Bembridge Sailing Club keelboat racing leading up to Cowes Week
by Bembridge SC 4 Aug 02:21 PDT
25 July - 3 August 2025
Friday 25 July - by Andrew Eddy
To avoid the morning drifting conditions the races was rescheduled to 15.00/15:10 start. Andrew Eddy and Willy Clegg were the race officers.
Three Redwings Blue Jay (Crispin Kenyon), Quintessence (Robin Ebsworth) and Musicus (Rosie Sym) presented themselves at the starting line at Fitzwilliam in fine order. A long beat to Garland in the
pleasant F3 WSW breeze took some time against the current heading for Bembridge Ledge. Blue Jay was first round ahead of Quintessence with Musicus not far behind. On the long run to Ruthven
Robin and Rosie enjoyed some luffing as they tacked downwind. The next windward mark was Under Tyne which by now seemed more suited to the breeze. Crispin maintained his lead back to Ruthven
and to the finish at Fitzwilliam. All finished within a few minutes of each other.
Meanwhile there were six One-Designs who opted for two races from Fitzwilliam with Under Tyne and Ruthven as the windward and leeward marks. The first race finished at Fitzwilliam and the second
finished at Under Tyne. The first race was won by No 4 (John Suffield sailing single handed), with No 5 (Charles Perry) second and No 9 (D Orange with Mark Grzegorczyk with an occasional spinnaker
flying), third. They were followed by No 8 (Jos Coad), No 2 (Alexander Ross single handed) and No 6 (Mark Hodgkinson). D would have won had she not hit the finishing mark!
After some close racing at the front of the fleet in the second race, the finishing order was No 9, No 5, No 2, No 8, No 4 and No 6.
Saturday 26 July - by Robin Joy
With the wind direction swinging between W and SW, and between 5 and 15kts, then "get them going" was the only real option for the ROs, and a windward/leeward course from Under Tyne up to Pepe and down to Tara was set for today's single race, twice round.
The eight Redwings racing today all got away cleanly, but only 3 boats chose to stand on on starboard into the moorings, thus picking up a fair tide and leading at the windward mark. At the mark Billy Clegg in Lady Letitia led narrowly from Jockey Wilson in Quail and Colin Samuelson in Toucan. Unfortunately, the rest of the fleet to the right of the rhumb line managed to find many holes in the wind, leaving them with some catching up to do. Jockey worked through Billy on the run, and at the leeward mark he led Colin by a couple of lengths. This order was maintained for the second beat, but holes abounded, and the rich got richer, with Jockey extending his lead to over 200m, which he maintained on the second run. Roles were however completely reversed on the final beat, and Jockey sat windless as he watched Colin sail straight past, only 100m inshore. Colin won, just over 2 minutes ahead of Jockey, with Billy another minute and a half behind. Jaffa Orange in Goose was fourth, followed by Oliver Morgan in Prawn, Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence, and Mike Toogood in Tara. Olav Cole in Redwing, who had to divert when he realised the need to pass through the line at the end of round 1, was catching up fast, but had to settle for eighth.
Six BODs raced over the same course as the Redwings, and despite Charles Perry in No 8 being within a whisker of OCS, the fleet got away tightly bunched. Just like the Redwings a few minutes earlier, any boats going too far right quickly ran out of wind, making Pepe look a very long way away! Charles led Jos Coad in No 2 after the beat, but Mark Grzegorczyk, solo in No 9, set his grey spinnaker and over the long light run overhauled them to lead them at Tara. Sarah Marshall in No 7 was not far behind, and nor was Hamish Janson in No 12. Mark Hodgkinson, solo in No 6, had suffered badly from holes on the beat, and was further back, but gamely set his yellow spinnaker and caught up a bit. The lead changed hands a few times over the second round, and eventually Charles led Mark G home by just over 2 minutes in the fading wind, with Jos a further minute adrift in third. Sarah was next, then Hamish, who was remarkably close, given that he was using his small storm main. Mark H never quite got back on terms, and was sixth.
Sunday 27 July by Mike Samuelson
Sunday's mid-morning forecast was for a NW'erly F3 breeze backing W'erly later in the day. Encouraged by yesterday's racing, there were over 40 crew to get out to their boats moored over night at
Under Tyne and rig up, so it was no great surprise that the AP was displayed for just over 10 minutes. When the eleven Redwings did eventually get to start, Musicus (Tim Montagu), Blue Jay
(Bruce Huber) and Avocet (Rupert Macinness) over cooked it and had to return to the pre-start side of the line.
