Bembridge Sailing Club June Keelboat Weekend
by Robin Joy & Mike Samuelson 23 Jun 05:57 PDT
21-22 June 2025
Saturday (by Robin Joy)
An 08.00 HW meant an early start for the Keelboats on Saturday. Happily, a forecast 10kts from the SE filled in nicely for the four Redwings and two BODs who came out to race. Two races were scheduled, over a course staring at Footprint, upwind to Fitz, and then downwind to Nainby.
At the Redwing's first start Rosie Gosling in Gosling took advantage of the port tack bias on the line, started on port, and just cleared Rory Morrison in Paraquet, Mike Toogood in Tara, and Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence. Unfortunately for Rosie she quickly suffered a gear failure, and needed to retire back to the harbour, after only 5 minutes racing. This left Rory to lead from Mike at the windward mark, but his attention must then have wandered, as he sailed well off course on the downwind leg. This allowed Mike to make up most of the deficit, but to no avail. Rory held on to win from Mike, and then Robin.
The same course was used for race two, and with only the three boats there were no further dramas. Rory again won from Mike and Robin.
Two One-Designs came to the start line, but regrettably Hamish Janson in No 12 had very many set-up issues in his first outing. This led to their start being delayed until after the Redwings' first race, and in the event only Alexander Ross in No 8 started, and thus sailed over the course unopposed to earn a win.
Sunday (by Mike Samuelson)
As forecast, the F4/F5 breeze veered to the SW overnight, and together with lots of sunshine meant conditions were close to ideal for the crews of the four Redwings and two One-Designs who got up early to go racing. Using Janson for the pin, the four Redwings got away with a clean start, albeit not helped by Sea Breeze dragging her anchor in the last couple of minutes. Although the Race Officers probably should have displayed the AP and reset the line, they decided to let the sequence continue as they were keen to make sure that everyone could get back into the harbour after racing.
So after crossing the less than helpful line (sorry video failed to record), the lead was soon dominated by Paraquet, helmed by Rory Morrison, as they enjoyed the longish beat to Pepe. Second round the windward mark was Tara, helmed by Mike Toogood, third was Gosling helmed by Rosie with Quintessence, helmed by Robin Ebsworth bringing up the rear. Although they compressed slightly on the run back to Janson and there were a number of split tacks on the beat back to the finish at Pepe, the order remained the same with Paraquet finishing over a minute ahead of Tara who was two minutes ahead of Gosling. With three wins over the weekend, the Redwing Fortuna 1924 Cup was won by Paraquet.
Half way through the sequence for the two One-Designs, No 12, helmed by Hamish Janson with Ted Morrant and grandson Jack crewing decided it was a bit too breezy with a full rig to race which left Mark Hodgkinson & Alexander Ross in No 8 the only entry. Having confirmed that they would like to practice a start, the sequence was continued;
Start of the One-Design Race
Not surprisingly they won! Asked if they wanted to complete the full course, Alexander responded "Very happy to finish at Pepe, I am soaking wet!".
Early afternoon tides next week so hopefully better numbers.