National 12 Burton Week 2026 at Shoreham Sailing Club - Runners and Riders
by Isobel Stewart 14 Aug 10:19 PDT
29 August - 1 September 2026
Atomic Kitten © Kevan Bloor
The National 12 fleet heads to Shoreham Sailing Club over the August Bank Holiday for four days of racing, and with several big names in contention, this year's championship is wide open.
So, who is within a shot of a race win or the championship title?
Defending champions Graham and Blue Camm will be back to see if they can hold the Silver National for a consecutive year. The father-daughter duo are almost unbeatable in light winds, so they'll be hoping for a continuation of this summer's light airs trend.
Next, we have Tom and Isobel Stewart. Another father-daughter duo, they hold the record for most consecutive championship title wins in the history of the class, but have recently been lacking in practice opportunities - will muscle memory help them out or will a pairing with more time in the boat show them up?
To round off the father-daughter triad is Steve and Joanne Sallis, a very strong pairing who always put up a good fight in the breeze! After a decent season so far, they'll be looking to come out on top in Shoreham.
Ian and Alex Gore have put in some fantastic events recently, winning the Inland Championships last Autumn and demonstrating impressive consistency throughout the year. They are a really strong team and very hard to keep up with once they get going! The Norfolk Week legends will be hoping to stack their trophy shelf even higher than usual with a collection of Burton Week Trophies too.
After their Firefly success, Ben Whaley and Rhona Enkel will be racing in the superior 12 foot class - but separately this time.
Rhona will crew for Jon Ibbotson, a longstanding member of the fleet, who will be looking forwards to racing in a Burton Week after managing to catch Covid in 2025. After Rhona has demonstrated her superstar crewing at the Fireflys, I'm sure she's prepped for a stellar performance here.
Ben is swapping the tiller for a jibstick and crewing for Rory Gifford. This comedy duo won the Burton Brick for a number of misdemeanours last year. This year I think they'll try to capitalise on their speed and pay close attention to avoiding buoys during gybes. They had impressive boat speed and showed serious potential last year - expecting big things to come!
I have high hopes for the father-son duo of Nick and Billy Bubb. The pair race in the eye-catching Red Snapper and are known for some incredible moments of boat speed. They are great fun to have on the race course and the younger Bubbs are definitely ones to watch in the future of the racing circuit.
After a top Merlin Rocket Week result, Antony and Jo Gifford could show us how it's done in Shoreham this year. This long-time pairing show consistent ability and drive on the course - could this be the year it comes good?
To finish - my wild card pick; Chris Gould and Rory Bubb. Merlin legend and Shoreham local Chris is stepping into the 12 to race in Burton Week for the first time. With Supercrew Rory to tell him the intricacies of the boat, and sailing the winning boat of the 90th anniversary regatta, this new pairing has some serious potential to take the championship.
See you there! August Bank Holiday weekend: 29th August - 1st September at Shoreham Sailing Club.