Bembridge Redwing National Championship 2026 at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Mike Samuelson & Jos Coad 25 May 22:13 BST
22-25 May 2026
Notwithstanding it was forecast, wall to wall sunshine made for a memorable inaugural Redwing Nationals over the late May Bank holiday. The big question was, was the breeze going to hold up and provide champagne sailing conditions?
Well come Friday evening, the four Redwings wanting to sail towards the Friday evening challenge enthusiastically rigged and Sea Breeze headed off the Garland so as to be half way between boats coming out of the harbour and those who were moored at Under Tyne. By 18:45 and with no one even close to the line, N over H was displayed and racing was abandoned.
Saturday
The last minute change to the start time delaying racing to after lunch in the hopes that a sea breeze might kick in for the afternoon paid off and come 14:30 there was a steady force 3 from the south east in glorious sunshine. There were twelve Redwings racing their 'Nationals' over the weekend and sadly only two One-Designs.
For the first race the Redwings were set a course from Janson to Cochrane, back to Derrick with a beat to finish at Janson. In the event it was optimistic to think they would be round in 45 minutes, and was closer to an hour for the leading boats to finish. The fleet spread wide on the beat to Cochrane with Colin Samuelson in Toucan and Jockey Wilson in Quail vying for the lead.
Colin lead down the slow run to Derrick but Jockey, Matt Alexander in Harlequin and Rory Morrison in Paroquet overtook him on the beat back to the finishing line at Janson, Billy Clegg, 4 up with his children in Lady Laeticia, came fifth.
The course for the second race was shortened to Tara, Derrick with a finish at Under Tyne; this should have been achieved in 45 minutes but the fleet hit a hole in the wind at Derrick which resulted in the race taking an hour again! Also the wind had veered to the SSE so it was a full beat back to Under Tyne. Colin and Jockey lead the fleet again and this time Colin held onto win with Jockey second, Rory again third, Billy fourth and Matt fifth.
It was pleasing to see Laura Watson, not a regular helm, in Gosling coming in sixth. Despite the races taking longer than planned the RO's were assured by many helms that everyone was thrilled to have excellent sailing in lovely conditions.
Redwing photos by Vicks Wilson
For the two One-Designs, their course in the first race was to Tara, back to Derrick and a beat to finish at Janson. Hugh Doherty in No 10 got away first as Charles Perry in No 8 was the wrong side of the line at the start. Hugh never relinquished the lead and won comfortably.
For the second race the course was to Tara, back to Janson and a beat to finish at Under Tyne. Robin Joy was now helming No10 and Lavinia Perry as helming No 8. The race was very much nip and tuck with little to choose between them throughout. Robin lead from Janson managing to hold it to came home first, a mere 18 seconds ahead.
Sunday
A couple more knots of breeze on Sunday afternoon would have resulted in conditions being described as 'champagne', as it was the pretty steady 7 knot SSE'erly resulted in mere 'cider' conditions. Mind you everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. For the first race, the Redwings were set a simple windward/leeward course, starting and finishing (after two rounds) at Fitzwilliam, with Tara as the windward mark and Janson as the leeward one.
Despite a square line, the majority of the 14 boat fleet started at the pin end of the line.
In hindsight and re-looking at the video, it should probably have been a General Recall, however as the worst offenders (including Billy Clegg in Lady Laetiaca) came back, the First Sub remained stowed.
Split tacks but with the majority going offshore, however it was no great surprise to see Jockey Wilson in Quail rounding first by quite a margin. On the run to Janson the fleet spread out laterally as they tried to find the optimum side of the course to be on. Although Quail was still in front as they rounded the leeward mark, Rory Morrison (Paroquet) had reduced the deficit a bit and Billy (Lady Laetitia) had caught up after his poor start.
On the second round, Colin Samuelson in Toucan moved up into second and finished just under a minute behind Quail. Rory was third and Billy was fourth. Midfleet was close with Plover (Ed Eddy), Redwing (Nick Woolgar) and Quintessence (Robin Ebsworth) finishing with only 20 seconds between them.
