Bembridge Sailing Club late June Keelboat Racing
by Mike Samuelson 28 Jun 16:19 BST
26-27 June 2021
Early afternoon tides and a gentle SE'erly on Saturday encouraged eight Redwings and three One-Designs off their moorings for two races.
Not wanting to go too far away for the start, a line just to the south of St Helens Fort was set up and provided a testing beat to Tara. After a good start, and with the breeze flicking southerly on occasions, all the Redwings headed inshore to get out of the tide. Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore in Snowgoose was first round Tara with Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II close behind; there was then a bit of a gap to the rest of the fleet. However on the slow run to Drum, Snowgoose initially extended her lead but towards the end, Red Gauntlet II found the better breeze and rounded just ahead. The beat back to the line, where the S Flag signalled a shortened course, was certainly not a procession, even though Joe was able to consolidate his lead. David McCue in Musicus was third just over three quarters of a minute behind Snowgoose. Fourth & fifth places were taken by Andrew Eddy in Plover and Alastair Speare-Cole helming Avocet, a mere two seconds apart.
There was another good start to their second race which saw the fleet all pretty close as they rounded the windward mark (E) after a relatively short beat.
Start of Race 2 Saturday
Then it was back to the inflatable outer distance mark before heading back to E. Although Musicus was first back to the inflatable with Snowgoose in hot pursuit, it was the other white boat, Plover, helmed by Andrew Eddy that became the boat to beat after moving ahead on the second beat. Musicus and Snowgoose never really looked like catching Plover and had to be content with second and third with just over thirty seconds separating them. This put four boats (Red Gauntlet II, Snowgoose, Musicus & Plover) all on five points for the Fortuna 1924 Cup.
The three One Designs had the same courses as the Redwings, In the first race, Russ Fowler in No 1 got the best start and then moved into a substantial lead on the challenging beat to Tara. Despite best efforts, Jos Coad helming No 8 was unable to close the gap and finished nearly two and a half minutes behind. Charles Abel Smith in No 7 followed a similar distance behind.
The second race saw a similar pattern except that it was No 8, helmed by Peter Summerhayes that made all the running and having rounded E ahead, moved further ahead on each leg and never looked as if they were going to be caught. At the finish at Pepe, Peter was over two minutes ahead of No 1, helmed by Simon Allocca, with Charles in No 7 sweeping up at the back.
Start of Race 2 Saturday
The forecast for Sunday afternoon was not very promising, however six Redwings decided to give it a go. Although the strong over night easterly breeze left a residual lumpy sea, conditions could have been worse. Starting on time from Garland in improving conditions, all six boats were spread nicely along the line, and all were within a boat length of the line as they headed to Janson. Those choosing the centre of the course faired best and by the end of the first round, Mike Toogood in Tara had established a useful lead over Joe Robertson in Red Gauntlet II and Andrew Eddy in Plover. Tara managed to stay out in front for the rest of the two round race and finished three quarters of a minute ahead of Plover with Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore Snowgoose in third nearly two minutes later. Red Gauntlet II fourth. This meant that Andrew in Plover won the Fortuna 1924 Cup.
No One-Designs raced on Sunday.