Ranelagh SC Open

 

The Twelves’ first meeting of the year took place on the tidal reach of the Thames at Ranelagh SC on Sunday 6^th January – a single race for the venerable Royal Thames YC Trophy.  

 

In a pleasant easterly force 2 with a wintry sun glinting off the water, nine Twelves were on the line.  The fleet was led away by Chris Edwards, who first won the trophy in 1972, up river past the Fulham football ground on the last of the flood tide. Antony Gifford & Juliet Brown led around the first mark but found a wind hole, allowing Graham Camm and Clare Hunter to briefly assume the lead.  Camm and Hunter found a significantly larger hole soon after, allowing Gifford & Brown and John & Mandy Thornton to slip past and pull out a good lead on the first beat back.  They completed the first lap three minutes ahead of Camm & Hunter.

 

As the Thorntons made their overtaking move to windward, a luff from Gifford & Brown led to contact and turns, pushing the Thorntons back to third place.  Over the second and third laps, Camm & Hunter gradually pulled closer but Gifford & Brown sailed consistently to win, with just 40 seconds separating the first three.  Chris Edwards and Beth Reilly were fourth.

 

The race was followed by a celebration lunch and prizegiving for the Thames Area Series for 2007, won by Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne.

 

1^st, Antony Gifford & Juliet Brown, N3514, Aldeburgh YC

2^nd, Graham Camm & Clare Hunter, N3492, Burghfield SC

3^rd, John & Mandy Thornton, N3443, Henley SC