Topper Nationals at Pwllheli Sailing Club - Overall
by ITCA (GBR) Press 13 Aug 2010 12:00 BST
1-5 August 2010
A record 369 Toppers at Pwllheli
The opening ceremony for the 2010 Magic Marine Topper National Championships that was held in the Welsh resort of Pwllheli took place on 30th July. This is the UK National Championships of the Topper class and the competitors proudly paraded through the streets of Pwllheli back to the club, the flags of all the nations and areas taking part were represented. In the events marquee, the Welsh National anthem was followed by a note of thanks from the Deputy Mayor of Pwllheli – Croeso gynnes iawn i Gymru – a warm welcome to Wales and a promise that the fleet would enjoy sailing in the waters of Cardigan Bay with the backdrop of Snowdonia.
Charles Glover, Chairman of ITCA GBR took to the stage and noted that once again the Topper Class had broken a record by having a total of 369 entrants for these championships, up from 346 last year. Charles highlighted that the successful delivery of an event of this scale can only be achieved with the support and assistance of a very great many volunteers – anyone can get in on the action by helping out.
The helms were introduced to the PRO for the event, Paul Moreton. He commented that it was a privilege & honour to be asked to take on the role for the second successive year (last year’s event can’t have been too bad!!) and promised quality racing, good courses and fair starts. All would launch together in 3 flights the colours of which would be reassigned at the end of each of the first 2 qualification days. Paul claimed not to be a black flag race officer but he is also not scared to use it when the situation is called for (only 2 races last year), he prefers the helms to observe the round the ends rule in the last minute before the start.
Racing started in earnest on Sunday 1st August. The weather forecast for cloud with sunny intervals and steady NW 5-6knots of wind was accurate. Launching 323 (a further 46 sailors joined the Regatta fleet) keen & excited Topper sailors was always going to be interesting, the gates to the compound opened at 11:45. Once all were on the beach, tallied and ready the fleet was released and all were afloat within a few minutes heading out to the course which was well offshore in time for a 12:55 1st race signal. The races got underway but with 16 OCS recorded from the first set of races & a will to get in 3 good races the PRO raised the Black Flag. The 3 races were completed with a shift to the course required after the 1st races, the mark layers were kept busy for a while. The windspeed on the course seemed in line with forecast and, being offshore, the usual Pwllheli waves were reduced.
The racing was incredibly close, this fleet is extremely competitive and this is outlined by the fact that there were no less than 18 sailors taking podium places on day 1 with the race winners being: Thomas Williams, Finn Lynch, Lucy Yeates, Danielle Rowe, Laura Gilmore, Jack Brien, Tobias Hamer whilst Robbie Robinson got 2 wins to go with his Black Flag!! It was Thomas Williams who kept the overnight lead from Finn Lynch who was equal on points. Day 1 came to a close with the competitors dispersing for some rest before the next day when the forecast for the Magic Marine Topper National Championships was for a little more wind.
Day 2 dawned dry, though cloudy but with a nice breeze which was forecast at around 7 - 8knots. Onshore duties at this event are split so that extra volunteers that are needed to run the tally system, trolley control, Blog, clothing sales etc are covered by a different area each day, today it was the turn of the NorthWest who all turned up in matching Orange T Shirts – nice team spirit chaps!
The Fleet was despatched from the dinghy park & with efficient organisation was launched in record time and the start to race Q4 was soon underway. The Competitors have been very eager to get started at this event and unfortunately quite a number were spotted OCS from the first set of races today. The Black Flag was raised for the remaining races with a view to reducing the numbers pushing the line but, whilst the majority of the fleet was well behaved, a number were caught infringing this rule & lost points as a consequence. The PRO had an extremely difficult wind to deal with today, there appeared enough strength to race with but it was flicking in direction & often changed whilst in start sequence, this led to a delay during the 2nd race of the day, the Blue flight got away but with a mixture of general recalls and wind direction issues, the other 2 flights were delayed by over an hour. The Blue flight had now been finished for some time and the PRO took the decision that, with the current wind conditions it was not viable to set a fair course and therefore sent the fleet to shore. Race winners today were Finn Lynch, Thomas Williams, Ed Jones & George Meredith, Finn took the overnight lead from Thomas on countback whilst tying on points.
The Sailing Solutions special nomination prize, which is offered daily, where any sailor or part of their support team can be nominated for doing something extraordinary, heroic or just plain daft was won by Elliott Kuzyk who was in the heroic category – whilst lying in 3rd position in his Regatta fleet race he spotted someone with a mainsheet problem, with no thought of his own race he peeled off & help his fellow competitor – this is what Toppering is all about – thanks Elliott.
Day 2 came to a close with the competitors attending the class AGM before the next day when the forecast for the Magic Marine Topper National Championships was for a little more wind again.
Day 3 & ITCA (GBR) has a new Chairman in Jonathan Cunnison who introduced himself to the briefing and earned a big cheer. Today marks the end of the qualification stages of the event and as such is important to all the sailors who are keen to gain entry to the championship fleet that they have targeted for themselves. The PRO was in determined mood and managed to get all 3 remaining qualifying races completed before the wind died in the late afternoon – there was quite a long beat back to shore in next to no wind for the competitors to reflect on the challenge of the last 3 days sailing.
