National 12 Vintage & Four Plank Open Meeting

The day dawned just like last year – foggy with no wind – but this time it took until midday for ripples to appear on the water; racing was postponed until after lunch so we all had plenty of time to get to know the new faces and boats that had appeared this year - see below in BOLD. Roy Smith had done a particularly nice restoration job on his Smuggler N2079 and was sporting some fab replica sunrise cut sails. The postponement also meant that there was time for the damage that N2700 Hooligan had suffered in transit to be sorted out – and hull comparisons made with John Sears unmodified Pipedream.

 

Despite several stalwarts being unavailable (including Chadders, Nick Gill and John Cheetham) we had thirteen boats, including 10 vintage, ready for the first start.

 

A perfect breeze arrived at lunchtime and race officer Keith Marshall set three races back to back to ensure good value for all especially those who travelled some distance to partake.  All three were started downstream as a close reach or fetch to the bottom mark which lead to some entertaining, and good humoured, interpretations of the rules regarding the rounding of marks!

 

1^st race – John Sears headed off into the distance with six boats competing for 2^nd place which ended with Vince Phillips in his Whisper breaking free with Paul Turner in 3^rd in Dolly Daydream.

 

 

The fleet bravely heads into the Doldrums

 

2^{nd  -} Paul was first to the bottom mark starting from the leeward end of the line ahead of Alan Mason N1607 and lead through the doldrums but despite a tacking duel, Sears got to the top mark first and steadily drew away. On the reach downstream Vince was closing fast on Paul, who was much relieved that the shortened course flag went up!

 

 

A rare sight this year – Paul leading the fleet, but only briefly!

 

3^rd race – John Sears had another good start with Tim Gatti in N341 2^nd acting as a mobile road block but Paul, Vince and Brain Kitching broke through in the Doldrums and battle continued with Vince 2^nd and Paul 3^rd at the finish.

 

 

Lots of very close sailing! Sometimes too close – to the bank!

 

Despite the best efforts of flotillas of trainee canoeists and assorted powered junk on the River Trent, it proved to be a fabulous afternoon’s sailing, enjoyed by all with competitive racing in all parts of the fleet – many boats finishing within seconds of each other.

 

Final results – with observations!

 

1^st overall & 4 plank John & Mark Sears, N2957 Punkawallah (Pipedream) Notts County/TVSC

 

2^nd Vince & Alexander Phillips N2531 (Whisper) Yorkshire Ouse – 1^st Vintage

 

3^rd Paul Turner & Christine Marshall N2487 Dolly Daydream (China Doll) Trent Valley 2^nd Vintage, 1^st Heavyweight

 

Highest boat/crew index (combined ages of boat, helm and crew) –

 

Anorak corner:

 

341	Uffa King	Mat	Tim Gatti & Yvonne McInnes	Yeadon
1607	Proctor 4a	Dilly Dally	Alan Mason & Grace Nielsen	Redesmere
1657	Chimp	Just Lucky	(Carbon) Brain & George Kitching	FOS (Frampton on Severn!)
1684 (3205)	Proctor 8	National Panic	Howard Elcock & Julie (on loan from the TVSC Merlin fleet!)	Tynemouth
2076	Star Fish	Painted Lady	Patrick & David Smith	Ogston
2079	Smuggler	2am	Roy Smith & Floyd/Daniela Cherry	North Lincs
2300	Proctor 12	Duodecimal	Ken Goddard & Ann Britton	Trent Valley
2468	China Doll	Suzy Wong	Brian Herring & Catherine Bellamy	He couldn’t remember!
2487	China Doll	Dolly Daydream	Paul Turner & Christine Marshall	Trent Valley
2531	Whisper	Invasion	Vincent & Alexander Phillips	Yorkshire Ouse
2700 (3041)	Pipedream (modified)	Hooligan	Adam Perry & Mike Jordan	Rutland
2957	Pipedream	Punkawallah	John & Mark Sears	Notts County/Trent Valley
2998	Pipedream	Urukai	Peter Ferguson & Joanne Woolley	Trent Valley