Fleet News (Autumn 2008)

Solo Fleet

Nationwide, the Solo fleet has had a good 12 months, with around 130 new boats registered and more than 41 of them made by Winders, our local racing dinghy builder.

At Yeadon, there has been little change, with Peter Appleby (S 3774) and myself (S 4529) usually being the only Solos racing out of a fleet of eight boats. Steven Walker (S 3488) sold his boat just as he was getting the hang of sailing it. Andrew Fieldhouse (S 4041) and John Dore (S 1949) put in the occasional appearance. Peter Robinson (S 3537) was so fully involved in supporting his two lads as they sailed their new Winder Mirror that he did not defend his Solo crown.
The Solo Open in May saw only two entrants. Guess who? But we had fun chasing the 14 Lasers.

S 4529 took part in the Scottish Solo Open on the Firth of Forth at North Berwick in August. I found sailing three races back to back under the lively conditions with waves up to five foot high too much and only completed four out of the six races. My best result was 18th out of 29 entrants.

As Solo class captain, I should be glad to advise and help existing and potential Solo owners to get afloat and to start racing on Yeadon’s safe and friendly water. Please just ask me.

Bill Wilson
(S 4529) class captain and RYA Solo class measurer

Streaker Fleet

The Streaker fleet has had some good turnouts in the series racing this year at Yeadon. We have welcomed back Clive Wood to the fleet and he has spent much time evaluating Rooster sails and new Dacron Radial Cut Sails, eventually settling for the fuller cut version. He and Alan Caunt have shown the rest of the fleet how to sail a Streaker. Two Streakers ventured to Bass: myself and Clive. The weather was not too kind; it was wet with very light winds all week. We took part in the full length of the lake race. I managed to stay in front of Clive all the way back up the lake only to get too excited and let him get past on the last beat – maybe next year!

The Streaker Open meeting at Yeadon was very disappointing with only one visitor, Peter Smith from Ripon.

We did welcome back John Goodyear, who borrowed David Hinks’ boat and promptly won the meeting. Also, Dennis Beard borrowed a boat and enjoyed himself sailing a Streaker for the first time. The problem with the open meetings seems to have been countrywide this year, with all clubs experiencing low numbers. Whether it is the price of fuel or some other reason I do not know. If anyone fancies a trial in a Streaker let me know; it is a very competitive boat at Yeadon with its excellent PN number and is very easy to sail.

Anyway, that’s my spell as Fleet Captain over so I look forward to encouraging and helping next year’s Captain.

Rob Crossland
Streaker 1597

Laser Fleet

I seem to recall that I mentioned last year (or maybe it was even the year before that) that Laser numbers had taken a bit of a drop; well, it seems that we are on the up again. Making appearances in races this year we have Andrew Mountford, Richard Barker and M Patrick (please take a bow guys), whilst Andrew Cowling has upgraded to a full rig and is making good progress, and dare I mention that Adam has now moved from his Topper into a Laser and could cause trouble.

As I write, the Saturday series is building to a climax. John Southall currently leads the group on 35 points, with Mick Bower on 36, Dave Statman on 38 and Phil Graham on 42. Ben Kelly could have made a late charge for glory but, if my maths is right, he may fail to qualify by one race (D’oh). Altogether, 10 helms have participated in Saturday racing. By the time you read this, we will know the outcome.

Sunday is not quite so popular on a regular attendance basis – Statto has an unassailable lead but, altogether, 12 helms have raced, but not enough to qualify.

Wednesday night is our most popular, with 13 helms taking part, and I believe our best attendance one night was eight. It would be great if we can improve on that in 2009.

Topper Fleet

The Topper fleet has a good mix of youth and maturity at the moment with ‘maturies’ (my Dad’s word) Mike Pickard leading the way in Saturday and Sunday racing, and John Horton winning the Wednesday night series.

By the time you read this, we will know whether Luke has got into the North Zone squad. I do hope so because I think he will really enjoy the experience, learn a lot and make loads of new friends. It would be really good to see a few more people have a go for the squad next year. Neil can talk you through what is involved or feel free to have a word with me.

It would be good to get our Open Meeting back on the Travellers’ circuit. We had just two boats this year, one home boat and one visitor, but altogether 21 people have raced a Topper in club racing so far this year. Even if no visitors turn up, we could have the largest turn out for an Open Meeting of any class.

I won’t go into detail about individual performances, as I’m sure Neil will probably mention the Junior series in his article.

As I have now moved into a Laser I feel it would be appropriate to hand over the job of Fleet Captain to someone who will be sailing a Topper and is likely to be down at the club more often. Any volunteers?

National 12 Fleet

I really find it hard to believe that a whole year has passed since I wrote my last Autumn Newsletter article. So much has happened in the intervening 12 months and it all seems to have happened so fast!

Howard Chadwick – a life-long National 12 sailor – has described elsewhere in this issue the extensive programme of Open Event sailing we Yeadon members of the National 12 Association take part in and, in doing so, fly the flag around the country for our wonderful little sailing club, from Scotland to the south coast and all points of the compass in between. We may be few in number but we certainly make up for it in the number and variety of the places we visit, making sure that the words ‘Yeadon SC’ find their way into numerous publications and sailing websites through open event reports and results. I don’t think any other class in the club does as much to spread the word about West Yorkshire’s best kept secret!

