A small but competitive group of Northern 12s met at
Grimwith Reservoir to compete in the Northern Open Meeting Series on what must be one of the best
pieces of inland water in the North. A
shifty breeze and some excellent courses paved the way for a good day’s sailing
some 1000ft above sea level.
Race
1 saw Bernard Clark and Henry Mark get a superb start only to get the wrong
side of shift allowing John and Alison Cheetham to take the lead, closely
followed by Neil and Katy McInnes, then Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson in
3rd place. Despite some
closing and widening of gaps, this remained the order throughout although the
fleet was still very close together at the finish, with the exception of John
and Alison who demonstrated superior speed throughout and were never seriously
challenged.
Race
2 involved much more place changing in the shifty winds as boats were backed
off and then lifted by shifts of up to 90 degrees. Despite all the changes, the first three boats were within 50
yards of one another at the finish. The
result this time being 1st John Cheetham, 2nd Howard
Chadwick and 3rd Neil McInnes, with Bernard Clark finishing
uncharacteristically in 4th place again.
For
the final race, the winds appeared to be dying fast which cause Bernard to drop
out, closely followed by John having pulled his main halyard up the inside of
his mast accidentally? This left Howard
and Neil to race for the overall honours of second place. With only two boats out, both managed to
make poor starts in the dying wind which fortunately filled in again just after
the start. At the first mark, after a
hard fought first beat Howard was two boat lengths clear of Neil and this gap
remained throughout the next three down wind legs. On the final beat Howard opened the gap slightly whilst keeping a
cover on Neil to finish first and hence second overall.
Overall
Results
1st N3209 John
and Alison Cheetham
2nd N3384 Howard
Chadwick and Helen Nicholson
3rd N3216 Neil
and Katy McInnes
4th N3382 Bernard
Clark and Henry Mark