National 12 Gill Series

A shifty westerly breeze greeted National 12 sailors at Pennington Flash over the bank holiday weekend for the Summer Event, which is part of the National Gill Series. In the first race it was business as usual for National Champions Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne who made the most of the shifts along the long first beat. They were closely followed by John Cheetham crewed by daughter Alison but as the gust came through during the race Steve and Joanne Sallis’ Dead Cat Bounce came through to take second, followed by the Feeling Foolish of Christian Day and Sophie Richards.

The second race saw the breeze drop and the foiling rudders loose their advantage. Christian and Sophie managed to hold off Graham and Zoe throughout the race to take the bullet. Locals Gareth Williams and Jen Turner roll tacked their way into third, but Steve and Joanne Sallis sneaked past them in the final beat. The race however did not end there, as a protest relating to room at the windward mark led to Graham and Zoe retiring from the second race.

In the vintage fleet, who were competing for the Shotgun Trophy (significant in its size, as it is the stern of the National 12, Shotgun), Howard Chadwick crewed by Cathy Lawson won both races. Paul Turner with Christine Preston gave Howard a run for his money, coming in second, with Ed Willet crewed by Haydn Griffiths in third.

Before the BBQ was lit and the beers were ordered, the Crew’s Race finished off proceedings on Day 1. Six brave crews took to the tiller, desperately trying to find someone other than their helm to crew for them! The wind remained light as Matt Smith crewed by Jenny Chen led the way up the first beat, closely followed by Joanne Sallis and Tom Storey. A few jibe marks spread the fleet out a bit more (it looks a lot different from the back of the boat!) and Zoe Ballantyne moved up the fleet to contend for the lead. Matt Smith though held on to first place, followed by Zoe with Tom Story, crewed by his Dad, Ed, coming in third.

At 10am on Day 2 the not so happy campers (who had survived a night of heavy rain) and the slightly happier competitors that had gone home/stayed in a B&B took to the water in a very light breeze for the annual pursuit race. This saw the boats start according to age, with the vintage fleet having four minutes on the Admiral’s Cuppers, six minutes on double-bottomed boats and a full eight minutes on the Dead Cat Bounces.

30 minutes into the hour-long race it was all a little busy at the back with the Dead Cat Bounces coming through the rest of the fleet, but this didn’t discourage Howard Chadwick, who by this time had, along with the vintage designs of Paul Turner and Angus Beyts, if anything extended his lead! By the time the hour was up the Dead Cat Bounce of Graham and Zoe had made it into fifth, with Ian Smith’s admirals cup design holding on to fourth but the three vintage boats held on to the top three places and Howard and crew Harriet Lee were the clear winners.

The wind then completely died off and a postponement was put up. The wind was definitely worth waiting for though! In the final two races Graham and Zoe wrapped things up getting ahead of Steve and Joanne in both races. Christian and Sophie fought off Nick and Tanya Copsey in both races, with a photo finish between the two boats in race 4.

Nick and sister Tanya were sailing very quickly with their retro fitted t-foiling rudder on their Feeling Foolish. Ian Smith and Jenny Chen, had fantastic starts in both races and held on to the position of first Admirals Cup boat throughout. In the vintage fleet it was Ed and Haydn who won race three, but Howard fought back to take the bullet in race 4, despite concerns that the stern of Shotgun would not fit on his mantelpiece!

We look forward to the next Gill Series Event at Hykeham on 22nd and 23rd September.

For more information about future events please visit the website at www.national12.org

Overall Results:

1st Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne
2nd Steve Sallis and Joanne Sallis
3rd Christian Day and Sophie Richards

The Shotgun Trophy
1st Howard Chadwick and Cathy Lawson/Harriet Lee
2nd Ed Willet and Haydn Griffiths
3rd Paul Turner and Christine Preston