Bembridge Illusion Trafalgar Trophy 2025

After last weekend's strong winds linked to Storm Amy, it was quite a relief that this weekend conditions were considerably more friendly - especially as there were twenty-three entries on Saturday - possibly a record for the first Regatta of the season - the Trafalgar Trophy. Mind you a 13:00 start time probably helped!

With such a large fleet and a gentle NE F2-F3 it was sensibly decided to take the fleet outside the harbour to race. Predictably the start of Race 1 began with General Recall;

Start of Race 1

Re-Start of Race 1

The re-start under Flag U was impressive with most boats pretty close to the line. However with split tacks to the windward mark, the fleet soon got surprisingly spread out. Mark Downer's grey spinnaker was the first to fill on the down wind leg; and just to confuse the ROs, the second boat to round (Jockey Wilson) also had a grey spinnaker. David Russell-Jones and Mike Issaias led the chasing fleet. As the race progressed the fleet became even more spread out so with two rounds taking just over 25 minutes, the race was finished with Mark safely ahead of Jockey and David in third. Olly Laughton-Scott was fourth having caught up on the second round.

Bembridge Illusion Trafalgar Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Flag U was used again at the start of the second race. As it turned out just enough of a deterrent to get the fleet away first time.

Start of Race 2

Again split tacks on the beat to the windward mark, and again there were two grey (Mark & Jockey) and one bright blue (David) spinnakers leading the way to the leeward gate. With similar timings to the first race, the ROs finished it after two rounds with Mark again safely ahead of Jockey and David. Jo Downer had a better race and came in fourth.

Bembridge Illusion Trafalgar Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Although Mark was the winner of the third and final race of the day, there were a number of differences in the finishing order. Second to cross the finish line after three rounds was Rory Morrison, however unfortunately for him he was disqualified (under Flag U rules) for being over the line at the start of the race; with a pink hull, his transgression can be seen pretty clearly on the video clip below!

Start of Race 3

Jockey had a poor start so had to work hard to make it into fourth just ahead of Olly. Caroline Simonds had a good race and finished in second; as did David Peerless who finished third.

A good opening day even if the sun remained stubbornly behind to clouds.

Bembridge Illusion Trafalgar Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Almost champagne conditions greeted 19 enthusiastic Illusion on Sunday afternoon; sadly a few who had sailed the day before had other commitments so were not able to race; however it was good to have Bruce Huber join the fray. Having been out of the harbour to check what the sea conditions were like in the Easterly F3 breeze, the RO team quickly concluded that more enjoyable racing was to be had by remaining in the harbour. As soon as there was enough water and with a good length course set up, the first race - under Flag P - got away cleanly.

Start of Race 4

Although a few tacked to the right hand side of the course, the majority went left and tacked up the St Helens shore. Bruce's lime green spinnaker was the first to fill on the run to the leeward gate just in front of Fisherman's Pontoon. The two grey spinnakers of Jockey and Mark wee not far behind and it was Jockey who reached the gate first and lead for the rest of the two round race. Mark also managed to overtake Bruce to come in second. Caroline was fourth.

The second race of the afternoon saw another clean start under Flag P. There was a considerable amount of barging at the Committee Boat end with at least two boats taking penalties.

Start of Race 5

All headed to the St Helens shore before tacking across to the windward mark. Mark lead the way with Bruce second; Mike Toogood, who had had an excellent start took up third with Colin Simonds in fourth just ahead of his wife Caroline.

The final race saw Flag X come into play with two boats called OCS by the ROs and one boat at the pin end playing it safe and going back to the pre-start side of the line.

Start of Race 6

Bruce lead the way with Owen Pay, Rory, Colin and Mark all in catch up mode. With the breeze at times going a bit soft in places the key to success especially on the tactical run, was of course to find the best pressure. Although he managed to hold onto first place, it was certainly not a procession and Bruce had to pull out all the stops to say ahead of Owen. Indeed when they finished at the windward mark after three and a half rounds, only six inches separated them. Third (Rory), fourth (Colin) and fifth (Mark) were almost as close - exciting stuff.

Bembridge Illusion Trafalgar Trophy 2025 - photo © Mike Samuelson

Mark's three wins on Saturday afternoon and his fifth in the final race able to be discarded, meant that he retained the Trafalgar Trophy; it was great to have Jockey, who is now living in Bembridge back racing so hopefully his overall second will encourage him to sail regularly. Caroline was third.

Earlier starts next weekend for Bills Barrel - sadly with connections to/from Portsmouth restricted by the Great South run its unlikely that we will see so many boats racing, however...!

Overall Results: