SAILINGHUSBAND and wife Mark and Jo Downer were the perfect pair as they won the Inter-club Illusion Team Racing Championship at Bembridge last weekend.
The duo were one of seven teams from several Solent clubs to take part in the competition, which was held over two days and featured 49 races. The format saw each team, comprising two boats, doing battle in group races before the knock-out stages.
The Downers, representing Royal Victoria Yacht Club were the strong contenders early on, only losing one match against Matt Alexander and Xander Shaw after being pushed out over the start line.
Rudy Jurg and Justin Biddle, representing Bembridge Sailing Club, also only lost one match against the Downers.
Ian Southworth and John Santy, representing Hamble River Sailing Club, also came out very strongly only losing two very closely fought matches.
Surprise of the day was to see top Solent sailor Graham Sunderland with his team mate, representing the Island Sailing Club, fail to reach the semi-finals.
James Axtell and Alasdair Spear-Cole, representing the Royal Yacht Squadron, battled through to take the fourth spot in the semi-finals.
On day two, wintry conditions greeted the semi-finalists.
The Downers took on Southworth and Santy in a best-of-three match-up. The Downers took the first race, while the Hamble pairing took the second. In the decider, the Downers showed they know how to sail an Illusion in heavy airs and kept their boats afloat and fast to take the gun,
In the second semi-final, Jurg and Biddle won the first two races against Axtell and Spear-Cole to book their place.
The Bembridge versus Royal Victoria final saw both teams use every trick in the book in pre-start manoeuvres but all got off in an equal start.
Jurg and Biddle had the advantage in early part of the race but unfortunately Biddle flooded his boat allowing Mark Downer to catch up and take victory.
In race two, Mark Downer pushed Jurg into a pre-start penalty while Biddle pushed Jo Downer above the committee boat making for an interesting start.
An almighty battle between Mark and Justin on the first leg of the beat ensued.
Jurg and Jo Downer arrived first at the top mark followed Mark Downer but on the first downwind leg Jurg made a tactical error and let the Downers through and there was nothing more they could do.
Jurg finished barely afloat after breaking his bilge pump.
Third place was shared between the two losing semi-finalists, after both suffered gear damage in the battle for third place and could not complete their full series.