Tynemouth Sailing Club's long established arrangement for the transfer of winter racing from the Tyne Estuary to the tidal up-river course at Newburn/Ryton resumed on Sunday 14th November when they hosted the Tate Winter Trophy for National Twelves. Ten Twelves from six different clubs had to wait for a spring tide to flood the Newburn slipway before launching to enjoy two brisk river races in a firm westerly breeze and sunshine.

Mark Simpson and Tressa King from Scaling Dam broke clear from the start of the first race and were never seriously challenged thereafter. Behind them a tussle for the minor places resulted in a photo finish between three boats. Philip David sailed his 20 year-old China Doll embarrassingly quickly and looked as if he would steal 2nd place from Howard and Thomas Steavenson on the finish line. However Bernard Clark and Richard Willey's gamble on the opposite bank paid off. They sneaked into 2nd by a "short foredeck", leaving Howard 3rd and Philip 4th.

More breeze and a strengthening flood tide had the effect of 'foreshortening' the up-river beats during the second race. This placed more emphasis on the down-river run against the tide. Slack water became an important factor. On this occasion it was Howard and Thomas Steavenson who broke clear from the start and increased their lead to the finish. Once again a close battle for the following places developed, this time between Sue Jones/Sue Wright and Ian Simpson/Olly Townsend. They became so engrossed in their fight for 2nd place, that the final charge of Mark Simpson was ignored. Once again the race officer needed an accurate 'sight' down the finish line to separate the three; and again it was the straggler on the approach that wriggled into 2nd on the line. This gave Mark Simpson and Tressa King the overall trophy by a one point margin and also propelled them to an overall victory in the season long 'Old Spice' traveller trophy for Northern Twelve Meetings during 2004.

Overall Results:

Position Boat Name Sail No Helm Crew Club R1 R2 Points

1 Ardvaak Issues 3472 Mark Simpson Tressa King Scaling Dam SC 1 2 3

2 Not another Ardvaak 3479 Howard Steavenson Thomas Steavenson Tynemouth SC 3 1 4

3 Roly Mo 3447 Bernard Clark Richard Willett Yorkshire Ouse SC 2 6 8

4 Little Meg 2545 Philip David James Kerslake Yorkshire Ouse SC 4 5 9

5 Suum Cuique 3263 Sue Jones Sue Wright Tynemouth SC 6 4 10

6 Why can't you? 3244 Ian Simpson Olly Townsend Scaling Dam SC 8 3 11

7 Bicycle Clips 3162 John Brookes Georgina Brookes Tynemouth SC 5 8 13

8 Freddy 3239 Peter Chignell Philip Benn Ripon SC 7 7 14

9 Lets Go 1673 Brian Herring Ros Stevenson Winsford Flash SC 9 9 18

10 Pipe Dream 2951 Patrick Gaunt Judith Greaves Yeadon SC 10 DNF 21

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