Illusion Christmas Cracker at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Mike Samuelson 14 Dec 2015 00:29 GMT
12-13 December 2015
With Christmas not far away, and no more racing until the end of the month, it was good to see so many Illusions racing in Bembridge Harbour over the weekend for this year's Christmas Cracker. Saturday's forecast was pretty spot on with a South Westerly Force 4 to start with that increased to 5 or 6 as the morning progressed. Certainly by the end of the third race everyone had enough and gear failures had taken their toll with only eight of the original fourteen starters finishing.
Unusually, particularly as the breeze was pretty steady, the first start on Saturday lacked the usual cut & thrust within inches of the line. However, it was not long before Mark Downer and Bruce Huber were out in front and showed the rest of the fleet the best side of the course to take. By the finish Mark had developed a good lead, and it was good to see his wife Jo come in third not that far behind Bruce. Rupert Holmes was fourth. With the breeze starting to pick up, the second race started with most of the fleet well spread out along the line and well up to the line when the starting whistle went. Bruce rounded the windward mark first with Mark & Jo following not far behind, however as the race progressed Bruce gained a commanding lead and Jo did really well to beat Mark by a few boat lengths. Rupert was again fourth. In the final race of the day, with the breeze gusting well over 20 knots at times, it was great to see George Downer rounding the leeward gate in first place just ahead of his father and Bruce. Sadly he was unable to keep out in front, but to his great credit, particularly as conditions really were by that time pretty difficult, he finished in third place not far behind his father who had been unable to stop Bruce gaining his second first place of the day. Alastair Speare-Cole was fourth just ahead of Rupert Holmes.
Sunday's conditions were considerably less boisterous and provided far more opportunity for tactical sailing by the fourteen boats, four of which had not raced the previous day. The first race got off to a good start and it was Bruce Huber's lime green spinnaker that was the first to be raised for the run back down the harbour to the leeward gate. Although never far behind, the chasing fleet, lead by Mark & Jo Downer were unable to stop him finishing with another victory. Rudy Jurg who was obviously finding the lighter conditions more favourable was fourth. After another good start in the fifth race for most, it was Mark & Rudy's turn to dominate the front of the fleet while Bruce had to work hard to catch up from mid-fleet to eventually come in third. After some very close racing, commiserations to Rupert Holmes who failed to spot that his favoured leeward gate buoy had gone walk about on the final round and so ended up sailing quite a few boat lengths further than everyone else. Lots of shouting for water after the start of the final race as the majority of the fleet closed on the Redwing Quay on starboard; with Bruce & Mark again rounding the windward marks ahead of the rest of the fleet, it looked more like a match race than a fleet race between them as they jockeyed for the best position. Indeed it became pretty vocal on the final 100m of the run down to the leeward gate on the last round. Bill Daniels taking advantage of the situation managed to snatch a well deserved first place; Mark, pending arbitration was second, Rupert Holmes third & Bruce was fourth. Good enough, providing he was in the right, to win the Trophy. After informal arbitration in the bar, it was decided that Bruce was in the right and was therefore the overall winner. Mark retained his overall second place with Rupert third and Jo fourth.
An excellent weekend's racing. The next Regatta is for the oldest trophy competed for by the Bembridge Illusion fleet, the Icebreaker, programmed for Sunday & Monday 27th & 28th December. There is also some additional non-trophy racing on Tuesday & Wednesday 29th & 30th December.
Overall Results:
| Posn | Helm | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Bruce Huber | 101 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 2 | Mark Downer | 124 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | R | 9 |
| 3 | Rupert Holmes | 47 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 20 |
| 4 | Jo Downer | 123 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 22 |
| 5 | Rudy Jurg | 158 | S | 7 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 26 |
| 6 | Alastair Speare‑Cole | 135 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 30 |
| 7 | George/Alex Downer | 15 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 40 |
| 8 | Robin Ebsworth | 12 | 7 | 9 | R | 6 | 12 | 12 | 46 |
| 9 | Bill Daniels | 68 | S | S | S | 7 | 6 | 1 | 50 |
| 10 | Mike Toogood | 142 | 11 | 10 | R | 12 | 13 | 11 | 57 |
| 11 | Philip Bown | 130 | 10 | 8 | 6 | S | S | S | 60 |
| 12 | Richard Ambler | 156 | S | S | S | 9 | 9 | 6 | 60 |
| 13 | David Peerless | 26 | S | S | S | 8 | 8 | 10 | 62 |
| 14 | Philip Russell | 23 | 12 | 12 | S | 11 | 10 | R | 63 |
| 15 | John Raymond | 151 | 9 | 6 | R | S | S | S | 69 |
| 16 | Hugh Doherty/Monty | 73 | 13 | R | S | 14 | 14 | 13 | 72 |
| 17 | Steve Warren‑Smith | 146 | 5 | R | S | S | S | S | 77 |
Start of Race 2 on Saturday
On the run Race 3 Saturday
Start of the first race on Sunday