National 12 open meeting at Henley

 

20th September 2009
 
forecast was for light winds and that is certainly what river Thames delivered along with some fine sunshine to toast fleet. 15 Twelves squeezed onto Thames for penultimate Thames Area event. Antony Gifford & Juliet Brown took an early lead in race 1, however Andy Mckee & Clare Hunter soon overhauled in new Dead Cat Bounce (a promising start to designs river career). Unfortunately Andy & Clare had course problems and had to wait for John & Mandy Thornton to overtake and show m way. Having let Thorntons through re was no catching m and y took gun.

 

 
start line and first mark of race two was even more hectic than first race. Antony & Juliet were first to unscramble mselves and found clear air and an early lead. However Graham Camm & Zoë Ballantyne were hot on ir heels and overhauled to take race.
 
wind filled in for start of race 3 and a hectic first beat ensued with many tacking duels going on. Graham & Zoë found ir way to front and fought off many attempts from roll tacking gurus John & Katy Meadowcroft to round windward mark first. John & Katy made several attempts to overtake but no were successful giving Graham & Zoë ir second win of day.
 
Overall results
 
1st Graham Camm & Zoë Ballantyne

2nd John & Mandy Thornton

3rd John & Katy Meadowcroft