Piers January Jacket at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Rudy Jurg 23 Jan 2012 20:00 GMT
21-22 January 2012
Piers' January Jacket at Bembridge © Rudy Jurg
19 Illusionists competed in boisterous Westerlies at the weekend for the annual "Piers' January Jacket" trophy. Notable fleet guests included top Portuguese sailor Pedro Andrade who was immediately in the thick of a congested battle for the pin in race 1. He and several others were recalled but Bruce Huber escaped the melee and diligently guarded his lead all the way to the finish line. Race 2 was dominated by Graham Sunderland followed by Graham Bailey and Mark Downer then after much place changing and a nail-biting 3-abreast finish, the same result was repeated in Race 3.
Various impediments were reported the next day attributed jointly and severally to increased gust strength and/or attendance at Rudy Jurg's excellent 40th birthday celebrations the night before. One determined competitor managed to break her bilge pump handle off, another head-butted the boom and then there was the sinking incident where the captain was not for abandoning her vessel.
In the first race of the day Mark Downer opened up the series with a master class in high-wind techniques to finish ahead of Graham Sunderland then Philip Bown in a very well deserved third place having prudently elected not to hoist his spinnaker for windiest runs.
Graham Sunderland then found his form (and his pajamas according to one account) and won the next 2 races giving him the overall win ahead of Graham Bailey and Mark Downer with Raymond Simonds 4th overall and Pedro 5th.
Next up is the Invitational Challenge Match Race Championship on 28th and 29th January where die-hard fans of old 12 metre America's Cup format get to pretend they are Dennis Connor for the day, in miniature.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Graham Sunderland | 80 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | Graham Bailey | 132 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 3 | Mark Downer | 124 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| 4 | Raymond Simonds | 23 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 26 |
| 5 | Pedro Andrade * | 157B | 7 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 31 |
| 6 | Colin Simonds | 986 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 35 |
| 7 | Philip Bown | 130 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 41 |
| 7 | James Axtell | 106 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 41 |
| 9 | Julia Bailey | 157W | 4 | 9 | 4 | N | S | 5 | 42 |
| 10 | Jo Downer | 123 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 45 |
| 11 | Bruce Huber | 101 | 1 | 4 | 5 | S | S | S | 50 |
| 12 | Robin Ebsworth | 12 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 57 |
| 13 | Philip Woodford | 158 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 61 |
| 14 | Tom Wilson | 4 | 10 | 7 | 7 | R | S | S | 64 |
| 15 | Rachael Vizick ** | 801 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 71 |
| 16 | Bill Daniels | 68 | S | S | S | 11 | 10 | 13 | 74 |
| 17 | Serena Gosling | 122 | 12 | 16 | 16 | S | S | S | 84 |
| 18 | Richard Hill | 127 | 16 | 13 | N | S | S | S | 89 |
| 19 | Dylan Potter ** | 144 | N | 18 | N | S | S | S | 98 |
* Pedro Andrade - Portuguese Olympic 49er & Dragon/Etchell sailor
** Rachael Vizick & Dylan Potter sail Dragons/Etchells