Report on the National 12 Vintage ‘ Witchcraft Bailer’ Series 2012
Although ten venues were originally scheduled for the N12 ‘Witchcraft
Bailer’ Vintage Series in 2012, the weather and nature took its toll on
the number of events actually sailed during the year.
The damage inflicted on both vintage boats and crews by the winds and
tides at Hayling Island, and which kept the fleet ashore for most of the
long weekend, meant that a forecast for further strong winds at Royal
Harwich YC resulted in no Vintage entries for this later event.
Low attendance at Frampton SC led to this often popular fixture being
cancelled – and possibly lost for good now that Brian Kitching has moved
to another Club. Finally, towards the end of the season, the Open
Meeting at Yeadon SC had to be cancelled as the water was closed for
watersports by the local council due to severe blue –green algae blooms
in the Tarn.
The result of all of this was that the competition amongst Vintage boats
was limited to only seven of the events originally scheduled and
although some Vintage ‘regulars’ were unable to attend as often as they
would have liked due to work pressures, the Series was as competitive as
ever with 16 helms participating throughout the season in 15 different
vintage boats.
Howard Chadwick (variously crewed by Helen Nicholson, James Flather,
Cathy Lawson and Katie McInnes) was the winner at the first event of the
season at Burwain SC and he was to repeat this result at the Burton
event, on the river at Yorkshire Ouse and at Ripon SC in October.
His total tally of 4 wins and three second places made him a worthy
winner of the ‘Witchcraft Bailer’ again this year.
Paul Turner and Christine Preston fought all the way to take second
place in the Series with a win in front of their home crowd at Trent
Valley SC and second places at both Burwain and Yorkshire Ouse.
Brian Herring and Ros Stevenson had a good battle for third place with
Vince Phillips ( crewed by Fiona and Daniel) with Team Phillips
eventually having to settle for fourth place as they were only able to
sail one race at the Vintage Regatta at Wroxham in August - an event won
convincingly by Philip David – the only Vintage event he entered this
year.
A surprise Vintage fleet win for Christian Day and Sophie Richards
sailing Brian Herring’s restored ‘ribby’ – the Uffa King ‘Roamer’ N261
at Redesmere SC in September showed that given the right conditions, and
in the right hands, an old 12 can give the modern fleet a run for its
money. Christian and Sophie also picked up the prize for coming
third overall in the Open Meeting. (see Christian’s online Race Report
posted with the results for the 2012 Redesmere Meeting).
This result, along with Nigel Waller’s win in the 75th Anniversary
Pursuit race in his Uffa King ‘Rose Marie’ N326 in 2011, should make for
some interesting sailing at the N12 Inland Vintage Championships being
held at Burton SC on 29/30th June in 2013 – where both ‘ribby’s and
non-ribbed clinker built 12’s will meet to do battle!
As a postscript – Brian Herring was this year’s worthy winner the
‘Ribbed Boat Trophy’ for his excellent restoration of N261 ‘Roamer’.
Well, with the Vintage Series for the new season now published online,
all that remains is for me to thank all the participants and organising
Clubs for their efforts in 2012 and to say I hope they are looking
forward to getting out and doing it all again in 2013 – when we will be
holding eleven Vintage events across the country for you all to
participate in – and you only need results in three to qualify.
Overall results
All best wishes for the New Year
Tim Gatti
N12 Vintage Rep