Topper 4.2 Nationals at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club

Topper 4.2 nationals at Leigh and Lowton © Paul Allen

Topper 4.2 nationals at Leigh and Lowton © Tim Yeates

The first ever, standalone Topper 4.2 National Championships sponsored by Sailing Solutions was held at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club on Pennington flash over the weekend of 17th/18th July 2010. The Topper 4.2 rig is ideally suited to sailors who are 35–45 kg and who often struggle whilst racing with the full 5.3 sail or reef, neither of which is ideal for improving sailing skills.

Sailors in this weight range are finding that this sail is extremely well balanced and great fun to race, no-longer is it thought of as anything less than a serious racing sail and as such, this event attracted top class competition from the main Topper 5.3 fleet in addition to Optimist & other class sailors – all were made warmly welcome by the usual 4.2 competitors and by those who have aspirations towards the next ITCA GBR 4.2 National squad for which this event is part of the selection process.

The whole of the Northwest of England were pleased that the visitors, who came from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and all points of England brought some valuable water with them in the form of rain to help with the local water shortages – thanks guys! The forecast was for a mixture of winds, some rain & a chance of sunshine in generally warm temperatures.

Charles Glover, ITCA GBR class chairman, welcomed everyone to the club during the morning briefing and he was extremely pleased to report a fleet size of 45 sailors. He confirmed ITCA GBR’s commitment to the event by introducing the RYA Appointed class judge, Trevor Lewis, who was on hand to ensure that fair play was seen to be observed. Mike Baldwin, Commodore of Leigh & Lowton SC, introduced the assembled sailors to the post sailing activity, one famous at the club, a bottle boat race between the pontoons. Components were available, mainly plastic bottles, gaffer tape & Tesco bags with sticks for everyone to have a go at building their own designs. Dave Cockerill, the head coach of the 4.2 National Squad, welcomed the sight of smiley faces despite the rain. He confirmed that the 4.2 squad had been a delight to work with through the winter & acknowledged that there was a wide mix of talent in this particular competition – those that were looking at it as an indicator event should not be hung up on the results but just try to sail to their best ability and more than anything, have a really good time.

PRO, Peter Baldwin, and his team headed out onto the water on time to set the course. The wind was a little fickle at this stage but the Trapezoid course was laid & the fleet released for their 2 first races. It is proof of the seriousness of the sailors when at least 85% of the fleet were seen to sail the first beat before coming under starters order – textbook stuff! After a clean start it was the Venables Brothers who led at the windward mark for race 1 with Lucy Yeates (14) of the home club, taking a while to get in her stride, taking the lead on the final beat and the race win. The wind increased slowly through the morning and there were one or two very heavy rain showers which brought some more severe gusts.

Race 2 brought out the sun but the increase in wind strength saw some of the 4.2’s being fully hiked & one or two spills were in evidence around the course. It is at wind strengths like this that this sail comes into its own, manageable yet great fun. Lucy took her 2nd race win just after her (lucky) sail shredded itself whilst rounding the final mark and the fleet went ashore for lunch whilst Lucy borrowed a spare sail – thanks Abi. It’s for this kind of help that the Topper is known as “the Friendly Class”.

As the fleet launched for race 3 the wind kicked in with a vengeance, a steady 20 knots and gusting much more strongly, gave these young sailors the chance to show the true quality of the Topper 4.2 fleet. This time it was Curtis Mearns (14), also of the home club, who showed the way with bullets in races 3 and 4 in a hotly contested top ten giving him the overnight lead. Lucy lay in second place with Northern Ireland's top 4.2 sailor, Laura Gilmore (13) of Strangford Lough Yacht Club in third place and 2009 4.2 National Champion Dan Venables(13) just behind in fourth. These four were given a hard battle by Matt Venables (14,) also visiting from the GBR Topper Junior National Squad, Arran Holman (13), Optimist Inland Champion 2010, GBR Topper National Intermediate Squad member Jamie Purcell (14) from Redesmere and Scotland's Joanne Foster, the recently crowned Topper 4.2 National Series Champion. So no shortage of talent on show and the racing was incredibly impressive with Toppers flying down the lake in balls of spray.

