Eleven National Twelves took to the water at Spinnaker on 14 July
with a perfect force 3 and beaming sunshine. Due to the starboard bias
to the first beat, there was a tussle on each start to get the favoured
starboard end – which happened also to be very close to the shore and
rather shallow. Good timing (and depth judgement) was essential as
taking places later in the race proved difficult.
On the first start, Alex Bale, sailing with young son Joshua got away
fast and caught a puff to take him to the windward mark first. On the
second start, Mike & Alex Storey lined up nicely, but ended up over the
line while Graham Camm & Zoë Ballantyne held out sparring partners Jon
Ibbotson and Clare Hunter. In the third start, Jon retaliated and Graham
& Zoë hit the ground trying to squeeze round. Finally, in the fourth
start the wind shifted to the left and Graham & Zoë caught a lucky gust
to accelerate away.
Graham & Zoë won the first three races to take the trophy, while Jon &
Clare had a string of seconds and took the final race to claim second
place overall. First Admirals’ Cup boat was Matt Reid & Fi Cunningham.
Results
1. Graham Camm & Zoë Ballantyne, Burghfield SC
2. Jon Ibbotson & Clare Hunter, Royal Harwich YC
3. Mike Day & Anne Murch, St Catherines YC
