Twelve boats, 48 competitors, 12 races (14 starts), fantastic organisation and almost champagne condition on Sunday (NW F3-4 – sunny) made for an extremely successful two day J70 Regatta at Bembridge over the weekend. Previous J70 weekends have revolved around the chartering of the six J70s from the RYS, however the weekend organiser, Andrew Eddy, managed to persuade the RTYC to allow Bembridge SC to charter their six J70s as well. Getting them safely down from Cowes is not as easy as it sounds, so many thanks to all involved.
After an early morning briefing by Andrew and the Race Officer Mike Samu
elson, everyone was taken out to the boats moored at Under Tyne and began rigging up. Not too much of a problem for those who had sailed a J70 before, but harder for those who either had never sailed one before, or had forgotten! The start of the first race was AP’d with 15 seconds to go as one of boats had been delayed getting to the start area, but then got away for a long beat to the same windward mark as the Redwings & One-Designs were using (Moreton); although the lumpy easterly swell held the boats back a bit, they still made pretty good progress and allowed the crews to bed in. After two rounds with G as the leeward mark Ed Eddy (BSC) in 739 laid down the challenge to Hugo Mills (SVYC & RTYC) in 745. With the breeze veering more to the south, the Committee Boat (Sea Breeze) moved location and the next two races were set up with windward/leeward courses using laid inflatables. Both went Hugo’s way, indeed as the next two after lunch also did, however the other podium places varied with Hugo Cuddigan (BSC) in 743 taking four seconds, Fenella Neil (SVYC) in 
736 a couple of thirds,
Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore in 746 a third in the first race and Rory Morrison in 735 a second in the fourth race and a first in the sixth. At the end of the first day’s six races, the clear leader was Hugo in 745, however it was clear on Sunday morning that he was not going to have it all his own way!
Race 1 start – https://youtu.be/EUUbL-xhEMo
Race 2 start – https://youtu.be/WepNmxQa4vE
Race 4 start – https://youtu.be/4d57x7UJ8xA
Race 5 (Flag U) start – https://youtu.be/CEtLKQG5JVY
Sunday’s breeze was NW’erly F3-4 – with plenty of sunshine making for champagne sailing conditions. Another reasonably early start and unfortunately for the girls team lead by Izzy Huber in 738, a lost spinnaker halyard three quarters of the way up the mast. Having completed the first race of the day, they were towed into the harbour so that it could be retrieved using the crane on the Redwing Quay. In the meantime, first blood of the day went to Ed Eddy in 739; the second and third races 
were relatively short windward/leeward sausages with Ed and Hugo trading the top two places. The fourth race of the day was very different with the course inverted with a running start! Victory went to Fenella in 736 with Ed second. The final two races had Ed taking the first and Hugo Cuddigan in 743 the last one.
Race 7 start – https://youtu.be/Khk_71-ibCo
Race 8 start – https://youtu.be/-jQq868TMyo
Race 10 start – https://youtu.be/MFOZi1A1Trc
Race 11 start – https://youtu.be/sCVERjDNPf0
With one discard, congratulations to the winners of the Kenyon Cup, Hugo Mills, Rob Glanville, Marcus Howe and Tom Griffiths. The runners up were Ed & Lottie Eddy, James Beart and James Christie. While perhaps never in the top three, everyone had a great time and much enjoyed the close racing. A fantastic weekend and a huge thank you to Andrew Eddy for his amazing efforts in setting it all up.
Additional photos – https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWsGVtU
