Albacore Open at Nottingham Sailing Club
by Mike Banner 14 Oct 2015 07:21 BST
13 September 2015
Close racing during the Nottingham Albacore Open © Ken Hemsell & Phil Sheppard
A tale of two winners?
Five visitors joined 5 home boats for the Nottingham SC Albacore Open on the picturesque River Trent with only the wind failing to turn up in force! With the light breeze and a river venue there was lots of tacking, many place changes and some really close racing.
In race 1 it was NSC member Tim Coleman and his daughter Jo Sankey who stormed off to finish well ahead of recently crowned National Champion Michael McNamara (Grimsby & Cleethorpes) sailing with Marie Marshall (NSC). Club class captain Roger Poat came in third, having recovered from his demonstration of how to pirouette an Albacore whilst capsizing on the jetty – fortunately for him the camera was pointing the other way at the time!
In race 2 Judy and Paul Armstrong (Scaling Dam) sailing their new grey-hulled boat (as yet unnamed) won from Mathew Metcalfe-Smith and his sister Emma (Carsington SC) sailing together for the first time in a number of years. Father and son team, Mike and Brandon Banner (Leigh & Lowton) took third, just pipping Mr McNamara in a photo finish drift to the line.
The final race of the day was a tense affair with the wind picking up to force 1 but once again Judy and Paul won from Mathew and Emma with Tim and Jo getting third.
With their new boat not having been officially measured Judy and Paul honourably retired from the racing (with a bottle of wine for their efforts) which meant a surprise for Mathew Metcalfe-Smith and his sister Emma at the prize giving when they found out they had actually won the event. Many thought that the shock would leave him speechless however those who really know Mathew knew he'd find something to say and they were right!
All entrants received a rather nice glass tumbler in recognition of 2015 being the 60th Anniversary of Nottingham SC and there was the customary great hospitality with a curry lunch followed by tea and cakes plus great beer!
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 8158 | Mathew Metcalfe‑Smith | Emma Metcalfe‑Smith | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2 | 6182 | Tim Coleman | Jo Sankey | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | 6493 | Michael McNamara | Marie Marshall | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | 8078 | Roger Poat | Michael Brookman | 3 | 7 | 4 | 7 |
| 5 | 8133 | Mike Banner | Brandon Banner | 7 | 3 | 8 | 10 |
| 6 | 7508 | Dave Whittle | Robert Gilbert | 4 | 6 | 9 | 10 |
| 7 | 6504 | Steve Bailey | M.Lopacinska | 9 | 8 | 6 | 14 |
| 8 | 6956 | Phil Sheppard | I.Bogdanovica | 8 | 9 | 7 | 15 |
| 9 | 1001 | Trevor Marriott | I.Stevenson | 10 | 10 | DNC | 20 |
| RTD | 8228 | Judy Armstrong | Paul Armstrong | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 |