National 12 Dinghy Shack Series at Burghfield Sailing Club

by Tom Lee 29 Mar 2020 07:50 BST 14 March 2019

The National 12 Dinghy Shack Series kicked off at Burghfield Sailing Club on the 14th of March. After a few years of strong winds, cold, wet or snowy weather, competitors were greeted with a shifty force 3 from the South-West, sun with a few showers and double-digit temperatures.

After a short briefing, the seven visiting and seven local National 12s headed for the start. The order of the day was sprint racing with the aim of completing eight 15-20 minute races. The race Officer set a trapezoid course with 2 laps.

The port bias and shifty winds caused some pile-ups on the start-line but the race got under way without too much trouble. Ian and Alex Gore in N3525 established an early lead which they kept to the finish followed by Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne in N3530 and Tom and Robbie Stewart in N3544. Races 2 and 3 were both won by Graham and Zoe, followed by Ian and Alex. During the fourth race, won by Ian and Alex, the wind dropped to almost nothing and the fleet retired to the clubhouse for some lunch. After the morning's racing Ian and Alex were tied on points with Graham and Zoe with Tom and Robbie in third with a very consistent set of four 3rd places.

The wind picked up during lunch giving rise to some exiting racing as the fleet was very close together. During race 2, the whole fleet found itself close to one of the islands shore which caused multiple cascade calls for 'room to tack'. Graham/Zoe and Ian/Alex picked up another win each in races 5 and 6 but Tom and Robbie made good use of the extra wind to take the last 2 races With Jon and Sam Brown in second.

The prize-giving took place shortly after racing with some tea and cake. Graham and Zoe win over all by one point from Ian and Alex followed by Tom and Robbie in third. Nigel and Chris White were the leading non-foiler, and Dan Meadowcroft crewed by Katie was the first Junior. Freya Lillywhite received the merit prize for helming her first N12 event. Each of the prize winners received goodie bag courtesy of the series sponsor DinghyShack.

The next events in the Dinghy Shack series are at Salcombe Yacht club on 8-10th May 2020 and Brighlingsea Sailing Club on 6-7th June (COVID-19 permitting).

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	Pts
1st	3530	Graham Camm	Zoe Ballantyne	Burghfield SC	9
2nd	3525	Ian Gore	Alex Gore	Up River SC	10
3rd	3544	Tom Stewart	Robert Stewart	Waldringfield SC & Royal Harwich SC	13
4th	3483	Jon Brown	Sam Brown	Burghfield SC	21
5th	3445	Nigel White	Chris White	Burghfield SC	30
6th	3543	John Meadowcroft	Maya Brown	Upper Thames SC	34
7th	3526	Christian Day	Charlotte Stewart	Salcombe SC	35
8th	3545	Tom Lee	Jenefer Bugge	Burghfield SC	40
9th	3471	Dan Meadowcroft	Katie Meadowcroft	Upper Thames SC	54
10th	3551	George Finch	Lucy Finch	Royal Harwich SXC	55
11th	3429	Rob Starling	Holly Starling	Burghfield SC	65
12th	3447	Amy Hopkins	David Moore	Sworkstone SC	66
13th	3501	Freya Lillywhite	Neil Lillywhite	Burghfield SC	77
14th	3457	David Copse	Tim Williams	Burghfield SC	82