Topper Open at Royal Harwich Yacht Club
by Mike Deaton 15 May 2017 15:27 BST
14 May 2017
The morning rain dried up and the dark clouds peeled back to provide a glorious day with a light to medium South West breeze for the 2017 Royal Harwich Yacht Club Topper Open. Some tight racing was seen from a sensible fleet of 12, with competitors having travelled from as far as Fishers Green and Milton Keynes.
RHYC's James Deaton made the most of his local knowledge to win race 1 by making full use of the tide, followed closely by Horning's Toby Pearce and Catherine Albone from MKSC. RHYC's Richard Townley and Fishers Green's Max Robinson both were caught off-guard by a strong gust, Richard entertaining the lawn by death rolling and Max Robinson collecting some Orwell mud as a souvenir on the top of his mast.
Another strong puff on the first upwind leg of the R2 mixed things up and left half of the fleet in irons, but this time Max ploughed through and put in a stormer to finish second behind Toby, Richard finishing third.
The tide eased off for the final two races and earlier tactics did not always pay. Waldringfield's Sean Woodard kept it simple sailing up the middle and pushed the top three who swapped positions throughout both races, but finished in the same order - Richard, Toby and James, giving Richard two wins overall to pip Toby albeit on the same score after a discard, with James in third. Well done to Caroline Louth for unofficially winning "The Masters" category and illustrating the fact that that Toppers can be great fun even having exceeded the teenage years.
Particular thanks go to Race Officer Mike Clayton and Martine Clayton for stepping in at late notice to officiate, but also the rib safety crew, all of the competitors and their parents / come taxi drivers who made it possible.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Richard Townley | 33091 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Toby Pearce | 47488 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | James Deaton | 47426 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | Max Robinson | 46731 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| 5 | Sean Woodard | 47740 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | Cat Albone | 47354 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| 7 | Ted Pepper | 44522 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | Harry Malone | 43548 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 11 |
| 9 | Ciara Woodard | 47748 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 |
| 10 | Daisy Robinson | 46733 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 12 |
| 11 | Caroline Louth | 31293 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| 12 | Malcolm McLeod Fleming | 45662 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 |