J70 Race Weekend at Bembridge Sailing Club

For the third year running, thanks to Andrew Eddy, six RYS J70s were towed down to Bembridge from Cowes on Friday for another excellent J70 weekend. Raced with increasing confidence by our 18-30 year old members in some pretty breezy conditions at times, there were certainly lots of smiling faces around.

The first start on Saturday was planned for 11:00 to allow time for the 24 crew to get used to their boats and make sure that they had everything in the right place. The course was a simple windward/leeward with a windward spreader and a leeward gate just forward of the Committee Boat; for the first race it had been decided that the asymmetric spinnakers would remain in their bags so as to let the new crews sort themselves out. After an 'interesting' start with one boat having to fend off the Committee Boat, the fleet soon split tacks. The first five were always close with first blood going to Xander Shaw's Pink team (in 740); second was Archie Hinde in 738 (White) and third was James Beart in 736 (Yellow).

Start of Race 1 (Sat)

The second race had the same course, but this time asymmetrics were allowed in the pretty constant 14 knot breeze, The first start was AP'd at the last moment as one boat was too far away from the line and would never have caught up. The second start had all six boats well spread out along the line and as the race progressed there was some very close racing with a number of quite hairy moments particularly on the run with kites up and at the leeward gate. Ed Eddy in Blue (737) and Phoebe Jervis in Black (735) were very close at the finish; Archie Hinde in White (738) was third. Yellow (736) retired after they wrapped the spinnaker halyard round the forestay.

Start of Race 2 (Sat)

With the breeze increasing slightly, it was decided to limit the boats to just white sails for the third race which was programmed as a longer distance to ring the change. Special Course 1 (triangle, sausage, triangle) was used with inflatable marks to reduce the risk of damage in the event of an incident at a rounding mark. Two boats were OCS but came back and Yellow (736) was a DNS as they were still sorting out their knitting! The lead two boats, Pink (740) & White (738) were close throughout but for the rest it became a bit of a procession.

J70 Race Weekend at Bembridge - photo © Mike Samuelson

After lunch on the moorings at Under Tyne, Race 4 was due to be another longer distance race so that the Redwings & One-Designs (who were programmed for 2 short races each) could be integrated into the start sequence. However half way through the Redwing sequence the breeze increased to over 27 knots so wisely the ROs displayed the AP and the course was moved to more sheltered waters off Priory Bay. Six Redwings started and headed inshore to a windward inflatable followed by Nainby and Derrick with the finish back at Drum.

Redwing Start (Sat)

Snowgoose soon retired with gear failure and on rounding Derrick the leading three boats (Avocet, Goose & Red Gauntlet II) all ran into difficulties with Goose's mast breaking half way up; Avocet managed to drop her sails before also loosing her mast when the forestay failed and Red Gauntlet II managed to continue the race but with her jib loose. Goose was initially taken under tow by the J70 mark laying RIB manned by Jerry Summers, the new Head of Sailing, and Avocet was kindly towed back to the harbour by Philip Bown in Picnic. Meanwhile Quintessence helmed by Robin Ebsworth and Blue Jay II helmed by Richard Jessel had a close final leg with Quintessence just holding on to finish a boat length ahead. Sensibly they decided against a second race!

A broken mast for Goose - photo © Mike Samuelson

The J70s had the same course which they completed without too much trouble, albeit their assymetric spinnakers stayed firmly in their bags. Pink (740) took first place ahead of the Red crew in 739 with White in 738 third.

For their final race of the day, it was really just a matter of getting them back to the Under Tyne moorings via the windward inflatable and E. Pink (740) made it their fourth win of the day finishing ahead of Yellow (736) and Blue (737).

Start of Race 5 (Sat)

On Sunday morning, after a debrief on the previous day's racing and an excellent master class by the on-water coach, Matt Alexander, the crews headed back to their boats at Under Tyne. With the forecast similar to the day before, the RO's sensibly headed to the more sheltered waters east of Priory Bay. The morning racing followed a similar pattern to the day before albeit with assymetric spinnakers being used on the down wind legs. Race 6 started with only five boats as despite being urged to remain close to the Committee Boat, White (738) got carried away testing their assymetric and could not get back in time for the start. Black (735) led for most of the race and finished well ahead of Yellow (736) and Blue (737) who were so close at the finish that they were scored as tying.

J70 Race Weekend at Bembridge - photo © Mike Samuelson

The start of the second race of the day was quite a noisy one with lots of "up, up" being yelled. Despite being disadvantaged at the start by Yellow (736) who took a penalty turn, White (738) finished in style well ahead of Black (735) and Blue (737) who had less than a boat length between them as they crossed the line.

The course for the third race prior to lunch was changed to a triangle and a sausage with the finish at the windward mark. Although initially quite close, the fleet became quite spread out as the race progressed. White (738) finished well ahead of Black (735) with Blue (737) in third.

While the J70s were finishing their lunch, three Redwings were set off from the morning's start line to the windward inflatable before heading to Janson and Pepe twice. They had three excellent beats and were kindly finished a Pepe by Philip Bown in Picnic. Blue Jay II helmed by Chloe Crisp came good on the final beat and finished thirteen seconds ahead of Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II; the previous day's winner, Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence was third.

Although originally planned to be another longer race, it was decided to make the penultimate race for the J70s another windward/leeward one. With the breeze varying between 15 & 20 knots, the decision whether to use assymetrics was left up to boats. White (738) was initially in the lead but half down the run had a massive broach and ended up last. Yellow (736) took over the lead and finished in style well ahead of Black (735) who just overtook Red (739) who had played safe and had run goose winged in a straight line from the windward mark.

Start of Race 8 (Sun)

For the final race of the weekend, it was again a matter of getting the fleet back to Under Tyne. After the windward inflatable they had to round Fitzwilliam before finishing at E. White (738) unperturbed from the previous race came in first ahead of Blue (737) and Pink (740) who just pipped Black (735).

Start of Race 9 (Sun)

An excellent weekend with only three points separating the top four boats. Well done to the Pink team (740) led by Xander Shaw who finished first overall with 23 points; second was White (738) lead by Archie Hinde with 24 points and third was Black (735) lead by Phoebe Jervis with 25 points. A massive thanks to Andrew Eddy who master minded the weekend.

Overall Results:

More photos on Flickr here.