TYNEMOUTH S.C at NEWBURN SLIPWAY

Tate Winter Trophy for National 12’s and Winter Shield for Enterprises                               
 
Tynemouth SC hosted their annual winter open meeting for National 12’s and Enterprises at Newburn Slipway on the tidal river Tyne west of Newcastle. The National Twelves have raced on this stretch of river since the early 1950s and this was the 55th consecutive year that the Tate Winter Trophy was presented to the winner.

The first of three races was started in a very light easterly breeze on a flood tide giving a downstream uptide beat to the first mark near Newburn bridge. In such a light wind the mark acted as tidal gate allowing the leaders to open a significant margin over the rest of the fleet. By the time the leaders turned  the upstream downtide mark the wind had begun to veer to its forecast westerly. Both Phil David and Howard Chadwick took full advantage of these factors and finished clear of the fleet in that order. Neil Piper made similar gains in the Enterprise class to take the first win.

The westerly filled in nicely for the start of the second race allowing the beat/run course to be extended. This clearly suited Dave and Jackie Gebhard who stepped up a gear to win both remaining Enterprise races chased home in both by Neil Piper. Mark and Emma Simpson also appreciated the increased breeze and opened up a good lead  during the first two laps of the second race for National 12’s. However on the final lap Phil David closed the gap and grabbed the lead on a wind shift at the end of the final beat. A similar task of ‘catch-up’ was required in the final race to allow Philip to regain the lead after a penalty turn had allowed Howard Chadwick to the front. John and Alison Cheetham rounded off a consistent day with a third in the final race.