Illusion St George's Day Trophy at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Mike Samuelson 20 Apr 2015 08:47 BST
18-19 April 2015
The penultimate weekend of the Bembridge Illusion winter season with the four race, all to count, St George's Day Trophy on Saturday and normal racing on Sunday. After a beautiful "summer" week, wind conditions on Saturday were a bit disappointing with a NE F5 forecast.
However by 10:00 there was more easterly in it which meant that it was possible to set a nice long course in the bright sunshine & relative calm of Bembridge Harbour for the nine Illusionists competing for yet another of the late Vernon Stratton's regattas.
After a short postponement the fleet got off to a clean start for the first race. Most kept to the left side of the course although a couple did risk going right. Bruce Huber was well ahead round the first windward mark and never looked like being caught; James Meaning and Colin Simonds had a close race and finished second and third. With the breeze varying by 15 degrees or so, the RO's struggled to get the start line bias right, so there was a bit of bumping close to the Committee Boat at the start of the second race.
In fact only Andy Christie was called OCS which rather caught out Raymond Simonds who came most of the way back before he realized the X Flag was no longer flying. Colin Simonds meanwhile established a good lead with Bruce Huber, James Meaning, Bill Daniels & Robin Ebsworth all within yards of each other at times.
Race 3 got off to another clean start with everyone keeping to the St Helens side of the course which made it interesting off Atrill's Point with lots a calls for "water". James Meaning and Raymond Simonds came out best but it was good to see Robin Ebsworth maintaining good boat speed in the middle of the fleet. In the final race of the day, new boy to the Illusion fleet this season David Peerless surprised himself when he found he was rounding the first windward mark in the lead.
Sadly not a position he was able to hang on for long as James Meaning & Bruce Huber battled for first place and overall victory in the fickle conditions particularly at the windward end of the course. In the end, James just held on which meant that Bruce had to make do with second overall; Colin Simonds was third.
Although there was still quite a swell, it was decided to race outside the harbour on Sunday in the hopes that the breeze would last. Well it did, although veered a good 100 degrees from N to ESE as racing progressed. Even though there was no trophy to race for, competition was keen amongst the 8 helms out racing. Colin Simonds managed to conjure up a private breeze in the first race and finished well ahead of Mark Downer.
In the second race Mark managed to keep his boat going in the lumpy sea and finished ahead of Bill Daniels & Andy Christie. After the course was re-set for the third race, it was Colin who again got the better of Mark with Raymond Simonds in third just ahead of Bill Daniels. Another course change before the last race of the day suited Colin Simonds who finished well ahead of Bill Daniels & Mark Downer to take overall first place for the days racing.
Next weekend's racing is the last of the Illusion 2014 - 2015 season with the Woodford Long Distance race on Sunday.
St George's Day Trophy Results:
| Pos | Helm | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | James Meaning | 31 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | Bruce Huber | 101 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | Colin Simonds | 138 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | Raymond Simonds | 23 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 20 |
| 5 | Robin Ebsworth | 12 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 20 |
| 6 | Bill Daniels | 68 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 21 |
| 7 | David Peerless | 8 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 31 |
| 8 | Andy Christie | 149 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 31 |
| 9 | Mike Toogood | 142 | N | 6 | 9 | 8 | 33 |