Sunsail Topper Nationwide at Draycote Water Sailing Club

Action from the Sunsail Topper Nationwide at Draycote Water Sailing Club © Malcolm Lewin / www.malcolmlewinphotography.zenfolio.com/sail

Action from the Sunsail Topper Nationwide at Draycote Water Sailing Club © Malcolm Lewin / www.malcolmlewinphotography.zenfolio.com/sail

152 sailors turned out for the 1st Topper Nationwide, an all new series of six weekend events spread around the country. Generous sponsorship by Sunsail will see the winner of the series receive a one-week holiday for two people at one of Sunsail’s three Greek Watersports beach clubs. Another holiday prize will be drawn from the hat for any competitor who has qualified for the series.

With the large number of competitors a flight system was employed for the weekend. The first races of the day got underway in a force 2-3 from the south, with the wind being on the light side it often paid to go left on the beats. Steve Restall and James Hopson came out on top, winning the morning races. For the afternoon the wind had freshened to a force 5 and now it became more important to play the shifts. Racing was close, but for Adam Fox and Tom Dawber it got a little too close. Adam was vying for the lead with Tom, when Adam death rolled catching Tom’s mainsheet causing Tom to suffer the same fate. Alan Gillard had a little chuckle as he blasted down the final reaches to the winners gun. In the other start Basil Monks led from the start to take the winners spot.

After a generally windy winter, many of the sailors were enjoying the brisk conditions and the racing proved close for the final races of the day. Craig Paul made the early running trading places with Oliver Tweddell and Adam Fox. It finished Fox, Tweddell and Craig Paul. In the other start Rob Partridge added a bullet to go with his earlier second.

This was also the first Topper event to see jury boats in action and in the main the Toppers where well behaved. Surprisingly it was not downwind pumping that was the most common infringement, but sculling off the start or bouncing the rig which saw the yellow flag in action. It seemed to be a useful calcification for many on what is permissible.

Overnight it was a parent, Steve Restall who lead with a 1,4,2 whilst the consistent Eifion Mon produced some welsh wizardry with a 2, 2, 5. In third Anna Dobson was making sure the boys did not get it all their own way with a 3, 3, 6.

The fourth race of Sunday morning had to be postponed as the wind died away at the allotted start time. Race officer Mike Burgion took a wise decision, to go for quality rather than quantity and brought the fleet in for an early lunch. After lunch the rain arrived bringing with it a NW force 3-4. With the gusts coming from the left it often paid to be left of centre up the beats, but a bigger shift on the final beat caught some out, who had strayed too far left. Adam Fox was first across the finish line in his race followed by Tom Dawber. In the other start Tom Gillard posted a win to match his father’s win the previous day, Louis McVeigh on a break from 420 sailing took second.

For the final races of the day, 7 sailors could mathematically win the event but it was next to impossible, with a flight system for the competitors to work this out on the water. Rob Partridge was in a gambling mood and was playing for big stakes, he lined up for a port tack start. Did he have fours aces or a measly pair of twos? He had four aces, as he port tacked the fleet and led from start to finish, with Matt Undrell taking second spot. In the other start, even after 2 laps the quality of the fleet showed, with the top 10 all rounding the leeward mark bow to stern. After some dog fighting Adam Fox won from Graham Rome.

Despite the damp conditions there was a good buzz in the packed clubhouse as the leading contenders worked out the maths on who has won. Was it Fox, Roome, Restall or Partridge? Then it emerged that Fox was over the line in one of the races, but with no published results yet, which race? Who had now won? A single point could make all the difference. So with prizes down to twentieth the tension mounted as we approached the leading contenders, third was Eifion Mon, then Graham Roome leaving the Rob Partridge to win the event. A slightly surprised Rob thanked Sunsail for their generous sponsorship, the race officer Mike Burgion and Draycote Water Sailing Club for providing a first class event.

Draycote are to be congratulated for providing fitting launch pad for the Sunsail Nationwide Series and for arranging prize vouchers in partnership with ‘On Board’ the local chandler. This enabled the many winners to choose genuinely useful kit, even if the most popular prize was the flexifoil kite.

The Topper class now looks forward to the Inlands at Grafham in May. Racing will be close if the Draycote event is anything to go by, with some 18 sailors posting a result in the top 3 in one the Draycote races.

Overall Results: