ITCA Midlands Topper Traveller Series 2021-2022 Round 1 at Staunton Harold Sailing Club
by Mike Powell 20 Sep 14:02 BST
18 September 2021
Midlands Topper Traveller Round 1 at Staunton Harold © Martin Gunn
Very soon after the completion of the "Not the Nationals" at Grafham in August, the Midlands Toppers were back in action for the start of the ITCA Midlands Topper Traveller 2021-2022 Series. This is a planned 8 event series starting September and running through to March visiting a variety of Midlands based clubs who our supporting our Topper Traveller Series.
The Series kicked off with Round 1 taking place on Saturday 18th September at Staunton Harold Sailing Club where we had a healthy 27 boats entered. It was great to see so many new sailors taking part in a Topper Traveller Event for their first time. The Weather Forecast correctly predicted light southerly winds so it was going to test the sailor's ability to sail into the gusts and look for wind-shifts when they appeared.
Race 1 was very close with Jessica Powell (Draycote) taking the early lead at the Windward Mark, however Katherine Gunn (Notts County) and Caitlin Thomas (Notts County) were very close behind. At the end of the race, there was less than a boat length between the eventual winner Jessica; followed by Caitlin.
The 2nd race would see the main event contenders battling it out again with Jessica Powell taking a second race win, followed this time by Katherine Gunn and then Joseph Rowe (Draycote), making amends for an OSC is his first race; finishing 3rd.
With the format returning to its usual two races in the morning and two races in the afternoon arrangement; this gave time for the sailors to reset and work out the their race plan for the final 2 races of the afternoon. With the wind starting to drop further, racing was certainly going to be even more challenging for the sailors, however it was Joseph Rowe who came straight out of the blocks to win Race 3 by a convincing margin; followed by the very consistent Caitlin Thomas and then Katherine Gunn.
After race 3, the wind continued to drop and it was beginning to look questionable if race 4 could happen. However with the Race Official's local knowledge and experience, he was able to put the sailors into sequence just as the wind picked up again so we could get the final race on. 4 Sailors were in contention for the event win and this would be between Jessica Powell, Katherine Gunn, Caitlin Thomas and now with a discard coming into effect could Joseph Rowe take the win?
Race 4 proved to be the closest race of the day with the lead constantly changing between Joseph, Jessica and Katherine. Finally it would be Katherine taking her first race win of the day followed closely by Jessica and then Joseph.
With these final race results now completed, Jessica Powell (Draycote) took the honours with her first Midlands Traveller Event win, followed by Katherine Gunn and then Joseph Rowe taking 3rd.
For the 4.2's, fleet wins were exchanged between Georgia Riddell (Notts County) and Traveller newcomer William Mawby-Groom (Banbury), with 4.2 Top honours eventually going William. Watch out for these sailors in the future as they sailed brilliantly in such light winds with only 1 point separating them at the end of the event.
Congratulations go to Jessica Powell (Event Winner) and William Mawby-Groom (4.2 Winner).
Thanks to Staunton Harold Sailing Club for hosting a great event to start the 2021-2022 Midlands Topper Traveller Series.
If any Junior Midland Topper sailors are interested in participating at the ITCA Midlands Traveller events, it is a great opportunity to enter a friendly and local race series. Please contact us on the email address if you would like any more information.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Rig | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 46391 | Jessica Powell | Topper 5.3 | 1 | 1 | ‑4 | 2 | 4 |
| 2nd | 48571 | Katherine Gunn | Topper 5.3 | 3 | 2 | ‑6 | 1 | 6 |
| 3rd | 44036 | Joseph Rowe | Topper 5.3 | (OCS) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 4th | 46205 | Caitlin Thomas | Topper 5.3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ‑5 | 8 |
| 5th | 47354 | Sammy Mason | Topper 5.3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | ‑9 | 12 |
| 6th | 48098 | Hayden Moore | Topper 5.3 | 6 | 6 | 5 | ‑8 | 17 |
| 7th | 48651 | Harriet Temple | Topper 5.3 | 5 | ‑14 | 10 | 4 | 19 |
| 8th | 48664 | Toby Gammond | Topper 5.3 | 9 | ‑11 | 7 | 6 | 22 |
| 9th | 48259 | Edward Paling | Topper 5.3 | 10 | ‑13 | 8 | 7 | 25 |
| 10th | 47777 | Katherine Burgess | Topper 5.3 | 7 | 9 | 9 | ‑11 | 25 |
| 11th | 47488 | Matthew Chadderton | Topper 5.3 | 8 | 8 | ‑12 | 10 | 26 |
| 12th | 48535 | Chloe Grayton | Topper 5.3 | ‑15 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 34 |
| 13th | 48675 | Kitty Davy | Topper 5.3 | 13 | 12 | (RET) | 12 | 37 |
| 14th | 44012 | Jake Blakeway | Topper 5.3 | 12 | ‑17 | 14 | 14 | 40 |
| 15th | 48907 | Keali Rhodes | Topper 5.3 | 16 | 16 | 13 | ‑22 | 45 |
| 16th | 47764 | Tara Ewbank | Topper 5.3 | 11 | 7 | (DNC) | DNC | 46 |
| 17th | 45772 | Rupert Ash | Topper 5.3 | 17 | 15 | ‑18 | 15 | 47 |
| 18th | 48193 | Jasper Focardi Dolling | Topper 5.3 | 14 | ‑19 | 15 | 19 | 48 |
| 19th | 45197 | Polly McMullan | Topper 5.3 | ‑19 | 18 | 16 | 17 | 51 |
| 20th | 31767 | William Mawby‑Groom | Topper 4.2 | 20 | ‑21 | 19 | 16 | 55 |
| 21st | 47222 | Georgia Riddell | Topper 4.2 | 18 | ‑23 | 20 | 18 | 56 |
| 22nd | 46512 | Jess Hedgecock | Topper 5.3 | 21 | 22 | 17 | ‑24 | 60 |
| 23rd | 46241 | Oli Rogers | Topper 5.3 | ‑22 | 20 | 22 | 20 | 62 |
| 24th | 36182 | Alex Chadborn | Topper 4.2 | 23 | ‑26 | 21 | 21 | 65 |
| 25th | 46971 | Oscar Rowe | Topper 4.2 | ‑24 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 70 |
| 26th | 48798 | Izzy Ritchie | Topper 4.2 | ‑25 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 74 |
| 27th | 28381 | Beth Edwards | Topper 5.3 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 84 |