Craftinsure Wayfarer National Circuit event at Aldeburgh Yacht Club

Craftinsure Wayfarer National Circuit event at Aldeburgh © Ken Underhill

The latest UK Wayfarer Craftinsure National Circuit event as part of the 2025 season was held over the 7-8th June at the fantastically picturesque location of Aldeburgh Yacht Club on the River Alde. The weekend was shared with a Flying Fifteen open at the same time which meant a busy and vibrant event overall at this great venue.

The forecast had been up and down throughout the week but Saturday started with slightly less than forecast 12-15 mph from the south. A few absent teams from the home club meant the fleet was slightly down on numbers but there were still seven boats hit the start line for the first race. The competitors mainly comprised local AYC teams apart from Sam Pygall who guested in a scratch team-up with Ken Underhill in a local borrowed boat.

The course was the same for all three races on Saturday and was of a windward-leeward variety and held back-to-back. In the first race of the day, Luke and Alison Andrews won a tightly contested pin and led the fleet up cleanly up the beat, chased closely by the teams of Ken and Sam and Angus Grogono and Thomasin Andrews. There was some place shifting across these teams, both downwind that needed some consideration of trade-offs between wind, tide and distance, and upwind where some adapting to shifts and smart tacking were needed.

Eventually Angus and Thomasin pulled ahead to take a well-deserved first place, followed by Luke and Alison and Ken and Sam. Charles and Nicky Manby were the best of the rest in this race, coming in fourth but as is standard for the Wayfarer fleet the racing was keenly contested across the whole fleet.

Race 2 again somewhat hinged on who won the pin at the start and this time Ken and Sam got off the line with speed and height and led the fleet up the first beat, chased again closely by Luke and Alison and Angus and Thomasin. The teams rounded the windward mark in this order.

There were choices to be made downwind and Ken and Sam just about got the trade-offs of tide and wind right to hold off the chasing pack, which saw Angus and Thomasin nip ahead of Luke and Alison. Charles and Nick had been front-running at the beginning of the race and took fourth again. It was closely contested at the front!

The third race of the day started with the now familiar theme of who took the pin end would be well placed for the first beat and the race overall. Once again Ken and Sam shot off the line and this time led from start to finish to take another victory. This handed them the overall lead for the event overnight.

Luke and Alison kept in touch and took a runners-up spot to close out a strong first day. An unfortunate OCS for Angus and Thomasin let Howard Wheater and Jonathan Christie capitalise on a strong first led to take 3rd in this race. Peter and Janette Redshaw also had a good showing in this race by coming home fourth.

Overnight, Ken and Sam led overall from Luke and Alison and despite their OCS, Angus and Thomasin had done enough for third place. The fleet had the option of wine-tasting and a nice evening meal at the Yacht Club and tried to avoid the thunderstorms and showers.

Sunday dawned with a foreboding 20 knots, gusting 30 knots, from the west. After a short discussion ashore the race team made the call to abandon racing for the weekend so the overnight results from Saturday were declared final.

Congratulations to all the competing teams and to AYC for laying on a great event! Many thanks to Aldeburgh Yacht Club for excellent race management that enabled three races to be held.

The next events on the Craftinsure National Circuit for the Wayfarers are at Whitstable Yacht Club on the 28-29th June (shared with the Wanderer Nationals) and Medway Yacht Club in the 12-13th July. We also have an exciting international championship in Denmark and a national championships at Shoreham. Hope to see you there!

Overall Results: