The weekend of 12-13 May was the 70th anniversary of the first National 12 open meeting at Trent Valley, and was so well attended 70 years later that six flights had to be arranged. This meant every race counted and overnight there were several boats vying for the top position with two wins apiece.

After racing on Saturday, Kevan Bloor of Alverbanks sails (now part of Evolution) gave an interactive demonstration of how N12 sails are built, with the opportunity for competitors to make their own scale models.

On the Sunday the river was very busy with motorboats, narrowboats and the local Scouts in canoes, kayaks and Toppers, making navigation exciting at times. Heavy rain brought gusty conditions and a few competitors went swimming, while others were heard to wonder why they were on the water instead of inside the warm dry clubhouse with a cup of tea.

The overall top positions came down to the final two races, with Steve and Joanne Sallis (with three wins) battling it out with Graham Camm and Zoë Ballantyne (with four wins) in one flight, while Mike Day and Lewis Ibbotson managed to stay ahead in their race to also get a total of three wins.

Overall Results
1st Graham Camm and Zoë Ballantyne, Babel Fish
2nd Steve and Joanne Sallis, Dilbert
3rd Mike Day and Lewis Ibbotson, Flipside