Piers January Jacket Trophy at Bembridge Sailing Club

by Rudy Jurg 22 Jan 2014 15:11 GMT 18-19 January 2014

An excellent turnout for mid-January with 19 Illusions racing for the Piers January Jacket Trophy last weekend (18th & 19th January 2014).

Although it was initially thought that conditions (bright with a Southerly F4 breeze) would allow racing on Saturday to be outside the harbour, in the event a problem with the Committee Boat's engine and an increasing swell meant that the course had to be in the harbour.

The first race got off to a close & relatively clean start but it was not long before Graham Bailey pulled out ahead of Rudy Jurg and his wife Julia and took the first of four firsts over the two days of racing.

In the second race, a number of boats were OCS but all went back so no one had to be disqualified. Although Graham Bailey was never that far away, the winner was Mark Downer with Robbie Southwell coming through in third.

For the final race of the day, it was Robbie's turn to notch up an excellent victory ahead of Graham & Mark.

It was too nice a day on Sunday not to race outside the harbour in the F2 - 4 SW'erly breeze, so the RO, Mike Samuelson towed the Committee Boat out into position off Silver Sands beach.

The first race of the day saw Graham Bailey motor out for a substantial lead ahead of Mark & Robbie.

Race 5 required a General Recall and the Black Flag was used for the re-start. A look at the Youtube link below of this re-start just shows the quality of the racing with virtually the whole fleet inches away from the line at the start. Graham continued to show his dominance coming in first ahead of Rudy Jurg & Robbie Southwell.

Rather than wasting time resetting the windward marks for the final race as the breeze backed slightly to the south, the green flag to signify a starboard rounding was used which certainly gave everyone something to think about! Again it was Graham who lead the way for virtually the whole race; but it was good to see Rupert Holmes keep his concentration and come in second ahead of Mark Downer.

Some excellent, close racing throughout the fleet with lots of mini-battles for the non-podium places.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Graham Bailey	132	1	2	2	1	1	1	6
2	Mark Downer	124	4	1	3	2	4	3	13
3	Robbie Southwell	161	5	3	1	3	3	9	15
4	Rudy Jurg	158	2	4	5	6	2	7	19
5	Julia Bailey	157	3	5	4	8	9	6	26
6	Rupert Holmes	47	8	6	8	10	5	2	29
7	Raymond Simonds	23	7	7	9	7	10	4	34
8	Steve Warren‑Smith	146	10	8	11	4	8	R	41
9	Tom Wilson	4	6	9	6	12	R	S	53
10	James Meaning	31	S	S	S	5	6	5	56
11	Andy Christie	149	11	12	10	14	12	12	57
12	Robin Ebsworth	12	12	11	12	15	13	13	61
13	Bill Daniels	68	S	S	S	9	7	8	64
14	Jo Downer	123	9	10	7	S	S	S	66
15	Dave Ross	125	15	13	15	13	16	10	66
16	Kass Schmidt	14	13	15	14	17	14	14	70
17	Philip Bown	130	S	S	S	11	11	11	73
18	Adam Kay	16	14	14	16	16	15	R	75
19	Mike Toogood	73	R	S	13	18	17	15	83

Normal racing 1st & 2nd February

Start of Race 1

Start of Race 3

Start of Race 4

Windward Mark Race 6 (to Starboard!)