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Burtonweek 2015

22-25 August            Herne Bay Sailing Club

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Day 4, Tuesday 25th August

On the final day of the Gul sponsored National 12 Championships, the crews were greeted with sunshine and strong breezes.  Luckily it was blowing from the south west so the waves were not too big for the rather small committee boat.  The fleet launched on time for the final showdown.

The wind shifted left in the start sequence and for the first time in the regatta, the competitors had to deal with a biased start line which did cause some problems at the pin end, resulting in the very lovely Penny Yarwood hitting the eject button.  Jon Ibbotson & Charlotte Stewart squeezed around the pin to make the early running and escape from the chaos behind.

However, Steve Sallis and Katy Meadowcroft went hard left and were well clear of the pack by the windward mark.  The first reach was an exhilarating ride, Tom Stewart & Andrea Downham powered over Jeremy and Luke Hartley to get to the jybe mark in second.  Steve & Katy took the safe option of wearing round, with the chasing pack all going for the jybe.

The much broader second reach enabled Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantine to blast through the fleet to leeward to sail into a potential championship winning position by the bottom mark.  On the subsequent beat, Tom & Andrea played the shifts up the middle to lead round the windward mark, followed by John & Ollie Meadowcroft who had sailed a blinding second beat.

With the conditions deteriorating, the race team shortened the course at the end of the run.  Tom & Andrea finished first, followed home by the Meadowcrofts in second.  Steve & Katy looked solid in third but hit disaster when they went for the jybe on the run and capsized, which turned out to be a long one and destroyed their hopes of taking third overall. Luckily for Tom & Andrea, Jon Ibbotson & Charlotte Stewart sailed a steady run and wore round to cross the line in third, just ahead of Graham and Zoe giving Tom & Andrea the victory by 1 point.

Notable performances at the championships included:

Dave Peacock and Gill Bilton impressively won both the Admirals and Vintage trophies, sailing in Dave’s recently restored 43 year old China Doll.

Steve Carver from Stokes Bay won both the Corrigan Cup (helms aged 21 and under) and the Arrows Trophy (first time helm at Burton Week).