Illusion Bill's Barrel Regatta at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Kass Schmitt 27 Jan 2015 21:27 GMT
24-25 January 2015
Seventeen Illusionists took part in the third annual Bill's Barrel Regatta last weekend. At Bill Daniels' (the Regatta sponsor) insistence, many of the sailors sampled the barrel of Goddard's Fuggle Dee Dum as they rigged their boats. A number of disqualifications for schoolboy errors caused some on the committee boat to speculate that perhaps the sample sizes were overly generous in some cases. However there were no signs of tipsiness on Mark Downer's boat as he posted four firsts, a second and a third to win overall, ahead of James Meaning and Rupert Holmes.
Saturday's shifty north-westerly winds of 12-15 knots with gusts up to 20 knots and plenty of holes meant that it was a game of snakes and ladders for much of the fleet. Mark Downer held a commanding lead throughout the first race. Rupert Holmes led the rest of the fleet until the third beat, when he was overtaken by James Meaning and Andrew Blundell who finished second and third respectively. Race 2 saw James and Steve Warren-Smith battling it out at the front to start with, but Mark overtook them both on the second beat and grew his lead for the remainder of the race, with James taking second and Steve third. Bill Daniels merits a special mention for having finished sixth despite a very late start due to a hat overboard situation! Race 3 was back to the usual Downer/Meaning duel, but with Matthew Muhlenkamp entering the fray at several points. Mark ended up second to James, with Matthew third.
Sunday's wind was slightly lighter on average, but still shifty with many gusts and holes. The just-south-of-westerly direction allowed the race officer to set a much longer course than on Saturday. Race 4 saw the usual suspects (Downer, Meaning, Holmes) trading places at the front along with Andrew Blundell. Mark finished first, followed by Andrew who pipped Rupert on the line to take second. James was back on form for race 5, holding the lead throughout. Having been disqualified from the previous race, Alastair Speare-Cole appeared determined to not to let his average slip and led the chasing pack for much of the race. He was eventually overtaken by Rupert on the final run and then by Mark at the finish. In the final race Bill Daniels took advantage of a large left shift at the start to hit the line at the pin end on port with enough speed to clear the rest of the fleet. He managed to hold this lead until the second beat, at which point he was quite possibly distracted by making sure the assistant race officer Fred Warren-Smith was laying the beer barrel "surprise" gybe mark as per his amendment to the SIs. In any case, he was overtaken at this point by Mark and then Rupert who went on to take first and second respectively.
Next Regatta: Valentine Trophy Sat & Sun 31st Jan/1st Feb.