Albacore Europeans at Unst Boating Club, Shetland

Racing during the Albacore Europeans at Unst Boating Club, Shetland © Ruth Grainger Photography

Racing during the Albacore Europeans at Unst Boating Club, Shetland © Ruth Grainger Photography

The inaugural Albacore European Championships took place at Unst Boating Club in Shetland from Thursday 30th August to Saturday 1st September.

Racing got underway at 2.30pm on the Thursday afternoon, with two races sailed in very light winds. In Race 1 octogenarian and local sailing hero Duncan Sandison crewed by Geordie Sandison, lead from the start, sailing a near faultless race to win from Steven Brown and Frank Guthrie. John Wilson and David Thomson who had been 2nd at the windward mark dropped to 4th, with Derrick and Katie Gibbon coming through to take third.

The second race was sailed in even less wind, and was close to being abandoned at times. Brown and Guthrie this time lead from the front but Robert Thomson and Hunter Williamson recovered from a mediocre start and worked their way methodically through the fleet almost catching the leader. While doing so they had positioned themselves to take best advantage of the imminent arrival of a moderate breeze filling in from the South. The leaders however covered their position well and kept their lead to the finish over a shortened course.

Due to a very unfavourable forecast for Saturday an extra race was scheduled on the Friday. Race 3 got underway in a moderate W’ly. The pecking order was established by the first mark. Brown and Guthrie winning from the Gibbons with Thomson and Williamson 3rd and Angus McNeil & Jeff Dobson 4th. Race 4 was similar with the same two boats in the top spots joined by Penny Thomson and Hosea Moar in 3rd and William Mouatt & Gordon Johnston in 4th. Race 5 saw an almost exact rerun of race 3 with the same top 4. Race 6 the last race of the day, saw a different winner with the Gibbons taking the win comfortably. Brown and Guthrie were a safe second, however there was a ding dong battle in the pack with Mouatt & Johnston finishing in third ahead of Thomson & Williamson. Race 7 was sailed on Saturday and only about half the fleet braved the F5+ and increasing winds to make it to the start line.

Despite getting by far the best start Derek and Katie Gibbon had a catalogue of failures to deal with and this allowed Brown and Guthrie through to lead from the first mark, finishing the series with another win from Derek and Katie Gibbon in 2nd, Mouatt & Johnston in 3rd and Peter Hunter and Ivor Johnson finishing in 4th. Ewan Stirling and Matthew Chapman, suffered a broken centreboard at the gybe mark, and the resulting capsize was by far the most spectacular of the day.

Overall Results: