Bembridge Illusion Bill's Barrel

by Mike Samuelson 20 Oct 07:04 BST 18-19 October 2025

A bit earlier in the new season than normal, Bill's Barrel saw no Bill and no barrel on Saturday! However there eventually were 19 enthusiastic illusionists hovering around the start line just off Fisherman's Pontoon, eager to take on the breezy conditions.

After a quarter of an hour postponement to allow the last few to make it down the harbour, the fleet demonstrated that good discipline and no-one was OCS.

Start of Race 1 Saturday

Most decided that the left side of the course was the way to go so remained on staroard for as long a they could. First by a substantial margin to round the windward was last weekend's Trafalgar Trophy winner Mark Downer. Quite how he does it remains a mystery to most of us; there is no sign of a engine! Raymond Simonds initially led the chasing fleet in pursuit, but after the first round, the chase was taken up by Bruce Huber and Jockey Wilson.

On the run - Race 1 Saturday

Lower down the fleet, there was some very close racing which saw Hugh Doherty, Matt Solan and Mike Issaias finish within a second of each other. Although they reduced Mark's lead during the third round, Bruce finished second and Jockey was third.

The start of Race 2 under Flag P was not a success and resulted in a General Recall

Start of Race 2 Saturday (General Recall)

The re-start under Flag U was a cracker with the majority of the fleet very close to the line. Again most decided that the left hand side of the course was favoured. Mark was again first to round the windward mark and spreader; close behind were David R-J and Andy Christie with a gap to the remainder of the fleet. Andy held onto third until the third round which sadly saw him drop back to finish ninth. In the meantime, Bruce moved into second ahead of David and Raymond. Matt Solan and Mike Toogood tied for eleventh place.

Re-Start of Race 2 Saturday

With the breeze varying from 9 knots to 19 knots, the third and final race of the day got away under Flag U cleanly (just). With a couple of seconds to go David R-J looked as if he was going to be disqualified for crossing the line early, however he just managed to pull back so was able to continue racing.

Start of Race 3 Saturday

On the run during Race 3

Jockey Wilson was safely in the lead for the majority of the race, however on the final up wind leg he and Mark went left and Bruce went right. As Jockey said after the race, he could not cover both challengers; he choose Mark only to find that Bruce's decision to go right allowed him to pick up a series of advantageous wind shifts and cross the line a few boat lengths ahead. At the other end of the fleet, Ian Prideaux, Wil Lowe and Andrew Eddy finished inches apart.

Still no sign of Bill on Sunday morning, but the good news was that the prizes of beer that he traditionally very kindly manages to obtain from Goddards Brewery were safely in the Club! Although it drizzled throughout racing, the strong winds forecast did not materialise. As expected the numbers of boats launching were slightly down from the previous day, however sixteen boats is still impressive. With the breeze more Southerly course setting is a bit harder; getting a square line and keeping the leeward gate to the south of the harbour channel is not easy. It was therefore no surprise that it took three starts (P, U and Black) to get them away. And even then it was a close run thing with the front line of boats mere centremetres away the line on a Black flag!

Start of Race 1 (4) on Sunday

Re-start (Flag U) of Race 1 (4) on Sunday

Re-start (Black Flag) of Race 1 (4) on Sunday

Jockey was first to round the windward marks; Bruce and Mark were side by side on the run to the leeward gate which they took opposing buoys. Mark was ahead as they crossed the line, but Bruce was ahead when theu crossed for the first time.

Just prior to leeward gate Race 1 (4) on Sunday

Jockey led at the start of the third round and Bruce looked as if he had blown it when he caught Sea Breeze's tripping line, however by the time they reached the leeward gate he was back in second place. Mark was third and Justin Biddle (who had not been out the previous day) was fourth.

The start of the second race (under Flag U) was another very close one, however the video clip below shows that no-one jumped the gun!

Start of Race 2 (5) on Sunday

Bruce was first to round the windward marks with Justin and Mark snapping at his heels and Jockey a bit further back. Although by no means a procession, Bruce held them off and was happy for them to battle out the order amongst themselves. Mark moved into second ahead of Justin and Jockey however during the third round, Jockey managed to sail the best course and take second, ahead of Justin and Mark. Oliver Morgan was fourth.

Except that Justin had a number of senior moments during the third and final race of the morning and finished well down the order, it was another win to Jockey, finishing ahead of Bruce, with Mark and Raymond crossing the line after three and a half rounds inches apart.

Start of Race 3 (6) on Sunday

Although sad that Bill was unable to join us for the weekend's racing, everyone was very appreciative of the bottles of Goddard's beer waiting for them in the bar. Thank you Bill and thank you Goddards Brewery for your support.

With all six races to count, the overall winner was Bruce; Jockey was second, Mark was third and Oliver was fourth.

Next weekend, racing is in the middle of the day for the Bailey Bowl.

The first of this season's Team Racing weekends is 22 & 23 November. Raymond is in charge of team selection so do please contact him if you are thinking of joining in this really fun weekend. Assistant Umpires are also sought; this is an excellent way of learning some of the tricks of the trade!

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Bruce Huber	101	2	2	1	2	1	2	10
2	Jockey Wilson	10	3	5	2	1	2	1	14
3	Mark Downer	164	1	1	3	3	4	3	15
4	Oliver Morgan	169	7	6	5	5	5	6	34
5	Raymond Simonds	165	4	4	4	6	14	4	36
6	Jo Downer	166	5	7	9	8	9	10	48
7	Owen Pay	160	8	10	7	10	6	8	49
8	David Peerless	140	14	8	11	7	11	5	56
9	Mike Toogood	142	9	11	12	13	8	7	60
10	Mike Issaias	152	12	13	8	14	10	9	66
11	Andy Christie	149	13	9	14	12	13	12	73
12	David Russell‑Jones	155	6	4	4	S	S	S	77
13	Hugh Doherty	124	10	R	S	9	7	11	79
14	Justin Biddle	85	S	S	S	4	3	13	83
15	John Birchenough	37	15	17	15	15	12	14	88
16	Ian Prideaux	138	19	16	16	11	15	15	92
17	Matt Solan	106	11	11	13	S	S	S	98
18	Andy Snell	80R	18	14	10	S	S	S	105
19	Will Lowe	150	17	18	17	16	R	S	110
20	Andrew Eddy	27	16	15	18	S	S	S	112