5th June Nab Tower Race

Calypso in the CCRC fleet joined in with Bosham Sailing Club for the annual June Nab race. The course was simple, Chi to Nab ( starboard) then return to West Pole. With a north north east ish wind it was a downwind start but as the leg progressed the course became an apparent wind port tack reach. Those with downwind sails that could be trimmed in enough managed to maintain good speed to the Nab. Those that had sailed too deep for too long had to change to white sails and even tack. A few, including Calypso manged to keep a kite up all the way to the Nab. For Calypso rounding the Nab was tricky because first we had a tri and two mono hulls quickly appear from around the tower on Starboard which caused us to very quickly (almost a crash douse) drop the kite and immediately tack in strong tides, which resulted in Rockhopper catching us up on the inside. But Rockhopper decided they had chosen a course too close to tower so tacked behind us. Calypso had a clear route to round the mark and duly headed back north on Starboard passing through the remainder of the fleet on Port, memorably new member boat Paddy was one of the yachts that gave way. Calypso and Markova were close after rounding the tower, but Markova chose a better course allowing for the changing tide of the leg back. Near the finish line Markova had used her longer water length to advantage and had chosen a better line closer to the wind all the way from the Nab. Both Markova and Calypso had to tack to make the finish line but Calypso had much further to go. It was a really good race with a large fleet, testing and fun. Looking forward to next year to do it again.