Late May Bank Holiday Keelboat Racing at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Mike Samuelson 29 May 2023 13:49 BST
26-29 May 2023
With late/early tides over the late May Bank Holiday, careful planning was required if one wanted to race! In an attempt to encourage people to sailing over the weekend and get boats out of the harbour, Friday evening saw the first of the season's Champagne Challenge races.
Four One-Designs rigged up but with two quite happy to go off for a sail to Seaview, the other two boats decided against racing, so no champagne for them! Meanwhile eight enthusiastic Redwings started 10 minutes early from Garland and headed off in a growing Easterly swell to Moreton. Tara, helmed by Mike Toogood, was nearly pushed OCS by Rosie Gosling in Gosling but just got away with it.
Video: Redwing start - Friday evening
All soon tacked and went in towards the Lifeboat Station to take advantage of less tide. There was little separating the first three, Gosling (helmed by Rosie), Harlequin (with a new set of trial Hyde sails) helmed by Matt Alexander and Quail helmed by James Wilson as they rounded Moreton. By the time they rounded Fitzwilliam having first rounded Garland, Quail, Harlequin and Gosling were still some way ahead of the rest of the fleet. With the North Easterly breeze (and thus the sea conditions) picking up, racing became quite challenging - it was certainly pretty roly-poly onboard Sea Breeze!
Video: Leaders rounding Fitzwilliam
On the final beat from Garland to Undertyne, James pulled out a 10 second lead over Matt; Rosie was third and Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence was fourth. Getting back onto a mooring was certainly a test of seamanship, as was transferring to the launches to get back to the Club Bar!
After a disappointingly poorly attended MOB workshop (horses & water spring to mind!), ten Redwings and three One-Designs made their way from their overnight moorings at Undertyne to the start area midway between Tara and Britten. With the breeze (a SSEaterly) only registering 6 knots on Sea Breeze's anemometer, seas conditions were considerably less bumpy than the previous evening.
Starting on time and with a very simple windward/leeward course looping Tara and Britten (3 times), Blue Jay, helmed by Lara Crisp over cooked it so had to come back.
The fleet then split with Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II leading a group of four down to the Undertyne moorings to try to take advantage of the tide. The down side of this tactic is that the breeze was more fickle so by the time they reached Tara, the offshore group had already rounded and begun the slow run to Britten. The order as they completed the first round was Quail (James Wilson), Plover (Ed Eddy), Tara (Mike Toogood), Red Gauntlet II (Joe), Harlequin)Matt Alexander), Avocet (Alastair Speare-Cole), Redwitch (Henry Thorpe), Gosling (Rosie), Blue Jay (Lara) and Quintessence (Robin Ebsworth).
Decisions on which way to go were as testing on the second round as in the first! Although the breeze picked up slightly, and as the leaders had already been racing for nearly an hour a half, it was decided to finish at the end of the second round. Quail was not for catching and finished over 2 minutes ahead of Mike in Tara. Ed in Plover and Joe in Red Gauntlet II could not be split when they crossed the line 5 seconds later.
The three One-Designs were set the same course. After probably not the closest of starts, Rosanna Beart in No 5 lead the way with all three remaining on starboard for the majority of the leg. Rounding 5 minutes ahead of Roy Burrows in No 2 with Alexander Ross in No 9 a further 5 minutes behind, there was no change on the slow run to Britten. With only limited options to change/shorten the course, it was decided to finish after just one round; mind you it still took No 5 thirty seconds short of an hour to finish and there were certainly no complaints! No 9 reduced the deficit and finished only a minute behind No 2.
Sunday was a similar scenario with blue skies, bright sunshine and a fairly smooth sea in the F2 North Easterly breeze. The twelve Redwings and five One-Designs had the same course which was started off an inflatable pin just to the north of Undertyne; the windward mark was Ruthven, then a run to Garland, back to Ruthven and then to the finish at Undertyne via Janson. After a clean start, the fleet split quite quickly.
Video: Start of Sunday's Redwing race
Colin Samuelson in Toucan was first round Ruthven just ahead of Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlett II and Quail helmed by James Wilson who had made up a lot of ground after an 'interesting' late start next to Sea Breeze! On the run down to Garland, Red Gauntlet II took over the lead just ahead of Quail and Toucan. By careful covering, Joe managed to hold them off and although close, he finished 5 seconds ahead of James with Colin 10 seconds later. Ed helming Plover was fourth. It was great to see Prawn (No 3) out racing and although always tail end charlie, full credit to helm Alex (junior) Andreae for perseverance.
The five One-Designs started five minutes after the Redwings and with normal mains and genoas, and given that they had the same course it was going to be interesting to see how they fared. Although not the closest of starts, Alexander Ross in No 8 and James Beart in No 5 lead the way as all stayed on starboard and headed offshore
Video: Start of Sunday's One-Design race
After a challenging beat, No 8 was first to round Ruthven with No 5 and John Suffield (sailing single handed) in No 4 not too far behind, however there was then quite a gap to Penny Stanley in No 9 and Roy Burrows in No 2. There was no change in the order after the slow run to Garland but Alexander then got his skates on and by the end of the long beat back to Ruthven had developed a substantial lead over James; indeed at the finish he was six minutes ahead. John was third, eight minutes later. On elapsed time, this put No 8, thirteen minutes behind the lead Redwing.
On Monday morning (it was programmed for a 10:00 start), a number of doughty helmsmen including James Wilson, Joe Robertson, Mike Toogood, Henry Thorpe, Susie Beart and Alexander Ross turned out for the third day of the
Redwing Gunston Trophy and the One-Design Lowry-Corry Cup. However, wisely the Race Officers decided to cancel the race with the Easterly breeze registering in the 20-26 knots range accompanied by a very lumpy sea.
This meant that James Wilson in Quail narrowly won the Gunston Trophy and the Bearts in No 5 One-Design won the Lowry-Corry Cup.
Additional photos: flic.kr/s/aHBqjAFHB6