As the wind again sent the anemometers spinning the race officer decided he had seen enough (and run out of memory on his camera) and sent the fleet ashore after the race was complete. It has to be said that the rescue fleet, headed by ITCA GBR Ribmaster Andy Millington, whilst being extremely busy & dealing with multiple capsizes when the gusts went through the fleet, kept control of the situation impeccably. Boats were tied onto marks & sailors who were tired & cold were brought to shore without delay – the new cockpit numbering system was put to good use today & is an invaluable aid to the rescue volunteers.

Saturday night was memorable for the previously mentioned locally famous Leigh and Lowton bottle boat race won by Crispin Beaumont from Bartley SC whose boat stormed across the lake to take line honours well ahead of the rest of the fleet. The race was followed by a fab meal from the club galley and a quiz night with picture quiz and music clips! Well done the social committee.

Sunday dawned with the same brisk breeze blowing at the local Premier Inn and seemingly everywhere else but Pennington Flash where there was barely enough wind to set a course. However, with no tide to worry about the fleet duly set off for five more races.

Race five looked like normal service being resumed with the same top ten again leading the way although Lucy was clearly going to be hard to beat in the lighter breeze as she had a very closely contested battle with Arran swapping places throughout the race and Dan was also loving the light stuff.

Race 6 was notable as Lucy missed her toestraps on the start line and again on the beat, 2 perfectly performed backward somersaults – where was that judge when you need him? It was Crispin Beaumont (13) of Bartley who took the win from Arran Holman and Dan Venables.

At the beginning of race 7, Haydn Griffiths of Leigh & Lowton, who normally sails an Optimist in the West Zone and was sailing his first Topper event led the fleet for more than a lap but in the end it was Lucy, back on form, who took the win from National Junior Squad mate Danielle Thomas and Dan Venables who was racking up an impressively consistent streak, Haydn finishing a creditable fourth.

The fleet came ashore for lunch just as the wind returned and then vanished again just as the fleet launched for race 8. (Does this sound familiar?) In a swinging wind the first start of race 8 was a general recall as the fleet correctly identified the huge starboard bias and the black flag returned, not for the first time of the weekend. The restart was then postponed mid sequence as another huge windshift brought back some real breeze with Toppers seen briefly surfing between capsizes. On a completely re-set course race 8 finally got away and saw Arran Holman’s efforts being rewarded with a bullet from Mr Consistent Dan Venables 2nd and Laura Gilmore 3rd.

Despite a rapidly dying wind race 9 was also started with just eight minutes to spare from the absolute time limit, a 5th win for Lucy from Jamie Purcell and Curtis Mearns who finished 2nd overall with Mr Consistent Venables finishing 3rd overall.

In the final analysis it was Lucy who became the very deserving 2010 Sailing Solutions Topper 4.2 National Champion in an extremely close fought and high quality event with no less than three National Champions and six National Junior Squad sailors in the top 10. With competition of this calibre and 45 smiling faces returning to the launching area each day this event and the 4.2 class looks set for a bright future.

With specially designed trophies being flown in from Australia (that Google thing is great!) and an abundance of prizes offered by Sailing Solutions in addition to a new 5.3 sail donated by Topper International the prizegiving was well attended. Special endeavour prizes were offered to 2 sailors who caught the attention of the race committee during the windiest parts of Saturday, despite numerous capsize incidents both Izzy Stylianides and Matthew Harrison kept coming back with smiley faces whilst Ethan Dawson earned a prize for the highest points tally of those that finished all 9 races – well done guys.

The next Topper event on the Calendar is the main National Championships at Pwllheli during the 1st week of August – there is a dedicated 4.2 section to the Regatta fleet & a number of 4.2’s have entered to race with the main fleet.

Overall Results: