At Northampton Open Meeting on the weekend of July14th/15th the National 12s held the Inland Championships, the National 12 Vintage Open and the National 12 Midland Area Junior Championships. With over 50 entries for the Inlands, 4 for the Vintage and 7 for the juniors racing was extremely competitive throughout the fleet. The start of the racing was very wet but this soon cleared to quickly brighten up with winds of force 2 to 4 with stronger gusts mixed in just to make it interesting. Shifting winds and a competitive line up lead to quite a few restarts, but once underway the racing was close and at the end of the first day 9 boats were battling for first prize.
	With the remainder of the fleet only metres behind, the slightest error could mean the loss of several places and each boat having to fight to the finish. Will Henderson and son Robert (N3418) won the first race comfortably in possibly the lightest winds of the weekend. The second two races of the day were both won by previous National Champion Antony Gifford, crewed by Nicky Bass in N3447 both times winning by a short margin on the last leg from (amongst others) sister Frances Gifford, crewed by Janes Jones - who showed incredible consistency throughout the weekend by finishing in fifth position in almost every race.
Sailing on the Sunday was every bit as good as the Saturday with plenty of action throughout the whole fleet. Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne (N3469) were notable throughout the day -second in the first race behind Jon and Charlotte Ibbotson (3445) and winning the second race. It was unfortunate that they had not been able to attend on the Saturday as the overall results could have been very different. Geoff Camm and Amelia Hall in their new Waller Chapter also showed great speed and are certainly people to watch in the future. The battle for first place continued with most people counting at least one poor result in the shifty conditions and with the final race won by Steve Sallis and Jenny James (3436) the results were close with only 11 points separating the first 9 boats.

Results

1st Stuart Hudson & Jane Stamp N3453 Spinnaker Sailing Club
2nd Jon & Charlotte Ibbotson N3445 Royal Harwich Yacht Club
3rd Frances Gifford & Jane Jones N3431 Aldeburgh Yacht Club
4th John & Katy Meadowcroft N3429 Henley Sailing Club

First single bottomed N12 goes to Mike Raine and J. Raine, N3130, finishing 12th overall

Vintage Open Meeting

A small fleet of vintage, ie, clinker-built, National Twelves sailed 3 races as part of a 6-event series for the "Witchcraft Bailer" trophy. The competition quickly became a very close struggle for first place between "Lets Go", N.1673, (Brian Herring and Ros Stevenson) and "Lysistrata", N.2304 (David Croft and 7-year old daughter Caroline). Herring won the first race by a small margin but the second race was very tight and won by Croft by a matter of a few metres. In the third race with the wind rising to Force 4-5, Croft hung on in the beats, though over-powered, and planed ahead on the reaches and won by a small distance.

Result:
1st N.2304 (D.& C.Croft) Henley S.C.
2nd N.1673 (B.Herring & R.Stevenson) Winsford Flash S.C.
3rd N.2300 (K.Goddard & B.Gill) Trent Valley S.

The Midland Area Junior Championships followed the Inland Championships on the Saturday with 7 entries. Each competitor showed his or her determination to win and each race fought to the line. The eventual winners were James Whitehead and Guy Johnson, N3458, in 2nd place was Chris Kilsby and Jenny Gammon, N3276, and in 3rd place were Rebecca Johnson and Richard Williams.

