Illusion National Championship at Bembridge Sailing Club

Illusion National Championship at Bembridge © Mike Samuelson

Illusion National Championship at Bembridge © Mike Samuelson

Twenty Illusionists made the start of the first race in the 2016 National Championships held in Bembridge Harbour over the weekend in the pretty cold and breezy conditions. With a ENE F5 blowing it was possible to lay quite a long course, however as tends to be the case with the wind in that direction, the beats are invariably one sided with the St Helens shore definitely the way to go.

Andy Blundell got a march on the rest of the fleet at the start of the first race with a perfect port tack flyer, however he was unable to hold off Mark Downer, Julia Bailey & James Meaning who all made it to the windward mark just off Bembridge Sailing Club ahead of him. In the second round, Mark & Julia managed to build up a good lead ahead of James, Bruce Huber, Andy & Raymond Simonds. With the majority of the fleet deciding to round the starboard leeward gate mark, it was interesting that on the final leg to the finish, Mark, who had been overtaken by Julia on the beat to the windward mark went round the port gate and finished a couple of boat lengths in front. James was third & Bruce fourth. Well done to Jack Groggan who, with his father Nigel had trailed their "Hyde Sails" Illusions over to Bembridge from Essex specially for the Championships, who came in a very creditable eight. Sadly Johnny Raymond retired half way through the race when his pump stopped working.

Despite the breeze gusting over 20 knots in the last few seconds, it was another excellent clean start for the second race with Mark Downer close to the pin and almost inch perfect on the line when the hooter went. Mind you no one was that far off the line which is a real testament to the quality of the Illusion fleet. At the windward mark the leader was again Mark with Julia Bailey snapping at his heels; then a bit of a gap to Bruce Huber, Andy Blundell, & James Meaning. The order remained the same for the second round however Bruce caught up and overtook Julia on the third beat. Mid-fleet there were a number of close finishes with Steve Warren-Smith & Jo Downer crossing the line, as they had done in the first race, with only inches separating them; similarly there were only inches between Robin Ebsworth, Mike Toogood and Nigel Groggan. Hugh Doherty & Guy Mattinson both retired.

Although Bill Daniels managed another port tack flyer at the start of the final race of the day, and he was third round the first windward marks, he was unable to keep it up and had to make do with a fourth place. Meanwhile Julia Bailey seemed to be pointing considerably higher than everyone else and soon developed a considerable lead which, despite best efforts by Bruce Huber, Mark Downer, Raymond Simonds, James Meaning & Andy Blundell, she never looked like loosing. With the finish line moved to the first windward mark so that the fleet were close to the Illusion Park, there were close finishes between Bill & Andy, and Jack Groggan, Steve Warren-Smith and George Downer.

This meant that the overnight leaders were Mark (5 points), Julia (6 points) & Bruce (8 points).

Illusion National Championship at Bembridge - photo © Mike Samuelson

Sunday's conditions were pretty similar with a cold NEasterly F5 - 6 for most of the time; not that that seemed to deter competitors! After a short postponement so that the eighteen hardy souls (Serena Gosling & Andrew Eddy had other commitments) were all able to work out where they wanted to position themselves on the start line, the first race of the day got away to an almost clean start with only one boat, Mike Toogood, penalised for being OCS as the gusts increased for a time to 24 knots. Mark Downer was first at the windward mark, closely persued by Bruce Huber, Jack Groggan and Andy Blundell. Bruce was marginally ahead after the second round and Julia Bailey caught up to third, however in the last round Mark managed to find better boat speed on the final half of the run and came in first with Jack Groggan hanging onto fourth place just ahead of Andy Blundell.

The second race of the day saw yet another close start with the majority of the fleet accelerating as they crossed the line with inches to spare. It was therefore quite a surprise to see Mark, Julia & Bruce well down the fleet after the first round and the top three slots filled by Andy Blundell, Jack Groggan & Raymond Simonds. Although Mark managed to catch up and finished in fifth place, the race leader Andy was on a roll and finished well ahead of newcomer Jack who had a great race and kept Raymond in check. Julia retired after suffering a problem with her backstay.

After such close starts in all the previous races, and the warm bar beckoning, it was probably inevitable that the final race saw the General Recall having to be displayed after it was decided that there were just too many unidentified boats OCS for a fair start. The re-start was under the Black Flag which certainly concentrated the minds; that said, the hotshots were still within inches of the line when the hooter sounded. Having sorted out her backstay, it was Julia who set the pace and never looked like being overtaken during the two and a half round race. Andy Blundell and Bruce Huber were closely matched and came in second & third respectively with Mark Downer finishing in fourth place - enough to secure the overall Championship on count back with Julia who finished on equal points but with two wins to Mark's three in second, and Bruce in third. Other prize winners are shown below.

Illusion National Championship at Bembridge - photo © Mike Samuelson

An excellent weekend's racing - well done to everyone involved. The next Illusion Regatta is in a fortnight's time - the Spring Plate.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Illusion nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

Videos:

Sart of Race 1 (Saturday)

Start of Race 2 (Saturday)

Start of Race 5 (Sunday)

First Start of final Race (Sunday)

A photo album from the event can be found on Picassa here.