National 12 Open meeting 11th September 2011
Trent Valley hosted their 2nd Open Meeting of the year, this time a
Midland Area Armada Trophy (MAAT), 4-plank and Vintage event, on 11th
September. The event proved to follow the year’s theme for N12
events, namely a lot of wind.
I could make this a very short report:
Nine boats arrived,
Eight started the 1st race, and 6 finished
Seven started the 2nd race and 5 finished
Four started the 3rd race and 3 finished.
The results were ………
BUT that would make for a far too short and sloppy report.
So, having taken some quick reviews from other competitors I can now
write a better version:
Our Race Officer, John Richardson (Trent Valley Commodore) set an
interesting start, for the first race, half way up the river. The
start line was somewhat congested by a large lump of stones to the port
bank and a bright pink N12 capsized across the middle – Chris Troth
sustained an unrepairable boom break and retired. The keen and
capable helms of Geoffrey Camm (with Amelia crewing in his own boat),
Graham Camm (with Zoe crewing in Shotgun, one of the Turner collection
still rigged with winged rudder from the champs), John Sears (with Mark
Sears crewing) and Ian Norman (with Nicole Norman crewing) all got away
well; but before we even got to the top mark Paul Turner (crewed by
Christine Preston) lost his tiller extension several times and turned
round; John Sears washed his sails due to tweaking his mast ram
somewhere around the top mark and Ian Norman took on a lot of water.
It has to be said at this point – IT WAS VERY WINDY, and the Trent is
but narrow with a lot of big willow trees on either side. You can
interpret this as an awful lot of tacking in heavy conditions.
Your author is now relying on others’ recollections now.
It seemed to be a reach all round the course, with remarkable events
still to be observed such as Graham and Zoe capsizing at the bottom mark
allowing eventual winners to be Geoffrey and Amelia.
The second race saw a more refined start in front of the club house.
Ian Norman got off to a flyer, hotly pursued by Graham, Geoffrey and
Paul. The doldrums were not dull, crews needed to be agile
flipping from both sides of the boat to keep it flat. Then once in
clearer wind gear failure attacked Paul again as his whole rudder fell
off the back of the boat, despite reuniting rudder and boat he decided
enough was enough trying to catch up from the back of the fleet and
retired with dignity still intact. Graham and Zoe capsized again giving
Geoffrey and Amelia the advantage again, but this time G&Z were forced
to retired as the ‘unlocking nut’ on the foiled rudder unlocked – a
feature already experienced at Brightlingsea. The remainder of the
fleet completed a third energy-zapping lap with Geoffrey and Amelia
leading the way home.
At this point lunch was a welcome break, with commentary provided by
shore-based spectators that gusts had been up to 35knots!
The third race, again started in front of the club house saw four boats
start but unfortunately Tom White ran out of steam part way through.
Graham was left attacking from the front as Geoffrey was needed for
childcare ashore. The finish became a dual of courage between Ian
Norman (with Nicole Norman crewing) and John Sears (with Mark Sears
crewing) as each tussled for 2nd place in the growing windier
conditions. John crossed the line 2 seconds in front of Ian, but
then both ceremoniously capsized trying to turn into the canal mouth.
My thanks go to the safety boat crews who were ever vigilant but
thankfully not required too much as we were all able to right ourselves.
But thanks go to one crew who enabled our camera man to keep close
attention on all events on the water and to record them for posterity.
It does make a change though to report an event at Trent Valley with too
much wind when in previous years readers may remember us trying to get
upstream in no wind at all.
Final results are as follows:
1st overall Geoffrey Camm & Amelia
Hall, 3414 Piuma al vento
Geoffrey and Amelia also take the Trease Tankard for 1st AC boat at the
event
2nd overall Graham Camm and Zoe
Ballantyne, 2359 Shotgun
Graham & Zoe also take the John Mee Salver for 1st Vintage boat at this
event
3rd overall Tom White & Pru Dixey,
2765 Le Shed
Tom and & Pru also take the as yet undefined prize for the 4=plank boat
at this event.
My thanks to all who attended for making such a go of it.
Also my very grateful thanks to John Richardson our Race Officer and all
his helpers, and to all our safety boat crews, all of whom we could not
have held this event without their presence and voluntary support.
And if anyone as a spare prize they could donate for 4-plank N12
sailing at Trent Valley – please let me know.
Full results are:
Hamble Warming Pan