Kevin Stanton

SAIL No.	HELM	CREW	POSITION IN RACE						TOTAL POINTS (4 from 6)	SAILING CLUB	FINAL POSITION
			RACE 1	RACE 2	RACE 3	RACE 4	RACE 5	RACE 6
3453	S.Hudson	J.Stamp	4	6	2	3	9	14	15	Spinnaker Club	1
3445	J.Ibbotson	C.Ibbotson	17	3	OCS	1	5	9	18	RHYC	2
3431	F.Gifford	J.Jones	5	4	17	5	OCS	5	19	Aldburgh Y.C	3
3418	W.Henderson	R.Henderson	1	8	5	9	15	DNS	23	Salcombe Y.C	4
3436	S.Sallis	J.Jones	10	18	9	7	6	2	24	Hykenham S.C.	5
3426	J.Brown	G.Johnson	8	DNS	8	24	8	1	25	RHYC	7
3429	J.Meadowcroft	K.Meadowcroft	13	2	16	15	3	7	25	Henley S.C	8
3447	A.Gifford	N.Bass	14	1	1	19	13	10	25	Aldeburgh S.C	6
3437	C,Mathew	M.Stowe	3	5	4	14	14	16	26	RHYC	9
3423	B.Johnson	C.Johnson	12	12	6	16	10	3	31	RHYC	10
3446	J.Hood	J.Thompson	18	9	11	10	12	18	42	Wavney+Oulton Broad Y.C.	11
3130	M.Raine	J.Raine	DNS	7	10	12	20	28	49	Rudyard Lake	12
3459	T.Tomlinson	J.Pullen	15	13	20	8	OCS	13	49	Middle Nene S.C.	13
3450	R.Williams	S.Brown	7	26	3	RTD	16	24	50	RHYC	14
3455	R.Wood	B.Wood	2	OCS	18	23	7	DNS	50	British Steel	15
3402	S.Lightfoot	N.McKenna	16	20	7	11	19	19	53	Middle Nene S.C	16
3414	D.Hand	G.Hand	9	14	13	20	24	31	56	Northampton S.C.	17
3469	G.Camm	Z.Ballantyne	DNS	DNS	DNS	2	1	4	60	Birchfield	18
3394	P.Elcombe	L.Brown	6	15	29	13	37	OCS	63	Middle Nene S.C	19
3410	B.Daser	R.Johnson	24	16	12	37	OCS	12	64	Ranelagh S.C.	20
3464	Geof Camm	A.Hall	DNS	DNS	DNS	4	2	6	65	Pevensey Bay Y.C	21
3468	J.Thornton	M.Thornton	DNS	11	22	26	30	11	70	Henley S.C.	22
3438	M.hoyle	H.Johnsons	DNS	DNS	DNS	6	4	8	71	RHYC	23
3409	A.Pickering	J.White	21	28	15	RTD	11	30	75	Pevensey Bay	24
3262	G.Moore	S.Martin	19	10	26	35	26	22	77	Saltash S.C.	25
3458	J.Whitehead	James	27	OCS	OCS	22	17	15	81	Redesmere	26
3430	C.Wright	R.Stanton	20	24	21	18	33	27	83	Northampton S.C	27
3460	S.Sutton	M.Marton	11	OCS	DNS	27	25	21	84	RHYC	28
3428	S.Mackley	J.Brown	23	22	19	28	21	29	85	RHYC	29
3463	S.Pelling	S.Wright	DNS	17	OCS	30	22	17	86	UP River Y.C.	30
3375	D.Smith	A.Smith	29	21	23	17	41	DNS	90	Redesmere S.C	31
3344	P.Griffiths	J.Griffiths	DNS	25	14	21	31	OCS	91	Bough Beech	32
3288	D.Mayhew	H.Mayhew	22	19	DNS	33	29	26	96	RHYC	33
3276	C.Kilsby	J.Gammon	34	29	25	38	28	25	107	Northampton S.C	34
3201	R.Bailey	A Bailey	DNS	23	24	32	35	DNS	114	Northampton S.C.	35
3461	D.Greening	J.Greening	DNS	DNS	DNS	25	18	20	116	Salcombe Y.C.	36
3111	R.Cannell	E.Cannell	25	36	32	42	40	34	127	Blithfield	37
3444	J.murrel	J.Palby	28	27	DNS	39	34	DNS	128	Salcombe S.C.	38
3452	C.Clarke	K.Ingram	32	DSQ	DSQ	29	36	32	129	Chipstead S.C.	39
3330	N.Harding	T.King	31	35	31	45	46	36	132	Saltash.S.C	40
3190	A.Horsley	L.Horsley	36	33	33	43	45	33	135	RHYC	41
3241	N.Noble	T.Noble	26	DNS	27	44	42	DNS	139	Bristol Corinthian	42
3007	T.Laws	J.Smith	OCS	32	30	40	38	OCS	140	Olton Mere S.C	43
3299	K.Refson	M.Buckle	37	34	34	41	43	35	140	Saltash	44
3448	P.Miatt	G.Miatt	30	30	DNS	36	DNS	DNS	149	Tynemouth S.C.	45
1673	B.Herring	R.Stevenson	DNS	DNS	DNS	47	27	23	150	Windsford Flash	46
3372	V.Edmunds	T.Churchman	RTD	31	OCS	31	39	DNS	154	Northampton	47
3147	S.Hinks	T.Gruitt	33	DSQ	28	49	47	DNS	157	Saltash S.C.	48
3261	R.Willows		DNS	DNS	DNS	34	23	DNS	163	Northampton S.C.	49
3239	P.Chigwell	A.Chigwell	DNS	DNS	DNS	46	32	37	168	Ripon S.C	50
3197	G.Iles	L.Iles	35	RTD	DNS	48	44	DNS	180	Halfway Y.C	51
1421	E.Edmunds	A.Edmunds	DNS	DNS	DNS	50	DNS	DNS	209	Northampton S.C.	52