Bembridge Sailing Club Mid June Keelboat Weekend
by Mike Samuelson 16 Jun 06:06 BST
14-15 June 2025
Although nice and sunny on Saturday, the F5 SW'erly kept even the keenest ashore; fortunately it had dropped to a more manageable F4 for Sunday's early afternoon races.
Initially four Redwings and two One-Designs made their way out to the start area based on Garland; after a short postponement to allow a fifth Redwing (Musicus helmed by Rosie Sym) to join the race, they all made an excellent start and headed to an inflatable windward mark that had been laid to the east of Pepe to avoid interfering with the Gig Festival 'time trail' course round St Helens Fort.
Start of the Redwing race - Sunday 15 June:
Xander Shaw helming Harlequin was the first to round the windward inflatable and start the long run to Ruthven. Toucan, helmed by Colin Samuelson and Prawn, helmed by Oliver Morgan were behind; it was particularly good to see Prawn out for their first race under 'new management'. Musicus was fourth and Plover, helmed by Andrew Eddy was fifth not far behind. By the time they were back at the windward mark, Harlequin had extended their lead ahead of Toucan and Prawn and Plover had overtaken Rosie who wisely decided that one round was enough for her young crew members.
Harlequin was still over 200 yards ahead of Toucan as she rounded Ruthven again, however after her first covering tack, her main halyard broke and she was left with completing the final beat to the finish at Pepe under jib. This put Colin into the lead and Toucan crossed the line a minute ahead of Prawn with Plover a couple of minutes later. Although Harlequin was offered a tow, she persevered under jib and finished only 10 minutes behind the leader. With just the one race completed over the weekend, the Evert de Kort Cup was won by Toucan.
Just prior to the start of the One-Design race, John Suffield, helming No 4 single-handed had a problem with his mainsail which despite best efforts he was unable to make good so he retired and headed back into the harbour. This just left Lavinia and Charles Perry in No 8 who after a bit of a discussion decided that they would like to practice their starting and as it was such a lovely afternoon, sail a reasonable length course.
Start of the One-Design race - Sunday 15 June:
Their course was kept simple and saw them rounding the windward inflatable, a long run to Ruthven and a long beat to the finish at Pepe. All in all, a nice unpressurised sail.