Bembridge Keelboats Daily Summer Racing
by Mike Samuelson 29 Jul 19:40 BST
22-29 July 2024
Bembridge Keelboats Daily Summer Racing (29 July 2024) © Mike Samuelson
As normal, the first week of the 2024 peak Summer season offered racing every day, albeit there were only limited numbers entering.
Monday 23 July
Despite a couple of Redwings showing initial interest, it was an N over A day in the Westerly F5 gusting F6 conditions.
Tuesday 24 July
There were no One-Designs on Tuesday afternoon, however there were four Redwings eager to try their hand in what was initially a Westerly F3 breeze. Having been thwarted the previous day, it was agreed that there would be two races. The first start used Undertyne (E) as the pin, Drum as the windward mark and Tara as the leeward mark. After an excellent start, Lady Laetitia (helmed by Billy Clegg) looked as if she would round the windward mark first, however it was in fact Snow Goose (helmed by Jonathan N-L).
There was then a considerable gap to Plover (helmed by Andrew Eddy) and an even larger gap to Ladybird (helmed by Christopher Chetwood). Lady Laetitia was first to round Tara and with the breeze becoming lighter begin what turned out to be a final beat to finish at Footprint. Unfortunately Plover failed to pick up the course change (low volume on their VHF apparently) so they headed off towards Seaview and only realised that something was wrong when they saw they were on their own! This allowed Ladybird to come third.
Lady Laetitia and Plover had good starts in the second race however it was Snow Goose, who had been last to cross the start line following a minor problem just before the start actually ended up after a short beat to be the first round the windward mark, Nainby. Even with the tide, it took quite a long time to run to Tara which all four rounded reasonably close together.
The beat to Footprint was certainly challenging and so with the clock ticking it was decided to shorten the course by finishing on the run at Undertyne. A convincing win by Lady Laetitia and a surprise second by Ladybird who managed to find the best breeze and made up for earlier lost ground on the beat to Footprint. Plover was third.
Wednesday 24 July
Four Redwing made it out for a sail in a sunny consistent F3 wind with a series of windward leeward legs and a reach to the finish. The course kept the fleet away from the dinghy sailing in the harbour entrance as the clubs training side sprang into action with the start of the summer holidays which is always nice to see. After a tidy start,
the boats that had gone hard right or hard left arrived closely together after the first leg of the course. But it was Lady Laetitia helmed by the Billy Clegg sailing with his family who held their lead down the run before extending to over two minutes on the second of three upwind legs. The other three boats, Plover, Snowgoose and Ladybird exchanged places with tight racing.
By the finish Lady L had extended to over three minutes from Andrew Eddy sailing Plover. Jonathan N-L helming Snowgoose was third half a minute behind but with only a boat length separating them from Tom Chetwood in Ladybird after some close racing and covering by both boats.
Thursday 25 July
Despite the heavy drizzle and less than perfect visibility, the was a useful SSW'erly F 3-4 breeze on Thursday afternoon that drew four Redwings to the start line off Janson. The first beat took them to Undertyne, then a run back to Janson, a reach to Drum, a beat to Pepe, a run to Janson (rounded to starboard) and a final beat to the finish at Undertyne.
Lady Laetitia (helmed by Billy Clegg) and Plover (helmed by Andrew Eddy) had an excellent start at the Committee Boat end of the line, while Snowgoose (helmed by Jonathan N-L) tried their luck at the pin end on port. Owning up to a timings issue by his father Tom, Christopher Chetwood helming Ladybird was a good half a minute late crossing the line so has a lot to catch up. Rounding Undertyne with a useful lead, Lady L never really looked under much pressure for the rest of the race.
Mind you, Plover closed the gap a couple of times and Snowgoose was in the wings ready to pounce on any errors. Had Ladybird not suffered a 'senior moment' and initially forget they had to go to Pepe after Drum, the battle for third place would have been closer! So after just under an hour, the finishing order was Lady Laetitia, Plover, Snowgoose and Ladybird.
Friday 26 July
No One-Designs (who were programmed to start first) so the sixteen Redwings heading to Cowes had the waters off Footprint to themselves. With a pleasant F3-4 SW breeze, the start was a broad reach with the only mark of the course as usual as the Red Post located to South West of No Mans Land Fort.
Hugo Cuddigan in Capella probably had the best start, but with the fleet spread along the line and a long way to go to the RYS line it was all to play for. First to finish (and therefore the winner of the Svalan Cup) was Paroquet helmed by Class Captain Rory Morrison; Mark Downer in Enigma was second and Harlequin helmed by Xander Shaw just pipped Billy Clegg in Lady Laetitia for third place.
Saturday 27 July
Morning starts for the next seven days One-Design racing looked fine in the programme but for the first couple of days, there was the minor problem of getting Sea Breeze and the launches out of the harbour due to the lack of water! Despite Charlie moving Sea Breeze onto a One-Design mooring, there was just not enough water to get out of the Pool.
Crews went by RIB as did the RO who took everything he needed off Sea Breeze. Originally programmed for the Margetson (family pairs) Trophy, with only No 10 (Robin and Ollie Joy) qualifying it was agreed to still run two races but postpone the trophy to a later date.
With Undertyne (E) as the pin, the first beat was to Britten, then a run back Undertyne and a final beat back to Britten. All six boats crossed the start line on port tack but soon split tacks as they tried to work out the best way to counter the tide in the slowly decreasing breeze. John Suffield helming No 4 single handed rounded Britten well ahead of Robin Joy in No 10; then another gap to No 3 helmed single handed by Stephan Ludwig; Roy Burrows in No 2 and Alexander Ross single handed in No 8 (on a normal jib) were quite close which then just left D Orange in No 9 to round a few minutes later.
The slow run back to Undertyne compressed the fleet a bit and is where the race probably should have been finished, however with the breeze showing signs of coming back in, it was decided to let them continue back to Britten. Split fleets again with Stephan in No 3 taking the inshore route all the way to Garland; a move that paid off in spades and resulted in him finishing nearly 13 minutes ahead of Alexander in No 8 with John in No 4 a couple of minutes later. The rest were finished as they lay and everyone was towed back to the moorings.
Redwings at Cowes Week: 1st Harlequin; 2nd Enigma; 3rd Paroquet; 4th Quail.
Sunday 28 July
Cloudless sky but little or no wind so sadly N over A.
Redwings at Cowes Week: 1st Harlequin; 2nd Lady Laetitia; 3rd Quail; 4th Paroquet
Monday 29 July
An Easterly F4 on Monday morning made it quite bouncy off Undertyne, however once rigged and off their moorings, conditions were actually not bad for the four One-Design crews and the ROs onboard Sea Breeze. With Undertyne (E) as the pin, the course was simply a short beat to Tara, a reach/run to Garland via Fitzwilliam and a beat back to Undertyne.
After an excellent start, albeit with No 4 helmed by John Suffield failing to get ahead after a port tack 'flyer', it was Susie & Syd Beart in No 5 who rounded Tara well ahead of No 4, No 1 helmed by Simon Allocca and No 7 helmed by Charles Abel Smith.
With No 4 going well into the moorings and No 5 staying offshore it was clear that it was going to be a close run thing who was going to cross the finish line first. In the event it was Susie by a couple of seconds with Simon and Charles a minute or so later.
Offered a range of different courses for their second race, it was unanimously agreed to stick with the same one. After another good start with No 5 very nearly over cooking it, it was Russ Fowler now helming No 1 who rounded Tara in front of No 5, No 4 and No 7 helmed by William Petit.
No change of order as they rounded Garland, however on the beat back to the finish, John again went in towards the moorings and although pushing his luck, came out just ahead of Russ; Susie who followed John inshore, was not so lucky and ground to halt for a time on a rogue rock which put her back to fourth.
Redwings at Cowes Week: 1st Enigma; 2nd Paroquet; 3rd Lady Laetitia; 4th Harlequin.