Eight boats remained on starboard tack for a considerable time and two (Goose - Jaffa Orange & Lady Leatitia - Billy Clegg) tacked quickly and went up the right side of the course. Much to the surprise
of those who had gone up the left, Goose and Lady L rounded Derrick well ahead. There was then a slow run to Cochrane via Under Tyne which saw te lead two boats extend their lead by a couple of
boat lengths despite best efforts by the chasing fleet. It was then another testing beat back to Derrick which saw the fleet well and truly split as they tried to work out the best tack to take advantage of
the tide. Goose and Lady L continued to dominate out front with Toucan (Colin Samuelson) and Quail (James Wilson) leading the charge some way behind. Rather than running all the was back to
Cochrane the course was changed to Tara and back to the finish at Under Tyne. Lady L was still second as they rounded Tara and began the final short beat back to the line. By the time did actually reach
the line, Lady L had somehow managed to get through. Toucan was third and Quail was fourth. A challenging race!
After a further short postponement the eight One-Designs got away to a clean start.
Although set Britten as their Windward mark, John Suffield in No 4 wisely followed the lead two Redwings by tacking onto port soon after the start and keeping to the right hand side of the course.
Second at Britten was Alexander Ross sailing No 8 single handed. There was then a considerable gap to No 12 (Hamish Janson), No 5 (Charles Perry), No 1 (Simon Allocca), No 6 (Mark Hodgkinson),
No 9 (D Orange) and No 7 (Sarah Marshall). With Tara as their leeward mark, the two fleets got nicely mixed up which added to the fun!
John kept his lead for the rest of the race, however Charles had moved into second by the time they reached Tara and by the time they finished at Under Tyne Sarah had made up a huge amount and got
herself into third. D was fourth. Mark H's efforts to make up a few places by flying a spinnaker on the runs from Britten had mixed results; the first round was reasonably successful, the second round
less so - but at least he tried!!
Monday 28 July - Colin Samuelson
Five Redwings and four BODS appeared on the start line at Under Tyne for Monday morning's race in a light to moderate Northerly breeze. The course for both fleets was a beat to Britten followed by a run back to Undr Tyne and a broad reach to Tara, 3 times round then a final beat back to Under Tyne.
The Redwings made a clean start with Prawn (Oliver Morgan) choosing the pin end and the other 4 preferring the committee boat end - Blue Jay (Richard Jessel), Lady Laetitia (Billy Clegg), Plover (Andrew Eddy) and Musicus (Rosie Sym). At the end of the first round approaching Tara all five boats were very close together with the lead having changed a number of times. On the second beat from Tara to Britten, all boats elected to go out to sea looking for favourable tide. Musicus fell behind but the other four remained very close and the lead continued to fluctuate. At the end of the second round approaching Tara Oliver had a small lead with the other three boats neck and neck.
The Race Officers changed the course to provide for a third beat to Britten and then a running finish to Under Tyne. Approaching Britten there was still little between the four boats. On the final run Prawn took the middle route with Lady Laetitia going left and Blue Jay and Plover taking the right hand side of the course further inshore. The middle route paid off and Prawn crossed the finish line first but with Lady Laetitia only a few boat lengths behind. Plover and Blue Jay also had a close finish, with Plover finishing in third place and Blue Jay in fourth - all four finishing within 2 minutes after an hour and threequarters long race. Musicus persevered and finished a few minutes later.
A very exciting race and congratulations to Oliver and Francesca Morgan on winning their first Redwing race since becoming the owners of Prawn earlier this year
The One-Desgns also had a clean start with No 5 (Susie Beart) crossing the line first ahead of No 1 (Rob Mathieson), No 6 (Mark Hodgkinson) and No 9 (D Orange). No 5 remained in front pulling away from the other three to establish a commanding lead which was never challenged. Rob and D had a close race with No 1 being generally faster on the beats and No 9 (with spinnaker) having the advantage downwind. No 6 fell behind! The course was shortened to two rounds with a final beat to under Tyne setting up an interesting prospect of the Redwings finishing in an easterly direction downwind and the BODs finishing in a westerly direction upwind. However there was never any real likelihood of the two fleets meeting in opposite directions on the finish line!
