Noble Marine Albacore National Championship 2025 at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy

Recipe for Success

Before we get into our report I wanted to share a simple recipe that seems to have worked for the Albacore Class! Event entries were up by 20% over 2025.

Recent commentary in dinghy racing circles has focussed heavily on the declining participation and it seems that not many classes are immune to this trend. For its 2025 Nationals, the Albacore class decided to try to buck this trend with some simple but effective ideas that appealed to its members by using the following sailing success recipe!

• Take one great venue with fantastic facilities and great administration and organisation skills - WPNSA - thanks Sally and your team

• Add a risk reducing share of the event with another friendly class (the K1s)

• Mix in a professional race team run by an experienced and customer focussed PRO - the excellent Frankie Upton and her team

• Offer an early bird entry incentive in the form of a draw for a free jib - thanks to HD Sails - 90% of the entrants entered early!

• Sprinkle in a mix of sponsors Noble Marine, PlainSailing, Ovington and HD Sails - Thanks to all

• Add a dose of pre-event shared experience training session from top sailors offered free to all entrants - 50% take up rate!

• Plus a top 10 mug for anyone finishing in that position for the first time in the event

• Place an evening BBQ mid-way through the event and post racing pasta after every race day

• Throw in some beer for the first boat to the windward mark in every race - what's not to like about that!

• Dust in some great tally draw prizes after racing

Mix it all together and what do you get? A very successful Albacore Nationals the proof of the pudding was in the sailors smiles and the story of which can now be told!

Twenty six Albacores headed to WPNSA from far and wide for the 2025 Nationals shared with the K1s over the first weekend of September. Nine races were sailed in generally strong winds with two mast breakages but,as far as we know, only one capsize. The boats ranged from a near 60 year old wooden classic to the most recent Ovington plastic fantastic and everything in between. The racing, held in the harbour, was very close throughout the fleet with the courses being a mix of triangles, sausages and trapezoids.

A great start during the 2025 Noble Marine Albacore Nationals at the WPNSA - photo © David Beer

Races 1,2 & 3

Nev Herbert and Lewis Fowler (7145) sailing in a borrowed boat showed their intent to reclaim the Nationals title with a port end flyer in R1 which they held to the finish adding a 2nd and another first during the day. They were pushed all the way by Stephen Brown and Mark Fowler in the newest boat in the fleet 8264 who scored two seconds although they decided to do a mid race buoyancy test capsize in R3 that did not help their cause. Podium places were completed by Judy & Paul Armstrong 8228 in R1, Mike Banner and Colin Gardiner 8223 in R2 and Class Chair Richard Smith and Annissa Baines 7987 in R3.

Close racing during the 2025 Noble Marine Albacore Nationals at the WPNSA - photo © David Beer

Races 4,5 & 6

On the windiest day of the weekend Stephen and Mark were on fire as they won all three races with Nev and Lewis staying in touch with a 3,2,2 score whilst Judy & Paul improved their score with a 2,2,3. Tim Coleman sailing with daughter Jo Sankey in 8254 claimed a third in R6.

Champions Nev Herbert and Lewis Fowler during the 2025 Noble Marine Albacore Nationals at the WPNSA - photo © David Beer

Races 7, 8 & 9

The final day was delayed due to a thunder and lightning storm passing over that allowed an impromptu game of couts in the marque following a precautionary evacuation of the dinghy park. It was all to play on the race course with only a few points separating the top two. Nev and Lewis did what they had to do by winning all three races and with it reclaiming their Nationals title that they last won in 2023. Stephen and Mark finished with a 2,3,4 score whilst Allan Tyler and Richard Frost 8236 claimed a second in R7 as did Richard and Annissa in R8.

Champions at the 2025 Noble Marine Albacore Nationals at the WPNSA - photo © David Beer

As the exhausted fleet returned to shore, Nev Herbet and Lewis Fowler were crowned 2025 Albacore National Champions with Stephen Brown and Mark Fowler only two points behind and Judy and Paul Armstrong a well earned third. The full race results are below - don't forget to complete the gear guide if you finished in the Top 10.

Paul Gimson and Helen Baines won the Silver Fleet and Tewkesbury the Team Prize. At the prize-giving the K1s made a special mention of Annissa Baines, a young lady Albacore crew who had fearlously swam out from the launch area to help a stranded K1 sailor.

Next on the agenda for some of the competing Albacores is a trip across the pond to the biennial Albacore Nationals being held at the Hampton YC in Virginia USA during early October with the container being loaded the day after the Nationals! Looking further ahead a full programme of racing is being planned for 2026 with the Europeans set for a mid July showdown in the Shetlands and the Nationals scheduled for the last weekend in August at the fabulous Thorpe Bay Yacht Club.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Albacore nationals then enter your Gear Guide information