Illusion Bailey Bowl at Bembridge Sailing Club

by Mike Samuelson 24 Nov 2014 07:25 GMT 22-23 November 2014

An excellent turnout for this weekend's Illusion Bailey Bowl with 19 boats racing just outside Bembridge harbour in the Southerly F2-3 breeze on Saturday and 16 boats on Sunday inside the harbour in the rather the less pleasant wet and breezier Northeasterly F4 conditions.

In the first race, Raymond Simonds was ahead for the first round having chosen the port hand gate buoy, however Mark Downer overtook him on the second beat. Less than a boat length separated the next three, Julia Bailey, Colin Simonds & Graham Sunderland.

In the second race the Black Flag came into play after a General Recall; Raymond Simonds was again ahead at the leeward gate but Graham Sunderland read the windshifts better and pulled out a convincing lead ahead of Mark Downer & Raymond. Good to see Robin Ebsworth come in 6th just ahead of Xander Shaw.

Still on a Black Flag for the start of the final race of the day, Graham Sunderland was well ahead for most of the race although on the final leg to the finish at the windward mark, Julia Bailey & Colin Simonds almost caught him.

No quite so many boats out on Sunday but given the weather, it was quite surprising that there were still so many smiling faces around. The first race saw the fleet split equally on both sides of the beat as they made their way up towards the Visitor pontoons with Mark Downer showing Graham Sunderland & James Meaning the best way to go. After what looked like a great race to finish 6th, John Raymond retired having owned up to not sailing through the line on the second beat.

The start of the second race of the day was inch perfect and with the majority going to the left side of the course, it was Graham Sunderland's turn to show the fleet the optimum route to take. Having initially been a bit off the pace, Mark Downer soon caught up and managed to come in second, inches ahead of Colin Simonds.

It was all to play for with the overall result hanging on Graham & Mark's positions in the final race. The first start went to a General Recall; the second (on a Black Flag) was aborted when the Race Officer was unable to call those OCS fairly, and the third start (also on a Black Flag) saw Regatta leaders Graham Sunderland & Mark Downer both OCS and therefore, along with James Meaning, disqualified! This left the way open for Raymond Simonds to notch up a first with John Raymond in second and Julia Bailey in third.

Overall this meant that the weekend winner was again Graham Sunderland who was a point ahead of Mark Downer with Raymond Simonds third.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Graham Sunderland	80	5	1	1	2	1	D	10
2	Mark Downer	124	1	2	5	1	2	D	11
3	Raymond Simonds	23	2	3	7	4	7	1	17
4	Julia Bailey	157	3	10	2	5	5	3	18
5	Colin Simonds	138	4	4	3	7	3	4	18
6	John Raymond	151	7	12	4	R	8	2	33
7	Robin Ebsworth	12	12	6	15	12	10	7	47
8	Jonathan Nainby‑Luxmoore	158	13	15	9	11	6	8	47
9	Andy Christie	149	11	11	14	8	13	5	48
10	Richard Ambler	156	S	14	12	6	11	6	49
11	Xander Shaw	15	9	7	6	10	S	S	54
12	Jo Downer	123	10	9	16	9	10	R	54
13	Steve Warren‑Smith	146	6	5	13	S	S	S	68
14	James Meaning	31	S	S	S	3	4	D	73
15	Roly Wilson/Chris Preston	105	15	19	19	15	15	10	74
16	Olivia Dowling	162	8	16	8	S	S	S	76
17	Guy Mattinson	144	16	18	17	13	12	R	76
18	Mike Till	155	S	S	S	14	14	9	81
19	Andrew Blundell	888	S	8	10	S	S	S	84
20		26	S	13	11	S	S	S	90
21	Mike Toogood	73	14	17	18	S	S	S	93

The next Illusion Regatta is the Inter Club Team Racing over the weekend of 6th & 7th December.

Start of the 1st race on Saturday

Start of the 2nd race (Black Flag) on Saturday

Start of Sunday's 2nd race

Start of the final race (Black Flag) on Sunday