Bembridge Sailing Club Mid June 2026 Keelboat Racing
by Robin Joy & Mike Samuelson 15 Jun 23:43 PDT
13-14 June 2026
Bembridge SC Mid June Keelboat Racing © Mike Samuelson
Saturday
Fifteen knots form the West promised good sailing conditions on Saturday, with five Redwings and four One-Designs coming to the start line laid a little east of Under Tyne.
The Redwings' first race was started despite the wind backing 20 degrees, which gave a strong port bias. There were a few exchanges of views between the boats at the pin end, but they were soon on their way, beating up to Garland.
Oliver Morgan in Prawn headed inshore, and was snapping at Tara's (helmed by Bruce Huber) transom at the mark. Rory Morrison in Paroquet, Xander Shaw with four on board Harlequin, and Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence were not far behind. Following a run down to Morton the wind eased somewhat, so the race was shortened to one round, and Bruce maintained his lead over Oliver to win. Rory, Xander, and Robin followed in that order.
The wind was backing further, so the start line was re-laid, and Pepe now became the windward mark for the second race. The wind-shifts (very obviously backing in gusts and veering in the lulls) continued to test the fleet, with Rory and Bruce being neck-and-neck for much of the race.
On the run down to Morton the wind veered and stabilised, so a course change was made, up to Janson, back to Tara, with a finish at Under Tyne. Bruce and Rory's multiple luffing matches on the second run almost let Robin through, but eventually Bruce prevailed, and led Rory home. Robin then found a hole, and Xander sailed past to take third. Oliver had rig issues, and retired after the second beat.
The four One-Designs were ready to race early, so were started before the Redwings, over the same course. Mark G in No 9 pulled off a well-judged port tack start and led the small fleet up the beat.
Mark Hodgkinson, solo in No1, could only find a storm jib onboard, so was always rather on the back foot, but Richard Coleman in No 10, and Tad Ross in No 8 had a very close battle for second. Mark G couldn't be caught on the run to Morton, or on the beat, so won from Richard, followed by Tad and Mark H.
Race 2's course was set rather shorter, with a beat to Pepe followed by a run to Tara, and a beat to finish at Under Tyne. Penny Stanley was now helming No9, and got cleanly away to lead Richard up the first beat. No 8 (now with a guest helm) and Mark H with his small jib followed. On the second beat Richard broke tacks with Penny and headed off inshore, and this almost won him the race, but Penny held on by a couple of boat lengths to win. No 8 was third, and Mark H again fourth.
Overall, a lovely morning's sailing, with plenty of sunshine for the second race, but the local wind-shifts sometimes resulted in two nearly parallel boats sailing on different tacks!
Sunday
Sunday morning's very light wind forecast did not look very promising, however five Redwings and two One-Designs decided to give it a go. After a 10 minute postponement and the arrival of a 6 knot Easterly breeze, the Redwings headed off to Tara; Mike and Katherine Toogood in Tara found themselves locked out on the Committee boat so were well behind the rest of the fleet crossing the line.
Mind you it did mean that they could see how the others were doing and go inshore, like Paroquet, helmed by Rory Morrison or stay out like Robin Ebsworth in Quintessence. He choose the right one (Rory) and although there was quite a large gap to Paroquet, Tara was not very far behind Harlequin helmed by Xander Shaw who rounded second. On the way back up to Tara, Harlequin had to take a penalty for touching Under Tyne and in doing so let Tara into second place.
Having seen Rory being so successful in the first round by going inshore, not too surprisingly everyone followed him inshore on the second beat to Tara. With the breeze holding and a second race now looking worthwhile, the first race finished at Under Tyne with Paroquet a minute ahead of Tara who was 30 seconds ahead of the Morgan's in Prawn. Harlequin was fourth and Quintessence was fifth.
The start, from Under Tyne, of the second race was somewhat chaotic with Paroquet, Prawn and Tara all being called OCS.
This left Harlequin and Quintessence with a considerable lead and with the breeze veering to the south, the first beat rather disappointingly turned into a close reach; on the way back downwind the course was changed to Footprint which Harlequin rounded first with Quintessence ahead of Paroquet, Tara and Prawn. However the beat back to Under Tyne proved to be quite difficult to read and although everyone initially headed inshore; Rory stayed there until he reached the lay line.
Xander meanwhile chose to try the centre track and lost boat speed. Mike followed Rory which put Tara into second place ahead of Harlequin, Quintessence and Prawn.
There were two One-Designs; No 8 helmed single handed by Mark Hodgkinson and No 10 helmed by Richard Coleman. Set the same course as the Redwings, Richard was soon well ahead as Mark struggled with the genoa. Indeed having rounded Footprint so far behind, the ROs suggested that he turned back to the finish line without rounding the windward mark so as to speed up the start of the second race.
Although Richard lead from the start, the second race was much closer and by the finish at Garland, Mark was only a minute behind. Pity there were not more takers as once the breeze had kicked in, there was some fine racing in bright sunshine.
Mid afternoon racing next weekend for those not going to the Isle of Wight Festival!