up the Dales wasn't encouraging but once you reached the club the cloud lifted and it was fairly clear, the coffee and sausage and bacon sandwiches helped too!

We shared the water with the normal Club racing, the OOD gave us the first start with a round-the-buoys course while the Club fleet was racing on a windward-leeward course.

The wind whilst getting ready seemed reasonable at first but once on the beach preparing to launch it whistled through the rigging which didn't help the confidence of the young crews that most of the fleet, or the helms either!

Once on the water all seemed better but the fleet were a little hesitant on the first start as everybody settled into the wind and wave conditions. Mark and Toby and Ed and Tom lead the fleet around the course with Ed and Toby slowly stretching out the lead as the race progressed. Towards the back of the fleet wearing round at the gybe marks seemed the preferred method in the wind!

Ed and Tom looked to have the race in the bag when the mast decided to give them a loose luff on the mainsail as the luff track decided to detach itself from the mast! That was their event over and Mark and Toby took the lead closely chased by Philip and Tom to the finish.

Details of the second race are a bit blurry. Ed now teamed up with Tim Hampshire. The wind eased a bit making it more manageable however the combination of drizzle and glasses made navigation (finding the next mark) and writing this report interesting! Mark and Toby won again and Angus and Tom damaged their boat landing on the beach preventing them racing again.

After the race, we came ashore for a well needed and wonderful YDSC lunch and to dry off. After lunch we had two races scheduled and the wind had returned!

Despite the increase in wind the race started competitively, half way up the beat Philip and Tom in an interesting manoeuvre managed to tack and stand their boat on its transom which put them at the back. Mark and Toby started to stretch away over the next few legs chased by John and Alison whilst Philip and Tom attempted to rejoin the rest. As the race progressed the wind slowly increased so that by the time the last lap started it was really quite windy. Mark and Toby went in at the first gybe mark and struggled to recover the boat in the lumpy conditions, John and Alison went in at the next gybe and went into repetitive flip mode so that Tim and Ed took the lead and held off the fast catching up Philip and Tom to the finish.

Unfortunately for Tim and Ed their moment of glory was lost as the OOD had decided by that point that he had too many boats in difficulty across the whole of the water and had abandoned the race so they could concentrate on getting everybody safety ashore. The scheduled fourth race was also abandoned.

Thank you to Yorkshire Dales SC for a the warm welcome, some great sailing as usual, looking after us on the water especially when it turned nasty at the end of the third race, the good spread of prizes and keeping us well fed and watered throughout the day. And of course for the glorious sunshine as we left to go home!

Looking forward to coming back next year!

Results:

1. Mark and Toby Simpson N3472 (Big Issue) – Scaling Dam SC
2. Philip David and Tom Bales N3499 (Feeling Foolish) – Yorkshire Ouse SC
3. John and Alison Cheetham N3468 (Numinous) – Yeadon SC
4. Neil McInnes and Dominic Callister N3216 (Baggy Trousers) – Yeadon SC
5. Tim Hampshire and Chris Hampshire / Ed Storey N3330 (Crusader 88) – Ripon SC
6. Angus Beyts and Tom Moss N3231 (Baggy Trousers 2) – Forfar SC / Ripon SC
7. Ed and Tom Storey N3549 (Dead Cat Bounce) – Yorkshire Dales SC