Midlands Topper Traveller Round 8 at Hollowell Sailing Club
by Scott Keenan 20 Jul 07:08 BST
13 July 2019
Midlands Topper Traveller Round 8 at Hollowell © Victoria Turnbull
The Topper fleet were welcomed to Hollowell on Saturday 13th July for the final round of the 2018/2019 Topper Traveller Series. Twenty seven boats were on the start line with seven boats from Draycote SC and a further seven from Notts County SC.
The sun was shining and the breeze gentle as the racing started on a figure of eight course. Ted Ball made the best of the first beat reading the conditions and took an unassailable lead to the first mark. Kate Robertson and Ben Paling followed as Ted increased his lead at the front taking his first race win.
Race 2 was based on the same course and following a clean start Iris Singleton led to the windward mark followed by Heather Quinn and Kate Robertson. The female trio were closely pursued by Ben Paling and Will Thomas and whilst Iris managed to hold her lead from start to finish Ben Paling managed to finish second in front of Kate Robertson and Will Thomas with Heather Quinn dropping to fifth.
After lunch the course changed, however, the conditions remained much the same, Race 3 got under way at the second attempt after a general recall, with Ted Ball judging the first beat to perfection again being first to the windward mark. As the race proceeded there were three boats challenging for the lead Ted Ball, Thomas Link and Ben Paling. The leading three were followed by another pack of five boats jostling for positions around the race course right until the finish line. The race finished with Ben Paling followed by Thomas Link and then Ted Ball who was having a great day at the front.
The start of Race 4 was also interrupted with a general recall before a clean start gave Charlie Hopkinson a chance to be the first boat to the windward mark. Similar to Races 1 and 2, the first boat could not be caught from that position and Charlie went on to take the win by a considerable margin. Behind the leader there was a battle from start to finish for the remaining top four places with Will Thomas, Ben Paling, Heather Quinn and Oliver Keenan. The positions changed on each beat but as they crossed the line it was Ben Paling second and Will Thomas in third.
The day finished with first overall for Ben Paling, Charlie Hopkinson second and Iris Singleton third. No sailor had more than a single first or third place as their best result, and only Ben had two second places which proved to make the difference at the end of the day. Another close event to finish the Series! Read the series round-up here.
It all starts again in September.