Bembridge Sailing Club J70 Regatta, Redwing and One-Design Racing

A busy weekend with the annual J70 Regatta dovetailing in with the Redwing and One-Design racing. Timed so that the home keelboats started first, ten Redwings and six One-Designs made their way to the start area off Fitzwilliam.

Designed to keep clear of the J70s, their course took them to Outer Mark (off Seaview), then along and slow run to Tara, a beat to Britten and a final run to the finish at Undertyne. To all accounts it turned out to be pretty spot on with some challenging beats and interesting runs.

Henry Thorpe helming Redwitch rounded Outer Mark first but was unable to hold the lead and had to do with finishing in sixth. Uncharacteristically James Wilson helming Quail was not in the lead group having overstood towards Seaview but made up to second by the finish ahead of Colin Samuelson in Toucan; Tom Scott meanwhile in Ibis, got everything right and having rounded Tara in front held the lead to take line honours. The six One-Designs were set a similar course albeit they did not go as far as Seaview. After starting close to the Committee Boat Susie Beart in No 5 established a very healthy lead which she held to the finish. Alexander Ross sailing single handed in No 8 finished two minutes behind with Mark Grzegorczyk, also sailing single handed in No 1 finishing 3rd. Of particular note was Mark's single handed spinnaker handling!!

J70s

As always, the first half an hour of the J70 Regatta is all about trying to remember how to rig up these 'pocket rockets' and then getting some practice in before the first race. After a bit of a delay getting all twelve boats close to the starting area, the first start was a practice one with boats being called back just after the starting signal.

J70 Warm up start

This was then followed by a short race (once round a windward/leeward course) that away smoothly in the NW'erly F2 (8 knots) breeze.

J70 Race 1 start

A useful 'warmer into the butts' which saw Tom Preston in 745 setting the pattern of the day. Mind you Lachlan McLucas in 739, Jamie Richardson in 744 and Rosie Gosling 736 showed promise. Race 2 was the same windward/leeward course but twice round. With the wind strength relatively benign it was an ideal opportunity to practice using the best sail onboard, the asymmetric spinnaker! After a clean start it was again 745 that was the boat to beat. Lachlan in 739 was again second and Max Aylmer in 743 was third. Race 3 provided more sail handling practice as they went three times round the windward/leeward course. Yet another win for Tom in 746, with Rosie second and Lachlan third. With the breeze dropping to almost nil, the decision was made to stop for lunch.

Bembridge J70 Regatta - photo © Mike Samuelson

What the Race Officers had failed to realise that lunch meant switch off time for most boats and with an ebbing tide this meant that they were taken slowly but steadily towards the Bembridge Ledge. When subsequently asked if the boats had anchors, the answer was 'yes but they needed to be got out of the bags'! Anyway, half an hour later and after copious towing, the fleet congregated back at Fitzwilliam ready for the fourth race which, to ring the change, was started on the run with the leeward mark as Ruthven.

Things went quite well to start with, but the closer to Ruthven they got, the more windless holes appeared and we were faced with the classic SE'erly breeze being countered by a NW'erly. When eventually the breeze did come, it was the NW'erly that initially prevailed so it looked as if the planned beat back to the line was not going to happen; however within a few minutes the SE'erly kicked in and spinnakers had to be hastily dropped. Tom picked up his fourth win of the day, Ed Eddy in 742 was second and Rosie was third.

Bembridge J70 Regatta - photo © Mike Samuelson

After the inflatables had been re-position to account for what looked like being the dominant SE'erly, the fifth and final race of the day got off to a promising start - especially for the front four. Finishing close to the moorings at Undertyne, Tom looked as if he was going to pick up his fifth win; however as they closed on the finish line the breeze dropped off again with Ed, Jamie and Rosie advantageously position to windward ready for the zephyrs when they came. In the end he could do no better than fifth after Charles Armitage in 737 had ghosted across the line in fourth.

