Rooster Southern Area Summer Topper Traveller Series Round 1 at Spinnaker Sailing Club

by James Oborne 29 Mar 2022 12:20 BST 27 March 2022

Sunday 27th March gave us near perfect conditions for the Topper Traveller at Spinnaker Sailing Club. As is traditional the club hosted the first leg of the Rooster Southern Area Summer Traveller Series, a great chance for sailors to get back out on the circuit after a winter of training! With warm sunshine, and a great breeze the day made us all think more of an event in June than late March.

27 sailors raced in total, representing clubs from as far a field as South Wales, with 16 sailors using 5.3 rigs, with a very healthy turnout of 11 sailors in 4.2s! As the host club Spinnaker was very proud to see 7 of our young sailors amongst the fleet, sailing against many of the friends they have made over the winter during the RYA Regional Training Group, ITCA Open Training Days and the JETS Programmes!

Seven races were scheduled for the day with a target time of 22 minutes, giving everyone lots of opportunities to use their starting skills and take advantage of Spinnaker's famous wind bends and shifts. With a wind veering between North East and South West (and back again) at various times the race team were kept on their toes to keep the course orientated to give the best possible racing opportunities. The first start went away on time at 10.30 and all four planned races for the morning were completed by 12.45, a great achievement considering the whole course had to be relaid between races 3 and 4 following a sustained shift! As the sailors headed ashore for lunch the results there was the opportunity to reflect on the morning's racing, and think of what strategy and tactics would get them ahead in the afternoon!

The afternoon's wind was slightly lighter than the morning's, with a greater emphasis required on picking the right side of the beat to work, and making best use of the gain features around the lake. Thanks to the sailors great attitude (and good timekeeping throughout the day) the final 3 races were completed in good time before the wind started to drop away as forecast. While the results were calculated ashore the sailors enjoyed a picnic tea before the all important results were announced and prizes awarded!

In the 4.2 fleet Warsash Sailing Club had a clean sweep at the top of the fleet with Ethan Rhodes in 1st, Jake Davies in 2nd and Marcus King in 3rd! In the 5.3 fleet Henry Martin (Porchester Sailing Club) took a very well deserved 1st Place, Seb Davies (Warsash Sailing Club), with Max Morgan (Spinnaker Sailing Club) taking 3rd. In the 5.3 fleet it came down to a tie-break Seb and Max showing how close the competition was throughout the day.

A big thank-you to everyone who made the day happen, and good luck to all the sailors at the next Traveller event in Bosham!

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
Topper 5.3
1	48579	Henry Martin	2	1	4	6	1	1	8	15
2	47676	Seb Davies	4	8	1	13	3	2	6	24
3	47432	Max Morgan	10	5	3	4	5	3	4	24
4	46364	Matthew Emerson	CS)	9	6	8	4	6	3	36
5	43911	Flo Tovey	6	15	9	2	6	5	10	38
6	48315	Finn Brook‑Holmes	1	3	2	15	2	ET)	ET)	39
7	48685	Ed Smith	9	10	15	3	12	4	2	40
8	47658	Alex Van Doren	13	11	8	1	11	9	1	41
8	46892	Ed Upton‑Brown	12	2	7	10	8	7	7	41
10	47078	Ffion Cerrato	5	4	14	9	13	10	12	53
11	46447	Ava Francis	11	6	10	7	9	13	13	56
12	46293	Orla Parker	8	13	12	12	14	8	5	58
13	47746	Thomas Peace	3	7	11	14	10	14	14	59
14	47833	Ella Harris	14	12	13	5	15	12	11	67
15	46933	Jasmine McQuillin	15	14	5	16	7	11	NC)	68
16	16481	Amelia Lampard	16	16	16	11	16	15	9	83
Topper 4.2
1	47830	Ethan Rhodes	4	4	1	2	1	1	1	10
2	47776	Jake Davies	8	1	4	1	2	3	2	13
3	45364	Marcus King	4	3	2	9	3	9	3	24
3	34031	Charles Wood	3	2	3	5	6	6	5	24
5	46771	Henry Noel	5	5	6	4	5	4	4	27
6	46509	Matthew Terry	2	7	7	6	4	2	7	28
7	47796	Seb Sitton	6	8	9	3	10	5	8	39
8	31836	Jack Baskett	11	6	5	8	7	8	10	44
9	46452	Jessica Baskett	7	10	10	7	8	7	6	45
10	7078	Megan Cerrato	10	9	8	10	9	10	9	55
11	45779	Wilf Tovey	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	64