Dinghy Show

 

On the 21st and 22nd February, the 12s returned to the Dinghy Show- held again this year at the Farnborough International Exhition Centre. To celebrate the 90th anniversary year we had a double stand and exhibited the original Uffa King N1, courtesy of Kevin Iles, alongside the 2025 championship winning Dead Cat Bounce N3530. Our stand was near the entrance so we had plenty of footfall. Lots of current and former 12 sailors dropped by the stand for a chat, and lots of families stopped by too- kids picking up N12 posters, stickers and sweets. Hopefully some will consider the 12 in the future- certainly the poster of Nick Copsey riding his Hijack high over the waves at Brixham brought a look of awe to many faces.

The 90th anniversary t-shirts arrived on the Saturday morning, courtesy of David Harris from Blood Red clothing. Most of the helpers on the stand were therefore modelling smart new National 12 t-shirts. The Jacobs family were helping out on the Saturday and Ian Purkis took this opportunity to present Lyla Jacobs with some chocolates in recognition of her fantastic t-shirt drawing. T-shirts can now be ordered from the Blood Red clothing website https://www.bloodredclothing.com/product-category/featured/n12-apparel/

The 90th anniversary video was on loop, courtesy of Fairwater Studios (a Purkis family production), and if you didn't see it at the show you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mnu3_Ic9QA.

Ian Purkis set up the bar boats, as debuted at Burton Week 2025, but now souped up with foiling or clinker options. This was a great draw for kids (and competitive adults alike). Space was limited so it wasn't possible to run a fleet race, but time trials were run instead. A league table was kept with a daily presentation for the best time. Ian must have been practicing as he set the bar high early on, covering the 3m course in 24.83s. But in the early afternoon, the bar boats legend herself, Zoe Meadowcroft, arrived and moved the goal posts significantly with a time of 15.90s- although by late afternoon her lead was beaten, the winner smashing it with an amazing time of 15.40s.

Below are some photos from the event. It was particularly pleasing to see two 12 sailors being recognised for their contribution to dinghy sailing over the years. John Sears and Pip Deverson were both presented with "Unsung hero" awards. Congratulations to both of them- well deserved recognition.

Thanks to everyone who helped out over the weekend with the set up, break down and engaging with the visitors! Special thanks for Kevin and Lesley Iles for bringing N1, to Tim Gatti for locating cotton sails for her, the core team of Ian Purkis, Ed Willett, Angus Beyts and Stewart Miatt who were on the stand all weekend and to David Harris for organising the t-shirts. There was lots of chatting and after a full day standing up, all the helpers deserved a well earned rest.