Sunday 18th August

The forecast for Day 2 was for a slightly stronger and steadier breeze which augured well for the. J70 crews in particular. As the previous day, the Redwings and One-Designs went sent off first with Fitzwilliam as the pin. Unfortunately Colin Samuelson in Toucan had a gear failure just before the start and although requested a short postponement to repair, however with so much going on, it was decided to keep the sequence going, so Toucan was a DNS. The other eight Redwings got away to a clean start and headed to Derrick; they then ran to Ruthven, back to Derrick, a long run to Cochrane and an inshore beat to Pepe before finishing downwind at Undertyne.

Quail, helmed by James Wilson was the boat to beat and had the race finished at Derrick after the first beat, then victory would have gone to Henry Thorpe in Redwitch. However as in the previous day's race Henry was unable to retain the lead and had to be satisfied with coming third a minute behind Mike Toogood in Tara.

The six One-Designs meanwhile had a slightly reduced course with Britten as the first windward mark. Alexander Ross helming No 8 dominated in front and was at least 2 minutes ahead of the other five boats for the majority of the race. John Suffield in No 4 was second and Martin Bonham in No 2 was third a mere boat length ahead of Susie Beart in No 5..

J70s

The first of the six J70 races got away to a slightly inauspicious start with so many boats over cooking it that there was a General Recall.

Start of the first race on Sunday (General Recall)

With Flag U as the preparatory, the second start was much better, albeit 740 (Rex) got their timing a minute out (a stop watch definitely an over due Christmas present!) and so were automatically disqualified.

Re-start of Race 1 (Race 6) on Sunday

A two round windward/leeward course that saw the previous day's winner rack up another first place. Rosie was second and Alex Neil (738) was third. Lower down the fleet 742 (Ed) and 739 (Lachlan) tied for 7th place. The second race, again started under Flag U was a short and sharp one round windward/leewarder. This suited Rosie (736) who managed to get ahead of Tom (745) and the One-Design crewed boat helmed by Russ Fowler (735). Three boats tied for eighth place (740 (Rex), 747 (Izzy Huber) and 746 (Tim Montague).

Bembridge J70 Regatta - photo © Mike Samuelson

To ring the changes, the third race of the day was 'round the cans' using Footprint, an inflatable wing mark and Fitzwilliam three times round. The angles worked well and gave them two nice reaches each round.

Start of Race 3 (Race 8) on Sunday (Flag U)

With the Committee Boat re-positioned for the finish (to port) at Fitz, the winner was Rosie (736) with Tom (745) and Ed (742). After a brief lunch, the fourth race (Race 9 overall) was another down wind start with Cochrane as the leeward mark, and then back to Fitz. Although the breeze had not increased as forecast, there was certainly enough to make for some fun sailing. Another win for 745 (Tom) with 736 (Rosie) second and as certainly quite a surprise, 747 (Izzy) third.

Bembridge J70 Regatta - photo © Mike Samuelson

The penultimate race was another round the cans, but this time the windward mark was Britten, with Footprint Tara and finishing back at Fitz. After another Flag U start, it did not take long for 745 (Tom) to move into the lead which he held for the rest of the race to pick up his seventh first place. Jamie (744) was second and Alex (738) was third.

Start of Race 5 (Race 10) on Sunday

With the breeze veering more north, the final race of the day was again round the cans with Janson as the windward mark. Then it was a reach to an inflatable wing mark, a reach/run to Tara and a final two tack beat to the finish at Undertyne. After a successful port tack flyer, Rosie (736) managed to stay ahead of Tom (745) to pick up her third first of the Regatta. Tom (745) was second and Lachlan (739) was third.

Start of Race 6 (Race 11) on Sunday

So after eleven races, it came as no surprise that the overall winners of the Regatta was 748 helmed by Tom Preston and crewed by Jos Laughton-Scott, Tom Seeley and Charlie Palmer. Second was 736 helmed by Rosie Gosling with Amy Cardale, Will Noy and Barney Dykes. And third was 744 helmed by Jamie Richardson with Gus Laughton-Scott, Xander Huber and Archie Haliday.

Another great two days, and heartfelt thanks as always is due to all the helpers, mark layers, race officers, support boats (especially the 'Flag Ship' Duma); but most importantly to Andrew Eddy without whose amazing organising skills and enthusiasm, the Regatta would simply not be possible.

Additional J70 photos at flic.kr/s/aHBqjBE377

J70 Regatta Overall Results: