The sun came out to play at Royal Torbay at a fiercely contested Albacore National Championships held from 21st to 23 July. This famous Yacht Club hosted the 1948 Olympic sailing regatta so it was fitting that the start of this event coincided with the RYA Push the Boat Out day to show support for the current British Olympic Sailing Team. Each of the 42 boats were decorated in the traditional red white and blue for the sail out to the start of the first race and some even stuck with their colours throughout the event which was sailed in light to moderate winds. Unlike many days this year the sky stayed blue and the sails white but it was the red hulled boat of Michael McNamara and his crew Flip Foulds that took the lead after day 1. This was despite not winning either of the races with Nev Herbert reunited with crew Steve Penfold storming to the front in Race 1 and the current Lord Birkett Champions Judy and Paul Armstrong taking Race 2. Behind these the competition was tight throughout the fleet especially with the introduction this year of a silver and gold fleet. Day 2 dawned with a bit more wind and after a short delay to allow the sea mist to clear the fleet got stuck into three races. Race 3 was won by rising star John Gimson and Edd Clayson with John Gorringe and Nicky Bass close on their heels whilst Race 4 went to Jerry Rook and Peter Morton with Nev blaming his crew for the shackle that opened and dropped the jib as they started to port tack the fleet and ending in their discard result. In R5 there was no sopping Nev and he wonther winner with closely followed by Gimson .
On the final day there were three or four boats in with a shout of winning the event but it was Nev who scored two race wins in the strongest winds of the weekend with rising star John Gimson and Edd Clayson finishing second in each. This mirrored the overall event with Nev managing to take the title with John on equal points losing out on countback. Despite leading the event for most of the weekend and a discard of only 4th Michael McNamara had to settle for third with Judy 4th and Jerry 5th. At the prize giving the association commended the RYC for an excellent event both on and off the water and winner Nev thanked everyone for a great event and reminded everyone that next years event will be part of the bi-annual internationals at SCYC (Abersoch) from 3rd – 9th Aug.
Winners of the inaugural silver fleet were Richard and George Smith.
