Topper Open at Lancing Sailing Club

10 June 2007
By Nick Muggridge 11 Jun 2007 07:27
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Photo © Isabelle Jackson
A dense sea mist rolls during the Topper open at Lancing
A dense sea mist rolls during the Topper open at Lancing
Photo © Isabelle Jackson
A dense sea mist rolls during the Topper open at Lancing
A dense sea mist rolls during the Topper open at Lancing
Photo © Isabelle Jackson
A dense sea mist rolls during the Topper open at Lancing
A dense sea mist rolls during the Topper open at Lancing

Perfect looking summer weather and sailing conditions greeted the 29 helms competing in this year’s Lancing Topper Open & SE Traveller on Sunday 10th June; an event supported by Rooster Sailing. Immediately after the briefing a dense sea mist rolled in, causing a 90 minute postponement. Race Officer Mark Jackson then promptly re-set the course for light SW winds.

In race 1, William Bovington was first to complete lap1, but was then overhauled by Jonathan Hewat who won the shortened race, ahead of Bovington and Dan Bigsby.

Race 2 was sailed back to back, with Bigsby leading from start to finish. With the light shifty wind, there was much place changing throughout the fleet, but most helms completed the race within the time limit. Hewat came second ahead of Matt Thomas.

After lunch the wind got even lighter and flukier, with two more back to back races scheduled.

Race 3 started promptly with boats crowding the committee boat end of the start line; however the black flag ensured yet another clean start. Many helms struggled to make any way up the first beat, as the light wind continually shifted and at times died. The leading pack of pulled away from the rest, with the first lap led by Hewat, Thomas and Bigsby. Soon after they started lap 2, the wind died away almost completely. The race officer decided to shorten the race to just 2 laps, but despite everyone’s valiant efforts, only 8 helms completed the race before the rest were timed out. Bigsby dropped out of the leading trio on lap 2, and the race was won by Hewat with Thomas 2nd and Hannah Thomas 3rd. Race 4 was not sailed due to the lack of wind.

Full results and photographs on the Lancing Sailing Club website.

Overall Results:

PosSail NoHelmClubPts
1st 45500 Jonathan Hewat Medway YC 
2nd 45823 Dan Bigsby NHEB 
3rd 46016 Matt Thomas Papercourt 
4th 44516 William Bovington Newhaven & Seaford 
5th 44304 Stephanie Wicken Wilsonian 

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