MOCRA UK National Championship 2026 at Royal Victoria Yacht Club and Bembridge Sailing Club

It was great to see many friends from MOCRA at RVYC & Bembridge SC for their 2026 Nationals. As has been done a few years previously, the Championships was programmed for the three days during the week before the Round the Island race in the hopes that it would attract some of the RTIR multihull entrants.

In the event 11 boats were entered, albeit one local trimaran (Nice Tri) only for the first day. Sadly Easy Tiger, owned by the MOCRA Racing Secretary (Neil) was delayed and missed the first day.

MOCRA National Championship at Bembridge day 1 - photo © Mike Samuelson

The start time for Monday's first race was geared to when there was enough water for the boats (and the Committee Boat - BSC's Sea Breeze), most of which were berthed overnight on RVYC's pontoons, to exit Wootton Creek and muster close to Quarr where the start line was established.

With a WSW'erly F3, which was forecast to increase during the afternoon, the Race Team, headed by Mike Samuelson, managed to get things going at 12:25. The first race was a windward/leeward with the Colette as the windward mark and Quarr as the leeward mark, twice round. Fastest of the fleet, Uno (a Granger TR36) helmed by James Holder, just over cooked it at the start and had to play catch up once he had cleared the line.

However, with Colette quite a long way away, by the time the fleet completed their first round, Uno was lead boat, with Storm (Jake Jefferis), Sanity (Nigel Talbot), Trying (Douglas Reid), Dragon Boy (James Smith), Grey Goose (Robin Russell), Arlette (Dave Moore), Nice Try (James O'Callaghan), Fastair (Simon Hiscocks) and Extreme (Luke Russell) working hard to keep in touch.

Not surprisingly Uno took line honours however with a hefty handicap of 1.4572 not even being eight minutes ahead of Sanity could place her in the top three overall; on corrected time it was Sanity, Dragon Boy and Nice Tri.

For Race 2, they were set Special Course 1 which saw them completing a triangle, sausage and a triangle using Peel Wreck, the inflatable pin and Mother Bank, finishing back at Quarr. After a clean start the fleet quickly split tacks both upwind and downwind which was very satisfying for the Race Officers.

As to be expected Uno lead the way with Sanity, Storm and Fastair enjoying the slight increase in the breeze. As in the previous race, Uno took line honours, but with Sanity finishing only 5 minutes behind; on corrected time the top three came out as Sanity, Nice Tri and Storm. Dragon Boy was fourth and Arlette was fifth.

The third and final race of the day saw an interesting start with Fastair screaming across the line on port; the only trouble was that they were a good 5 seconds too early after they were hit by a couple of gusts that threw their timing out.

So as to throw in a bit of variation, the course was Peel Wreck, Browndown, Peel Wreck, Mother Bank and a finish at Quarr. With Storm revelling in the F5 breeze, she rounded Peel Wreck ahead of Uno, however it was not long before Uno took up the lead leaving Storm and Sanity to initially battle it out for second and third.

However, despite their OCS, Fastair was soon moving up the fleet as was Arlette who revelled in the breezier conditions and finished second on corrected time. Fastair was third and Storm was fourth. Grey Goose did not start and Nice Tri had a problem with a batten and retired.

MOCRA National Championship at Bembridge day 1 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Day 2, Tuesday, was programmed for one windward leeward race off Wootton, followed by a passage race to Bembridge. Although the start of the first race was postponed as there was a paucity of water on the RVYC pontoons, the forecast for the day was for a WSW F4-F5 breeze so a short delay was not a problem.

MOCRA National Championship at Bembridge day 2 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Based just off Quarr, the first race was simply Peel Wreck & Quarr three times round. Although Nice Tri was not racing, the fleet was joined by Neil Boughton and his crew in Easy Tiger.

After a clean start (Extreme timing it to perfection) the fleet soon split tacks and again Uno lead the way to finish.

Unfortunately for family Talbot, Sanity's rudder broke soon after the start so they retired and set about coming up with a temporary repair. In the meantime, Arlette, Fastair and Grey Goose enjoyed some very close racing with Fastair finishing second, 4 minutes behind Uno.

Grey Goose was third only 15 seconds behind and Arlette was fourth. On corrected time, the first three were Arlette, Fastair and Dragon Boy

MOCRA National Championship at Bembridge day 2 - photo © Mike Samuelson

After a bit of confusion over the course as it had not been made clear at Sunday's briefing that the buoy symbols changed from RVYC's to BSC's when they reached No Mans Land Fort, the passage race started.

There was a short beat to Peel Wreck followed by a long run down the Solent with Kemps Quay, Warner and Nab East all the starboard and a final beat from Nab East to the finish at Under Tyne.

With Sanity able to race, the fleet were back to 10 boats, all of which successfully completed the course. Not surprisingly Uno lead the way as she was powered down the Solent by the WSW F4-5 breeze and took line honours 14 minutes ahead of Sanity.

Arlette was third across the line only a minute later. Although there was some doubt as to whether she had passed Warner to starboard, Fastair was fourth. Despite finishing so far ahead, on corrected time Uno's handicap put her as fifth overall, behind Sanity, Arlette, Fastair and Storm.

Another excellent day's racing.

MOCRA National Championship at Bembridge day 3 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Due to the light wind forecast for the morning of Day 3 (Wednesday), it was decided to delay racing until the afternoon (13:30) to allow boats to get out of Bembridge and for the breeze to fill in. A good decision, albeit there still had to be a postponement while the final couple of boats reached the start area off Janson.

The first race was a simple windward/leeward course, Tara and Janson twice round. Extreme was well and truly OCS and came back; Easy Tiger also had a float over the line but due to the RO having a senior moment and calling a non-existent boat OCS, they were given the benefit of doubt!

Although certainly not first over the start line, it did not take long for Uno to power into the lead. With such short legs, the crews were kept pretty busy which added to the fun, On corrected time is was another win for Sanity, with Arlette second and Storm third,

The second race of the day was a modified Special Course1 in that there was only a triangle and a sausage using Under Tyne, Fitzwilliam and Janson. It was quite noisy at the start and Sanity was locked out at the Committee boat end of the line, so was the last boat to start, mind you it did not take them long to be back in the mix of things.

Storm had a great race and was only two minutes behind Uno at the finish. Although still not quite good enough to stop Sanity making it another win on corrected time. Slightly surprisingly, but well deserved, Uno was third on corrected time. It was good to some very close racing mid-fleet.

The start of the eighth and final race saw Storm having a 'storming' start and although they were unable to get to the windward mark (Under Tyne) ahead of Uno, they managed to hold their own and indeed widen the gap to third place Sanity.

With Moreton as a wing mark and Derrick as the leeward mark, the course offered a slight change of angles which hopefully they enjoyed. Although a return to Under Tyne and back to Derrick would have provided a better beat, the Race Officers, conscious of the time set the shorter option of Janson back to the finish at Derrick. On corrected time the first three were Storm, Sanity and Dragon Boy.

And so ended a very enjoyable three day 2026 Nationals - sailed in champagne (or should it be 'Mermaid Gin') conditions. With all eight races completed the final results reflect two discards. Family Talbot in Sanity emerged (again) as National Champions; Dave Moore in Arlette was second one point ahead of Jake Jefferis in Storm.

MOCRA National Championship at Bembridge day 3 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Our thanks to RVYC and BSC for all the organising and hospitality. And of course also to our sponsors (the Isle of Wight Distillery, Allspars, The Multihull Centre and Highwater Sails) for their generous support.

Additional photos: flic.kr/s/aHBqjCYJjw

Overall Results:
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