Toppers and RS Teras at the Alton Water Junior and Youth Regatta

Toppers and RS Teras at the Alton Water Junior and Youth Regatta © Stewart Berry

Light winds greeted the sailors on Saturday morning, leading to a postponement to 11:30 to allow the wind to fill in, as well as registration to be sorted out! The first race started at 11:30, with a trapezoid course.

Matt Smith in his Tera Pro lead at the windward mark and never looked back, but some smart light air sailing from Matt Taylor saw him take the first race win on handicap in the Tera fleet. Light wind specialist James Russell showed the 6 Toppers how it is done, followed by Henry and Jemima.

Race 2 started in similar conditions, only for the breeze to die as most sailors were finishing their first lap. Matt Smith once again led at the windward mark, but was passed by Max King on the downwind, (apparently there was a big hole!) who went on to take the race win on handicap with Matt Taylor in 2nd.

In the Toppers Will Hedley recovered from a disappointing first race to come second, again to James Russell, with Jemima again in 3rd. Unfortunately the wind died completely and everyone had to resort to paddling to get in to the shore!

The wind failed to fill in over lunch, so unfortunately at 14:30 the decision had to be made to abandon racing for the day.

Everybody arrived on Sunday hoping for more wind, but initially it wasn't looking promising as the reservoir represented a millpond. Fortunately the wind filled in to around 7 knots, as due to the races lost on Saturday, 6 short races were planned.

We managed to start on time at 11:00, and Matt Smith once again dominated the first race of the day, with Joshua Davies and Will Carron in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Matt Taylor failed to recover from an uncharacteristically poor start coming in 4th. Matt Smith repeated this in the second race of the day, with Matt Taylor again having to recover from a poor start, but climbing up to 2nd.

Will Hedley won the first 2 races of the day in the Toppers, enjoying slightly more wind than on Saturday. After the second race the wind completely died but the race officer continued with the start sequence, believing the wind would fill in. It did indeed, with a vicious rain squall bringing the strongest wind of the weekend. Torrential rain reduced the visibility to about 50 metres, and this coupled with thunder reduced the race to just one lap.

Matt Taylor sailed brilliantly given the conditions to catch up to Matt Smith in the more powerful Pro rig to take the win on handicap. James Russell sailed solidly again to take the win in the toppers.

After a short lunch break, the racing resumed with the course being brought closer to shore to ensure better viewing for the parents. Matt Smith once again took the win in the first race of the afternoon; helped by the fact Matt Taylor's outhaul broke at the top mark. Oliver Johnson sailed a great race coming in second.

In the Toppers James took the win, with Will and Dominic in 2nd and 3rd. With his outhaul fixed, Matt Taylor was back pushing hard at the front of the fleet, but Matt Smith just had enough to take the win in the penultimate race, with Josh and Will fighting it out behind them. James took the win yet again, with Dominic sailing well to take second. In the final race the Toppers saw a repeat of this result.

In the Tera fleet Matt Taylor took the win over Matt Smith and Josh Davies at the finish of all of the 6 races for the day.

After a nerve-wracking wait for the results it was revealed that James Russell had comprehensively won the Topper fleet with 6 bullets followed by Will Hedley and Dominic Godfrey.

In the Tera fleet, after a correction of the results, Matt Smith was crowned victorious by just one point over Matt Taylor, followed by Josh Davies who had sailed consistently all weekend to take 3rd.

Great fun was had by all over the weekend at the first exclusively junior event at Alton Water, roll on next year and hopefully some more boats and some more classes!

RS Tera Results:

Topper Results: