6th – 7th December | Nelson Radio Sailing Club
Sea Breezes almost guaranteed, the Beginning of Summer, the end of the 2025 Calendar Season, Amazing Hospitality and Venue – and of course the venue for the 2026 IOM Nationals… What more reason did you need to be in Nelson for the TOTS Regatta? 33 Sailors and a Team of amazing volunteers will tell you – it was an amazing weekend of IOM sailing.
Race Day 1
There were two key decisions that made of an amazing days racing – first was to having a leisurely, later start of 1215 that allowed for the sea breeze to kick in, and the second was to split the fleet in to 3 heats of 11 – and use the SHRS allocation system. The breeze arrived on time band on time and the mighty duo of Colin and Sleethy wasted no time in laying a string of marks across the breeze – making picking a true course a much easier job! The adjustable start mark also made setting a fair line much easier!
Between 1230 and cut off at 530, 24 heats (8 Races) were completed. The Fleet was extremely well behaved – with the ever vigilant John Rountree and his able team of observers keeping a close eye on proceedings.
Earle Williams held a commanding lead after Day 1 with a total net of just 7 points after the six races that counted. Many sailors let out a sigh of relief that there were 2 drops – with some varied results being posted over the day.
After a refreshing beverage beside the lake, and before the fleet headed off to the nearby Golf Club for dinner – it was announced that we were splitting in to Gold, Silver and Bronze Fleets for Sunday….. the question on everyones lips was…. could anyone catch Erle?
Race Day 2
A perfect southerly seabreeze (note – the ocean is to the North in Nelson) greeted the fleet on Sunday morning. With nothing to lose a course was set – and finals racing was on! A full set of races was completed before the breeze went hard east, west, south, west – and then settled in to the North for the day. The racing was as tight as expected across the three fleets – with some sailors excelling – and some feeling the heat.
At 3pm time was called after 6 more races were completed.
The results speak for themselves – but congratulations to Robbie Norris (Pegasus) taking out the Bronze Fleet, Brian Bennett (Nelson) the Silver – and of course the top three place getting in the gold fleet: Phil Pryde (New Plymouth 3rd, Dean Atkinson (Neslon) in 2nd, and Erle Williams – doing it the hard way in the last few races – taking home the Trophy.
A huge thanks to the Nelson Club for putting on another great weekend. The ability to use two jettys for launching and retrieving meant minimal delays between races. John Levy as Boat Wrangler did an amazing job – as did the Scoring Team and the entire club.
If you haven’t made it to Best Island – you best do soon! The next Top of the South IOM event is schedule for the weekend of the 28 Feb and 1 Mar 2026. Put it in your diary now
Final results can be found here: https://nzrya.org.nz/2025-top-of-the-south-iom-regatta-results/.
And you can check out Annie Carrard’s photos and videos on IOM Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/652470423472084
All the best for the festive season – see you in 2026
Paul Davies aka PJD – your RO
