Laurent Giles 'Jolly Boat' Exeter |
29er GBR 074 Tynemouth |
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Topper Colours |
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Sam.Spoons
Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3398 |
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Topic: Topper Colours Posted: 11 Aug 20 at 10:07am |
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93 boats u the Topper Nationals 5.3 Gold fleet, plus another 120 in the silver, bronze and 4.2 fleets, thats 223 sailors serious enough to travel to Largs for the event.
Changing colour would involve purging the system in an injection moulding machine as the plastic has to be molten before it's injected so there is an additional cost in material and time which does not occur when producing several of the same colour. In a roto-moulding machine the granules are placed directly into the mould so two different colours could follow with no more than a clean (which I assume happens each time anyway).
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Spice 346 "Flat Broke"
Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
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polc1410
Posting king Joined: 10 Jan 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 147 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 6:50am | ||||
At the "top end" (where most of the people are buying new) -
Do you want to be the only yellow hull or only blue hull in a fleet that is 90+% red? Protest room; "How sure are you it was sail number 123456 that was on port and not 153426?" "He has a yellow hull" Committee boat: "did you catch the sail number of the OCS boat to BFD?" "It was the blue hull ending 789" |
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Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 7:15am | ||||
I hear that argument all the time and I find it bonkers. Maybe in the Olympics, possibly. Though with so few boats and so many cameras even that’s highly doubtful.
But in a Topper, really? It’s a fun boat in what is meant to be a fun hobby. 100-200 race at national level and about 20-30 race “seriously”. And what kind of lesson is that to kids - “stay anonymous and you may get away with things”? |
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tink
Really should get out more Joined: 23 Jan 16 Location: North Hants Online Status: Offline Posts: 788 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 7:41am | ||||
Toppers have a 3 digit champ number on the sail so no one is hiding. A considerable number of kids get a lot of fun by sailing competitively
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Tink
https://tinkboats.com http://proasail.blogspot.com |
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Do Different
Really should get out more Joined: 26 Jan 12 Location: North Online Status: Offline Posts: 1312 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 7:44am | ||||
Completely agree A2Z
I like racing but certainly not the attitude shown by some. |
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polc1410
Posting king Joined: 10 Jan 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 147 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 8:01am | ||||
I'd agree - much harder at the olympics to not be recognisable. Tons of Jury boats, TV, etc.
You've never been to a Topper Nationals Protest Hearing then! Some of these guys will be future Olympic hopefuls. They are being trained at age ~12 to compete like olympians.
Ah. You are considering sailing a hobby rather than a sport.
There are 20-30 who might stand a chance of a win. If thats the definition of seriously. Further down the fleet there will remain 'serious' races. Coming 50th might still mean getting a regional squad place. Or it might simply mean beating your arch rival.
The trouble is... if all the others are staying anonymous - you might need to too. Obviously the rules should be followed. The Black Flag is probably the best time to not be identifiable; that may or may not mean cheating. Lets say 10 boats are over on BF with 200 boat start. If the OD can identify all 10, you are BFD. If he can't identify them all he will have to Gen Recall. If he identifies some they will be BFD. Not being identified isn't cheating, its the reality of a race. But lets be realistic. Its those top 20 who are buying a brand new race topper. Those then sell to the rest of the fleet over time. So those 20 set the spec. Also £50 extra for a sail and £50 extra for hull top sides. So £100. Those racers would rather spend that on something that makes the boat sail faster or protects the boat better. Some of those guys will be buying new sails every year or two. Those £50 extras add up. Coloured sails fade quicker. The beach clubs likely said not to do it. The beach clubs wouldn't pay more for coloured hulls. |
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Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 8:10am | ||||
At the clew, so unlikely to be seen on a crowded line... Of course kids enjoy competing, some may also enjoy the chance to personalise the boat - pride of ownership etc.
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Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 8:34am | ||||
No, but I have sat on a Topper Open Meeting protest committee where a protest was heard after a parent listening in (via radio) to race office comms decided to protest based on what they overheard...
The sport of sailing is a hobby for the vast, vast majority (anyone not trying to make a living from it). I was a Topper squaddie in the 90’s, there were dark blue, light blue, raspberry, red, grey and purple boats at the front of the fleet. Yellow ones always seemed slow... And even more sail colour combos - I always liked the blue, gold & red myself, or the pink, yellow & grey.
That might be the business model for a Finn or a 49er, but wasn’t, shouldn’t be and hopefully still isn’t the case for the Topper. If only top end racers buy new Toppers the class is in trouble - there are many more potential buyers at the bottom of the pyramid or with no intention of racing at all. In this I agree with GRF - it is shortsighted to think that elite money is somehow more valuable. And if you have an older raspberry or pale blue hull the red/white/blue sail clashes horribly! I’d happily pay £50 more to avoid that ;)
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JimC
Really should get out more Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Online Posts: 6649 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 10:52am | ||||
And to my mind it's also highly morally dubious.
If I'm over the line I deserve to get called by the RC. I'm not going to do anything to make their task more difficult. Edited by JimC - 15 Aug 20 at 10:54am |
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Do Different
Really should get out more Joined: 26 Jan 12 Location: North Online Status: Offline Posts: 1312 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 15 Aug 20 at 9:17pm | ||||
I think we're seeing varying interpretations of sport.
Jim's and anything within the rules or you get away with. I believe amateur sport is more healthy if it falls under that of Jim and professional sport isn't really sport at all, actually a money making front.
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