North American Championships

Forty one boats competed at the hotly contested Albacore North American Championships held at the Hampton Yacht Club, in Norfolk, Virginia. Located on the Chesapeake Bay, the three day regatta had everything from drifting starts to 35 knot winds. A number of visiting Finn and 470 sailors borrowed boats to add depth to the already impressive fleet and gain some big fleet racing. The British set the early pace in race one with the two U.K teams rounding first and second in the 10 knot breeze. Neville Herbert crewed by ‘ten stone Steve’ pulled out an early lead whilst Ben Jones & Dave Thorpe defended their impressive first leg position. Herbert won by almost half a leg with ex Canadian champion Chris Gorton second and current US champion Jasper Craig overhauling Jones on the final leg to take third. Race two saw current North American champion Barney Harris pull away from the fleet to score a comfortable win from Marty Hublitz and light wind specialist Raines Koby. The last race of the day saw win number two for Herbert in the dying breeze holding off Craig by half a boat length with Hublitz a very close third.

Day two began and ended with hardly any wind at all. Harris won in impressive form with Herbert second and Craig, maintaining his run of top three finishes, third. The second race of the day was abandoned due to zero breeze followed by an hours wait for the wind to return. At this stage Herbert had a slender two point lead over Harris with Craig another two points adrift. The fleet finally got away and was won by Craig taking the lead on the last beat with Harris ghosting past Herbert on the finish line to close the gap to one point off the lead. The final day dawned grey and windy with 35 knots and a steep sea. 20 boats left the beach, 15 started and 10 finished. Herbert and Harris pulled clear and swooped the lead several times in a thrilling final, never more than a boat length apart. Harris won after a match race final leg to equal points and win the event on a count back.

1^st Barney Harris, David Byron 12 pts USA .

2^nd Neville Herbert, Steve Penfold 12 pts UK

3^rd Marty Hublitz, Steve Buckly 16pts USA

other British – Ben Jones, Dave Thorpe 73pts

full results are available here

Images from the event are available here