Days 2
Sadly Saturday turned out to be not the best day of sailing in recent nationals. The day started with lightish breeze from the north-west, and the first race got away recently promptly with the tide flooding towards Southampton. Matthew Moore and Richard Willows started towards the pin end of the line and headed out towards the shipping channel, with Moore heading out the furthest. He had a good lead by the first mark and held it to the end. Willows had to recover a few places and had a tussle with Davies and Yallop who slipped back on the final round, and at the finish it was Moore, Willows, Davies and and then Somerville who had made up good ground. The wind then went light and swung more to the north, and after a small delay the next race started. Chris Moore, Willows and Somerville headed for the bank and tacked up the shore out of the tide and headed the fleet slowly up to the first mark, but the race was abandoned just after Somerville and Willows had passed the mark to stop the downwind legs. The vareos and 500s were sent to shore to wait and with conditions totally flat at 3:30pm racing was abandoned. The sea breeze filled in 10 minutes later, but with the tide ebbing quickly there would not have been enough time to re-launch and lay a course before the area dried out.
Day 3
After a fairly lively evening and early morning in the clubhouse and campsite with fireworks and a boisterous party, Sunday morning dawned rather damp and dreary, and the fleets launched at 9 am for a 9.30 start and four races back to back. The writer was one of several who miss- judged the conditions and found it distinctly chilly, with light winds giving little opportunity to warm up. The morning gave the opportunity for several to win the championships, but Somerville sailed fast and with tactical awareness to win two races, and was in the top four in the other two. Matt Yallop sailed consistently with good results in all four races but could not quite keep ahead of Somerville. Willows had a good battle with Andrew Davies, including a remarkable comeback in the last race from about 20th at the first mark to finish fourth, and Matthew Moor had four good races but unfortunately paid the penalty for a slow start on the first day. Nigel Tinkler had two good races, but could not quite find the speed that he had on the first day.
So Mark Somerville fulfilled the potential he showed at Weymouth to become the 2012 national champion. Matt Yallop showed that he had plenty of speed on his return to Netley and will no doubt challenge again in future years. Richard Willows won the Concessional cup (over 60), Nigel Tinkler the Masters trophy and Andi Howard the Grand Masters trophy. Cheryl Wood took the Ladies Trophy. Next year the championships move to Bassenthwaite, and there seemed to be good enthusiasm for this at the class's AGM, and I am sure that the club will look after the fleet extremely well.
Richard Willows
