Bembridge One Design Oppenheim Trophy at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Mike Samuelson 10 Apr 2023 22:11 BST
7-10 April 2023
Easter Sunday at Bembridge, testing the experimental BOD spinnaker © Mike Samuelson
Although of course, the Illusions have been sailing throughout the winter, and indeed raced on Friday & Saturday, Good Friday traditionally sees the One-Designs starting their summer season. Seven boats rigged up but disappointingly the paucity of wind put paid to actually racing and so most were towed back to their moorings in the harbour.
That is, all bar No 9, which was keen to try out the experimental spinnaker that is being trialled by No 1 and No 9 this season.
After the disappointing lack of wind on Good Friday, a steady 10 knots from the SSE brought 6 One-Designs to the start line on Easter Saturday. Starting at Footprint gave Tara as a good windward mark, with most of the fleet choosing to remain on starboard, and only D Orange helming No 9 heading inshore on port to seek less foul tide. In fact it was Xander Shaw in No 6 who led at the windward mark, but then No 9 broke out the first spinnaker seen on a BOD for many years!
As a test bed for the fleet adopting spinnakers this is still work in progress, and Xander remained ahead at the leeward mark (Nainby), closely followed by No 9 and Martin Bonham in 2. On the short beat to the finish Martin worked past D to take second behind Xander. Fourth was Jos Coad in No 8, followed by David Shaw in No 7 and young Morgan McLucas helming No 11.
The wind had veered by about 30 degrees by the start of Race 2 so Under Tyne was set to give a short windward leg, followed by a run to Britten. From Britten a truer upwind leg could then be achieved back to an Under Tyne finish. However, after the start Sea Breeze's engine suffered a relay failure and could not be started. Charlie in launch India came to the rescue and towed her back to the club, and the fleet self-finished in the following order: 6, 9, 11 (Ashley McLucas now helming), 8, 2 and 7.
As in the first race, Xander Shaw in No 6 was first round the windward mark, E, and never relinquished the lead; Nos 9 - D Orange - and 11 - Ashley McLucas - followed close behind and retained their positions on the run down to Britton and thereafter on the beat back to the finish at E. They were followed home by No 8 now helmed by Stephan Ludwig, No 2 - Martin Bonham and No 7 - David Shaw. It was particularly pleasing that the wind held throughout at a steady 10 knots.
With Sunday's race clashing with the traditional Easter Sunday lunch, there were only four boats wanting to race. A few minutes before they began rigging, the visibility outside the harbour reduced as a mist blew in from the East. Having briefed everyone not to sail any further a field than Nainby, the ROs (Mike & Rosie) took Sea Breeze out to see whether racing was possible.
In the event the visibility was better than expected, so a inshore course was signalled - from # to E, N, # twice round. Starting 5 minutes ahead of the programmed time as all four boats were ready go. Yesterday's winner, Xander in No 6 over cooked it and then sounded a bit surprised to be told that they were OCS!
Start of Race 1 Sunday:
Mind you it did not seem to matter as they were first round E and never looked like being overtaken. No 9 (helmed by D Orange) looked great with her trial spinnaker flying nicely and making up quite a bit of ground on the other three. Having rounded N and managing to keep the spinnaker flying on the close reach to # it looked as if they were going like a train, however disappointingly they did not manage to close the gap on the leaders.
No 9 on the first run to N:
On the second round (shortened slightly by substituting Y for N) Martin Bonham in No 2 dropped back to last in the increasing swell, however just pipped No 9 (who had not used their spinnaker because of gear failure) on the final leg to the finish at # to take third.
Although No 2 (helmed by Roy Burrows) got locked out at the Committee Boat end of the line at the start of the second race, the other three boats all made a good start and in the event No 2 was not that too disadvantaged and was second round E behind No 8 helmed by Stephan Ludwig and crewed by Jos Coad. No 9 (helmed by Penny) unable to fly their spinnaker had to be content with a close third behind No 8 and No 2 after the nice reach from B to the finish at #. No 6 with David Shaw helming was fourth. A couple of challenging races as the sea conditions built.
Start of Race 2 Sunday:
With the forecast for Monday afternoon looking pretty grim (SW F7) the general view, supported by the ROs was to fly N over A and do something else!
In the event a wise decision as although the rain stopped by lunchtime it was blowing too hard for even the One-Designs with storm sails. So with just Saturday and Sunday's four races to count, the winner of the Oppenheim Trophy was No 6 with 6.25 points followed by No 8 with 10.75; third equal were Nos 2 and 9 with 12 points. Helms were Xander Shaw (6) Stephan Ludwig (8) Martin Bonham (2) and D Orange (9)
No racing over the next two weekends, and then its the early May Bank Holiday when racing will be for the Woodruff Bowl.