Messages

There are 3 clubs in Nottingham itself.  At my club, Nottingham SC (Abolton Lane, West Bridgeford http://www.nottinghamsc.org.uk ), we have 3 N12s that sail fairly regularly and race on Sat, Sun, and Thur evenings with cruising on Tue evenings (Summer).

Attenborough SC ( http://www.attenboroughsc.org.uk ) sails on the nature reserve and has at least 1 N12.

Trent Valley SC ( http://www.trentvalleysc.org/ ) have a large number of N12s, especially vintage boats.  I'm sure someone on here will tell you how many sail regularly.  Trent Valley hold a training day and 2 open meetings every year and have held a national meeting a few years ago.

As 3 clubs, we hold an annual 3 club competition so are fairly friendly with each other.  I have no knowledge of Notts County SC.

All the clubs in Nottingham have their quirks.  Nottingham and Trent Valley are rivers, Nottingham has trees along various parts meaning if the wind direction is from a particular direction, we have all sorts of funny wind.  Trent Valley has certain dead spots that the members know how to get through.  We both have fun with the current when it's been raining lots (i.e. last year...).  Attenborough is a nature reserve lake and is very shallow at random points (again, only the locals know where...)

Obviously I am going to promote my club, but as a club it is very friendly and accomodating.  New members are always welcomed by the whole club.  There are lots of meetings in the Midlands series to sail in N12 only races, and in some other 'interesting' bits of water.  If I were you, take a trip to see each of the clubs and have a chat with people, there are always people around watching when there's racing happening at either club.  They are all friendly little clubs with very reasonable bars.

 

Hope to see you around

The winds that we had at the Inlands seems to have cracked the plasticy window on our jib (it's a pretty old jib design).  We do have a spare, but were wondering whether the window could be repaired with Mylar (clear) sail repair tape?

 

Thanks for any info

We'll be there with Goose Hunter (N2706).  Should be fun

Jon Twite

Great weekend.  Thanks to all who helped to make it happen.

 

Results:

http://www.northamptonsailingclub.org/results/2012/National12Inlands2012.htm

Similarly, I have a set of sails from a different N12 and so I need someone to update my certficate and confirm where the bands need to be put on my mast

 

Thanks

Jon Twite N2709

Crew found.  Two British-Moth sailers in a 4-Planker N12 - Lets hope the winds are very light or we've got no chance...

I am planning on comming, but at the moment do not have a crew (They're all afraid of the cold...).  If anyone would like to crew please contact me, the boat is a Paper Dart and so we will be competing in the back half of the fleet, but the boat doesn't have anything complicated on it - no experience required, any age/size.

Jon Twite
Goose Hunter N2709

Our attendance is now subject to whether my car has a new head gasket by Friday...  Hopefully we will be there, but you know why if we're not...

We are hoping to be there in N2709 (have towbar, will travel...)  Not sure we like the sound of the "Fast Fleet" though...

Jon Twite & crews

Yep it is a class rule for the Finns and also the 470s.  In the Finn medal race, they suspended the rule as the wind droped on the 2nd and 3rd laps so they were back to sailing normally.

The helm dropped his new expensive sunglasses through the centreboard case.
Helm: "There they are... Right a-bit..."
Crew: "Nearly got them..."

Taking a closer look, it appears that the shroud fittings on the hull have been moved up / replaced higher up.  I cannot move them down as they have a tensioning lever that wouldn't go right down.

The boat is a Paper Dart and so fairly solidly built, the mast step is
on the floor so I doubt it has sank much.  With the shrouds on the
lowest settings and the mast inverted and with negative rake (i.e. leaning forwards) by the forestay/jib, we still get a
 reading of 0 on a super spars tension gauge.
We planned to chop a lot off the shrouds and then use rope to attach the shroud to the boat so we can find the required extra length, then replace the rope with a wire extension.

The shrouds on my boat have apparently stretched over the years and now I have no rig tension at all.  They appear to be 3.5mm wire (the measurement with a caliper is 3.48mm or .144in).  I have been trying to shorten them and although I have been able to get 3.5mm ferrules, I cannot find anyone who has a crimping tool that will do wire that big.  Everyone at our club seems to have the type which is two metal sections that are forced together by tightening bolts, and have circular holes in them for the ferrules & wire; these seem to only go up to 3mm.

The shrouds appear to have been designed never to come off - the top ends have a hard-eye inside the mast, around a bolt through the mast, but the hard eyes must have been put on after the wire was threaded through the mast probably before the top section of the mast was put on.  This means that it is impossible to get the shrouds off to take them anywhere, and replacing them will be very hard.
So I'm kind of stuck.  Do I hunt around for a 3.5mm crimping tool?  Is it possible to use anything else? or should I attempt to remove the old shrouds, get some 3mm wire and try to crimp them into the mast myself (will probably require removing the jib-halyard block and threading the shouds out of there before trying to hook the bolt through them...)

Before you start, however much I might like it, a new fancy mast is not an option...

Ahh - never new that was a class - knowledge updated! - anyway, the point still stands, and I bet she sails beautifully (for cruising)