J70 Weekend at Bembridge Sailing Club
by Mike Samuelson 18 Aug 2025 23:12 PDT
16-17 August 2025
J70 Weekend at Bembridge © Mike Samuelson
Unusually the annual J70 weekend, organised so brilliantly by Andrew Eddy, had to be scheduled to coincide with the second day of the BSC Regatta (Saturday) and the first day of the SVYC Regatta (Sunday). In the event, it all worked extremely smoothly and great sailing (and fun) was had by the crews of the twelve J70 that had been chartered from RYS and RTYC.
Aside from sorting out the crews planning to participate, as always, the first problem for Andrew to get sorted is actually getting the J70s from Cowes to Bembridge. This he choreographed with his usual calm aplomb despite one of the towing boats having to be swapped at the last moment. Although not as rough as the previous year, conditions on Thursday for the towing team were certainly not flat calm. Late tides meant a late start and it was past 18:00 before everyone was back at the Club.
After an 08:30 briefing on Saturday, crews took longer than normal to get to their boats at Under Tyne because of the paucity of water both at BSC and in the channel. After a practice start to give everyone a chance to get themselves organised, the first race started at 11:20 and was once round the windward/leeward course. Conditions were quite bumpy in the E/NE'erly breeze F4 (13 knots) but the hot favourites in No 5 (Marcus Howe) showed that they were going to be the boat to beat. Monty Orange with his young team were second and No 2 (James Beart) was third.
The second race was twice round the windward/leeward course - dominated again by No 5 but with No 12 (Charlie Parker) demonstrating that they were likely to be in the top echelon for the rest of the Regatta. No 7 (Ed Eddy) was third.
J70 Start of Race 2 on Saturday
The third race was another two rounder with No 5, No 12 and No 2 demonstrating their sail handling skills were simply better than most and that early dropping of the asymmetric priot to reaching the leeward gate made life considerably easier. The fourth race was the one for the BSC Regatta. Setting off prior to the other fleets, they led the way around a Special Course 1 (triangle, sausage and triangle) using Ruthven, an inflatable wing mark and Under Tyne. After some very close racing Monty and team 11 finished just ahead of No 5 with No 7 in third. An excellent race that certainly proved to be quite testing. Max Aylmer in No 6 and Rex Chalmers in No 9 both retired.
Race 5, anther two round windward/leeward saw No 5 back in the lead with No 12 & No 11 unable to match their sail handling skills and having to be content with second and third. The day's racing finished with a 'round the cans' using Moreton as the windward mark, Garland as the leeward mark and the finish at Under Tyne. No 5 picked up their fifth top spot, with No 11 second and No 3 (Xander Huber) third.
All in all an excellent day's racing which saw No 5 justifying their top spot expectations.
With the tides an hour later Sunday morning was not quite such a rush to get out of the harbour but with crews more used to their boats and therefore able to rig them quicker, we were able to get the first race started by 10:25. Conditions were fairly similar to the previous day and just on the edge 15 knots which is the top wind speed for spinnakers to be used. They started with a two round windward/leeward course using laid inflatables. The crew of No 5 started off where they finished the previous day with quite an easy win. No 12 was second and No 11 was third.
J70 Start Race 1 on Sunday
Broaching during Race 1 on Sunday
It was two rounds of the same course for the second race of the day. No 5 again showed the rest of the fleet how to race fast and stay on top of the spinnaker handling. Second was No 2 and third was No 3 again. It was a very competitive start to Race 3 (which was a simple 'round the cans' windward/leeward) using Moreton and a laid inflatable in slightly deeper water than Footprint.
J70 Start of Race 3 on Sunday
It was no great surprise that the winner was again No 5 although No 11 and No 12 were not that far behind. After a short lunch break, the penultimate race took them to the windward inflatable, the windward spreader and then off on a long run to Little Deb, Bertie and the SVYC line.
J70 Start of Race 4 on Sunday
The final race of the weekend was off the SVYC start line to Pier Head, then the two Red posts off Ryde Sands to Cowes.
J70 Start of Race 5 (from SVYC) on Sunday
Fortunately the breeze held (as did the sun) and although it was not the smoothest of seas, the spinnaker run to the finish at the Shrape Beacon was a very pleasant sail. The top three to finish were No 5, No 3 and No 2. The final exercise of getting all the boats back to Shepard's Marina went very smoothly despite the Red Funnel Car Ferry departing as a couple of boats were lining up enter the Marina!
Congratulations to No 5 (Marcus Howe, Henny Arnold, Ben Clothier and Mike Pennock) who were the overall winning team with 10 firsts and a second. Second overall was No 11 (Monty Orange, Alice Clegg, George Gillespie, Jack Wilson & Henry Landon) and third was No 12 (Charlie Palmer, Mimi Palmer, Helena Peacock/Amelia Hickmott & Simon Walker/Mike Elwin)
A huge thank you to Andrew; also to Ali Gornall for his support with Duma, the crews of the tow boats, Race Officers and Marl Layers. Plus of course the BSC shore support team.
Additional photos on flickr here.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Team Captain | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 5 | Marcus Howe | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 11 | Monty Orange | 2 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 24 |
| 3 | 12 | Charlie Palmer | 11 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 29 |
| 4 | 3 | Xander Huber | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 35 |
| 5 | 7 | Edward Eddy | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 39 |
| 6 | 2 | James Beart | 3 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 42 |
| 7 | 4 | Richard Hall | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 57 |
| 8 | 6 | Max Aylmer | R | R | 9 | R | 11 | 12 | 12 | R | 10 | 12 | 12 | 58 |
| 9 | 1 | Ashley McLucas | 7 | 8 | R | 8 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 59 |
| 10 | 10 | Lachlan McLucas | 9 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 68 |
| 11 | 8 | Charles Armitage | 8 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 80 |
| 11 | 9 | Rex Chalmers | 10 | 11 | 11 | R | 7 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 80 |