Island Sailing Club Nab Tower Race
by Tony Taylor, Race Officer 3 Oct 2018 15:38 BST
29 September 2018
54 boats turned out to compete in the Island Sailing Club's Nab Tower Race. 24 in the IRC Class and 30 in the ISC rated class.
Very light winds at the start with only 4 knots from the north, but a fair tide towards the tower helped boats clear the line.
Sadly 3 boats failed to start south of the Outer Distance Mark. One got back within the 25 minutes starting time limit, one gave up and one kept trying for 2 ½ hours only to be scored DNS.
With the light airs proceeding all the way down the Eastern Solent Crakajax radioed race control to ask if the race might be shortened!
Around 1045, just as the wind picked up to 11knots in the Eastern Approaches the first retirement was heard.
The race team (watching on the internet) noted that Cora, Lutine and Jellyfish were the first AIS tracked boats around the Tower at 1130hrs and saw that boats were now moving at an average of 6.5 knots in the Eastern Solent. At the same time the race team were entertained by model powerboats racing just inside the safety of Trinity pontoon.
The first finisher receiving line honours was Pegasus in the IRC Class. A good stream of finishers followed her. By 1530 the strong ebb tide was helping the last few boats get back to Cowes. By 1650 all IRC entered boats had made it back and just 7 ISCRS boats were still racing. Only 4 boats were out of time at 1730, most radioing their retirements.
The sell-out Nab Tower (indoor) BBQ and prize giving took place at the club. Chris Thomas the Sailing Secretary presented prizes to the race and series winners.