Bright sunshine and a good force three greeted the National 12's at Nottingham Sailing Club on Saturday the 12th of May for their annual open meeting. The racing kicked off at midday, with Steve Sallis and Jenny James in 3436 taking a bit of a flyer and vanishing off into the distance - This left the rest of the pack to sort out the pecking order. Graham Camm with Kate Edwards in 3378 and Mike Cooke with Alison Martin in 3419 tried out their match racing skills, with Graham eventually getting the upper hand to land in second.

After a break for some liquid refreshment race 2 started and by the end of the second lap some more match racing had developed only this time between Sallis and Cooke. After a few place changes Mike had managed to pull out a lead and take the gun, with Sallis in second and Camm in third.

After another stop for more drinks and some lunch - Taking time out to do some maths it was decided that any one of three people could win it - Sallis, Camm and Cooke, making for a deciding third race.
Steve was a bit keen to get going though and ended up over the line, leaving Cooke and Camm to battle alongside Jon and James Whitehead in 3458, who were starting to find their river feet (flippers?). Mike and Alison took the gun and the Sherwood Trophy for the second year running.

The search was then on to find beer and curry to prepare for the next days sailing for the Trent Valley Open....

Results

1st - 3419 "Foolish Aardvark" - Mike Cooke and Alison Martin - Notts County SC
2nd - 3436 "Dilbert" - Steve Sallis and Jenny James - Hykeham SC
3rd - 3378 "Shake yer Beans" - Graham Camm and Kate Edwards - Trent Valley SC
4th - 3458 - Jon and James Whitehead - Redesmere SC