Bembridge Sailing Club Keelboat Racing
by Mike Samuelson 9 Jul 2018 07:26 BST
7-8 July 2018
With most of the One-Design helms booked in for the Round the Island race the following day, there were no takers for Friday evening' Challenge Trophy which was a bit disappointing as there was in fact a nice gentle breeze.
On Saturday morning four of the six Redwings moored at Under Tyne decided that there was probably going to be enough breeze for the two programmed races, and with no sign of the lead RTIR boats rounding the Bembridge Ledge, it was decided to use Derrick as the windward mark for the first race. Colin Samuelson in Toucan and Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II got the best start and were followed by Nick Wakefield in Bizarre and Philip Bown in Redwing towards the St Helens shore to minimise the effect of the ebbing tide. Toucan, revelling in the light conditions was first round Derrick and never looked like being over taken on the run to Footprint and a laid leeward inflatable. She finished at Under Tyne a minute and a half ahead of Red Gauntlet II; Bizarre was third and Redwing was fourth.
With still no sign of the RTIR fleet on the horizon, the plan for the second race was two rounds with Britten as the windward mark and the inflatable as the leeward mark. After a better start than the first race, all four boats again headed off on starboard towards the St Helens shore, however Redwing, helmed by Peter Grimaldi, and Bizarre decided to ring a change and so tacked early onto port which took them more offshore. Although not disastrous, it did not pay and it was again Toucan and Red Gauntlet II who rounded first a fair distance ahead. On the run to the leeward mark the breeze died almost completely and the Race Officers wisely decided to shorten the course and finish at the inflatable. The final 100m was agonizingly slow and if the back markers had picked up a zypher then the result would have been very different, however they didn't so it was another win for Toucan, with Red Gauntlet II second and Redwing third.
Sunday morning's race started well but it was not long before the five Redwings were caught again by the wind God's taking away what little breeze there was and occasionally throwing in the bait of a few zyphers to encourage them to keep racing! Tactics at the start were certainly interesting with Colin Samuelson in Toucan and Andrew Eddy in Plover both crossing the line quite late on port. All then headed towards the St Helens shore to try to take advantage of the ebbing tide again. Toucan was the first to tack back onto port and go outside the Fort while Red Gauntlet II remained inshore. After nearly an hour of going virtually nowhere, Peter Grimaldi in Redwing called it a day and retired but all credit to Andrew in Plover and Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence who decided to kedge for a bit in the hopes that the breeze would return.
Taking advantage of what little breeze that there was backing to the West, and the decision by the Race Officers to shorten the course at Derrick, Toucan crossed the finish line without needing to tack again to finish just over half an hour ahead of Red Gauntlet II. With still some way to go to the line, Plover & Quintessence took advantage of the offer of third equal and gratefully accepted a tow back to the moorings.
There were no One-Designs racing either day. Next weekend sees the J70s from the RYS back at Bembridge which will be fun. Saturday also has the Redwing and One-Designs racing for the long distance Zanen Trophy and normal racing on Sunday. Fingers crossed for more wind than the last couple of weekends.