Bembridge Illusion Picnic Hamper 2024

Last weekend's Team Racing was scuppered by Storm Darragh, so it was great to see so many boats (25 on Saturday and 15 on Sunday) out racing for this year's pre-Christmas Picnic Hamper. With HW just after 10:00 on Saturday it was obviously going to be essential to start on time - well all bar Bill made it in time and he was there for the second and third races.

After an excellent start in 7 knots of breeze the majority of the fleet remained on starboard as they headed towards the houseboats.

A few tacked off to bring them back into the middle of the harbour and slightly less tide. After a long beat, it was Mark Downer's grey spinnaker that showed first; although difficult to see from the Committee Boat, it looked as if the next group round included Owen Pay, Raymond Simonds, Carline Simonds and Bruce Huber. On the second round Mark developed a safe lead ahead of Raymond and Bruce; and with a two round race time of just over 25 minutes it was decided to call a halt as they completed the second round.

So Mark was first, Raymond was second and Buce was third having held of David Russell-Jones and John Raymond who had made up a lot of ground on the second round.

Having been very well disciplined at the start of the first race, it was probably inevitable that there were too many pushing their luck at the start of the second race which resulted in a General Recall.

The re-start, under Flag U went better with no-one called OCS and thus disqualified.

With the breeze moving more northerly, the race was finished after two rounds. Hugh Doherty was the initial leader with Raymond and Bruce close behind. Indeed by the end of the first round Raymond and Bruce had moved into a safe lead ahead of Mark. Mid-fleet, Owen lost his spinnaker sheet and in an effort to re-rig it round the bow, went for an unplanned swim!

Coming down to the leeward gate for the second time, Raymond, who was just ahead chose the left hand buoy which turned out to be the less favourable and left Bruce, who rounded the right hand one to win by at least 20 seconds. Mark was third and David R-J picked up his second fourth.

With the 8 knot breeze settling into the NNW, the course was re-set for the third race with Sea Breeze re-positioning in a more central position in the harbour. Still under Flag U, the start was very close with a couple of boats at the pin end mere inches away from being called OCS (and thus being disqualified). With a shorter course, it was decided to let it run for three rounds.

Mark lead throughout; after two rounds he had built up a substantial lead, however on the third round Bruce, Monty and Colin managed to close him down a bit. As usual there were a number of very close finishes lower down the fleet.

It was great to see Illustration (the loaner boat) out on Saturday being helmed by the 'flying dutchman' - Rudy Jurg who although still living in Finland is now based in Gosport. Hopefully we will see him more often when he is not ice yachting! Also a big welcome to William Mills who was out racing for the first time in one of Owen's old boats (105).

Sunday was not quite such an early start, but with quite a few committed to other pre-Christmas activities, we only saw fifteen boats on the line for the first race of the day. Conditions were very similar to the previous day (WNW - F3, occasionally F4) so the course was not that far of being the same, albeit a shorter start line as there were fewer boats.

With at least half trying to start at the pin end, it was very nearly a General Recall, however three boats were called OCS; Mark and Caroline went back however Colin did not so was not scored when he came in fifth.

After the first beat Raymond and Bruce had established a considerable lead ahead of Oliver, Justin Biddle (who had not sailed the previous day), Jo and a rapidly catching up Mark. The second round saw Raymond and Bruce consolidate their led and Mark move up into third. The third round saw Raymond and Bruce enjoying a bit of Match racing with the former being able to choose the better leeward gate mark to finish two seconds ahead. Mark was third just under a minute latter. Oliver was fourth.

The second race saw an excellent start in 11 knots of breeze under Flag P with no 'generous' calls required! Mind you once most had cleared the line, Richard Ambler and Owen were seen struggling to get going after an 'incident'!

Bruce was first to round the windward marks with Mark never far away. On the run they initially took different sides of the course and although Bruce kept the lead, Mark found himself under pressure from Oliver, Jo and Justin. During the third round, Raymond also moved up into the chasing group.

So after three rounds Bruce had a 12 second lead ahead of Jo, Raymond, Oliver and Mark.

The start of the final race of this year's Picnic Hamper was a cracker with the front echelon all within inches of the line when the hooter sounded (and the Class Flag was removed). Impressive stuff in a 14 knot breeze.

Raymond was first to round the windward marks with Mark close behind; there was then a gap to Colin, Justin, Jo, Bruce and Mike Issaias. As conditions were still reasonable and there had not been any delays in the racing, it was decided to let the race run for four rounds. Mark and Raymond established a good lead with Bruce playing catch up and Jo fading after she had problems with her spinnaker and had to goose wing the runs.

Bembridge Illusion Picnic Hamper - Saturday - photo © Mike Samuelson

On the fourth round Bruce was able to overtake Raymond who got caught on the wrong side of yet another wind shift. Mike was fourth.

After a challenging six races with the breeze flicking 20+ degrees at times, last year's winner, Bruce, finished overall first with 8 points; Mark was second with 9 points and Raymond was third with 11 points. No racing next weekend as the tides are wrong, but then there are four days of racing leading up to the New Year.

Additional photos: flic.kr/s/aHBqjBVc1B

Bembridge Illusion Picnic Hamper - winners on Sunday - photo © Mike Samuelson

Overall Results: