From (nearly) the back of the fleet!
(Or “The week we went to Norfolk with a 40 year old wooden clinker
vintage N12 to celebrate their 60th anniversary – and we didn’t break
anything, capsize or come last!”) The usual proper” who won what”
reports are at:
http://www.national12.org/events/2009/north_west_norfolk_week.shtml
and
http://www.norfolkweek.co.uk/pdf/norfolk%20week%20report%2009.pdf
(where we actually got a mention as the first (and last) vintage yot).
This is the alternative report with no punches pulled!
The pre-NWNW warm-up didn’t go well this year. Having come second at
Welland with the new Aardspars carbon mast on Perfect Kiss N3157, the
fitting of the new mast ram totally bxggxrxd up the whole rig and we
were beaten into last place at TVSC by the entire handicap fleet. A day
off to drive to Bristol to collect N2399 (the) Mr Jones for the “Turner
Collection” of odd and classic National 12s meant I didn’t have time to
sort out the Microclipper so N2487 Dolly Daydream (China Doll design)
was pressed into service. And then the Volvo failed its MOT on the
Thursday, so instead of leaving at 13:00 on Friday we (that is Paul
Turner (PT) and Christine Marshall (CM)) set out at 18:30 and finally
arrived at TeamTrentValley HQ at Burnham Market (BM) at 21:00 to be
greeted by David Peacock (DP) and Tricia Wood (TW) N3524 and Tim Gatti
(TG) and son Seb (SB) N3227 – and a meal (with obligatory wine and beer
for medicinal purposes only!)
Saturday: Hunstanton – the forecast seemed to be
pretty gloomy for the week ahead but the day dawned dry and breezy.
And when we saw the list of N12s it looked more like a Burton Week
entry! There were the usual well organised two races in the afternoon
and we followed the main fleet round in the company of TG, Dave Borrett,
Dirk Bougard and Ben Harris; we lost Radical Edward in the first race
with major centreboard failure but everyone else seemed to be present
and correct at the end of the second. Whilst the girls cooked up the
evening meal, Dave and I sloped off to the Jolly Sailor to meet Nigel
Playford (NP) and daughter Hannah, to be joined by Paul Pelling.
Sunday: Hunstanton – for the first race the sea was a bit lumpy
and the wind went down for the second; same suspects at the back of the
fleet after 2 general recalls. We saw Marcus Ingram, ex N12 sailor from
Up River, crack the mast on his Phantom before the second race, and we
lost Dave Borrett for the remainder of the week to family commitments
and gear failure. As it was DP’s birthday (but not a significant one) we
went to the White Horse in Brancaster for a splendid evening meal.
Monday: Kings Lynn (KL) – Having been searching all day
Sunday for TW’s sun cream it was found – in the freezer! Breakfast was
spent comparing injuries and scars, betting on when SG would finally
appear (lunchtime) and hearing all about TG’s thespian career. After
some serious bimbling of TG’s boat, he and NP headed off to KL, whilst
the rest of us welcomed former TVSC member Anja Newman and her 2yo
daughter Eleanor to TTVHQ – Anja spoke to El in German to ensure that
she, like herself, would be multilingual. Despite his allergy to “brats”
PT actually found El to be “quite endearing”! The lads returned after
22:00 with tales of daring do and deep horrid mud.
Tuesday: Wells – we had a lazy morning and trotted off
to Wells for the evening race which was quite breezy with various
casualties including Ian Gore’s mast plus DP and Patrick Elcombe(PE)
breaking/losing their rudders. Our battle was with the usual tail enders
but it was a jolly race (nearly capsized on the gibe mark, but as the
crew was up to her usual athletic standard, we didn’t!) and back to
TTVHQ for a veggie lasagne per Anja. We were slightly perplexed as our
other house guest had disappeared without trace. The house was searched
from top to bottom without success but someone remembered NP muttering
about a game of Bridge at 8.00 in Oxford, or was it Cambridge?
Wednesday: Wells – up at 04:15 to a dry sunny and
windless morning. We had a much better race finishing just behind the
Pie Boys and PE who got us at the last mark. Discovered that we were not
the only ones to have had several incidents with a grumpy blue Albxcxrx
who couldn’t understand the port/starboard rules! The general feeling on
the N12 fleet was that perhaps the race was one lap too long, but we got
value for money! It was hard work getting back into Wells against the
ebb tide.
And the feedback from the first few days was that we discovered that we
were the boat to beat – in that no one wanted to finish behind the only
vintage N12 there! The cheery man in the other Albacore did hail us
loudly to express his view “that’s what a National 12 should look like –
a well preserved garden shed” – I think he was being complimentary. The
day was rounded off by a jolly pleasant BBQ at Up River’s team HQ; our
thanks to them for their kind hospitality and good company.
