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the Y&Y website has an award section where the N12 anniversary regatta at Pitsford this year has been put forward for the best championship of the year award.  it clearly was better than the other nominated events so far as yours truly is concerned but we need to start voting if we are to defeat the Optimist championships.
http://www.yachtsandyachting.co.uk/articles/yachts-yachting-pick-of-the-year-â€"-awards-shortlist/
 Happy Christmas to all. GB

Geoff happy for the photos to be published so long as his site gets a mention for taking them

www.tb4e.com/

Do you think someone from the class assoc could cobble together a report and some results for the sailing sites and mags whilst the news is still warm?  Geoff Gritton took some great photos of the Burton - 370 of them to be precise.  This one should be on the front cover of Y&Y at least

http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffbsbs/6094024955/

Don't panic Cheshire Cat.  Punkarella will live on in her original form.  ps my little brother hasn't changed either

Mike Jackson eliminated the problem in the late 70's by not having any spreaders.  He took his minimalist approach a step further the following year when turned up with a boat that had no centreboard.  It just had a deep, canard-like stem and a large rudder blade.  The no-spreader rig was fast but the no-centreboard boat had a fundamental flaw - when he capsized there was nothing to stand on.

I remember Gordon.  She won Burton Week in 1978 in the capable hands of Chris Owen and his crew who was (mysteriously to me at that time) known as "Weed".  They were super-consistent but could not catch Nigel Waller on the Wednesday.  I had the pleasure of crewing for Nigel at that time.  Come the big race, I recall a very long start line with everybody at the Starboard end.  The wind went left, big time, with about 3 minutes to go so we took off down to the port end asap.  There was only one other boat down there and we managed to start in her lee which made the decision for us to tack instantly.  In the excitement, Nigel sat on the wishbone tiller causing half of it to fracture.  A light touch from Nigel and the force of prayer kept the tiller in tact for the next 2 hours which was quite a feat in a building force 5.  Great to see Gordon has found a good home.

Hi David, I have always retained an interest in the National 12 class since it has been so good to me.  I have done a lot of sailing since I left the class but I can honestly say the absolute best racing for me has been in the National 12.  I would not be competitive today in the 12 as the class has moved on.  And besides I am not exactly over-wieght at 11 stone today but when I raced with Julian Waller, and then my brother Pip, I was a grossly under-developed teenager at around 8 1/2 stone.  Thank goodness the boats seem to carry more weight these days - I remember at one stage we used to starve ourselves to get down to 16 1/2 stone all up which is considerably lighter than my Star crew today.

Can somebody draw me a family tree for the 12s. I have lost track of who is married to who as there appear to have been several bye-elections since I last looked.

Terrific site - I will call by from time to time to see how you are getting on and to see the latest Burton winners.

rgds

gb