Topper National Series at Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club

Topper National Series event at Royal Norfolk & Suffolk © Kingsley Farrington

Topper National Series event at Royal Norfolk & Suffolk © Kingsley Farrington

Topper sailors and their supporters are such a lucky lot, they may well travel long distances to meet up for the National Series events but even if your journey was 12 hours - which some were - the warmth and friendliness of Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club and the fellow ITCA members and the chance of sailing on open water with more ice cream shops than Toppers made it well and truly all worth while.

RNSYC may not be versed in laying on events for 160 young sailors but they certainly put their all into it and made it work so well. It is so very easy to think these events just happen without much behind the scenes arrangements but when you have to trail 160 Toppers along the busy Victorian Promenade during a sunny and very busy weekend then that amongst the myriad of other arrangements start to sink in.

The remarkable energy of the club was represented by the Vice Commodore Ruth Davies spotting two young sailors walking their boats back along the prom after these 4.2 rig sailors had completed 5 races back to back and noticing they were pretty exhausted she took the trolley handle and walked it back the considerable distance to the dinghy park. It transpires that her daughter after an 8 mile run that morning had been busy doing similar, Top hats off to everyone at the club.

The class sponsors Magic Marine and GJW Insurance for the 5.3s and Sailing Solutions for the 4.2 had laid on some great prizes encouraging the sailors to reach ever higher.

The forecast for the Saturday looked quite rigorous and the wait for the D flag on the beach showed that there were some pretty strong gusts from the SSW. Launching into some breaking waves was done with very efficient team work by parents and the 5.3 fleet had a good work out beat south to the race area. There were a number of tweets circulating about awesome downwind sailing and admiration from the rib crews of a very determined and talented crew of sailors throughout the racing.

Conditions were 20-25 knots short chop and a very strong tide racing. Ashley Deaton Royal Harwich secured two wins while Joe Drake Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Luke Gribbin Paignton, Eleanor Poole Starcross and Niamh Harper Loch Tummel all took a win. Amongst the many stand outs in the first days racing were Charlie South Stokes Bay gaining some great results for an under 12 and Jake Scott Dale YC for sheer determination in finishing every race.

Having sailed so far south to the race area Ashely Deaton from Royal Harwich Yacht Club may well have felt he was in local waters he certainly used his skill and knowledge to get 1,1,2 and so overnight Ashely topped the board.

The 4.2 fleet waited on the shore a little longer and launched sailing past the pier to a closer race area with wind still at 20-25 for them and waves at 3ft this gave 30 percent of the fleet too much to contend with and these sailors were guided back to shore while the remainder dug deep and sailed liked Vikings. Jack Berry RHS took the bullet with Sam Jones Hill Head second Curtis Mckay HOAC third, Daisy Desgorger Notts County 1st girl and Thomas Watson Llyn Brenig sailing with huge determination was the final competitor to complete.

With the tide running and conditions not improving is was decided by Andy Moore to send the fleet in, the forecast showed that Sunday showed fairer winds and he felt confident that a good number of races could be completed the next day. With boats back on shore a number of the sailors clad in their wetsuits challenged the surf and though no more sailing took place a good time was had by all.

The AGM was scheduled to start after the last boat was ashore and Chair Sally Dugdale opened the meeting. Roger Proctor the class Designers representative gave a very informative presentation guiding members through the strides that the class is making in keeping it at the forefront as one of the best junior class associations in the UK.

Jon Mannings from Topper International gave information on the changes to design with the improved gooseneck and webtop sail, small changes but ones that make the boat friendly to rig and maintain. He also reported on the international activity mentioning Macau and India among other countries taking the Topper on as their chosen pathway dinghy the evidence of the RYA pathway and the list of ex Topper Sailors such as John Pink Dylan Fletcher Alain Sign Giles Scott Helena Lucas Nicola Groves Penny Clarke and the list goes on speaking volumes for the route that Topper sailors take. Italy, Malta, Thailand and Hawaii are growing their fleets.

Paul Albone gave a presentation of the accounts and class membership numbers and outlined how factors outside of the class can change the membership demographics and how the need to keep responsive to changes was the way forward. The number of 4.2 sailors has been very encouraging and more of these younger sailors on board at events nationally and in the zone areas is seen as the way to respond to the younger age that sailors transition to youth classes. With the AGM completed barbecues were lit a beer or two may have been sampled at the bar and a happy group of people yarned away.

Day two dawned with sun and breeze and both 4.2s and 5.3 headed out for more challenges. Andy Moore briefed the 4.2s to expect 5 back to back races so food, water and sunblock were essential. With the tide running south judging the top mark rounding caused some difficulty and a fluctuating wind speed kept everyone thinking hard once round the weather mark they accelerated with good speed to the wing mark.

Race 2 went to Sam Jones Hill Head but not without a battle from Curtis and Giles Baker DWSC. Andy Moore stuck to his guns and got five races in with variable wind directions and tides switching, all the fleet were kept on their toes. With Sam, Curtis and Jack battling hard and trading 1st in the end Sam took the event closely followed by Curtis and Jack. Daisy sailed a very consistent series and came in first girl. Thanks to all the helpers and Race team for the 4.2s who put on a great days racing.

5.3s were all primed up for another big day with 2 flights of 3 races giving the race team plenty to think about with a forecast wind switch and strong tide. The fleet had to wait to change the course when the 180 switch came but apart from this racing progressed well. Ashely took a bit of a shocker in race 4 while Tom Renny Fishguard Bay and Ewan Gribbin Paignton took race wins. Ashely then came back strong with a 1 and a 2 to seal the series from Niamh.

Anthony Knights Commodore gave the opening address at the prize giving, he had spent some time out on the water observing the sailing and had come back to shore with high regard for all the sailors. He commented on etiquette at marks being very good unlike some the big keel baot racing he takes part in, he spoke of the determination and skill in testing conditions and he was very proud of a crew of young people working hard at something they obviously loved.

For the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club this event and the arrival of 160 young people and the parental support crew was something new and though some members initially had some concerns the conduct and vitality dispelled and fears.

As a junior dinghy racing class, when Ashely Deaton the overall winner stands up to thank everyone who had made the event happen with clarity, accuracy and dignity for his fellow sailors then I think this shows that the Topper Class and the events that it organises are going in the right direction.

Many Topper events in the Areas are happening so log on to http://gbrtopper.co.uk/news.php All forthcoming events are shown on the right hand side. National Series 6 for the 5.3s and 4.2s will take place at Carsington SC on the 11th and 12th July followed by a Worlds on Lake Garda starting July 19th with the National Championships at WPNSA 2nd to 7th of August.

Topper National Series event at Royal Norfolk & Suffolk - photo © Kingsley Farrington

4.2 Fleet Overall Results:

5.3 Fleet Overall Results: