A cool easterly breeze greeted competitors in the Gill National 12 event at Notts County Sailing Club last weekend. Nearly thirty of the lightweight hi-tech 12 ft dinghies arrived from all over the UK including Cornwall, Hampshire, Essex and Wales. Saturday saw its fair share of spills and thrills as the wind gusted to Force 5 and a number of boats capsized. Sunday was calmer and mostly sunny.

Racing was close throughout the fleet. Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne from Burghfield won the first race, with Ian and Alex Gore from Up River YC winning the third race and having three seconds, meaning it was all to play for in the last race. After some close racing the race, and the overall event was won was won by Graham Camm giving him the meeting.

Steve Sallis from Lincoln won the second race on Saturday, crewed by Notts County Hon Secretary Lindsay Ogden, with some consistent results he was third overall. Further down the fleet there was plenty of competition, but it was consistency that paid.

Entertainment on the Saturday night included a scavenger boat race, where teams had to build racing sailboats from an assortment of polystyrene, polythene, plastic bottles and garden canes, followed by a rules talk and quiz.