Rooster Southern Topper Traveller Series at Hill Head Sailing Club

Hill Head Topper Open © Roger Cerrato

Hill Head Topper Open © Roger Cerrato

Hill Head Topper Open © Roger Cerrato

Over the weekend of September 2nd/3rd the Southern Toppers headed to one of our favourite venues; Hill Head SC on the sunny Solent for event 6 of the Rooster Southern Topper Traveller Series.

30 sailors participated in the Open Class Training on Saturday, many of these eager to secure their slot in the RYA South Toppers RTG for this coming winter. Under the watchful eyes of the coaching team the participants also had the perfect chance to practice for Sunday's open.

Launching and recovery at HHSC is very much controlled by the tide so Sunday's open had a relatively late start enabling sailors and partners to enjoy the facilities of the club (including some great bacon rolls!) prior to the briefing at 1130am.

Despite the light conditions the 44 sailors (26 with a 5.3 rig and 18 with a 4.2) were told to rig and be ready to launch on time. Once afloat it became apparent that a short delay would be required to allow the wind to build but within 15 mins of the scheduled start time Race 1 was under way. Getting off the line cleanly and heading inshore out of the strong west going tide was key and this strategy worked for both Ethan Rhodes (Warsash SC) and club mate Charles Wood who took the race win in the 5.3 and 4.2 fleets respectively.

Despite the best efforts of the other sailors both Ethan and Charles managed a clean sweep of 3 x 1st places for the day - well done! Other notable performances included Lucas Keen (Stokes Bay SC) who scored a 2nd in Race 2 in his first event with a 5.3 sail and Henry Martin (Portchester SC) 5.3 and Kristian Foltys (Hamble River SC) 4.2 who both sailed consistently well all day to secure 2nd in their fleets.

Event 7 of the Rooster Southern Topper Traveller Series is next weekend at Poole YC where we'll be joining our friends from the South West and London & SE regions for the annual "Super South" event. The Series then concludes at Warsash SC on October 21st/22nd.

Sailor reports from HHSC Open:

Charles Wood (4.2 fleet): "Light winds, strong winds... oh wait... strong tide."

Eve Wealthy (5.3 fleet): "As we launched at 12:30pm, the wind disappeared and many sailors resorted to paddling their boats to the race course. After 30 minutes, the wind started filling in from the south. Race 1 started and sailors were using light-wind techniques to maintain boat speed. In Race 2, with 1 minute left in the 5.3 start sequence, the postponement flag went up due to a dramatic wind shift. With the course re-laid, both fleets completed the race despite the dropping wind. Race 3 was a difficult one with strong tides and even less wind but all sailors did very well."

Ewen Parish (4.2 fleet): "After doing the training on Saturday I felt ready for the day of racing ahead. The first race was postponed until there was enough wind to sail properly.

After the 5 minute signal I proceeded to the port end of the line as I knew the tide was weaker closer to the shore. As the beat was against the tide it was vital to stay in the weaker tide. I was very pleased with my first result and it set a good tone for an enjoyable day.

Hill Head Topper Open - photo © Andrew Goodman

I kept the same strategy for the first two races and on the third I tried going right, sadly it didn't pay off and I got my worst result of the day. The races were great due to an outstanding race committee and a spectacular group of coaches that really helped me with my starting and upwind tactics. I'd like to thank all the volunteers and HHSC."

To find out more about Topper sailing in the South please visit www.itca-gbr.co.uk/area-pages/southern or email:

Overall Results: