Topper GJW Direct National Series 1 at Marconi Sailing Club

Topper GJW Direct National Series Round 1 © Mark Pressdee

Strange as it might seem, September marks the start of the "New Year" in the Topper class! The competition year is tailored to accommodate those sailors who are coming to the end of their time in Toppers and moving on to their next Youth or Pathway class (usually at around the age of 15, give or take a year depending upon when the growth spurt kicks in!) so the annual National Series runs from September until July each year, allowing these sailors to complete the full series and then "finish on a high" at the Worlds and/or the Nationals.

And so, for the GJW Direct National Series 1 on 8-9 September many familiar faces from the past few years were sadly missing, but conversely it was great to see the arrival of the "new intake" with plenty of young sailors embarking on their first ever National Event.

Topper GJW Direct National Series Round 1 - photo © Lawrence Dunn

And what a great event it was! With Topper National Series events routinely attracting 180 to 200 boats it is inevitable that the class is largely restricted to the familiar venues that are known to be able to cope with such numbers, but in the knowledge that NS1 usually has a slightly lower turnout it was decided to strike out to a new venue; Marconi SC on the Blackwater Estuary in deepest, remotest, Essex. This proved to be an inspired decision and a revelation to many slightly sceptical participants, sailors and supporters alike. The club could not have been more welcoming, the clubhouse coped admirably with the influx of people, the launching ramp was wide enough to get 148 boats launched and recovered without any delays, and the vast club grounds comfortably accommodated all the cars and boats with plenty of room to spare for the large proportion of families who came and made a weekend of it, with around 40 campervans and motor-homes and numerous tents. There was even live music in the bar in the evening, with one of the competitors, Max Robinson, topping off his best day yet on the water, having clinched two third places, with a great live music set in the bar – watch out Ed Sheeran!

Topper GJW Direct National Series Round 1 - photo © Mark Pressdee

Saturday provided ideal sailing conditions with the wind relatively stable throughout the afternoon at around 8 to 15 knots from the SW, but, as was highlighted at the competitor briefing, there were three important factors to bear in mind at this venue; the tide, the tide, and the tide! And so it proved to be – the carnage at the first windward mark had to be seen to be believed as boat after boat got swept on to the mark. The majority of the miscreants instinctively took their 360 degree penalty, and the handful who didn't were remiss not to notice a Jury boat in close attendance, leading to a smattering of "XPA"s applied after post-race arbitrations! However the competitors proved to be quick learners and it was evident that tidal judgement improved rapidly through the day.

One advantage of the strong tide, which together with the wind was pushing the competitors back from the start line throughout the afternoon, was that the PRO Graham Louth was able to successfully get all six starts away without any recalls, with just a small number of boats caught out on the wrong side of the line as the U flag came down (with one minute to go).

In the 124-boat 5.3 fleet Oliver Smoult and Freddie Howarth (fresh from Oppies) found the conditions to their liking, each scoring a brace of firsts, with the other race victories going to Leo Wilkinson and Ed Baker.

Meanwhile in the 24-boat 4.2 fleet the race course was initially set just up-estuary from the club, but here the tide proved too strong for the smaller-sailed competitors, and with just one race on the scorecard the fleet were brought ashore to wait for the tide to slacken. Later, with the course re-set in a less tidal part of the estuary, another two races were completed, with the day's race victories shared between Charlie Hopkinson, Daniel Holborn and Chloe Mills.

Topper GJW Direct National Series Round 1 - photo © Mark Pressdee

On Sunday the wind was a little stronger at around 10 to 18 knots, again from the SW, but with racing starting earlier, and high tide later, it was always going to be much more challenging to get the flights started cleanly.

With quite a bit of tide pushing boats over the line it took a number of attempts to get the first race started, with the black flag having to be used for both fleets. The red and white fleet lined up first, but far too close to the start line, as a result of which at least half of them were over the line at the start (pushed over by the tide). They learnt their lesson quickly however, lining up at least a couple of boat lengths back from the line at the second attempt (under the black flag), which got away successfully. Unfortunately the blue and yellow fleet weren't so quick on the uptake, with large numbers of boats over the line on both their first (U flag) and second (black flag) attempts. After posting the championship numbers of the boats identified as over the line in the second start on the back of the committee boat (BFD are not allowed to race in the restart), the remainder of the blue and yellow fleet lined up for their third attempt, and this time were able to get away successfully.

Kindly, but perhaps rather optimistically, PRO Graham opted to use the U flag for the first attempt for each fleet for the second race too. Unfortunately this was not successful, with both fleets having to be recalled; but both did get away successfully at the second attempt (under the black flag), albeit a number of individual boats were identified as being over the line in the last minute (and hence BFD).

By the time of the third race the tide had turned, and consequently was pushing the competitors back from the line, but time was running out, and so the black flag was in use from the outset, with both fleets getting away successfully at the first attempt, and for the third consecutive NS event this was achieved with just minutes to spare!

Topper GJW Direct National Series Round 1 - photo © Lawrence Dunn

In the 5.3s the stronger breeze and exhilarating downwind sailing was clearly to the liking of Leo Wilkinson who won all 3 races in his flights, with the other race victories going to Ben Purrier, Ed Baker, and James Deaton.

Overall 5.3 victory in NS1 therefore went, convincingly, to Leo Wilkinson, but it was much tighter in the chasing pack with just one point separating each place from second to fifth, with Freddie Howarth taking the runner-up spot and Ed Baker third. With the boys, unusually, locking out the top-10 overall, first girl was Emily Proctor in eleventh, with Kate Robertson and Iris Singleton completing the girls podium.

Meanwhile in the 4.2s PRO Paul Jackson completed a full 5-race schedule on Sunday, with two victories each for Chloe Mills and River Green, and one for Alissa Marshall. With six top-3 placings Chloe Mills secured a comfortable maiden NS victory, with River Green and Alissa Marshall tied on points, with River clinching the runner-up spot on count-back and Alissa third – great to see the girls in the 4.2 fleet making up for the boys' dominance in the 5.3s on this occasion!

Thanks as always to everyone involved in making this event such a success, and to our sponsors GJW Direct, Harken, Rooster, Optimum Time and, new for this event, Sailing Chandlery. This was the final selector for the 2018-2019 RYA and ITCA winter squads which all start in October, so the National Series now takes a break, regrouping at the end of February for the NS2 Winter Championships at WPNSA, traditionally now a brutally cold and windy event but who knows, maybe this year the winds will moderate and the sun will shine – you'll have to be there to find out! For those who can't wait that long there is a new event, the Final Fling, at Draycote Water on 3rd-4th November, details and entry online at www.itca-gbr.co.uk.

Overall Results:

5.3 Rig

4.2 Rig

Topper GJW Direct National Series Round 1 - photo © Chris Woodard