RTIR entry down?

matt1

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Std entry closed now and circa 1,100 entries at time of posting. Seems well down on recent yearslet alone the heyday years. Could it be the tides? I didn’t bother to check, assuming ISC had set the date to optimise tides as they have done most years.

My cursory look suggested that with a 9am start I’ll have tide against me for half the race :(
 

flaming

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Std entry closed now and circa 1,100 entries at time of posting. Seems well down on recent yearslet alone the heyday years. Could it be the tides? I didn’t bother to check, assuming ISC had set the date to optimise tides as they have done most years.

My cursory look suggested that with a 9am start I’ll have tide against me for half the race :(
Not really down I'd suggest.

Last year's total was 1077.
2019 was 1161.

This year currently stands at 1091. Would expect that to inch up to 1120 or maybe 1150 by race day.

IRC numbers are holding up compared to pre pandemic, which is a good sign. In 2019 there were 351 IRC boats. Currently there are 353 IRC boats entered this year....

Just really hoping for a windy one, it feels like a very long time since we had a "classic" RTI with big downwind conditions round the back of the island.

Tide wise... Interesting one this year.... Looks like the 25th was definitely the best Saturday in June and early July, but it's not ideal. HW of 0953 means a West going stream from about 0830. So the early starts (1st is at 0800) will be setting off into slack at best. Our start, at 0840 will be in probably the weakest tide I've ever started in. Should be running hard by the time the later small boats start though.
One thing is for sure, if it is light, then the last start, at 0930, will have over 5 hours to get to the Needles before it changes, which if I remember rightly was a big complaint from previous years....

We'd need to be back in the Eastern Solent before 2pm in order to get any West going tide helping us, 5 hours after our start.... Which since we'll be punching it all the way down the back of the island.... It'll need a load of wind for that to happen! So looks like we'll be plugging it round 3/4 of the island as normal!
The nav of our boat when it was in its former ownership once calculated that on a normal year boats of our size sail about 8 miles further through the water than the smallest boats who mostly have the tide with them. Small wonder that the winner is either a big boat able to plane fast enough down the south side of the island to get round to the Eastern Solent in time to catch the last of the tide up to the finish, or a small boat who have it fair most of the way round!
 

Tomaret

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I think it’s the ISC rated classes that are down - the once a year cruiser owners that in the past were happy to go round the Island in company at the back of the fleet but didn’t take it too seriously - stocking up with water, fuel and food for a good day out whilst the racers were stripping their boats out. For me, for several years it was a joy, even if on one occasion a late start further delayed by a container vessel inconsiderately wanting to cross the start line at the same time as the day GLO greens pushed us back a further 30 mins meaning we never got past Hurst. Dates were chopped and changed because of clashes with the IoW festival and tides were not always ideal. In the end the 50% chance of it being a good day wasn’t worth the cost of entry or of berthing and the struggle to find somewhere to eat in Cowes on the Saturday evening.

That‘s why I stopped and clearly I’m not alone. But I doubt it makes much difference to a good race if you are in a fleet of 1000 or 1800 boats. It you are good there will be lots of boats behind you, if you are bad there will be lots in front and if you are part of the pack there will be lots alongside you.
 
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