Bembridge Sailing Club Late July to Early August 2026 Keelboat Racing
by Mike Samuelson et al 8 Aug 17:26 BST
25-27 July 2026
Bembridge SC Keelboat Racing on 6th August 2026 © Mike Samuelson
Tuesday 28th July - by Mark Downer
Five Redwings and seven One-Designs started on time from Janson in a brisk (12 to 15 knots) SE'erly breeze. The course for the former was Tara, Derrick twice to port finishing at Under Tyne.
Laura Watson in Gosling led the fleet away from the start line at Janson to Tara which was the first windward mark after a close start at the pin end. She was closely pursued by Andrew Eddy in Plover. The fleet remained in close proximity throughout the race and by the second windward mark it was Andrew by a whisker closely followed by Laura and then Mike MacInnes in Avocet. It was great to see David Swinstead back afloat with Vera looking fresh as a daisy sporting new sails, mast and paint. The final beat home to Under Tyne from Derrick remained very close right up until the finish where Andrew managed to hold off the competition crossing the line half a dozen feet ahead of Laura in Gosling and Ben Stoddart-Stones and David Swinstead in Vera with Rosie Sym and Tim Montague in Musicus fourth place and Mike MacInnes who had taken the far right hand side of the course in the last beat which did not pay off in fifth place.
The course for the seven One-Designs was Tara, Derrick, Under Tyne, Janson finishing at Under Tyne, all to Port. Mark Gregorczyk in No 9 had a good start and was first to round Tara closely followed by Simon Allocca in No 1 and Mark Hodgkinson in No 6 with the rest of the fleet close behind. With the long downwind leg from Tara to Derrick we expected to see some spinnakers, but everyone opted for booming out the jib which kept the fleet close together throughout the race. At the finish Suzie Bert in No 5 crossed the finish line a boat length ahead of Simon to take the gun in what was a very close race. Mark was third, John Suffield in No 4 was fourth, Mark was fifth and Ashley McLucas in No 6 was sixth. After one hour twenty minutes of racing all the One-Designs (except No 3 helmed by Stefan Ludwig who retired earlier) finished within one and half minutes of the leading boat.
Wednesday 29 July - by Mike Samuelson
Despite the prospect of the F2 easterly dropping, the sun was shining and the sea was shimmering, so three Redwings and three One-Design crews ventured out to the moorings at Under Tyne to join the RO's Mike and Bella who had set shop at E (Under Tyne). Helped by Charlie who towed a couple of boats up to the start area, and with the light breeze providing some forward motion, Plover (Andrew Eddy), Vera (Ben Stoddart-Stones) and Redwing (Nick Woolgar) tacked slowly towards Tara.
Although it took them quite a long time to reach Tara, Plover and Vera rounded reasonably closely together; unfortunately Redwing got caught in a hole and took an age to finally round it. Plover remained ahead for the run to Footprint, albeit with Vera remaining in striking distance. On the longish second beat to Fitzwilliam, Plover as able to extend her lead which she kept for the final two legs to Garland and the finish at Under Tyne. Despite persevering for half the beat to Fitzwilliam, Redwing decided to call it a day and retired.
At the request of the Class Captain, the three One-Designs (No 6 helmed by Mark Grzegorczyk, No 7 helmed by Roy Burrows and No 10 helmed by Hugh Doherty) made a running start and headed off in the light breeze initially to Footprint. Perhaps not too surprisingly No 6 and No 7 who both flew spinnakers rounded Footprint ahead of No 7 who was just using white sails, However after a course change to Garland, No 7, who was able to sail more directly found themselves in the lead which they were able to hang onto on the beat to Under Tyne and the run back to Garland; however Mark in No 7 took advantage of Roy picking the wrong way to get back to the finish at Under Tyne and finished 6 minutes ahead. No 10 meanwhile decided to return to the moorings as Hugh had an important meeting to go to.
Thursday 30 July - by Mike Samuelson
A bit disappointingly Thursday morning only saw two Redwings (Plover - Andrew Eddy and Vera - Ben Stoddart-Stones) and two One-Designs (No 4 John Suffield (single handed) and No 6 Ashley McLucas) wanting to race. Mind you, the forecast was for light airs which would only increase later in the day.
With a start line based on Fitzwilliam both classes had Garland as their first windward mark; neither had very close starts (hence no video clip) but at least they were able to maintain progress. After a bit of a wild goose chase by Plover who went for Footprint rather than Garland it was actually the two One-Designs who started the run back to Fitzwilliam ahead of the Redwings. However by the time they were back at Fitz (after a change of course), Plover had taken the lead. With the breeze relatively stable from the NW and increasing to 12 knots, for the next beat to Janson conditions were almost perfect and there was nothing that Ben could do about stopping Andrew from securing another victory thereby cementing Plover as the winner of the Carrara Marble Bowl. One wrong tack would have changed things considerably for the two One-Designs, but as it was, Ashley in No 6 kept comfortably in the lead and finished over a minute ahead of John.
