Old school

The vintage National 12 fleet joined the a number of other classes at the Classic and Vintage Dinghy Regatta

A good fleet of vintage 12’s gathered at the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club on the 4-5 August for the Classic and Vintage Dinghy Regatta which was blessed with bright sunshine, good breeze and the very warm welcome we come to expect at this well run event.

This event is part of the National 12 vintage series and was round six in the series consisting of 11 open events across the country. In addition to the N12 fleet there was also a good vintage Merlin Fleet as well as several other competitors including International 14s to enjoy the sunshine and force three to four breeze blowing straight down the broad to give excellent Saturday racing.

Race one was a closely fought battle between Vince and Fiona Philips in 2531, Brian Herring and Ros Stevenson in Brian’s recently acquired China Doll N2468 and Howard and Sarah Chadwick in N2266. After several place changes Vince and Fiona pulled clear to take the race, followed closely by Howard and Sarah and equally closely by Brian and Ros who were fast getting used to the new boat. Also in contention were two well restored Uffa Kings Tim Gatti and Brian Miatt in N341 and Jonathan Ruebin sailing N443. It was noted that in the true spirit of vintage racing the combined ages of crew, helm and boat in N341 were circa 200 years!

In race two Howard and Sarah got away to a good start but the fleet was never far away and Vince and Fiona once again managed to take and hold the lead to the finish and the rest of the positions as before. Sadly Vince and Fiona had run out of baby-sitting points and as Sunday was likely to be even windier they had to withdraw after day one.

The Sunday dawned with slightly more wind and it had shifted direction so that it was coming diagonally across the broad resulting in very shifty conditions. In race one Howard and Sarah again got a good start and were with the lead Merlin when he went for a slick spinnaker hoist for the long broad reach, sadly the spinnaker filled inside the jib making an effective air break! This left Howard and Sarah racing hard with Brian and Ros and proving that old 12’s can beat Merlins and International 14’s on the water given the right conditions. Again the Uffa Kings were never far away despite the very tricky conditions and the leaders stayed together throughout with Howard and Sarah winning by the narrowest of margins.

In the final race it was Brian and Ros who took the lead with Howard and Sarah making a poor start however on the 2nd beat Brian was sailed into the shore by a Merlin whilst Howard and Sarah were able to tack off on a shift and it was neck and neck again at the windward mark with the two Twelve’s and the lead Merlin! This time the lead Merlin obligingly capsized on the reach leaving the Twelve’s in clear wind to fight out yet another close race that was eventually won by Howard and Sarah Chadwick.

The highlight of the weekend was seeing how well the two Uffa Kings went despite the very tricky conditions and also being able to see the vintage river cruisers, Yeoman’s and White and Brown boats competing on the Broad and having some very close racing indeed.

Results:

1-Howard and Sarah Chadwick
2-Brian Herring and Ros Stevenson
3-Vince and Fiona Philips
4-Tim Gatti and Brian Miatt
5-Jonathan Reubin