Topper & Mirror Open at Spinnaker Club

Ten Mirrors and thirteen Toppers came to the joint Open on Sat 21st June. Winds are predictable when they come up the length of the lake at this, the only sailing lake in south Hants. However, the wind did not do this - indeed it came from most other directions, often unpredictably, so many boats found themselves moving up and down the fleets, especially the Toppers. Fortunately (for some), the Race Officer wisely kept each race going so long that at the finish the better boats tended to be near the front.

The Toppers had a more keenly contested event. In every race, they stayed together in a pack for ages, and no helm was first in more than one race. In the last race, three of them were in with a chance of winning the Trophy, and Kirsty Lytton dropped back to 7th before making an excellent recovery by climbing back towards the front. Climbing? Climbing? Yes, and that's not easy in a boat - especially on water. Second place was however decided by a tie-break, as were some lower places in both fleets.

There were some very good Mirror sailors, including 3 from the RYA National Squad (Tom Robinson, Shaun Mason and Silvania Booth) and 2 from the South Zone Squad (Emma Hine and Gemma Knill). Despite the wind shifts and the unavoidably short downwind legs, they gained much benefit from hoisting spinnakers - even though the crews seemed to be taking the poles across from side to side, more like drum majorettes than sailors. Note for diary: must get a yellow Mirror - they are faster than other colours. Third place was decided by a tie-break.

Overall Results:

More Information:

• Spinnaker Club website