Friday 31 July - by Mike Samuelson
Eighteen Redwings congregated off Footprint ready for a 14:30 start of their passage race to Cowes. Very unusually there was a F2-3 NW'erly which meant that it was a beat to the red pole off No Mans Land Fort. After a close start, the fleet swiftly split tacks as they tried to work out the breeze/tide conundrum.
The first four to reach the Red Pole were Paroquet (Rory Morrison), Quail (Jockey Wilson), Red Gauntlet II (Joe Robertson) and Blue Jay (Richard Jessel). Paroquet successfully protected her lead to finish on the RYS line ahead of Tarpon (Dominic Samuelson), Red Gauntlet II, Lady Laetitia (Billy Clegg), Quail and Redwing (Nick Woolgar).
There were only two One-Designs wanting to race, No 7 (Charles Abel Smith) and No 4 (John Suffield). After not the closest of starts off the same long line as the Redwings they had to work hard to maintain boat speed as they tacked to Britten. No 4 rounded well ahead having taken the right of the course, however on the slow run to Under Tyne, No 7 slowly but surely closed the gap and managed to call for room to round the mark half a boat length in front. After a brief discussion with the ROs and agreement to continue heading back to Britten, the breeze started to go even lighter and about half way up the beat died completely. Although there was hope that the few SE'erly zephyrs would turn into a sailable breeze, they did not so it was mutually agreed to abandon the race and accept tows back to the moorings.
Saturday 1 August by Robin Joy
With the Redwings at Cowes for the next week, two races were scheduled for the One-Designs, incorporating the family pairs, for helms from two generations.
For Race one, three rounds of a short windward/leeward course was set into about 15kts of breeze from the SSW. Under Tyne was the windward mark from the laid line, with Janson as the leeward mark. A bold port tack start from John Suffield in No 4 saw him crossing the fleet, but he held on the same tack, and the four boats who struck out on starboard had the better of the first beat. Simon Allocca in No1 held a small lead over Mark Grzegorczyk, solo in No 10, and John into the first run. The wind gradually moved to the right during the race, so the course was shortened to two rounds in the hope if getting better beats in a second race. Simon had stretched his lead over Mark to win, with John still in third, ahead of Mark Hodgkinson in No 6.
Race two used Under Tyne again as the first windward mark, followed by a longer run out to Ruthven, a proper beat up to Garland, and a shorter reach to finish at Under Tyne. Mark Hodkinson and his daughter decided to head back to the moorings, leaving the family pairs to be between the Harbord-Hamond and Marshall clans. The fleet was closely grouped for the first beat, and the run out to Ruthven, but then began to string out, with the two boats resolutely holding on to port tack on the beat back losing out somewhat. In fact these were the two family pairs contenders doing a bit of match racing. Back up front it was good to see Charles Abel Smith out in No 2, and in winning form. He led Simon home, with Mark Grz third and Susie Beart fourth in No 5. Sophie Marshall was now helming No 7, and managed to beat Will Harbord-Hamond in No 4, but a 3rd and 7th for John and Will trumped Sarah and Sophie's 8th and 6th for the family pairs Margetson Trophy.
Redwings at Cowes 1st Enigma (Mark Downer) 2nd Quail (Jockey Wilson) 3rd Paroquet (Rory Morrison)
Sunday 2 August by Mike Samuelson
There were only four One-Designs wanting to race and that included Alexander Ross in No 8 who was down to ARO but was persuaded to make up an extra boat. Although there was a 10 knot breeze, it was from the East which meant it was quite bumpy. The start at Under Tyne saw a bit of bumping and boring which resulted in No 4, helmed by Richard Hall having to take a penalty once clear of the other three boats.
No 7 (Sarah Marshall) was first round the windward mark (Tara), but No 8 and No 10 (Richard Coleman) were close behind with No 4 some way behind. Although at one stage it was looking as if No 8 was going to take the lead on the run to Nainby, Sarah held her nerve and rounded a boat length ahead. The long beat back to Tara was certainly interesting with No 4 beginning to eat up the gap to the other three and by going well inshore found themselves in the lead.
Unfortunately for Richard & his crew James, they failed to spot the change of course being displayed on the stern of Sea Breeze anchored off Tara and with their radio out of power, they were quite surprised to see the other three boats rounding Under Tyne while they were heading to Nainby! The run back to Under Tyne and the final beat back to Tara was pretty uneventful with Sarah finishing 13 seconds ahead of Alexander with Richard C third about 3 minutes later. Having realised their error, Richard H finished 4 minutes later.
