2011 Nautica Outstanding Seamanship Award
by Peta Stuart-Hunt, ISC Race Press Officer 23 Nov 2011 13:56 GMT
One of the joint Nautica Outstanding Seamanship Award winners, Michael Hook © Patrick Eden
This year's 80th Anniversary J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, hosted and run by the Island Sailing Club (ISC) in Cowes, Isle of Wight, was the largest ever to be staged with 1,908 yachts entered. It was also conducted in very challenging weather conditions that lead to an unusually high number of incidents on the water and the highest level of nominations ever for the Nautica Outstanding Seamanship Award, now in its 4th year.
The Nautica Outstanding Seamanship Award recognises acts of good seamanship on Race day and is open to all those involved, whether competitors, spectators, members of the emergency services or race officers.
Among the many worthy nominations following the June 25th Race, were two extraordinarily strong nominations for skippers coming to the rescue of two separate 'Man Overboard' (MOB) incidents, both in big seas.
The joint winners of the Nautica Outstanding Seamanship Award for 2011 and each also receiving a handsome Nautica watch, are Michael Hook, skipper on the Britannia Events chartered Flying Fish, GBR 9043T, for rescuing a man overboard from a Laser SB3, and Paul Harris, owner and skipper of Tan-It, a Sydney 36, for rescuing a man overboard from Jings!, a J133.
The Award's judging panel comprising Gavin Crilly-McKean (Nautica Watches), Dave Atkinson (ISC Race Management) and Simon Boulding (Britannia Corporate Events) stated that the winners were selected because, "successful MOB recoveries in such unforgiving circumstances have to be exercised with a great deal of skill and without a moment's hesitation or regard for the rescuer's race results.”
The 2012 Race is open for business from Jan 20th
The 2012 Race website - www.roundtheisland.org.uk - will go live on January 20th, coinciding with Race organisers opening entries for the 2012 Race. Dubbed 'Britain's favourite yacht race', the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race will be held on Saturday 30th June with a first class start time of 0700.
More details about the MOB rescues can be found on the official Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/roundtheisland