Susie finished in first place a substantial distance in front of D in second place with Rob not far behind in third. Mark was fourth.
Tuesday 29 July - Mike Samuelson
The paucity of much breeze for Tuesday morning was a bit disappointing; however in the hopes that it might not be as bad as forecast the crew for six Redwings and six One-Designs, plus the Race
Officers, headed out to the under Tyne moorings. Sea Breeze set up a line using Under Tyne and then frustratingly watched the 5 knot breeze disappear. After a three quarter of an hour postponement
and with no sign of it improving, it was agreed to call it a day and tow boats back to their moorings. Predictably, a sailable breeze arrived half an hour later, but it was too late as boats had de-rigged by
then!
Wednesday 30 July - Rob Mathieson
Seven Redwings started at Under Tyne in a 13 knot NW'erly breeze. Their windward mark was Derrick with a run to Tara passing Under Tyne to port on the way with a finish back at under Tyne.
Originally three times round but shortened to two rounds. On the first round there was some close racing with Lady Leatitia (Billy Clegg) just ahead of Toucan (Colin Samuelson) and Blue Jay
(Richard Jessel) followed by Avocet (Rupert Macinness), Plover (Andrew Eddy), Prawn (Oliver Morgan) and Ladybird (Tom Chetwood). By the end of the second beat they were more spread out and
the course was shortened to 2 rounds. Lady L lead from start to finish and came in over 2 minutes ahead of Toucan. Plover was third having overtaken Blue Jay on the final beat to the line. Avocet
was fourth having also had a good final leg.
Sadly there were only two One-Designs; No 9 (D Orange) and No 12 (Hamish Janson) and with No 12 not starting due to rigging problems, No 9 decided to race on her own so as to get in some spinnaker
training!
Thursday 31 July - by Mike Samuelson
With a thunder & lightening warning in the forecast, the Race Officer Risk Assessment was Orange - fortunately there was not a single rumble all morning! With just enough water to get two almost
full launches out to the Under Tyne moorings, five Redwings and three One-Designs prepared for one, possibly two races in the SW'erly F3 breeze. With the line at Fitzwilliam the first beat was to Garland;
After a good start (despite the RO forgetting to blow the back up whistle as the hooter battery was nearly flat!). Billy Clegg in Lady Laititia rounded first well ahead of Colin Samuelson in Toucan and
Mike Macinness in Avocet; Ladybird (Tom Chetwood) Plover (Andrew Eddy) were a bit behind. Because unfortunately the beat from Moreton to Britten was almost a close reach with the sails pulled in,
the course was changed to Ruthven with an excellent beat to Garland to make up for it. Despite splitting tacks, Colin was unable to catch Billy and had to be content with a good second. Andrew made
up a lot of ground and finished comfortably ahead of Michael.
The three One-Designs, No 1 (Russ Fowler), No 7 (Sarah Marshall) and No 8 (Jos Coad) had a similar course except they went to Janson rather than Ruthven. Although not the best of starts with No 1
and No 7 starting on port and No 8 nearly not making the pin (Fitzwilliam).
Sarah was first round Garland with Jos holding his own on the run against Russ despite the latter flying their spinnaker. By Britten, Sarah was still comfortably ahead of Russ with Jos at the back;
however on the beat to Garland from Janson both Sarah and Russ had to watch with envy as Jos came well in and promptly went from last to first! Sarah was second and Russ was third.
Friday 1 August - by Mike Samuelson
With the Redwing Passage race postponed to 16:00 to allow for more favourable tides, the morning racing was just for the six double handed One-Designs who rigged up with storm mains and normal
jibs as there was a brisk 16 knot N/NW'erly breeze. Having decided that the Britten was going to be the windward mark for the first (of two) race, the ROs laid an inflatable pin halfway between Under
Tyne and Fitzwillian. After an uncontentious start, the majority of the fleet remained on Starboard.
By the time they reached the windward mark (Britten) they had begun the spread out and the rest of the race (to Under Tyne, Tara and back to the line) was a bit of a procession and saw No 4 (John
Suffield) finish a minute ahead of No 7 (Sarah Marshall) with No 1 (Simon Allocca) twenty seconds later.
