Topper Coaching and Open at Chichester Yacht Club

Topper Open Coaching - Saturday 19 October

Organised by the Topper Association Southern Area, this pre-booked coaching session was aimed at improving racing skills amongst those with some sailing experience. The session was led by RYA Topper Squad Head Coach Dave Cockerill, with 3 other coaches assisting. Following a classroom session the 20 participants launched and spent 3 hours afloat doing various exercises and mini-races. Although the weather was grey, the winds were not as strong as forecast and the group, of varied levels of skill and experience, all completed the tasks. A round-up session ashore summarised what they had learned, reinforcing the key points. The response from the participants afterwards was universally positive: this is a highly successful format and recommended for all youngsters wishing to improve their competitive sailing.

Topper Open - Sunday 20 October

The weather forecast for Sunday looked windy but manageable for our Topper Open event, with over 30 young sailors expected, from 10 years old upwards. At 8am there was a fierce squall along the coast, with thunderous black cloudsand gusts of 35 knots or more. A "mini-tornado" hit Hayling Island, causing extensive damage to dinghies at Mengham Rythe.

The storm cleared and the weather looked more settled by the time of Race Officer Derek Jackman's briefing at 10.30 - though he was careful to warn the 31 competitors of the forecast, and the need for sailors and parents to satisfy themselves of their ability to participate. The racecourse was set to the north of the marina channel, in clear breeze but some distance from the club. Race 1 started with a gusty 15-20 knots from the SSW. Most of the competitors completed the trapezium - sausage - trapezium course (work it out for yourselves!) without incident, though there were a few capsizes, especially on the downwind run. There was still a little weak sunshine by the start of the second race, but with the wind now gusting over 20 knots a few of the smaller or less experienced sailors stayed ashore.

The third race got away with an ebbing tide against the wind causing choppy conditions, and the gathering black clouds looked threatening. At about 2.15 the fleet of 25 boats had completed two of the three laps and a handful had finished the race: what happened next took everybody by surprise. With a ferocity rarely seen in our sheltered waters, the wind suddenly shifted west by 30 degrees and increased to a spike of over 45 knots, followed by torrential rain.

A heavy squall at Chichester - photo © Louise Varley

From the clubhouse visibility was appalling, but it was clear that none of the sailors could have remained upright. On the committee boat, the RO used a loud hailer to advise sailors not to attempt to right their boats, but to remain with them and await rescue. The race was abandoned, and the safety boats on the water were assisted by reserve crews and other volunteers on shore responding very quickly to take out additional rescue boats. Sailors were plucked from their Toppers and ferried to the committee boat or taken ashore, where anxious parents and race team waited. Bedraggled sailors were checked in against the list of competitors, and with the squall now past, a couple managed to sail boats in: all were accounted for, and there were no injuries. Hot chocolate and hot showers restored good humour, while the team of safety boats recovered all the Toppers.

The race was deemed to have finished after the second lap, so that all got a place. As this event was also the final in the Southern Area Travellers, the Chichester Harbour Series, and the West Sussex Schools and Youth Sailing Association series, the results took some time to calculate, but the usual generous CYC tea kept sailors happy whilst waiting. Final results for the CYC Open gave 1st place to Rhiannon Flack of Hillhead, 2nd to Victoria Cowan of Portchester and 3rd to Billy Vennis-Ozanne of Docklands. 4th was Jess Carter and 5th Sophie Kirk, both of CYC, and 6th Hannah Comfort of Cody SC. Girls rule!

Details of our open Winter Series can be found on www.cycdinghies.co.uk.

Overall Results: