A strong fleet of 9 vintage 12’s arrived at Ripon S C for the first race
in the Witchcraft Bailer series with boats from as far afield as
Frampton, Trent Valley, Redesmere and Winsford Flash, competition was
hot. The event was a “Derwent Style” handicap event whereby the
first race is a normal race on straight timings but the second and third
races are pursuit races with the start timing based on race one.
The O.O.D. can also further adjust if necessary for race three.
The system worked well and resulted in some very close racing indeed!
Race one saw the light breeze filling in and the wind ranging from force
2 to 4. Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson in 2266 took an
early lead, however Philip David and Caroline Clarke in 2545 came
through to take the lead followed by Bernard and Ellie Clark in 2149.
This trio were in close contention throughout the race but with Paul
Turner and Brian Herring both challenging hard throughout. At the
final mark Howard managed to get the inside line on Bernard the final
positions being Philip 1st Howard 2nd and Bernard 3rd.
Over lunch the race team Peter Chignal, Steve Benn and Jennie Clark
worked on the figures for race one checking lap times for all boats etc
to come up with the starting sequence.
Photo- Jennie Clark (100 yards to the finish
of race 3, the lead boat finished 6th!)
Race two started with an increased breeze (F3-F5) with team Purkis
leading off in 1483 closely followed by Tim Gatti, whilst Alan Mason,
Brian Kitching went at +1 minute then Brian Herring closely followed by
Paul Turner. Howard and Bernard started at +3 minutes with Philip
at 3min 35. The format provided excellent racing with the faster
boats having to make up the time and overtake the rest of the fleet and
the earlier starters. The two China Dolls sailed by Paul Turner
and Brian Herring soon pulled through and together with Alan Mason in
his 4a set the pace and held pole positions until the end of the final
lap when Philip, Howard and Bernard were back in contention. Paul
was in the lead at the last mark and with only 150 yards to the finish,
but unfortunately had not heard the shortened course signal and tacked
off towards the opposite bank allowing Brian Herring to take the gun for
first place, Paul finished second, Alan Mason third, Howard 4th, Bernard
5th and Philip 6th, with only 30 seconds between the first six boats!
Race three was sailed back to back and with the wind further increased
(F4-F5) but the race team still managed to do some fine tuning on the
start times and this time it was Tim Gatti on scratch and Philip moved
up to 15 seconds behind Bernard and Howard still on + 3 minutes.
The early starters set a blistering pace with Tim Gatti opening a good
lead chased by Brian Kitching. At the last mark the pack were once
again very close, Brian Kitching managed to get room on Tim Gatti whilst
close behind were Howard and Philip with Howard on the inside track and
Brian Herring just astern. Only 100 yards from the finish Brian
Kitching tacked out from the shore, Tim had dropped off to leeward
whilst Howard, Philip and Brian Herring managed to sail a higher course
to finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Tim Gatti finished 4th with Brian Kitching
in 6th having like Paul in race two failed to realise that he was on the
last lap! The first six boats all finished within 20 seconds a
testament to the accuracy of the race teams handicapping system which
provided excellent close racing throughout. (see photo)
With all three races to count Howard and Philip had a first and second
each, Howard had a 4th and Philip a sixth though the final results
being:-
1st N2266 Triarda - Howard Chadwick/Helen Nicholson - Yeadon SC
(Starfish)
2nd N2545 Little Meg Philip David/Caroline Clarke - Yorkshire Ouse
SC (China Doll)
3rd N2468 Suzy Wong - Brian Herring/Ros Stevenson - Winsford Flash
SC (China Doll)
4th N2478 Dolly Daydream - Paul Turner/Christine Marshall - Trent
Valley SC (China Doll)
5th N2149 Xanthus - Bernard and Ellie Clark - Ripon SC (Sparklet)
6th N1657 Just Lucky - Brian Kitching/Alison Dooley - Frampton SC
(Chimp)
7th N1607 Dilly Dally - Alan Mason/Rob Wilbraham - Redesmere SC (Proctor
Mark 4a)
8th N2255 Purely Platonic - Tim Gatti/Roger Dooley - Yeadon SC
(Proctor Mark 12)
9th N1683 My Little Margie - Ian and Margaret Purkis - Yorkshire
Ouse (Procter Mark 4a)
