Volvo GJW Direct Topper Inland Championship at Grafham Water SC

Timothy Hartnell during the 2016 Volvo GJW Direct Topper Inlands at Grafham © Peter Newton

5.3 winners in the Volvo GJW Direct Topper Inlands at Grafham © P Newton

4.2 winners in the Volvo GJW Direct Topper Inlands at Grafham © P Newton

193 sailors and their families headed for Grafham for the early May bank holiday being the annual Inland Championships for Topper sailors in the 5.3 and 4.2 rigs. With some blue skies and gentle breeze, racing got under way and a couple of races were completed when a 28 knott plus squall caught out a number of sailors with quite a few capsizes both fleets races were abandoned and all sailors headed back to a hectic shore,within 45 mins they were back out racing.

The wind increased and decreased and kept all sailors on their toes, in the 5.3s Hugo Burrows, Harris Cartright, Samuel Cooper, Calum Bell and Nicolas Welbourn all looked good on the overnight scores but with some other sailors with black flags nothing was certain for the next day. In the 4.2s no black flags so Bill Hudson Leo Wilkinson James Deaton Monique and Ollie VO were all counting some good scores James was on top and looking very consistent.

With a slightly earlier start on Sunday sailors were welcomed with a good breeze and sunshine club racing and training to the east of the water and 193 Toppers more to the west today made an impressive Sunday morning spectacle.

In the 4.2s James kept up the consistency but with the first race won by Ollie and then another race win by Leo, James was not left alone at anytime, the lead group of 8 sailors traded places and came off the water having learnt and loved their days sailing with big smiles. Maisie Bristow and Catherine Albone kept up their consistency and had some great tussles to finish the championships as 2nd and 3 rd females. So at final prize giving James was awarded the 4.2 Inland Championship a worthy and popular win with Leo in second and Ollie third.

The 5.3s had a great final days sailing and completed 9 races a compliment to the race team and the safety team a huge job to keep the wheels turning. Some issues relating to redress hearings from the previous days sailing held off the final standings but eventually this was resolved and low and behold Timothy Hartnell from Lancing SC took the Inland Championship having suffered two high scores on the Saturday he really changed his fortunes by some consistent low scores on the Sunday so a big pat on the back to him. Harris kept up the pressure and managed to sneak 2nd one point less than Samuel.

Ella Hemeryck closed out the female Title finishing up 6th overall and close on points to the 4 boys above her on the score sheet.

Huge thanks from the sailors to the massive effort of the race team, safety team and the office team who make these large events run smoothly and only on the odd occasion does the class have the hiccup which delayed the prize giving.

The Topper class is now on a break for a while after having two National series events two weeks apart the next event is the NS 5 event at the Mountbatten Centre in Plymouth on June 18th. In the in-between time there are many local area traveller events to provide some competitive sailing while we all wait for the next big one. https://gbrtopper.ourclubadmin.com/?gbr

As always we are very appreciative of our sponsors Volvo Cars UK, GJW Direct Insurance, Optimum Time Clip Displays and Sailing Solutions by Rooster for their support of the class.

Overall Results:

4.2 Rig

5.3 Rig