Comet Northern Aphelion Series Open at Attenborough Sailing Club

by Christine Statham 11 May 06:09 BST 25 April 2026

With the sunshine and a distinct lack of wind, fourteen Comets took to the water to compete in the Comet Open at Attenborough Sailing Club, which is part of the Association's Northern Aphelion Series.

With the wind dropping in and out and shifting constantly, as Race Officer I was finding it difficult to decide on where was best to put the course on the lake, but with the course finally decided we took to the water for two races prior to lunch.

In the first race Dave Turtle from Shustoke took the lead from the start and was first to the windward buoy. He continued in his element creating a nice lead, however by lap 3 Cole Briscoe started to gain from second place and it looked like he could be caught. John Coppenhall from Hunts was comfortably in third. It wasn't to be however and Dave took the win.

In the second race John had manged to get some wind off the line and although he wasn't first across he looked to be in a good position to be first to the windward mark. However it wasn't to be and he was caught out by a shallow island. Cole took the lead and was maintaining it all the way round, until the last lap where Dave manged to sneak past down wind and stole the win.

For the final race of the day, the wind had shifted considerable and we changed the course. As the boats started I was concerned as we had some big shifts and the beat was switching. However mostly it worked out ok. This course gave a choice of which way round the island and on the first lap everyone followed the same way, however on lap two the mid fleet decided to switch it up and sail in front of the island rather than behind as they had done on lap 1. I am not sure this paid off for them as this looked to be in a dead zone and on their final lap they went back to going behind the island. First and second was Dave followed by Cole again, however this time David Heffernan from Nottingham secured a comfortable third.

All the Comet sailors were such lovely people and it was a pleasure to host the event for them. Prizes were awarded to Dave Turtle in first place, Cole Briscoe in second, John Coppenhall in third and David Heffernan in fourth place. Ali Knight received a prize for first female and then an endeavour prize for Tony Habgood for the last boat who completed all 3 races.

Many thanks to all the volunteers, Sue Burnham for food, Roger Day for results and engine support, David Nettleton safety boat helm, Russ Bentley safety boat crew, Dennis Bell timekeeper and photos by Dave Burnham.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm Name	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	Dave Turtle	Shustoke SC	1	1	1	2
2nd	Cole Briscoe		2	2	2	4
3rd	John Coppenhall	Hunts SC	3	3	4	6
4th	David Hefferman	Nottingham SC	7	4	3	7
5th	Nigel Fern	Staunton Harold	4	7	6	10
6th	Malcolm Davidson	Attenborough SC	5	5	5	10
7th	Nick Bober	Nottingham SC	6	6	7	12
8th	Rafal Danek	Attenborough SC	8	10	9	17
9th	Ali Knight	Nottingham SC	9	8	12	17
10th	David Waymont	Staunton Harold	11	12	8	19
11th	Hazel Clark	Nottingham SC	10	9	13	19
12th	Tony Habgood	Attenborough SC	12	11	10	21
13th	John Leefe	Nottingham SC	14	(DNS)	11	25
14th	Richard Hill	Nottingham SC	13	(DNS)	14	27