We have done our best to sail at Yeadon too but, as well as travelling commitments, ill health, broken boats and occasional crew absences have had an impact on our home presence. We did, however, attract 18 boats to our Open Meeting in October – the best turn out for a single fleet event all season and one that generated a sizeable profit for the club. Along the way, we have also provided opportunities for club members to get involved as crews in high-quality dinghy racing events, helping them to extend their own sailing experiences and abilities which, in turn, can only result in a positive benefit to our own club racing.

Next season, we hope to encourage more members out in our beautiful boats and, if any of you would like a trial sail or wish to volunteer as a crew, just contact me or any of the N12 helms at the club. Anyone thinking of buying a 12 will be surprised by the range and value of second-hand boats available, so please get in touch if you need any advice on a possible purchase.

Many of you will know that after finally selling my Mirror to fellow club member David Hinks, I spent the end of last season and the early part of this one completing the build of Donald Acklam’s unfinished Heron (see separate article in this Newsletter). After all the work was eventually finished (and there was a lot!), she was registered as a new boat, significantly raising her value, which resulted in a substantial donation to club funds when she was sold earlier this summer.

I then took on the restoration and fitting-out of a 1964 National 12, originally purchased by our Treasurer but which needed a bit of expert TLC to bring her back to life. Chippendale Boats had already done a substantial amount of work on the hull, but she had no fittings at all, no decent mast, boom, trailer or trolley and her sails were from a boat built in 1953, so of little use. After a lot of hard work (and expenditure) she was re-launched in early May so I again had a 12 to sail. And sail we did! The boat’s first outing was to a Scottish Championship event at Annandale with my son Seb – the first time we had sailed together since he gave up crewing in the Mirror several years before, having grown too big. We had a great time and the free beer at the evening social helped! Then followed numerous Northern and Vintage N12 events throughout the summer with a variety of crews from Yeadon – Yvonne McInnes, Gail Kaye, Tace Morgan to name but a few. Seb and I teamed up again for a very windy Vintage Dinghy Weekend at Wroxham, on the Norfolk Broads, where we really honed our heavy weather boat handling (and camping) skills to perfection! Then it was on to the National Championships at Teignmouth in late August. We were by far the oldest boat there and the only vintage boat to enter for the week-long event. We were also by far the heaviest at over 114kgs, with most of the modern boats weighing in just over the minimum weight of 78kgs, so there was no way we were going to win anything!

But it was an exhilarating week – when the sailing wasn’t cancelled because of the storms and rain as it was on two of the days, we were out at sea blasting through the surf in winds which were a steady Force 3 to 4 and which, on some days, crept up to Force 5 gusting 6. But we survived …and only capsized once after a bad broach when a big wave lifted our rudder clear out of the water. We didn’t break anything and finished every race we entered, which is more than some of the modern boats managed. Our final position was 29th out of a fleet of 39 entries, so we met our objective of finishing in the top 30. It was a hard week but hugely enjoyable and the fact that my 44-year-old boat had stood up to the conditions made it all worth-while. The biggest challenge, however, was to drive the 300+ miles home on the Friday night to get Seb back in time for Leeds Festival on the Saturday – his sole condition for agreeing to crew for me!

The summer finished with further meetings at Frensham, Derwent, Nottingham, Ripon and our own event at Yeadon in October. Somehow in this busy schedule I have also managed to acquire two more ribbed 12s to join my 1938 Uffa King, which I hope to have back on the water at Yeadon next season along with Howard Chadwick’s boat N2, built in 1936 and one of the first 12s ever registered. We are at the early stages of planning a Ribbed 12 event at Yeadon – it will be a unique occasion which will see a number of these old but beautiful boats back on the water together for the first time since the 1950s and 60s. Keep an eye out for details and come along to watch and, hopefully, participate. We might even get the TV cameras there too for some free publicity for our club.

Finally, a big thanks to the other 12 helms at the club, particularly Howard Chadwick, John Cheetham, Neil McInnes and Patrick Gaunt, for all their help and support this season. I look forward to getting out on the water again during the Frostbite series if family commitments will allow and, weather permitting, I will definitely be there on New Year’s Day. After that, I may be fixing up another boat. Someone has ‘gifted’ me a Tigress: a cold-moulded N12 built in 1981 which has a new suit of sails but also needs some TLC – how could I refuse? Seb puts up with my old boats but insists that I get something faster, so keep a sharp look out for us next season.

Tim Gatti
N12 Class Captain
N341, N493, N711, N2255 and, if Seb has his way, N3130

Enterprise Fleet

Yes, we still have an Enterprise class, kept afloat by Jo and myself in E 1909, although other Enterprises have ventured onto the water or are seen in the dinghy park. Any Enterprise sailors keen on progressing their racing activities are very welcome on the tarn at Yeadon, and for any advice or information etc about any aspect of Enterprise sailing, I will be more than pleased to oblige.

Dennis Beard, Enterprise 1909,