Topper and RS Tera open meeting with Capture the Flag and Tug of War at Starcross Yacht Club
by Peter Solly 15 Oct 08:14 NZDT
12 October 2024
Following the tradition started last year, the day of the annual Tera and Topper Open Meeting dawned sunny and windless. Nearly 30 sailors had travelled to Starcross, from as far afield as Oxfordshire and Fowey in Cornwall, with a strong showing of thirteen from the home club. Several sailors from Exe Sailing Club had even delivered their boats by water the previous day!
As sailors rigged their boats, caught up with friends and ate their bacon butties, the estuary looked like a millpond. All eyes were on the forecast - which remained confident that the wind would come through later.
But still we waited....! Closely contested Tug of War games were played (Topper vs Tera, and parents vs sailors, and so on), before the fleets challenged each other to a game of Capture the Flag.
Around midday the wind started to fill-in, and so boats launched and sailed over to the east side of the estuary where the race committee had set the course
Race officer Paul Kelley and ARO Dave Lee had set a trapezoid course. With four fleets (Topper 5.3, Topper 4.2, RS Tera Pro and RS Tera Sport) and two starts, the wind steadily built through the three races, reaching around 15 knots at the end. There was some excellent and close racing throughout the fleet, with some hotly-contested battles going on between certain sailors.
After three successful races, the fleet came as sure for a late (gourmet) lunch. When parent volunteer Richard is in the galley, the food at Starcross junior events is renowned far and wide. Today was no exception, with four types of pasta dishes, freshly cooked to ancient Sicilian recipes by Richard and his team of helpers. This was rounded off by home-made cakes and tea, before the prize-giving.
Well done to all the sailors.
Full results (and photos) are on the event page: www.starcrossyc.org.uk/syc-events
Endeavour Prize (for valiant effort and persistence): Amy H (Whitefriars SC)
Spot Prizes for effort and excellent sailing: Aurelie, Annie, Florence.
A big thank you to all of the volunteers who made the event such a success - whether on the water, in the galley, helping ashore, doing results or on the committee boat, it couldn't have been done without so many willing helpers. Thank sto John Allen for providing his yacht Helghor as the committee boat, and to PK and Dave for running the racing.
Particular thanks are to other volunteers who didn't have children sailing in the event, but gave up their time to help anyway.