Having looked at a number of alternative courses for their second race, the Race Officers drew a blank and kept the course the same as the first race. It was therefore pleasing that post race, everyone thought it was an excellent course! The start was not quite so busy at the pin end of the line as the first race and everyone could justifiably pat themselves a very good start.
Toucan was first to round Tara and although it was no means a procession, lead the way around the rest of the two round race. Quail was second with Paroquet just finishing ahead of Lady Laetitia to take third place. Sixth to eighth (Blue Jay, Snowgoose and Harlequin) were separated by less than 30 seconds.
Sadly there were still only two One-Designs out racing. Set the same course as the Redwings the start of their first race was not the best with both boats well off the pace. Hugh Doherty helming No 10 lead the way and despite best efforts by the Perry's in No 8, it became a bit of a procession. For their second race, their course was just once round. After a much closer start, it was No 8 who lead the way with No 10 helmed by D Orange trailing, albeit by not much.
Both approached Tara from offshore and both took a central line to Jason, however D was unable to get very close to Lavinia, but of course it only takes one slip for the places to change.
Monday
With ferries to catch and a forecast suggesting a reasonable sailing breeze for the morning, it was decided to revert back to morning racing.
Although it eventually came good, the prospects were not looking promising for the fourteen Redwings and four One-Designs who rigged up but were clearly not going anywhere very fast. With ten minutes to go to the scheduled start time (10:00), a very gentle Easterly breeze tempted everyone to head to Fitzwilliam in the hopes of getting the first of two races away without too much of a delay.
Three quarters of the way through the Redwing start sequence, the very light breeze died off and the RO's (Mike Samuelson and David McCue) had no option other than to display the AP and offer boats close to the Committee boat to tie up behind and wait to see what the weather gods had to offer.
In the event, there was good news from Chimet which was recording a F3 Easterly, so with some nervousness the Redwing start sequence was re-started. The course was kept very simple and compact with Morton as the windward mark and Fitzwilliam (to starboard) as the leeward mark, twice round. After a noisy start with lots of 'up, upping' and although it looked as if Colin Samuelson in Toucan was going to be OCS, he managed to dip back for a clean start.
Annoyingly for him, Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore found his anchor had snagged something on the sea bed which took him quite a long time to resolve and put him well behind the rest of the fleet. Carrying on from the previous day Jockey Wilson in Quail rounded Moreton just ahead of Billy Clegg in Lady Laetitia. There was then a gap to Matt Alexander helming Harlequin, Nick Woolgar in Redwing and Colin in Toucan. The second round saw Rory Morrison in Paroquet moving into fourth and Colin dropping back to sixth.
With the breeze holding up, the course for the second race was a bit more ambitious and made use of an inflatable leeward mark about half way to Garland. For the Redwings it was three times round and twice for the One-Designs. Jockey and Rory lead the way and extended their lead on each round.
Colin chased valiantly but had to be content with a third, two minutes ahead of Billy in Lady Laetitia, Harlequin was fifth. This meant that Jockey, with four firsts and two seconds was the outright winner of the inaugural 'National Championships' along with the Gunston Trophy. Colin was second and Rory was third.
The four One-Designs meanwhile enjoyed some close racing with Stephan Ludwig and Roy Burrows in No 3, winning both races. In the first race, Tad Ross in No 8 caused a bit of a stir when he had a senior moment and rounded Fitzwilliam to port rather than to starboard. In trying to correct himself he caught the main sheet on the buoy which allowed No 3 to sail round the mayhem and into first place.
Although No 3 remained in the lead for the rest of the race, No 10 (Simon Allocca and Hugh Doherty) gave them a good run for their money and finished only one second behind. In the second race, Tad made an almost perfect start except that he was nearly a minute too soon crossing the line and was surprised when the X-Flag was displayed!
Stephan lead the way with Charles and Lavinia Perry keeping them on their toes but finished three quarters of a minute behind them. With the late May Bank holiday racing traditionally for the Lowry Corry Trophy, this year's winner was No 10.
Except for Friday evening when a light easterly breeze failed to materialise,, three excellent days of racing.
Late morning tides for next weekend.