Bembridge Illusion Designer Trophy 2025

Bembridge Illusion Designer Trophy 2025 © Mike Samuelson

At the end of the 40th Anniversary dinner in December 2022, Jo Richards, the designer of the Illusion generously presented the Class with a drawing of his original concept for an enlarged single handed model yacht which was foot steered and coincidently look like a scaled down 12 metre! Now known as the Designer Trophy and with last year's winner Bruce Huber busy elsewhere and the Downers bringing their yacht back to UK from the Med, the field was open for a new weekend winner.

After a week of mostly cloudless skies (but a chilly NW'erly breezes), the sun was still shining on Saturday morning and the F2-3 Easterly provided the opportunity for a nice long course in the harbour. That said, at times the breeze played havoc with the fleet of 16 sailors (17 for races 2 & 3) with occasional shifts of 40 degrees. After a short postponement the first race of the day got away cleanly. Will Lowe sadly stalled on the pin and frustratingly could not take advantage of his perfectly timed run to the line.

Start of Race 1 on Saturday:

Initially the fleet split tacks but it did not take long before most realised that working up the St Helens shore was the way to go. Owen Pay was first round the windward mark with Raymond Simonds, his brother Colin and Matt Solan and Justin Biddle not far behind. With a number of holes in the breeze at the top end of the course it was a bit of a lottery and the rest of the fleet was quite well spread out. On the second round Raymond took over the lead with Justin and Matt not too far behind; Oliver was fourth and Owen slipped down to fifth.

Bembridge Illusion Designer Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

The second race saw at least two boats OCS (William Mills and Colin) however at least three others played safe and returned. Sadly for them it meant that they were always in catch up mode, but that's sailing! Matt was first round the windward mark with Oliver, Raymond, Mike Toogood, Philip Russell (just back from wintering in Thailand with his wife), Mike Issaias and Andy Christie not that far behind. A judicious move of the windward marks before the start to reduce the windless holes at the windward marks paid off and the fleet stayed together rather better.

Start of Race 2 on Saturday:

On the second round, although the St Helens remained the way to go, following a request by the Harbour Master to keep out of the channel, the Race Officers did their best to encourage the helms to keep to the south of the channel (which most did!). There were a number of place changes on the second round with Raymond taking over the lead and Mike I moving into second to finish ahead of Oliver and Matt. Philip was fifth a minute behind Matt.

Bembridge Illusion Designer Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Although the visitors traffic remained quite sparse, prior to the start of the third and final race of the day the channel was announced as an 'Exclusion Zone' to avoid any conflicts with visiting yachts. After an excellent start most headed up to the edge of the zone where there were lots of calls for 'room to tack'.

Start of Race 3 on Saturday:

Colin lead the way at the windward mark with Justin, Mike T, Simon Birchenough Olly Laughton-Scott, Mike I, Owen, Robin Ebsworth and Caroline Simonds in hot pursuit. By the time they reached the finish at the windward mark after two and a half rounds, Justin had moved into the lead ahead of Colin; Raymond made up a lot of ground to take third ahead of Mike T and Simon close behind.

Bembridge Illusion Designer Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

As always lots of close racing with only inches separating finishes after 25+ minutes racing. Sunday's forecast (W/SW F4-5) with occasional sunshine was pretty spot on and made course laying in the harbour reasonably straight forward with the windward marks laid in front the 'Best Dressed Crab' floating restaurant and the leeward gate not far off the BSC pontoons. Too many boats overcooked the start of the first race of the day so after it became clear that not many were acknowledging being OCS, the fleet of 16 boats were recalled with a General Recall.

Start of Race 1 (4) on Sunday:

Re-start of Race 1 (4) on Sunday:

The restart under Flag U was better and although there was one boat which may have just cut the line ahead of the starting signal, they were given the benefit of doubt as the RO was trying to find the record button on his camera! To keep everyone on their toes, the RO team had to yell instructions to round the single leeward mark to port after the second mark went walk about. Having established a lead on the first beat, Raymond held onto it throughout the rest of the race despite pressure from Oliver, Mike I and Mike T. Sadly James Wilson, racing the loaner Illusion for the first time for a number of years had to retire soon after starting when the jib furler stopped working. Hopefully, as now a new Bembridge resident, we will see him back in an Illusion again soon.

Bembridge Illusion Designer Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

The second race of the day saw Flag U used again; interestingly for once everyone stayed back off the line to provide a clean start. Raymond was again first to the windward marks with Caroline and Mike I not that far behind. Although initially up with the from runners, Mike T dropped back during the third round and was unable to better a mid-fleet finish.

Start of Race 2 (5) on Sunday:

Lining up for the leeward gate Race 2 (5) on Sunday:

With the breeze varying between 15 to 20 knots, the start of the third and final race of the day saw Flag U being used again but this time the majority were considerably closer to the line. Indeed both Raymond and Colin found themselves pushed over and therefore were disqualified. Mike I had another excellent race and lead for all three rounds. Oliver was second and Monty Irwin picked up a third.

Start of Race 3 (6) on Sunday:

Six excellent, but quite tiring races; and to make things even more interesting, the three phase power to the cranes crashed soon after everyone had launched on Sunday morning. This meant that the only way to recover the boats after racing was to use their trailers on the main slipway. Not ideal but yet again showed the adaptability of the fleet.

As reflected in the results spreadsheet, Raymond was the convincing winner of the Jo Richards (Designer Trophy); Oliver was second and Mike I was third.

Bembridge Illusion Designer Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Racing on Good Friday and Easter Saturday for Vernon's Easter Egg Cup and then the following weekend we have the last two races of the season with the four race all to count for the St George's Day Trophy on Saturday 26 April and the Woodford Long Distance on the Sunday 27 April.

Additional photos at flic.kr/s/aHBqjC8Lfc

Overall Results: