Bembridge Sailing Club's Keelboat Weekend Racing - Mid-May 2026
by Mike Samuelson & Robin Joy 19 May 16:45 BST
16-17 May 2026
Although not the warmest weather that one can expect in May, and the breeze, particularly on Sunday was a bit fickle, the Redwings had two days of great sailing. The One-Designs appeared on just the Saturday which was a pity.
Saturday
A decent 12kts from the SW made for promising sailing on Saturday, albeit under rather leaden skies. With Harlequin being rather delayed in getting afloat, five Redwings started their first race from a laid line upwind to Garland, followed by a run to Janson, and another beat up through the line, three times round. As the RTI powerboat racers were due to pass nearby the ROs elected not to use any marks further offshore.
After a rather cautious start the boats staying on starboard fared better than the early tackers, and Tara (guest helmed by Bruce Huber) led Quail (Jockey Wilson) by a boat's length at the windward mark. Quail worked through Tara on the run, followed by Quintessence (Robin Ebsworth) in third. Then came Snow Goose (Jonathan N-L), and Blue Jay (Colin Samuelson, another guest helm).
Blue Jay had a good second beat, overtaking both Snow Goose and Quintessence, and just ahead Tara managed to catch Quail port & starboard. Quail's 360 penalty gave Tara a lead which she kept to the winning gun. She was followed by Quail, Snow Goose, Blue Jay, and Quintessence.
For race two a similar course was set, but adding a visit to Fitz, with a finish near the moorings at Under Tyne. Xander Shaw in Harlequin had joined the fleet by now, and all six boats got off to a much better start than race one. The wind had freshened a little by now, which seemed to suit Harlequin, who led at the first visit to Garland. The fleet was a bit more spread out this time, with Quail second and Tara (Bruce still helming) third.
There were fewer opportunities for catching up, and this remained the order to the finish. Fourth was Blue Jay (Colin, still), beating Snow Goose on the line by about ¼ of a boat length, followed by Quintessence.
Four BODAs raced over a two-round version of the Redwing course, and it was again the starboard tack pair that did better on the first beat. Hugh Doherty in No 10 led Simon Allocca in No 1 at the windward mark, with Charles Perry in No 8 and Mark Hodgkinson, solo in No 9, following. Simon could not make any impression on Hugh's lead, and this was how they finished.
With the freshening wind Mark decided to leave the two handed boats to it, so there were just the three boats for race two. A fairly protracted first race prompted a simple shorter course up to Garland, down to Fitz, then to finish at Under Tyne for race two. This time Pete Summerhayes was helming No 1, and managed to head Richard Coleman (now helming No 10) round the short course.
Charles Perry unfortunately suffered a knock from the boom in No 8, and sensibly took things easy for the rest of the race, but continued none the less, and finished third. After racing he attended A&E as a precaution.
Sunday
All six Redwings wanting to race were ready to go well before the scheduled start time, so rather than waiting it was agreed with the RO team (Mike Samuelson & Alastair Speare-Cole) to start 10 minutes early. With one longer race programmed, the initial thought had been to send them to Warner however, no sooner had it been signalled the breeze backed to the WSW, which meant that Garland, Cockrane, Pepe, Cockrane, Pepe looked good for starters.
Action at the start was mostly at the pin end of the line (Under Tyne) with Blue Jay helmed by Colin Samuelson overcooking it and requiring the X-Flag to be displayed.
Once corrected he took Blue Jay inshore in the hopes that the flooding tide might help him. The others all headed up the right hand side of the course. In the event Jockey Wilson in Quail rounded Garland well ahead of Xander Shaw in Harlequin, followed by Bruce Huber helming Tara, Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore in Snowgoose, Colin in Blue Jay and Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence.
Although it was lovely sailing, and there were a number of windshifts to keep them on their toes and Bruce moved up to second it on the second round it did become a bit of a procession. Rather than going to Cochrane a second time, the leeward mark was changed to Moreton to provide a better final beat. Quail finished three minutes ahead of Tara with Harlequin a further two minutes behind. Blue Jay was fourth, Snowgoose was fifth and Quintessence sixth.
There were no One-Designs sailing on Sunday.
It's the inaugural Redwing 'Nationals' next weekend which as a Bank Holiday means three days of racing; there is also a Friday Night Challenge race to start things off. Fingers crossed for some decent weather!