Yorkshire Dales open meeting and ANEYC Trophy

Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club reputation for providing good winds, waves and weather for the Twelves Open was once again justified.

The Northern Twelves amassed at YDSC for the ‘honour’ of possibly being the last Open Meeting before the new YDSC club house is opened.  To be fair the weather was a bit damp for the first race but the sailors didn’t notice with the spray and the brisk south westerly wind allowing a good beat and fast reaches.

In the first race Mark and Emma Simpson established an early lead around the windward mark with Neil and Katie McInnes in second. The double-bottomed boats of Bernard Clark and Caroline Clark (no relation) and John and Alison Cheetham passed Neil and Katie on the reaches.  The first casualties were Greg Pitt and Jo MacDonald who plopped it in at the second gybe mark after rounding in fourth and slipped to sixth by the finish.   The battle for third place continued throughout the race with Neil and Katie catching John and Alison on the beats but losing out off the wind.  On the last lap Bernard and Caroline, thanks to centre board issues, capsized allowing Neil and Katie to get through to second with John and Alison claiming third.

During the lunch break many took the opportunity to visit the almost completed Clubhouse and to see the magnificent view out of the glass end gable wall facing the water. The many years’ hard efforts and endurance of the Yorkshire Dales members are finally paying off !

Back to the sailing, the second race began with slightly more wind and a change of course.  Bernard and Caroline and Andrew Benn and Ruth Connell-Whiteley headed to the wrong mark up the beat causing the rest of the fleet some confusion.  Mark and Emma, despite the confusion tactics, led from the start with Jo and Greg following and Bernard and Caroline coming through fast to third.

 

The wind built again for the third race and with some crews heading for an early shower (unfortunately a month too early) only six boats started the race.  It was close up the first beat but after the windward mark the fleet strung out behind Jo and Greg.  Neil and Katie hung in for another second and Howard Chadwick and Emma Connell–Whiteley finally got out of first gear and chased Neil and Katie to the finish.  Simon Moss and Seb Gatti thought they would try and impress everyone with rudderless sailing about 50 metres from the bank but it all ended very wet for them.

So thanks to Yorkshire Dales SC for another great day’s sailing, we look forward to visiting them again once the Clubhouse is opened !

 

Overall results

1^st N3472                Mark & Emma Simpson (Scaling Dam SC)                                                         2 pts

2^nd N3473                Joanne MacDonald & Greg Pitt (Largs SC)                                                         3 pts

3^rd N3216                Neil & Katie McInnes (Yeadon SC)                                                                       4 pts

4^th N3447                Bernard Clark & Caroline Clark (Ripon SC)                                            7 pts

 

 

Photos by kind permission of R. Dean