Bembridge Bank Holiday Monday and early September keelboat racing
by Mike Samuelson 3 Sep 2018 06:07 BST
27 August & 1-2 September 2018
Early September racing for the Bembridge keelboats © Mike Samuelson
After being blown out on the Sunday, it was nice to be able to race on Bank Holiday Monday morning in considerably calmer conditions. That said, it was blowing a F4/F5 from the West so it was still pretty challenging!
The six Redwings made an excellent start and soon split tacks as they headed from Fitzwilliam to Nainby. Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II was first round Nainby with Mike Toogood in Tara and James Tate in Rosetta close behind. On the run to Ruthven, the fleet spread left and right with Rosetta and Gosling going furthest right. They then had an excellent beat from Ruthven to Drum; Red Gauntlet II and Rosetta rounded first with Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence third a bit further back. After a run to Fitzwilliam and a final beat to Footprint the order remained the same with Joe finishing four seconds ahead of James.
The seven One-Designs also had a good race with Britten instead of Drum for the beat in from Ruthven. Mark Grzegorczyk in No 9 just over cooked it at the start and had to come back. After the first beat to Nainby, the leader was D Orange & Helen Mathieson in No 12 using their storm main. Lochlan McLucas with his father Ashleigh in No 6 on normal sails was second and Sarah & Norman Marshall in No 7, also with normal sails was third. By the time they got to Britten after a split tack beat from Ruthven, it was No 8, helmed by Jos Coad and crewed by Hugh Doherty that had taken over the lead with D, Jos and Mark fighting for second place. On the final couple of legs, Jos consolidated his lead and by the finish was nearly three minutes ahead of D with Sarah only four seconds behind. Lochlan was a very creditable fourth.
Fast forward to Saturday 1st September; glorious sunshine and certainly initially a nice F3 from the South East. Although this meant there was a typical 'easterly lop' it did not make it too unpleasant until towards the end of the race for the back markers when the wind dropped.
The majority of the six Redwings had a good start from Janson and soon split tacks on the long beat to Cochrane. Bruce Huber helming Blue Jay II, Mike Toogood in Tara and Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II stayed out and were first round Cochrane. Sue Wakefield, helming Bizarre was next, albeit some way behind. There was no change on the long run to Derrick, but the beat to Fitzwilliam (changed from Moreton) saw Bruce extend his lead, Joe consolidate second and Sue, Andrew Eddy in Plover and Mike all working hard to secure third. At the finish at Under Tyne, Bruce was two minutes ahead of Joe with Andrew storming through in third, three and a half minutes later. Mike was fourth a minute later.
Although four One-Designs started, and indeed Hugh Doherty crewed by his wife Susan made the best start in No 10, he had always planned to only sail for a bit before retiring and taking No 10 back into the harbour. No 5 helmed by Susie Beart with Syd crewing was a country mile ahead at Cochrane and by the end was five minutes in front of Charles Abel Smith sailing single handed in No 7. Simon Allocca with Russ Fowler crewing in No 1 had been in second but found the swell increasingly hard to cope with as they had borrowed a jib (No 1s was being repaired) which turned out to be a storm jib!
The glorious sunshine continued into Sunday afternoon and had the breeze been from the other direction, it would have been 'champagne' racing. As it was, with the Easterly F3 producing a bit of a slop, it could be best described as 'sparkling wine' racing! After a good start from Footprint, the three Redwings beat to Tara. Interestingly they chose three different routes, Philip Bown helming Redwing stayed out, Sue Wakefield helming Bizarre went in and Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II went up the middle. The outcome was Joe rounding well ahead of Sue and Philip who were quite close. Although there were no changes to the order on the run to Garland, beat back to Tara, run back to Garland, beat to Under Tyne and a run to the finish at Pepe, it was certainly not a procession as Bizarre and Redwing tried various tactics (albeit unsuccessfully) to reduce Red Gauntlet II's lead which was just over two minutes ahead of Bizarre at the finish.
Although Susie Beart with Syd crewing in No 5 One-Design nearly made a perfect port tack start and headed inshore, it was not long before Hugh Doherty in No 11 managed to work his way into the lead ahead of Charles Abel Smith in No 7 and Susie. Having matched tacks with Charles up the Bembridge shore, he rounded Tara in front and never looked back. Initially set the same course as the Redwings it was shortened after the first round to Under Tyne and meant that both classes finished at Pepe at the same time. As the One-Design race progressed, Hugh's lead increased and he finished just under a minute ahead of Charles with Susie a minute and a half later.
Morning starts (10:30) next weekend.