Burton Week, the National 12 class championship was, once again, another special regatta for the 47 entries who made the trip to Tenby in south Wales last week.

As ever a varied fleet, with a third of the sailors under 21 and a third over 40, 10 of the boats crewed by married couples six of them by parent/child combinations, and eight of them helmed by under 21s.

Seven of the eight scheduled races were sailed over six days. Heavy rain on the first night and the last afternoon split five days of unbroken sunshine, and it was the sun that caused the most disruption to the week as every day a sea breeze fought against a land breeze. The sailing was characterised in three races by the wind dying and filling in from a new direction. Combined with a strong tide across the course this gave rise to a large amount of volatility in the results. Every time the wind filled in from astern.

Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne in a ‘Numinous’ design made the most of a high scoring series. Three wins from the seven races, including the Sir William Burton Cup, were enough to take the week ahead of Steve Sallis and Jenny James in a ‘Feeling Foolish’ who had two race wins.

Early leaders in the week were Geoff Camm and Amelia Hall in a ‘Final Chapter’, pursued by the highly consistent Jon Brown and Guy Johnson in a ‘Feeling Foolish’. Subsequent inconsistency was the undoing of Camm and Hall while despite counting a ‘flush’ of 3,4,5,6,7 and discarding an eighth, Brown and Johnson were never able to get enough top three race finishes to challenge further. Both of these boats ended up overhauled by John and Katy Meadowcroft in a ‘Final Chapter’ who finished third on tie break.

The top six was completed by Ian and Alex Gore in a ‘Feeling Foolish’.

Gavin Willis returned to the Twelves after an absence of 20 years to win the old boats prize – the Admirals Cup – crewed by his daughters Chloe and Jasmine. Gavin takes home a new jib from Pinnell & Bax. Special mention should also go to Eleanor and Caroline Martin who won trophies for first lady helmsman, first junior helmsman, and first time helmsman at Burton Week. Malcolm Mackley and Andrew Douglas were Grand Masters. The Gill Super Crew for crews in their first Burton Week was won by William Playford. The prizegiving was rounded off the award of the Clinker Trophy for amateur home built boat to Mike Cooke. Mike also was awarded the Decanter Trophy to mark the outstanding contribution made to the National Twelve Class by the documentation of the building of his all-singing-all dancing carbonfibre boat on his internet site www.aardvarkracing.co.uk.

The week was a success thanks to the sponsorship from a number of friends of the National 12 Owners’ Association, including Clean Tent, Octec, Low & Bonar, sailpower.com, Gill, Pinnell & Bax, Yachts & Yachting, Hyde Sails, madforsailing.com, Musto and the Tenby House Hotel.

Overall Results

3469 Thanks for all the fish, Graham Camm Zoe Ballantyne (Numimous design)

2nd 3436 Dilbert, Steve Sallis and Jenny James (Feeling Foolish design)

3rd 3473 Max Factor, John and Katy Meadowcroft (Final Chapter design)

4th 3464 Transmogrifier, Geoff Camm and Amelia Hall (Final Chapter design)

5th 3426 Purple Pants, Jon Brown and Guy Johnson (Feeling Foolish design)

6th 3441 Tabitha, Ian and Alex Gore (Feeling Foolish design)

Corrigan Cup3445, Eleanor & Caroline Martin

Admirals Cup3389, Gavin & Chloe/Jasmine Willis

Canter Trophy3436, Sallis & James

Grand Master3462, Malcolm Mackley & Andrew Douglas

Coronation Cup3441, Gore & Gore

Money Cup3445, Eleanor & Caroline Martin

Clinker Trophy3472, Mike Cooke & Ally Martin

Joe Yorke Trophy3469, Camm & Ballantyne

Tubs Trophy3473, Meadowcroft & Meadowcroft

Arrows Trophy3445, Eleanor & Caroline Martin

Cross Wins Trophy3443, Chris Mayhew & Charlotte Ibbotson

Gill Super CrewWilliam Playford

Gipsy TrophyBurghfield Sailing Club

Burton BrickSue Pelling

Decanter TrophyMike Cooke