Redwings at Cowes 1st Quail (Jockey Wilson) 2nd Paroquet (Rory Morrison) 3rd Harlequin (Matt Alexander)
Monday 3 August - by Laurence Blackburn
Although conditions were on the light side, five One-Designs made it to the start line. No 9 (Penny Stanley) led at the start followed by No 8 (Tad Ross), No 10 (Richard Coleman) and No 4 (Richard Hall) with No 1 (Russ Fowler) having to tack behind the committee boat to avoid being squeezed out. On the beat to Tara No 8, No 9 and No 4 went right into the shore which seemed to be the better strategy as they got to Tara a good 3 minutes ahead of everyone else. It was decided to shorten the race to one round which turned out to be a good call as breeze proceeded to drop at the finish. No 8 and No 9 came joint first followed by No 4, No 1 and No 10.
Redwings at Cowes - 1st Quail (Jockey Wilson) 2nd Paroquet (Rory Morrison) 3rd Enigma (Mark Downer)
Tuesday 4 August - by James Petit & Mike Samuelson
Four Bembridge One-Designs set off from Fitzwilliam at 15:05 in distinctly unwelcoming conditions. Low cloud, and persistent drizzle made for a damp start to the afternoon's racing. but thankfully there was a steady south-westerly breeze
It was a closely contested start, with Richard Coleman in No 10 leading the fleet across the line on starboard tack. He was closely followed by Susie Beart in No 5, Simon Allocca in No 1, and John Suffield in No 4. The fleet quickly divided into two groups on the beat to Under Tyne. Coleman and Beart opted to head in, while Allocca and Suffield stayed further offshore. The latter strategy proved the more successful and, by Under Tyne, the order had almost completely reversed, with No 1 and No 4 rounding ahead of No 5 and No 10.
A broad reach to Tara followed, where John Suffield slipped past Simon Allocca to round first, with Susie Beart maintaining third ahead of Richard Coleman. The fleet was still tightly bunched, with everything still to play for. The long beat to Pepe could have proved decisive. Each helm chose a markedly different approach in search of the strongest pressure and best tide. John Suffield resisted the temptation of the extremities of the course, instead threading his way steadily up the middle of the beat. By the time he rounded Pepe the sun was back out, and he was nearly a minute clear of the chasing pack. Behind him, Richard Coleman had regained momentum, overtaking Simon Allocca to round second, with Susie Beart only a few boat lengths further astern. The fleet then set off on a run back to Fitz in the south-westerly.
During the beat to the finish at Under Tyne, the fleet had compressed further. Simon Allocca who by now had fought his way back into second and was trying to catch John Suffield. He timed the last tack to edge ahead and after an hour and five minutes crossed line just in front of John Suffield who was closely followed by Susie Beart in third, and Richard Coleman in fourth.
Redwings at Cowes - 1st Quail (Jockey Wilson) 2nd Paroquet (Rory Morrison) 3rd Harlequin (Matt Alexander)
Wednesday 5 August
No racing - strong winds
Redwings at Cowes - no racing.
Thursday 6 August - by Mike Samuelson
A warn NNW'erly F3/4 breeze greeted four One-Designs wanting to race on Thursday afternoon. A request by the Class Captain, Simon Allocca) for two races saw the start finish line established with Under Tyne as the pin. The first race had the windward mark as Derrick and the leeward mark as Tara. No 1 (Simon), No 5 (Susie Beart) and No 6 Mark Hodgkinson) made a good start with No 4 (Richard Hall single handed) some way behind. The beat to Derrick was quite challenging as the leading three tried to work out the best route to take. Susie was first to round, with Simon and Mark a little way behind. Richard's attempt to catch up by tacking soon after the start, did not work so he rounded Derrick still well behind. Susie crossed the finish line a minute ahead of Mark with Simon just over a minute later. Richard finished five minutes behind the lead boat.
With No 6 returning back to the moorings as Mark had another commitment, the three remaining boats made an excellent start to the second race as they tried to work out the find the best way to Britten. All three remained on starboard tack and only transferred to a port tack just south of St Helend Fort. As in the previous race, No 5 rounded first comfortably ahead of No 1 (now helmed by Tad Ross) and No 4 who were very close as they ran back down to Tara. After a short beat from Tara to Under Tyne, Susie finished a minute ahead of Richard with Tad about three quarters of a minute later.
Redwings at Cowes - 1st Enigma (Mark Downer) 2nd Paroquet (Rory Morrison) 3rd Red Gauntlet II (Joe Robertson).