Zanen Trophy at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Mike Samuelson 19 Jul 2020 20:22 BST
18-19 July 2020
Although the tides required a reasonably early start for the Redwings & One-Designs on Saturday, the forecast (sunshine and a F4 WSW'erly) was certainly encouraging so it was good to see nine Redwings and three One-Designs head out of the harbour to the start area off Garland for the joint long distance race for the Zanen Trophy.
After a good start and a shortish beat to Pepe, newly weds, Chloe & James Bunbury in Blue Jay II led the way on the long run to St Helens channel buoy with Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II and Colin Samuelson in Toucan close by.
Start of the Zanen Trophy
The beat in to Janson was a foretaste of the long beat in from St Helens to the finish at Pepe. By the time they reached Janson, Olav Cole in Redwing (with James Wilson crewing) had moved into the lead ahead of Red Gauntlet II and John Raymond in Harlequin. The gap to the rest of the fleet increased considerably by the time they rounded St Helens for the second time. While most kept on port tack after rounding, Olav tacked quite quickly onto starboard and stayed offshore; a tactic that certainly appeared to benefit them and gave them a four minute lead at the finish over Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore in Snowgoose, Colin in Toucan (who had remained on port almost to Priory Bay) and John in Harlequin. Sadly for Joe, Red Gauntlet II had to retire about halfway back from St Helens when a lower shroud broke.
In the meantime the three One-Designs, rigged with their normal sails, had an excellent race between themselves - indeed although obviously finishing well after the Redwings, on handicap they very nearly took the top three places. Jos Coad in No 8 was ahead for most of the race, but Mark Grzegorczyk sailing single handed in No 9 overtook him on the second run to St Helens and extended his lead on the long beat to the finish. On corrected time, Olav won by 20 seconds, with Mark second, Jos third and Charles Abel Smith in No 7 One-Design fourth. A lovely morning's race in quite testing conditions.
Zanen Trophy Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Helm | Correction Factor | Finish Time | Elapsed Time | Corrected Time |
|---|
| 1 | 21 | Redwing | Olav Cole | 1 | 11:49:37 | 01:49:37 | 01:49:37 |
| 2 | BOD 9 | | Mark Grzegorczyk | 0.79 | 12:18:39 | 02:18:39 | 01:49:57 |
| 3 | BOD 8 | | Jos Coad | 0.79 | 12:21:31 | 02:21:31 | 01:52:13 |
| 4 | BOD 7 | | Charles Abel Smith | 0.79 | 12:22:18 | 02:22:18 | 01:52:51 |
| 5 | 5 | Snowgoose | Jonathan N‑Luxmoore | 1 | 11:53:33 | 01:53:33 | 01:53:33 |
| 6 | 11 | Toucan | Colin Samuelson | 1 | 11:53:45 | 01:53:45 | 01:53:45 |
| 7 | 6 | Blue Jay II | Chloe Bunbury | 1 | 11:53:56 | 01:53:56 | 01:53:56 |
| 8 | 18 | Harlequin | John Raymond | 1 | 11:55:01 | 01:55:01 | 01:55:01 |
| 9 | 47 | Musicus | David McCue | 1 | 11:56:25 | 01:56:25 | 01:56:25 |
| 10 | 1 | Paroquet | Meri Benham | 1 | 11:56:56 | 01:56:56 | 01:56:56 |
| 11 | 40 | Plover | Andrew Eddy | 1 | 11:58:22 | 01:58:22 | 01:58:22 |
| RTD | 24 | Red Gauntlet II | Joe Robertson | 1 | | | |
With the keelboats on their way, the Committee Boat moved towards the harbour a bit and set up a windward leeward course for half a dozen Scows. After a good start, it did not take long for the two Morgan boats (helmed by Oliver & Francesca) to establish an unbeatable lead.
Start of the Scow race
Oliver was ahead after the first round but Francesca rounded the windward mark (Pepe) for the second time in front. However, as they closed on the leeward mark (Garland) Oliver took the lead back again and crossed the finish line a couple of boat lengths ahead. Victoria Richardson was third. Although offered a second race, there were no takers!
There was little or no wind an hour before the scheduled start of 10:30 on Sunday morning and to make matters worse, it had started to drizzle! After considerable discussion it was decided by all that as the prospect of having any good racing was minimal, the only sensible option was to hoist N over A and cancel racing. As is always the way, the breeze then began to build! However visibility was poor and the drizzle got harder, so no one was too upset!