Solo to the Nab Tower

Simon Curwen wins Petit Bateau's inaugural Nab Tower race

19 singlehanded yachts crossed the start line at Gurnard point on Sunday to contest the first Nab Solo - the second race of four in the new Solent Solo Series organised by Racing at Petit Bateau. Conditions were almost perfect, a nice westerly 15 knot breeze and the spring flood tide kept the soloists honest as they ganged up on the JOG line heading east for a spinnaker start in bright sunshine at 10.10 BST.

Simon Curwen in the J/105 Voador made his customary excellent start just ahead of his Fastnet partner Paul Peggs in Audacious (JOD35) and promptly gybed out into the best tide at Prince Consort, this proved to be a winning move, both in class2 and on IRC, as he was never headed by the class 2 boats and was close on class one boats at the Forts. Chris Rustom won the open event with line honours in Ding Dong (Stuart 38) just 2 minutes and 44 seconds ahead of Rob Craigie in Jbellino (J/122) . Oscar Mead on the J/105 Juneau, was hot after his win in the two handed Nab race( RSYC) the day before and dogged Simon Curwen all the way, getting close at the turning mark and finishing just two minutes behind Voador to take second in class and second on IRC.

Race Director Paul Peggs battled with Peter Newlands, Anticipation (Beneteau 40.7) all the way round but the 8 second losing margin on the water multiplied up to a 1 minute 24 seconds deficit on handicap. Peggs was pleased to have been able to concentrate on his racing for once as the start box duties were smoothly handled by Charles Allen. The next race in the Solent Solo Series will be around the cans, and takes place on Sunday 7 September.

Simon Curwen describes his winning race: '"We started at the Gurnard buoy, gybing on to port on the gun. I put in a short hitch out on port to get in the best of the tide at Prince Consort buoy and to keep clean air. The wind was coming off the island shore after Osborne bay and I felt the breeze was slightly less disturbed offshore which helped me to hold third place on the water behind Ding Dong and Jbellino at the Forts. Oscar had battled through the pack to fourth by this time, in a close contest with Andy Hill on Only Just, also a J/105. The wind had backed to southwest at the No Mans Land Fort and increased slightly so we dropped kites there and fetched to Bembridge and then a had a very short beat to West Princessa.

"I set my small spinnaker for the four mile run out the Nab tower, the wind angle was about 150 true gusting up to 25 knots by this time: ideal J Boat weather. Oscar set his big spinnaker and made a big gain on this leg closing up to about ten lengths at the tower. Andy had an incident with his spinnaker and had a more leisurely white sail leg to Nab. Jbellino enjoyed a couple of wipe outs and that allowed Ding Dong to get around the turning mark with a clear lead in their close fought duel. I managed to pull away from Oscar again on the white sail fetch back to No Man's Land Fort and held on to the lead on the one sided beat back up to Cowes with the new ebb tide."

Results;

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Type	LOA	TCC	Cls	Start	Finish	Elapsed	Corrected
1	Voador	Simon Curwen	J105	10.5	1.015	2	10:10:00	14:24:12	04:14:12	04:18:01
2	Juneau	Oscar Mead	J105	10.5	1.014	2	10:10:00	14:26:12	04:16:12	04:19:47
3	Anticipation	Peter Newlands	First 40.7	11.92	1.02	1	10:10:00	14:27:06	04:17:06	04:22:15
4	Audacious	Paul Peggs	JOD 35	10.6	1.03	2	10:10:00	14:27:14	04:17:14	04:24:57
5	Only Just	Andy Hill	J105	10.5	1.012	2	10:10:00	14:32:12	04:22:12	04:25:21
6	Ding Dong	Chris Rustom	Stewart 38	11.3	1.081	1	10:10:00	14:16:02	04:06:02	04:25:58
7	Jbellino	Rob Craigie	J122	12.19	1.093	1	10:10:00	14:18:46	04:08:46	04:31:54
8	Juliette	Rod Knowles	J105	10.5	1.014	2	10:10:00	14:43:10	04:33:10	04:36:59
9	Solan Goose	Peter Olden	J92S	9.14	0.996	3	10:10:00	14:52:37	04:42:37	04:41:29
10	Oojah	Peter Tanner	J110	10.96	0.997	1	10:10:00	14:52:30	04:42:30	04:41:39
11	Outlandish	Graham Wilkinson	JOD 35	10.6	1.021	2	10:10:00	14:47:42	04:37:42	04:43:32
12	Malice	Mike Moxley	HOD 35	10.7	1.032	2	10:10:00	14:48:01	04:38:01	04:46:55
13	Fantasea	Tony Rowe	Dehler 36	10.95	1.011	1	10:10:00	14:57:45	04:47:45	04:50:55
14	Little Spirit	Brian Cooper	First 375	11.2	0.937	1	10:10:00	15:25:02	05:15:02	04:55:11
15	Nereid	John Baily	Elan 340	9.99	0.984	2	10:10:00	15:26:13	05:16:13	05:11:09
16	Black Jack	Philippe Rigollet	First 31.7	9.48	0.959	2	10:10:00	15:35:14	05:25:14	05:11:54
DNC	Excape	Jonathan Hamlyn	Aerodyne 38	11.54	1.107	1	10:10:00	DNC	DNC	DNC
DNC	Arcsine	Kathy Claydon	Arcona 370	11.1	1.016	1	10:10:00	DNC	DNC	DNC
DNF	Penrod	Oupriez	First 31.7	9.5		2	10:10:00	DNF	DNF	DNF
RET	Hot Socks	Katie Miller	Figaro 2	10.1	1.087	2	10:10:00	RET	RET	RET