Day 4 - Now that the Qualifying series of 8 races had been successfully completed we got into the Championship proper where the fleet is split into Gold, Silver & Bronze dependant on the results so far. Leaders of the fleets as we enter the championship stages were Finn Lynch in Gold, Clive Jackson in Silver and Catriona Maciver in Bronze. More wind arrived this morning, quite a lot more with 16/17 knots on the racecourse and with the added fun of waves - this was going to be a cracking day of sailing.
The Fleets had mixed discipline on the startline today with a need for Black flag against some races, the Bronze fleet was reported to be best behaved, the PRO struggled to set the course as the wind was shifting much as it has done all week. There was plenty of gallant effort being displayed by the sailors, many of whom are dealing with the pressures of sailing in this size of event in addition to the stronger winds, it has to be said that some were brought ashore early and the Mother ship, where sailors can go for a little help, was kept busy. The rescue & medic boats were heavily utilised under the careful control of on water Course Safety Leader Andy Millington, who coordinates the fleet of 40+ safety boats. One sailor had an unfortunate incident whilst on the racecourse, he slipped awkwardly from his upturned boat onto his back, the medic boat was on scene almost immediately and an Air Ambulance was requested as a precautionary measure, the sailor was flown to Bangor Hospital and was released that evening with bruising, but no permanent injury. Well done to all in safety fleet for getting him ashore (from quite a distance out in the bay) in 12 minutes and for the Ambulance service for taking care of him from the dockside. It is also worth noting that the organisation managed to ensure that both his parents were summoned and at his side as care was transferred to the ambulance service.
The racing on day 4 was extremely competitive in all fleets, Gold fleet race winners were Hector Simpson and Finn Lynch who took 2 bullets and a reasonably strong grip on the championship. In Silver it was Alasdair Humphries and Ed Gillespie who took 2 wins but Jasmine Hansen remained in the lead overnight with 3 consistent results today. The Bronze fleet saw a hat-trick of wins for Liam Cure of Christchurch SC but it was good steady sailing from Thomas Needham who was the overnight leader.
On Day 5 the PRO was once again pestered by the windshifts that he had been tussling with all week, the offshore breeze was not playing ball and kept flicking direction. This meant that only 2 sets of races were run today, winners were Hector Simpson & Josh Stone in Gold, Michael Calvert & Patrick Morgan in Silver and Callum Wilson & Rory Mahon . The Race management team assessed the forecast and brought forward the start of the last days racing by one hour to give the best chance of getting the remaining 3 planned races in between 2 weather fronts that were due to disrupt the chance of racing. This did not reduce the enthusiasm of the fleet to attend the Toppers Got Talent competition in the clubhouse – a great social life is important to Topper sailors.
And so the last day of racing arrived, by this time the sailors were getting tired yet all seemed keen to get on the water, the weather had dealt another twist in form of wind, 20 knots gusting to 30 knots, waves which were quite active now that the wind was onshore at last but more importantly bad visibility. It was the latter that was responsible for the 1hr postponement during which Dave Cockerill & Dave Hivey held an impromptu coaching session in the marquee – all those that attended were even more keen to try out the famous Pwllheli waves. There was a chink in the visibility & the fleet was sent to the beach where the mist came back down which led to another wait. Eventually the front went over, the skies cleared & the wind dropped so the fleet went out on the water for what was to become the 2 final races of the event. The sailors relished the conditions and the wind built again for the 2nd race which gave the most exhilarating conditions of the series – the Silver fleet were even treated to guidance up the beat by a school of Dolphins!
The overall points winner of the Magic Marine UK Topper National Championship series, first in Gold Fleet and winner of the Ian Proctor Trophy was Finn Lynch from Blessington Sailing Club, Eire with a magnificent 6 firsts, 3 seconds and 2 thirds. The UK National Champion, winner of the McVeigh Trophy and second in Gold Fleet was Ed Jones from Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club with 2 firsts, 2 seconds, 4 thirds, 1 fourth and 2 fifths, George Meredith came in 3rd. Consistency is key to success in this event, neither of the top 2 sailors had a Black Flag or OCS & both were counting all races in the top 5 – very impressive sailing in this extremely competitive fleet. Winner of the Silver fleet is Jasmine Hansen from Ed Gillespie 2nd and Alice Woodings 3rd. The Bronze fleet was won by 12 yr old Lawrence Clabburn from Laura Carveth Marshall 2nd & Thomas Needham.
Just to prove that the Topper is a family friendly fleet, Karen Gibson & Max Robinson won the Optimo Parentis prize for being the highest placed parent and child in the main fleet. Karen’s daughter, Elsa, finished 5th in the Regatta 4.2 class and won the First Novice Regatta prize as this was her first Championship event in any class. Paul Moreton and his race management team deserve recognition of the fact that they managed to get 45 races each with fleets in excess of 100 boats off the ground (that is close to 5000 boat starts) in what were extremely difficult wind conditions.
This was without doubt a very successful event, extremely professional race management, extremely close and competitive racing, a great social programme and a safety fleet that was ready and able to cope with all the weathers that were sent, it has to be said that a wide range of winds was sent to Pwllheli this week making the racing level for the wide variety of helm sizes. Magic Marine provided a huge number of prizes for the successful helms to take away with their memories of the event. Over 2200 individual visitors kept tabs on the event microsite where a moment by moment blog was being updated, nearly 7500 visits indicates that they returned for updates quite regularly, the blog has become an important part of the experience, parents, grand-parents, aunts & uncles can check what is going on remotely.
The fleet will be back in Pwllheli for the 2012 National Championships, it’s off to East Lothian YC in North Berwick for 2011.
Full results on the event website.