To ring the changes, the second race swapped Drum for Britten as the windward mark. This threw in the added navigational hazard as to whether there was enough water over the St Helens Fort shingle
bank. John Suffield in No 4 decided to play safe, the rest decided to risk it! No 1 (Russ Fowler) was first round Drum a few boat lengths ahead of John; then it was No 8 (Mark Grz), No 9 (D Orange)
and No 5 (Susie Beart). On the long run to Tara they all risked crossing the 'Fort Road' and No 1 flew her spinnaker for the majority of the leg. Unlike the previous day, the final leg from Tara to Under
Tyne turned out to be quite a testing beat with little separating the front four boats. No 1 looked safe to take first place by finishing at the pin end of the line but was huffed at the last moment by No 4
who finished at the Committee Boat end of the line. Third and fourth were equally close (indeed all four finished within 10 seconds of each other); initially No 8 was third and No 9 was fourth,
however it subsequently transpired that there had been an 'incident' just before the finish and Mark agreed to drop a place!
The annual passage race for the Redwings going up to Cowes Week was postponed to late afternoon so as to catch a better tide. The N/NW'ely F3 breeze meant that unusually, the first leg to the Red Pole to the SW of No Mans Land Fort was a beat rather than the more normal reach.
Apparently it was a lovely sail to Cowes which was won by the Class Captain (Rory Morrison) in Paroquet; Quail (James Wilson) was second and Lady Laetitia (Billy Clegg) was third.
Saturday 2 August - by Mike Samuelson
Six One-Designs had two races on Saturday morning; programmed for family pairs (Margetson Trophy), sadly there were no qualifying entries so both races simply counted for August points. All
started at the Committee Boat end of the line and although No 4 (Richard Hall) looked to have come out best, post race he retired after he admitted to not being fully conversant with the "no water on
the Committee Boat before the start" rule!
No 9 (D Orange) put in a couple of short tacks but the rest stayed on starboard tack en-route for Britten. As they passed the Committee Boat on their way to the leeward mark (Tara) No 8 (Alexander Ross)
had a safe lead which he kept to the finish. Susie Beart in No 8 and Richard in No 4 were close although by the time they reached Tara, No 9 which had taken advantage of its spinnaker rounded ahead of
them. However, by the finish line, and after Richard had retired, Susie was second and Stephan Ludwig in No 3 was third.
As the previous day, the second race swapped Drum for Britten as the windward mark; the difference was that they were told to keep outside the Fort! No 4 had a great port tack start and was still ahead
at Drum. Stephan was second and Jos Coad in No 2 was third. Alexander got shut out at the Committee Boat at the start so was always in catch up mode.
The fleet compressed on the run to Under Tyne and there were a few place changes, The final beat to Footprint was quite challenging. Even though they had decided to leave their spinnaker in the bag,
No 9 crossed the finish line about 30 seconds ahead of No 5. No 3 was third and No 4 crossed the line inches ahead of No 2.
Redwings at Cowes - 17 entries - Quail - Paroquet - Red Gauntlet II
Sunday 3 August - by Mike Samuelson
Saturday morning was overcast with a pretty steady F4 SW'erly breeze. Seven One-Designs (two single handed) had two races; the first a bit short (30 minutes) and the second about an hour. Race 1
started at Fitzwilliam on a very biased line, however the ROs did at least apologise during the sequence so it could be argued that it was fair for everyone! No 5 (Suzie Beart) made the best port tack start
and was always well in front from then on. The course was a beat to Under Tyne, a run to Ruthven and then a beat to Janson. No 1 (Russ Fowler) and No 4 (John Suffield) were close at Under Tyne
and although Russ finished second, John had to be content with fourth having been overtaken on the final beat by No 8 (Natasha Ross).
The bias for the start at Janson of the second race was pretty spot on; however it did not stop No 10 (Hugh Doherty) hitting the pin and having to take a penalty.
The beat to the windward mark (Garland) was spot on and saw the fleet split tacks on more than one occasion. Alexander Ross, now helming No 8 rounded well ahead of Russ in No 1 and John in No 4.
D Orange (No 9) and Susie (No 5) were neck and neck, which left Hugh (single handed No 10) and Mark (also single handed) in No 6 with work to do! The beat back from Ruthven to Garland was a
cracker with the fleet spread to the four corners of the leg. No 8 was not for catching and crossed the finish line at Under Tyne forty seconds ahead of John in No 4. Russ in No 1 was third and Hugh,
who had caught up a huge amount on the beat in from Ruthven finished fourth.
Redwings at Cowes - 17 entries - Harlequin - Paroquet - Lady Laetitia