Thursday: Blakeney – another very early start. Sailing
out to the start line the water was red in places with millions of
ladybirds – very odd. The wind kept changing resulting in three
pre-start course changes. The actual course was “interesting” and
“challenging” (more like “dxmn quirky” per the crew) – a beat from the
start line to the windward mark where we turned right onto a reach to
the next mark, where we turned right again to reach back to the previous
mark to turn right again (through the next fleet who were also turning
right to go to the mark we had just come from) to head off on a run – as
the wind died! Seeing PE heading off to the starboard/land side of the
course and everyone else off to the port/ seaward side, we headed off
after PE, arrived much later at the leeward mark with the single hander
fleet, and were amazed to be in the company of Meds and Tom Stewart who
got past us on the final short beat to the finish. Scored an amazing 7th
with a probably unseemly cheer from our boat as we crossed the line –
but hey, forgive us, we are rarely that far up the fleet! And TG was
9th!
Thursday: Burnham Overy Staithe - The stalwarts sailed
the Jenny Lee race that evening (a bit too late and cold for us!) with a
splendid reception and prize giving at the race officer’s house
afterwards. The full report is at:
http://www.overystaithesc.org.uk/results09.php#jlee but there is no
mention of Vince Phillips; I am sure that he was there with Fiona
sailing their vintage Whisper?
Friday: Snettisham – early morning call at 05:00 and DP
wasn’t going to sail; he will deny this vigorously! However, when he
realised the rest of us were keen and raring to go, he ventured outside
to check the wind and had a re-think. It was hissing it down as we left
BM but the rain relented, the wind got up, and we had two jolly fine
races (despite another general recall in the second). We couldn’t
wait to feed that evening, so we called in at the Jolly Sailor for a
quick meal before off to Snett for the final evenings’ entertainment.
Two live bands and excellent fireworks rounded off one of the best NWNWs
for many years. Incidentally, the second band was asked to play
something suitable just before the fireworks – so they played “Smoke on
the Water”! And the teenagers were seen to be suitably embarrassed by
the over 42’s “rocking on” to the Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple
etc.
And here’s dedication (or insanity) for you! TG disappeared at 11:15
Friday morning to drive to Bradford to drop off his Baggy, then to
Yeadon to collect N341 (a ribbed N12), drove back to BM arriving at
00:50 Saturday morning for a quick zizz and then set off that morning
for Wroxham for the Vintage N12 weekend but only after one of the
neighbours had reversed into TG’s pride and joy! The boat cover and the
car came off worst – they knew how to build boats in them days!
Observations:
1. Many would have liked the prize-givings
to be held much sooner after the races but it transpired that David
Baddeley was having various problems with the results software – so he
was forgiven especially as he had worked so hard before and during the
week.
2. Perhaps next year’s opening
briefing should include a reminder that the sailing is for fun and
enjoyment, which can be spoiled by bad manners on the water – and the
rules are there for everyone’s safety! We witnessed, or were innocently
involved in, several blatant incidents where penalties should have been
taken, but sadly weren’t. Yes, we could (and perhaps should) have
protested, but it is a holiday sailing week.
The great thing about NWNW is the catching up with old sailing friends;
most of the regulars were there and various N12 peeps appeared during
the week including Suzy Sallis, Ann Peebles and John Holltum, plus we
may just have tempted Hugh and Alison Ambery back into vintage N12s with
the promise to loan them N2020 (the original Starfish) for the TVSC
Vintage Open on 13th September!
And on a lighter note, for entertainment value, TTVHQ has decided to
inaugurate The SCHNULLER AWARD for N12s – “dummy” in German (suggested
by Anja & Eleanor Newman with grateful thanks to them for raising the
cultural diversity at TTVHQ at BM 2009). Nominations so far are:
1. Tim Gatti – asking Seb to jump
out to hold boat at KL not realising that the water was over 5 feet
deep; crew disappeared briefly! TG then jumped out his side and slipped
under the boat in the mud.
2. David Peacock – over-cooking the
roll tacking at Wells after the race and capsizing in zero wind; had to
be rescued.
Please forward any other nominations for all those incidents that carry
the “DER” factor to me at
paul@alverbanksails.co.uk for consideration. The presentation of the
award will not be announced, but sprung on the unsuspecting
winner/victim at a suitability embarrassingly large N12 event!
AND FINALLY – many thanks to all the NWNSA team and to the Clubs
involved for all the hard work that so many people put in to make the
60th Anniversary a huge success – and we will be back next year!
Paul Turner N2487 Dolly Daydream (crewed by Christine Marshall) Trent
Valley, 13.08.09
