A high quality National 12 fleet assembled at Aldeburgh YC for the annual open on 9-10 April to be greeted by winter temperatures and a strong westerly wind.

Saturday turned into swimming practice for all, with nobody making it through the day without a capsize. Frances Gifford and Sophie Mackley could not even wait for the first race, and swam before the start.

Antony and Jo Gifford won the first race, helped by the swimming of Jon Ibbotson and Helen Hunt, with Jon Brown and Rachel Williamson recovering fast from their own swim to claim second. The Giffords retired from the second race (and swam on the way home) leaving Gifford/Mackley to open a comfortable lead and take race two from Harry Pynn and Alan Krailing.

Three races on Sunday were held in less challenging winds, with Antony and Jo Gifford taking the first two races, in both cases from Brown/Williamson. The final race was a close three-way tussle between Ibbotson/Hunt, Gifford/Gifford and Brown/Williamson with the intervention of a late sea breeze to throw the race up in the air. In the end it was Ibbotson and Hunt who led event winners Gifford and Gifford home.

Overall Results

1st Antony and Jo Gifford, AYC, N3484

2nd Jon Brown and Rachel Williamson, RHYC, N3483

3rd Jon Ibbotson and Helen Hunt, RHYC, N3445