Ribbed Boat Racing in the Sunshine.
A fleet of Ribbed National Twelves dating from 1936 to 1953 gathered at
Yeadon Sailing Club on Sunday 23rd May to be greeted by glorious
sunshine, bacon butties and a gentle breeze.
Five boats assembled with crews from Yeadon, Ripon and Winsford Flash,
four of these boats belong to current National Twelve Owners Association
Chairman Tim Gatti who had been working hard to get his boats to the
club for the event as well as coordinating entries etc.
Each competing team was allocated a boat for the first race and five
short races of approximately 20 minutes each were run. After every
race crews change boats and all races count for the day’s results thus
each team has equal chance of success. The Race Officers Howard
Chadwick and Ian Morgan set a short course with a 3, 2, 1, go start
sequence to keep things moving and as soon as the bacon butties were
devoured racing commenced.
Race 1 saw John and Cathy Cheetham in excellent form sailing N493
Laughter, a 1945 Holt 500 design, to victory hotly pursued by Neil
McInnes and Rachel Dean in N341 Mat, an Uffa King, built in 1938.
Race 2 began as soon as boats were swapped and was a closely fought
battle with John and Cathy in N711 Sinner, a Gnome design, built in 1949
and Tim Gatti and Vanessa Kennedy sailing Mat closely followed by
Bernard and Ellie Clark sailing N2 Goldcrest, a Barnt Green design,
built in 1936. As the winds shifted Bernard went out to the
opposite side of the course on the final beat pulling off a master
stroke taking him from 3rd place to a comfortable first place.
Brian Herring and Katie McInnes demonstrate the art of roll
tacking a vintage 12
Photo SG105097 Mike Cox
Race 3 was slightly delayed by some frantic bailing as the boats had
dried out over the winter and some were getting very full indeed.
Although all boats had bailers only two had pumps which were being
shared! The jetty briefly resembled a formula one pit stop area.
Once underway Bernard and Ellie were the dominant pair in N341 Mat,
however John and Cathy now sailing N1183 Tessa, a Procter Mark 2, built
in 1953 were chasing hard and finished second. Tim Gatti pulled up
the minute he lost at the start through sharing a pump to finish 3rd
with Neil in 4th and Brian Herring struggling slightly with N2 and
making derogatory remarks about her being better for moving flour, like
a barge, than racing.
After a brief lunch and more bailing crews were back on the water for
race 4 where Bernard and Ellie were again the pair to beat, this time
sailing Laughter, Ellie’s favourite, although Tim and Vanessa in Sinner
were a close second followed home by Brian and Katie in Mat.
Race 5 began after yet more frantic bailing and on a new course to match
the shifting breeze. Brian and Katie McInnes were fast off the
line this time in Laughter and Brian used all his 75 years of
experienced coupled with Katie’s nimble crewing to stay ahead of Bernard
and Ellie, now sailing Sinner and Tim and Vanessa now in Tessa.
Brian managed to maintain and then increase his lead to claim victory in
this the last race, which finished only 20 minutes before the first of
the club’s afternoon races was scheduled to start.
The event was once again a great success and had created much interest
amongst club sailors in addition to being thoroughly enjoyed by all the
competitors. The final team positions being as follows:-
Overall results
1st |
Bernard
Clark |
Ellie Clark |
2nd |
John Cheetham |
Cathy Cheetham |
3rd |
Tim Gatti |
Vanessa Kennedy |
4th |
Brian Herring |
Katie McInnes |
5th |
Neil McInnes |
Rachel Dean |
Howard Chadwick 24-05-2010