GJW Direct Topper Inland Championships at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Topper Inland Championships at Grafham © Chris Woodard

Exactly 200 Toppers pre-entered for the GJW Direct National Series 4 Inland Championships at Grafham Water SC, and after the atrocious weather experienced at the previous two National Series events in February and March there was a general expectation that late April should bring some pleasant Spring weather at last.

How wrong we were! Sandwiched between two weekends of minor heatwaves, the weekend of 28-29 April saw plummeting temperatures, persistent rain, and a bitterly cold northerly wind.

Undeterred, 195 of the entrants turned up and took to the water, wrapped up in multiple layers of polypro, supertherm, aquafleece, and anything else that could be found in the sailing bag, for a great weekend of big-fleet racing.

Saturday dawned wet, and it stayed that way! Not heavy rain, but pretty much continual, and cool in the northerly 11-13 knot breeze with occasional stronger gusts up to 17 knots. The wind was generally stable meaning minimal course changes during the day, but there were plenty of smaller and frequent oscillations for the sailors to use.

The northerly wind direction meant that it was only a short sail out to the start area off the Fishing Lodge, and spectators (even those sensibly sheltering in the clubhouse) could have a reasonable view of proceedings.

The fleet of 153 boats in the 5.3 fleet was split into four flights/two starts for the four scheduled races. The U flag was in force from the beginning, with the result that seven of the eight starts were away at the first attempt with only a few boats scored UFD and only one general recall after which the black flag was brought in to use. After starting racing at 12:00, the last boats finished Race 4 and were ashore by about 16:30, with competitors, race team and safety team all in need of some dry clothes and warmth!

In the 5.3s the competition was as tight as ever, with eight different race winners in Saturday's eight-flight programme. Tom Williamson, Sam Jones and Lowri Boorman all got off to a great start, each scoring a first and a second in the first two races, and Lowri added two fifths to take the overnight lead, jointly with Phoebe Hutchings who waited until race 3 to take her day's race win. The four other race wins went to Aaron Evans, Greg Cornes, Will Hudson and Scarlet Desorgher.

Meanwhile in the 37-boat 4.2 fleet, the RO got four races completed before taking pity on these generally younger and smaller competitors and sending them ashore for an hour or so to warm up. However, fearful that the stronger winds forecast for Sunday might curtail racing, they then went back out for a further two races. Tom Thwaites was, as ever, on dominant form, scoring three firsts and two seconds to take a comfortable overnight lead, but behind him it was much closer, with Chloe Mills putting together a slightly erratic scorecard which nonetheless included two race wins, and Bjorn Handley having taken the day's first race.

Whilst conditions were far from ideal for the fledgling Regatta fleet, many of whom had older siblings in the main fleets, they nonetheless braved the bitter cold and took to the water for several hours of coaching directly in front of the clubhouse.

Topper 4.2 Inland Championship at Grafham - photo © Abi Wood

On Sunday the breeze had shifted to the right by about 30 degrees and was forecast to increase from an initial 15 knots towards 20 knots with stronger gusts. But the best news was NO RAIN at least until most of the boats would be ashore and packed up at the end of the day! The wind was reasonably stable again, so little need for course changes during the day, but some of the oscillation saw a range of up to 40 degrees between left and right phases giving plenty of opportunity for snakes and ladders on the race track. Maximum gusts of 27 knots were recorded during the afternoon, resulting in a few extra capsizes, but in general the fleet coped well with the conditions.

Racing started at 10:30 again using the U flag, but after one general recall in Race 6 the decision was made to move to Black for subsequent starts because of the cold weather. All worked well until the final start of the weekend, the second start in Race 8, where the fleet seemed over-eager to get home with the result being two general recalls and six boats sent home for an early shower - it seemed a bit unfair that these 'trouble makers' were the lucky ones to head ashore away from the bitterly cold conditions!

In the 5.3s consistency was key, and avoiding the black flags crucial! The eight races saw six different race winners, with Aled Llewellyn Jones and Sam Jones each bagging a brace of wins, and the other victories going to Oliver Mills, Finlay Tulett, Leo Wilkinson and Aaron Evans. As the wind built, Sam Jones put in a second and two firsts in the final three races, enabling him to discard a ninth and take a comfortable event victory and become the 2018 5.3 Inland Champion. Behind him, Lowri Boorman also showed remarkable consistency never finishing lower than sixth, to secure the runner-up spot, followed by Phoebe Hutchings and Aaron Evans, both of whom were hampered by a BFD.

The 4.2s went out with a target of completing four more races, but in the bitter cold and building breeze the RO was kind to these younger sailors and called it a day after race 3 (at which point the second discard had kicked in), and the sailors seemed more than happy to get ashore and into the showers before the 5.3s headed in! The three races saw three different race winners, Alissa Marshall, Aimee Bray, and Arthur Baker (in his first NS event!), but a second and a threend for Tom Thwaites was more than enough to hold on to his overnight lead and become the 2018 4.2 Inland Champion. Runner up was James Crossley, just ahead of first girl Chloe Mills.

Topper 4.2 Inland Championship at Grafham - photo © Abi Wood

The Regatta fleet again took to the water despite the challenging conditions, and even got to sample their first NS racing, following the 4.2s round an abridged version of their course in one race.

Thanks, as usual, to Optimum Time for providing a "big yellow" sailing watch for the winner of the Endeavour Trophy in each fleet, this time won by Anja Morris in the 5.3s and Noah Wood in the 4.2s, and of course to our other regular sponsors Rooster and Harken, and our headline sponsor GJW Direct.

Thanks also to our excellent race officers, Peter Saxton on the 5.3s and Andy Moore on the 4.2s, for completing a full programme of racing over both days despite some challenging conditions - only the second time this has happened since our previous visit to Grafham a year ago! Finally, perhaps the biggest thanks on this occasion go to the gallant band of volunteer helpers/parents who enable these huge events to run so smoothly, in particular those who suffered the misery of this hideous weather on rescue and committee boats, or up to their waist in the water launching and recovering 195 Toppers each day!

Roll on 16-17 June when the National Series moves on to Draycote Water SC – when surely we will finally get some long-overdue decent weather for a 2018 NS event?!

A great start by Tom Williamson in the Topper 5.3 Inland Championship at Grafham - photo © Ian Walker

4.2 Fleet Overall Results:

5.3 Fleet Overall Results: