Topper 'Summer' Open at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club
by Jim Champ 13 Apr 2014 08:11 BST
12 April 2014
Just six weeks ago Island Barn reservoir held our winter Topper event. In a very odd bit of scheduling the Topper association allocated us this Saturday for our 'Summer' Open meeting - a Saturday on which, it turned out, there were more competing events than there were newly arrived Sand Martins hawking for flies above the reservoir. With almost all Zone and National squad members required elsewhere the turnout was predictably disastrous.
What was quite interesting though was that, with clear air never too far away, the four leaders had astonishingly close racing, and there always seemed to be the potential to get to the front, and the racing was hotly contested and entertaining to watch. A fine racing breeze contributed too with enough wind for some excitement and fast reaches round the quadrilateral course.
In the end, though, getting to the front was mainly the prerogative of home sailor Nancy Scott, who with 5 wins and a third place (all 3 overlapped!) took the event by a very tidy margin. Second was Clive Jackson from Papercourt, third Lewis Humphries and 4th Emma Crane,
sharing the 2nds, 3rds and 4ths pretty evenly between themselves.
5th was 11 year old Maisie Bristow, with a small 4.2 sail. While she was not really able to hold onto the main group during the race with such a sail area disadvantage it was impressive to see her contesting the starts as bravely as anyone.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 46623 | Nancy Scott | Island Barn SC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑3 | 1 | 5 |
| 2nd | 17501 | Clive Jackson | Papercourt SC | 2 | 2 | ‑4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| 3rd | 46468 | Lewis Humphries | Pevensey Bay SC | ‑4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| 4th | 47079 | Emma Crane | BVSC | 3 | ‑4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 16 |
| 5th | 40795 | Maisie Bristow | Island Barn SC | ‑5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 25 |