Sunday the 14 October saw a foggy start for the National 12 open at Burton SC. However, visibility quickly improved allowing the fist race to get away after a short postponement.

In the extremely light airs of the first race, Steve Sallis N3436 and John Meadowcroft N3429 looked to have got the best start, tacking off at the committee boat end and heading hard right. However, the wind filled in slightly stronger on the left, allowing Caroline and Eleanor Martin N3419 to round the windward mark first, hotly pursued by Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne in the new ‘Numinous’ design N3469. On the first reach they managed to sail through the Martins to leeward, taking the lead just before the gybe mark. The wind had now lightened even further and the race officer sensibly decided to shorten the race to one lap and down the next reach the Martins came back at Camm and Ballantyne as the rest of the fleet closed up. By the leeward mark they were alongside N3469, but on the outside, with a fetch to the finish line allowing only Camm and Ballantyne to lay it in one. The Martins finished a close second with Antony Gifford and Jo Brown taking third in their Waller Final Chapter.

After lunch the wind filled in as predicted, giving a shifty Force 2-3 for the second race. From the start the majority of the fleet sailed to the right with Camm and Ballantyne again coming out on top at the first mark and holding this lead for the next lap. However, it was not to last as the fleet closed up again towards the second leeward mark. Camm was briefly tangled up with the club 505 fleet that were racing on the same course, forcing him wide at the mark and allowing Gifford and Sallis to slip through. Up the next beat Gifford lost his lead to Sallis who then extended it to finish well clear of the rest of the fleet, Camm and Ballantyne working back up to second place with the Martins coming home third.

The third and final race was held immediately after the second, with the wind initially increasing slightly for the early part of the race. First to the windward mark was John Meadowcroft and Charlotte Ibbotson followed by Sallis with Camm in third. Meadowcroft held and extended his lead over the chasing pack for the next lap, while the Martins managed to come from behind to establish an inside overlap on this group at the final gybe mark to climb to second.

Down the next reach the Martins showed impressive reaching speed in the stronger gusts to pass Meadowcroft before the leeward mark. Up the next beat Meadowcroft also lost a place to Antony Gifford, who moved up to challenge the Martins down the final set of reaches, however Gifford could find no passing lanes and a loose cover on the final short beat gave them the win over Gifford with Meadowcroft in third.

Overall Results

1 N3419, Caroline and Eleanor Martin

2 N3469, Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne

3 N3447, Antony Gifford and Jo Brown

4 N3429, John Meadowcroft and Charlotte Ibbotson

5 N3436, Steve Sallis and Susie May

6 N3426, Jon Brown and Juliet Brawn