Bembridge Keelboat Early May Bank Holiday Racing

by Robin Joy & Mike Samuelson 5 May 15:01 BST 2-4 May 2026

Back on the water at last! With no Illusion racing since late January and the One-Designs delaying the start of their season as they waited for the Under Tyne moorings to be laid, its been a rather odd Spring at the Bembridge end of the harbour!

Traditionally the early May Bank Holiday sees the Redwings competing for the Quail Trophy and the One-Designs racing for the Woodroffe Bowel. There was no change this year with two races for both Classes on Saturday morning, two more on Sunday morning and one on BH Monday.

Saturday 2 May by Robin Joy

The lack of breeze did not dampen the enthusiasm of ten Redwing and 6 One-Design crews who gathered at BSC for the first day of the 2026 keelboat season. However, getting to the start line at Garland was not easy, and racing was delayed by about 20 minutes.

For the Redwings' first race Fitzwilliam was set as the first mark, giving a beat into a very light easterly. After a clean start all boats opted to head inshore on port and beat up the beach to the lifeboat station before heading (slowly!) out to the mark. The first three boats established what looked like a good lead, but as they ran past the Committee boat towards the leeward mark (Old Church) the fleet had caught up, with Oliver Morgan in Prawn, Colin Samuelson in Toucan, and Jockey Wilson in Quail vying for the lead. The ROs shortened the course to one round, and on the beat back to the finish at Garland Jockey worked into the lead and took first, with Colin second and Oliver third. Billy Clegg in Lady Letitia was fourth, and Jonathan N-L in Snowgoose pipped Xander Shaw in Harlequin by the narrowest of margins for fifth. Jonathan subsequently realised that he was using the wrong size jib, and retired from this and the second race.

The wind veered a little and helpfully strengthened to about 12kts for the second race, with Tara now set as the windward mark, followed by a run to Nainby, and a beat to the finish by the moorings at Under Tyne. Despite these much better sailing conditions, the fleet was quite widely spread by the end of the first beat, with familiar names near the front. The fleet followed the leaders inshore for the second beat, with nobody venturing offshore in an attempt to find a friendly wind shift. Despite Xander's efforts he couldn't catch Jockey, who won again. Billy was third, with Colin fourth, and Crispin Kenyon in Blue Jay fifth.

The six One-Designs raced over a shorter course than the Redwings, with Under Tyne as the windward mark. After (eventually) getting round Under Tyne Sarah Marshall in No 7 was neck and neck with D Orange (No 9) and Stephan Ludwig (No 3), who had arrived very late for the start, but then in fact had a perfect start! They finished in that order (7, 9, 3), having stayed well ahead of Jos Coad (No 8) in fourth, Russ Fowler (No 1) very close behind in fifth, and new helm Richard Coleman (No 10) sixth.

A few helms changed for the second One-Design race, which was slightly less leisurely, as the breeze came up a little. Sarah was again in the mix with an excellent start, but Tad Ross now helming No 8 led at the windward mark, which was again Under Tyne. Stephan was now also going well. Tad hung on for the run to Nainby, and for the beat to the finish at UT to win. Stephan was second, and Sarah third. Simon Alloca (No 1) was fourth, Richard fifth, and Penny Stanley (No 9) sixth.

Sunday 3 May by Mike Samuelson

The forecast was for not a lot of wind, so the crews of the eight Redwings and six One-Designs headed out to the Under Tyne moorings expecting the worst. However as they started rigging a 5 knot SE'early breeze materialised. Remaining cautious the Race Officers decided to use Under Tyne (E) as the outer limit and laid an inflatable windward mark inshore of Tara (T). Both classes then had Tara as a spreader with the Redwings then heading off to Nainby (N) and the One-Designs went to Footprint (Y). Set twice round (with the £ sign) to bring them back through the line, both fleets made reasonable progress in the somewhat flaky conditions. Harlequin (Xander Shaw) lead to Nainby with Toucan (Colin Samuelson) and Quail (Jockey Wilson) pressing hard. There was then a bit of a gap to Prawn (Oliver Morgan), Redwing (Nick Woolgar), Quintessence (Robin Ebsworth), Snow Goose (Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore) and Musicus (Amelia Montagu). Quail moved into the lead on the beat back to the line where the course was changed after the windward inflatable to Janson and back to the finish at Under Tyne. Toucan was second, Harlequin was third and Prawn was fourth.

The One-Designs meanwhile saw No 10 (Richard Coleman) initially ahead of No 4 (John Deacon), No 8 (Tad Ross) and No 1 (Russ Fowler) before a gap to No 7 (Sarah Marshall) and No 3 (Stephan Ludwig). After a similar course change to the Redwings, No 4 powered to the front to finish a minute ahead of No 10 with No 1 third and No 8 was fourth.

With a minute to run to the start of Redwing's second race, the breeze veered to such an extent that the first leg to the inflatable would have been a broad reach, so AP was signalled and Sea Breeze up anchored and headed off the Fitzwilliam. With the breeze too fickle to send them far, the course was very simple - from Fitzwilliam to Under Tyne three times round for the Redwings finishing at Under Tyne and for the One-Designs twice round, also finishing at Under Tyne. Although Harlequin was first to round Under Tyne after the first upwind leg, Quail put paid to that on the first run and for the rest of the race never looked like being overtaken. Toucan moved up into second on the second round and finished a minute and a half behind Quail. Harlequin was third and Prawn was fourth.

Start of Redwing Race 2

After a poor start No 8, helmed by Jos Coad made up for it on the first beat and found himself second just behind No 7 (Sarah Marshall) going into the second round. However as the fleet closed on Under Tyne for the final leg, it was No 4 (John Deacon) who finished ahead of Sarah to take his second win of the day. Jos was third and Richard Coleman was fourth.

Pleasingly for the Race Officers, the three rounds for the Redwings with two for the One-Designs saw quite a bit of intermingling between the two fleets and demonstrated that with the One-Designs using their genoas, there was little difference in boat speed.

Monday 4 May by Mike Samuelson

The light airs forecast for the Bank Holiday was certainly not very conducive to any meaningful racing, however this did not stop the crews of seven Redwings and five One-Designs wanting to give it a go. Sadly the occasional ripple failed to develop and so after an hour of drifting, racing was abandoned and boats headed back to their moorings.

This left Jockey Wilson in Quail with four wins and the Quail Trophy. Things were much closer in the One-Designs with No 8 (Alexander Ross) and No 7 (Sarah Marshall) sharing the Woodroffe Bowl.