Bembridge Sailing Club Redwing 25th Anniversary Medal & One-Design Off Season Points
by Mike Samuelson 21 May 2023 15:43 PDT
20-21 May 2023
Great to see so much sunshine at last along with sporting breezes, although being from the NNE meant that it was quite a challenging sea, especially on Saturday!
With the committee boat struggling to stay on station because of the anchor dragging, the pin end of the line (Garland) was favoured and James Bunbury on Blue Jay got away first, successfully risking starting on port tack. At the windward mark, Derrick, three boats arrived together - Blue Jay, Rory Morrison in Paroquet and Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence with Mike Toogood in Tara not far behind. The three front boats remained very close on the run to the leeward mark (Pepe) and then a fetch back to Garland. The second round was shortened to a beat to Britten, a run to Pepe and finish at Garland. The fleet stretched out slightly and at the finish Paroquet was in front of Blue Jay then Quintessence and then Tara.
By the start of the second race the wind had decreased to a pleasant Force 3 veering NE, the sun came out and the sea eased slightly. After the start, Tara and Paroquet tacked onto port and headed out to sea whilst Blue Jay (now helmed by Richard Jessel) and Quintessence continued on starboard heading towards Seaview - looking for "fair" tide. Despite the different tactics they all arrived at Derrick more or less together for the run to Pepe. On this leg Paroquet steamed ahead and reached Pepe with a comfortable lead followed by Tara then Quintessence and finally Blue Jay. The final leg to the finish line at Garland was now a beat. Paroquet and Tara maintained their places to the finish line, but just before the finish line Blue Jay managed to get in front of Quintessence to take 3rd place.
Meanwhile, five One-Designs were out ready for racing with a brisk wind NNE force 4 gusting 5. The course for the first race was from Garland to Derrick, back to Pepe twice round. No 2 realised that they had incorrectly raised their standard main when it had been clearly stated that storm mains would be the order of the day! Colin & Becky Samuelson as the ROs were not prepared to delay the start as there were two races and they were anxious to get off on time. Philip Bown helming No 8 rounded Derrick first followed closely by Sarah Marshall in No 7 and John Suffield in No 4; Jos Coad in No 12 sailed on to Wreck, mistaking it for Derrick, so was way at the back of the fleet by the time he got back to the right buoy. After Pepe, and with the race shortened to one round, Sarah Marshall got ahead to win, followed by John Suffield and Philip Bown.
The course for the second race was the same, once round. All five got away well and Charles Perry, now helming No 8, got ahead followed by John in No 4, Jos in No 12 and Simon Allocca, now helming No 7. The order didn't change with the first four boats finishing within a couple of minutes of each other. Roy Burrows in No 2 was a bit later!
Everyone had a lovely and exciting morning sailing and the Race officers survived several hours on the Committee Boat rolling around in rather bumpy seas!
Conditions on Sunday were similar, sunny and a F4 NNE'erly that started to drop to F3 half an hour before the planned start time. Although this not not effect the four Redwings, it did mean that the five One-Designs were somewhat under powered with storm mains and normal jibs. Starting at Garland both classes beat to Britten (which was rounded to starboard) before reaching to Under Tyne; the Redwings then beat to Ruthven with the One-Designs beating to Janson. Both fleets then ran to Pepe before a final beat to Nainby and a run back to the finish at Pepe.
Paroquet lead the Redwings almost from the start, despite initial pressure from Chloe Bunbury helming Blue Jay and Xander Shaw in Harlequin. The latter blew it on the beat to Ruthven when he stayed out on port tack for too long and then found himself in a wind hole. Mike in Tara having been well off the pace during the first two legs ended up having a close battle with Blue Jay and by the finish had actually moved into second. Not wanting to 'give up', full marks to Xander and his crew for persevering and just enjoying being out racing. Three wins over the weekend saw Class Captain Rory winning the 25th Anniversary Medal.
Although Charles Perry in No 8 was out in front of the other four One-Designs from start to finish, it was no means a walk over and it only need one wrong tack and his lead would have vanished. At Under Tyne, Charles and Alexander Ross in No 10 had developed a huge lead, but by the time they reached Janson this had been whittled away and after a slow run to Pepe, second place had been taken up by Martin Bonham in No 2. By the time they had completed to loop to Nainby and back to Pepe, the question was who was going to finish in third, No 8 or No 12 helmed by Jos Coad. In the event, Alexander gybed onto starboard as they neared the line and called for water, finishing a second ahead of Jos. Close stuff after almost hour and a half racing!
Next weekend (late May Bank Holiday) starts with the first of the Friday evening 'Champagne Challenges'; for the Redwings its then three days of racing for the Gunston Trophy with the One-Designs competing for the Lowry-Corry Cup on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. On Bank Holiday Monday they are off on the first of this season's 'BODA Cruising Days'.