Sailing Fast Scottish Topper Championship at Loch Lomond Sailing Club

Prize winners in the Topper Scottish Championship © Gavin Homer

Loch Lomond Sailing Club hosted the Scottish Topper Championship on the 21st and the 22nd of May 2016. Callum Bell who is sponsored by Sailing Fast won the Topper fleet.

20 Toppers arrived in damp conditions to rig up. The first race on Saturday started on time and the sun making an attempt to shine. The breeze was 12-15 knots from the south west with the occasional puff coming through. Race one was started following a short postponement. Calum Bell from the host club led the race from the start with Christine Wood second, Tom Atchison third and Suzie Homer fourth.

With another shower coming through the competitors had to wait in the liquid sunshine while the race committee lengthened the course.

Race 2 got away cleanly with Calum again leading around the first mark with the same top four heading the fleet. Behind them the rest of the fleet were fighting to gain places in tightly packed bunch with Fergus Wilson coming out best in fifth places.

With the sun finally breaking out race 3 got underway in lighter conditions. The fleet got away on the second attempt under the black flag with only one victim succumbing to the allure of heading in early. Calum continued his dominance of the fleet with Christine passing Suzie at the last mark. Catie Warburton and Alex Noble made the most of the lighter conditions to come in 4 and 5th.

With the sun out and a good breeze several of the Topper sailors made the most of the conditions headed back out to try some youth classes hosted by RYA Scotland as part of the transition programme.

Sunday dawned sunny but with no wind so the postponement flag was raised for half an hour. By the time competitors reached the start area an 8-12 knots westerly was blowing.

Race got away cleanly with the same top four leading as race three until the first leeward mark where Calum and Christine got caught in a clump of optimists allowing Suzie and Catie through before Suzie got stuck on the wrong side of an optimist to allow Catie through to a girls 1,2,3 for race 4.

Race 5 got away quickly with Christine and Calum avoiding the Optimists to finish in that order.

With one race left Calum was leading but had not done enough to win the event with Christine still able to win the event. With the Optimists started the wind shifted 45degrees and the AP flag was raised with a minute to go. With the wind continuing to shift then totally dying the race officer abandoned the last race and the race ashore started.

With the sun still shining Calum received the Scottish Championship trophy from Scottish tour sponsor Emma Hepplewhite of Sailing Fast with Christine second and Suzie Homer third.

Overall Results: (top three)

1st Calum Bell (LLSC) 5pts
2nd Christine Wood (CCC) 11pts
3rd Suzie Homer (DBSC) 13pts