Final Bembridge Redwing and One Design racing of the 2017 season
by Mike Samuelson 25 Sep 2017 12:33 BST
23-24 September 2017
Isle of Wight Day on Saturday coincided with this year's Bart's Bash race (a week later than the official date because of the tides) when for the second year running, the BSC Redwings, One-Designs and Scows joined in with BHYC dinghy fleet in support of the Andrew Simpson Foundation.
And what a perfect afternoon for racing it was with a pleasant F3 SE'rly and lots of sunshine. To reduce the risk of collisions at the start, the course was set up for a reaching start with the keelboats on a line to seaward of the Committee Boat (Wight Rose) and the dinghies on a line on the inshore side.
Slightly surprisingly none of the 48 boats entered were OCS as they headed off on a close reach to Under Tyne. Interesting Colin Samuelson in Toucan, Dominic Samuelson in Tarpon and Joe Roberston in Red Gauntlet II made it to the first mark ahead of any of the Fast Handicap dinghies, however only Toucan was ahead at Janson, but by the time they reached Britten, the RS200 was just in front and Red Gauntlet II had overtaken Tarpon. There was no change in the second round other than Sue Wakefield in Bizarre closed the gap on Tarpon slightly. The eight One-Designs also had a fun race but had more of the Fast Handicap fleet to contend with. D Orange with William Bland crewing in No 12 was always in the front three and finished half a minute ahead of James Palmer sailing single handed in No 3; Hugh Doherty with Jos Coad in No 8 was third, fifteen seconds later and Martin Bonham with Maya Kemp was fourth.
Both classes had a second short-ish windward-leeward race from a laid line SE of Nainby to Tara, back to Nainby and back to the line. Colin Samuelson in Toucan went into the Bembridge shore early which paid off and so rounded Tara first. On the run to Nainby and back to the line he extended his lead on Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II to a minute. Nick Wakefield in Bizarre was third, three quarters a minute later and Tarpon was a DNS having gone back into the harbour after the Barts Bash race. After a pretty reasonable start, most of the One-Designs also tacked into the Bembridge shore; William Bland, who had taken over the helm brought No 12 in first, twenty five seconds ahead of Hugh & Jos in No 8 with Helen Mathieson helming No 1 with Charlotte Joy crewing coming in third about twenty seconds later. Martin & Maya in No 2 were fourth.
Only two Redwings came out to race on Sunday afternoon in the final two races of the 2017 season. From a start line off Nainby, the first race had Cochrane as the windward mark and Drum as the leeward one. Both boats went inshore and match race tacked up the shore line to keep out of the tide. Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II was first round however on the long run to Drum, Colin & Becky Samuelson in Toucan reeled him in and overtook to finish twenty seconds ahead. It was almost a repeat performance in the second race which had Tara as the windward mark and finished at Pepe. Joe was first round Tara but again, Colin was able to get Toucan going faster on the run to Drum and managed to hang on and make it a clean sweep with four firsts over the weekend.
The seven One-Designs also had some close racing. Given the quite lumpy sea state, they had slightly shorter courses than the Redwings. Tara was the windward mark for the first and Under Tyne for the second. Just after the start Martin Bonham sailing single handed had his jib sheets come adrift which took him a long time to sort out. As with the Redwings, they all tacked into the Bembridge shore; interestingly on the run to Drum most went to the north of St Helens Fort but Alexander Ross with Sophie crewing in No 11 and Andrew Palmer with James crewing in No 3 went south and rounded Drum in front. By the time they reached the finish, No 11 had extended their lead to just under forty seconds. Rob & Helen Mathieson in No 1 were third and Jos Coad, also sailing single handed in No 8 was fourth a mere second later. Similar tactics were the order of the day in the final race of the season; however this time it was Jos (who takes over as the Club Commodore on the 1st of October) in No 8 who lead the way and held off the Ross's in No 11 and Martin in No 2 - both who had started late after being shut out on the Committee boat at the start. The Palmer's in No 3 were fourth.
A good way to finish the summer sailing season. The Illusions begin their winter season in a fortnight's time (7th & 8th October) with the Flying Dutchman Trophy up for grabs.
Videos:
Start of the 2nd One-Design race on Saturday
Start of the final Redwing race of the 2017 season
Start of the final One-Design race of the 2017 season