Vintage Twelves at Henley

7 Vintage National 12s made their way to Henley on the 14^th September for an afternoon of racing with competing boats varying between N504 and N2802.

In the first race, John Meadowcroft crewed by Mandy Thornton in N504 led off the line and to the 1^st buoy. However, by the 2^ndmark, Brian Herring in N1673 crewed by Ros Stevenson had overtaken on the inside. He was closely followed by Dave Croft, crewed by Abbie Croft in N2304 and Alan Cadwallader in N2802 crewed by Stephen Gent. The next beat saw Meadowcroft regain the lead, and during the long run back to the club a vicious gust took Herring for an early bath. At the bottom mark, Croft regained the lead which he held from Meadowcroft and Cadwallader until the finish.

For the 2^nd race, N504 now sailed by John Thornton and Katy Meadowcroft had a good start and by the first mark had a good lead over the rest of the fleet. However, on the run back down Croft made it into the lead, with Ken Goddard, in N2300 crewed by Karen Cadwallader making it into third place, positions that were held to the finish.

After a short tea and cake break, it was back to the sailing with 2^nd place still up for grabs. Herring lead off the start, but the early leaders stopped at the first corner allowing N504 (now back with John Meadowcroft and Mandy Thornton) to sneak through into the lead. This was extended through the race with Crofts getting into 2^nd place.

1^st	N2304	Lysistrata	Dave Croft	Abbie Croft	Henley
2^nd	N504	Wanton	John Meadowcroft	Mandy Thornton	Henley
3^rd	N1673	Let’s Go	Brian Herring	Ros Stevenson	Winsford Flats

National Twelve Open Meeting at Henley

Sunday 15^th September was the National 12 Open Meeting for National 12s at Henley Sailing Club. With a fleet of 16 boats and a reduced river level, the OOD decided to split the fleet into four flights for the racing.

The first race started in a light breeze and both fleets were quite compact. There were holes aplenty, so keeping a good look out was as important as sailing! In the first flight, Dave Wilkins crewed by wife Frances and sailing in a borrowed twelve (N3460), led off the line and held off Gerry Ledger and Liz Ross all the way to the finish. In the 2^nd flight, which was very line shy, Geoff Camm crewed by Katherine Ingham in another borrowed boat, N3469, also managed to work his way into the lead up the first beat. John Thornton crewed by Mandy Thornton in N3468 worked their way up through the fleet to finish second, closely followed by Stephen Gent and Vivian Roberts in N3221.

After lunch, reports of wind further up river convinced the OOD to have one race up river to a committee boat finish and then start the last race starting from the committee boat to race back to the Club for tea.

The Wilkins again showed good boat speed in the 1^st flight with close racing against the Thorntons pursued by Dave Greening crewed by daughter Josie in 3471. In the other flight, Camm again took the gun from Dave Croft crewed today by Caroline Croft in N2935 to leave the 3^rd race as the decider!

The 1^st flight was the competition for 3^rd place with Will Henderson crewed by son Arthur getting the early lead,the Thorntons and Ledger were always on his heels but only managed to get close enough to scare Henderson at the finish. In the 2^nd flight, a start line incident between the Meadowcrofts and the Wilkins allowed Camm to get away. Croft and Wilkins gave chase but Camm always had speed when required.

Back to the Clubhouse for a full Henley Tea on the lawn – with lots of thanks to Jeff and Jane Manning and their race team for all of their hard work during the day.

1^st	N3469	Thanks for all the Fish	Geoff Camm	Katherine Ingham	Shoreham
2^nd	N3460	Feeling Frantic	Dave Wilkins	Francis Wilkins	Spinaker
3^rd	N3418	New Isabelle	Will Henderson	Arthur Henderson	Salcombe
4^th	N3468	Pillow Fight	John Thornton	Mandy Thornton	Henley
5^th	N2935	Close to the Edge	Dave Croft	Caroline Croft	Henley