Whilst the stormy forecast may have kept some away those that did turn up were treated to some interesting wind patterns and good close racing plus the usual Flash hospitability.

Race 1 saw Paul Lennie and Pam Gott (Winsford Flash) 7909 first to the windward mark closely followed closely by son and father team Mathew and Paul Metcalfe-Smith (Ogston SC) 8158 just ahead of Phil Smith and Fiona Nidre (Winsford Flash) 8152. Phil managed to work his way through the fleet to take the gun ahead of Mathew.

After a hearty lunch the squall at the start of race 2 was put to good use by Mike Banner and Pippa Mitchell (Winsford Flash) 8133 who shot off the line leaving mayhem behind them. They extended their lead throughout the race to finish comfortably ahead of both Phil and Paul.

That meant it was all down to the last race, which started in the steadiest wind conditions. Mike, sailing again with his former crew Pippa, tacked onto a shift just after the start to take an early lead only for Phil to slowly claw back resulting in a tense covering duel to the finish with Mike managing to hold on and win the race and the event overall. At the prize giving Ian McLean and Jack Davey (Dee SC) 6833 picked up a bottle of wine each to celebrate their first Albacore Open whilst Mike thanked the club for a well organised event and dedicated his first open win to the late Mary Ayrton, a former Winsford Albacore stalwart and wife of Ken Aytron.

Overall Results:

We have been doing a spot of development with our Albacore sails, John Gimson who is Iain Percy's training partner in the Star and has also been apart of the team GB team for some time now approached Speed Sails as he fancied doing some Albacore sailing. We saw this as a great opportunity to finely tune and take a closer look at our sails.

We have put some hard hours into it and John sailing with his farther Paul came out on top at the Hamble open. John & Paul are sailing at the nationals held by Llandudno SC, watch this space to see how they get on. Good luck chaps!

Speed Sails have put together this tuning guide to help you set your boat up close to its ideal settings. These settings should be regarded as a starting point for fine tuning as individual boats and crews may need to alter them slightly for best performance. When you have your boat set up, remember to mark everything so that the settings can be reproduced quickly.

SpeedSails Albacore Tuning Guide

Speed Sails win Merlin Salcombe week.

It was a battle between the 2 Speed sailmakers. In the end Chris came out on top and claimed his first Merlin Rocket Salcombe week title with Andy finishing 3rd overall. Both Chris, sailing with Will Warren, and Andy, crewed by Ellie Bremer, scored 3 wins a piece from their 6 races. However, Andy was left counting the cost of a broken mast while in 2nd in race 1 as it meant he had to count a 6th from a very shift final day. Chris was able to discard his 6th and, along with a 2nd in the penultimate race, a 3rd in the final race was enough to seal victory overall.

This was Speed Sails 3rd Salcombe week title in a row following victories for Roger Gilbert & Matt Mee in 2007 and Andy & Ellie last year. This august both Andy and Chris will also be out to make it 3 in a row at the Nationals and continue Speed Sails winning ways in the Merlin Rocket fleet.

For more information on our latest Merlin Rocket sails and spares please contact us on 01922 455503 / sails@speedsails.co.uk or visit www.speedsails.co.uk

Flying 15 Nationals

Following on from Salcombe, Andy headed straight up to Abersoch for the Flying 15 Nationals. Despite not having sailed the boat before, and never having sailed with his crew, they finished 8th overall and scored in a 2nd in the final race as time in the boat started to show. New Speed Sails recruit Andy Farmer was sailing with Andy and is an experienced Flying 15 sailor. He was impressed with how well the sails performed across the conditions and ended the event rueing a lack of time in the boat together which he felt prevented a much higher finish.

The latest feedback from the Nationals development of the Speed Flying 15 sails is ongoing helping to ensure the latest Speed designs will be at the front of the fleet whatever the class decide on the new sail proposals.

For more information on our latest Flying 15 sails and spares please contact us n 0845 50 40 600 sails@speedsails.co.uk or visit www.speedsails.co.uk

For all your Merlin Dinghy class spares be sure to check out our extensive stock at www.speedsails.co.uk

Albacore Nationals

Will Gulliver and Steve Graham have won the Albacore Nationals using a Speed Albacore with Chris Turner and Simon MAguire also finishing 3rd. Will and Steve just edged a close battle with Americans Barney Harris & Dave Byron to win the Nationals on countback. Racing continues all this week with results now counting towards the Internationals title. After yesterday Speed boats were in 1st, 3rd and 5th overall.

Speed Sails have been closely involved with the Albacore class for the last decade producing National Championship winning sails. In 2007 developments in sail shape have led to increased performance across the conditions and saw victory in the European Championships.

SAILS:

Mainsail: - The Speed Albacore mainsail is a proven championship winner taking both the National title and inaugural European title in recent years. Development in 2007 has led to a more efficient sail shape providing both excellent drive and controllability. The sail is manufactured from 4.46oz Ripstop Polykote and comes complete with battens, window, numbers, cunningham block and sail bags.

Jib: - The Speed Albacore jib is a proven championship winner taking both the National title and inaugural European title in recent years. The jib is specially designed to provide the optimum balance between pointing and power. The sail is manufactured from 4.46oz Ripstop Polykote and comes complete with window, tell tales and sail bag.

Albacore tuning guide

SPARS: 

We carry a large stock of Superspar and Proctor masts & booms in our rigging workshop ready to despatch either fully rigged or as bare sections. We also offer a complete rigging service to cater for everything from replacement shrouds and halyards to cascade kickers.

Click here for your FREE SPEED CATALOGUE 

Alternatively visit us online at www.speedsails.co.uk