Illusion Spring Plate at Bembridge Sailing Club

With a North Easterly wind force 2 for last Saturday's Spring Plate 24 Illusionists came out to play although not all came out for both days. Occasional sunny spells made it a very pleasant day.

Competition as ever was very tough with several people having invested in new sails and compasses to give them a little speed and tactical advantage. The class has recently added a few more sail makers and a wide variety of sail cloth and shapes can be seen on the race course. Bembridge fleet class founder Vernon Stratton has taken full advantage of these developments and showed the way in race one to come out top at the first weather mark, closely followed by Phillip Woodford and Raymond Simonds. It was however the latter who took over the lead to the finish closely followed by Julia and Graham Bailey. Some of the well known names such as Mark Downer, Edmund Peel, Rudy Jurg and Bruce Hurber struggled to find form and finished mid fleet.

Race office Mike Samuelson had set a very long course and with the shifty winds big gains and losses were made, however Julia Bailey showed some ‘girl power’ and scored a very credible 3rd place. Only taking up Illusion sailing last year she is now a force to be reckoned with regularly beating her husband Graham on the water.

In the last race of the day it was Edmund Peel, who in a loaner boat, finally found form and scored a first place to his great delight. Philip Bown raced his own race, took little notice of the fleet going in opposite directions but it worked out well for him giving him a well deserved 2nd place.

Saturday’s racing was followed by a very lively Annual General Meeting for the Illusion Class in which amongst many topics there was a passionate debate about sails and sail cloth materials. Recently a few sail makers brought onto the market all clear Mylar sails which has divided the fleet and the class members took the wise decision to put further effort into evaluation of these sails prior to tightening up of the class rules. No doubt it will provide for further lengthy discussion on and off the water over the coming weeks.

On Sunday the race officer set the fleet off at 0930 with West-North-Westerly wind 3-4 Beaufort. To make it a perfect day the sun also came out. In these stronger wind conditions it was Mark Downer who thrived and took a commanding lead. Graham and Julia Bailey followed in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Raymond Simonds scored a 7th place leaving the competition still open for others to take the overall prize. However in the second race of the day he returned to form and scored a first place again followed by Graham and Mark Downer. A bit further up the scoring board Colin Simonds worked out the winds and James Axtell sailing with one of the experimental sails showed they are fast. Rudy Jurg also made some sort of come back after Saturday's disasters.

In the last race it was close run thing between Raymond Simonds, Julia and Graham Bailey for the overall prize. Lots of place changing but Graham showed real tactical talent and came home first followed by Mark and Julia. However although Raymond and Graham finished on equal points it was Raymond Simonds who took home the Spring Plate on count back. His first overall win this year for a weekend regatta. Boats were quickly packed away as many had to attend family duties for Mother’s Day.

Coming weekend it’s the Illusion Picnic Hamper, a delightful prize of a hamper filled with food!

Overall Results: