Toppers at the South & South West Regional Junior Championship at the WPNSA

by Thomas Semmens & Phileas Rousselle 1 Jul 2024 08:26 BST 22-23 June 2024

Toppers at the South & South West Regional Junior Championship © WPNSA

When the RYA cancelled the RYA regional Junior Championships 4 weeks before the event, the South and Sputh West Topper regions sounded out WPNSA as to whether they could continue with the Topper championships run by the class and WPNSA.

Almost immediately word got out and the RS Fevas, Teras, ILCAs and Optimists also expressed their interest and with only just over 3 weeks notice WPNSA pulled off the impossible and ran a multi class event that became the S and SW regional junior championships. The Topper class would like to thank the amazing team at WPNSA especially Sally Reynoldson and the other classes for making the event a massive success.

For day 1 of racing a perfect forecast of 15-18kts from the west and sunshine was promised. In reality the breeze built to over 20kts at times and champagne sailing was delivered by the excellent race team led by Paul Kimmens.

Smaller shifts and good boat handling was order of the day in the Topper 5.3 fleet.

Race 1 saw a congested start line and a fresh breeze. Getting off the start and holding lanes was essential. Harry Mills soon hit the front to start what was a very consistent series for him. Thomas Matthews from Grafham gatecrashed the South and SW party to earn an excellent 2nd place from Tom Semmens.

Race 2 saw the breeze drop a little and the breeze become a little unstable. Some pin bias saw the main runners and riders fighting for the perfect spot. Felix Harle took advantage fully and clearly liking the slightly lighter winds stormed off to a race win from Zac Chapple and Tom.

Race 3 saw the breeze begin to build again. The left hand side of the course was now paying with a lift on port and you approached the outer loop windward mark. After Harry got a clean start and sailed well to hit the lead and Torquil Morrison liking the stronger winds capitalised for an excellent 2nd place from Zac.

Race 4 saw a repeat of race 3, with Harry and Torquil proving their upper wind ability. This time Tom took the 3rd from Zac. This gave Harry a big overnight lead with Zac and Tom tied for the lower podium places.

Toppers at the South & South West Regional Junior Championship - photo © WPNSA

Sunday was always forecast to be lighter winds. With a long AP ashore talk was starting in the dinghy park of an early prize-giving, but right on queue the shift to the SW came in which promised some wind, with that D flag was raised and a swarm of young sailors launched into 5 or 6 knots.

With so many boats and race tracks it was inevitable that the Bill would affect the winds. In Race 5 Shifts off the bill were the key factor. Some of the traditional runners and riders found the first race hard. Many thought the pin and left hand side of the course would pay, but take a bow Evan Hellyer who only sailing the Sunday nailed Race 5 for the win. Holly Norton started right and had a good first beat to take 2nd place and Felix always fast in the light took 3rd.

Race 6 saw a bit of head scratching wondering what went wrong. The pin seemed biased but an early tack to the right seemed to work. Holy Norton clearly had a good picture of what helped her in race 5 and sailed of for her well earned first win.

After the long delay in the morning, the RC managed to squeeze in a 7th race before the cut off time. To catch Harry, Zac, Tom and felix would have needed to pile in the 1st places on Sunday morning, so now Harry will have known the event was won, but what better way to conclude the event than by getting the mojo back and winning the last race? He duly delivered. Zac concluded a good day to come 2nd and Thomas Matthews came in 3rd to pull himself up the leader board. Sadly Felix was left to rue 2 U flag penalties so Harry took the overall win from Zac in 2nd and Tom in 3rd. Holly came in 4th and first girl and will have the satisfaction of knowing that she was sailor of the day.

Meanwhile over in the Topper 4.2 fleet Phileas commented:

"A weekend of two halves for the wind. Windy Saturday during which I manage to get good starts, have good speed and strategy. I was happy to lead in the evening with couple of wins. Sunday was completely different: light air with the fleet a lot tighter and difficult to make gains from. I am happy with 2nd overall after a lot of close racing in a strong fleet of 4.2 Toppers and well done to Henry for securing the 4.2 class win, finishing with 3 first places on Sunday".

As well as the 53 Topper participants in the Championship fleets we also had 10 Toppers starting out their racing journey in the Coached Regatta fleet. This event was won by Theo Forbes counting a perfect shoreline of 6 first places. Well done Theo!

A massive thanks to all that made this event happen - way too many to mention. Also thanks to Rooster for supplying lots of prizes along with fellow sponsors RS, ILCA, Bee Sails, CF by L and L.

Overall Results:

Pos	Region	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R5	R6	R7	R9	Pts
Topper 5.3 Fleet
1	SW	47621	Harry Mills	Saltash SC	1	4	1	1	‑9	4	1	12
2	SW	48600	Zachary Chappell	Parkstone YC	(UFD [36])	2	3	4	6	2	2	19
3	SW	49098	Thomas Semmens	Brixham YC/Paignton SC	3	3	4	3	‑8	5	5	23
4	SW	47399	Holly Norton	Parkstone YC	10	5	11	‑15	2	1	4	33
5	LSE	46007	Thomas Matthews	Grafham SC	2	‑12	6	11	10	12	3	44
6	S	45768	Torquil Morrison	Emsworth Slipper SC	7	‑15	2	2	14	10	13	48
7	S	48683	William Sadler	Reading SC	6	7	16	12	5	‑17	6	52
8	SW	47782	Fï¿½lix Harle	Parkstone YC	4	1	(UFD [36])	6	3	3	UFD [36]	53
9	S	47830	Ethan Rhodes	Warsash SC	12	‑14	10	10	7	8	9	56
10	S	46447	Ava Francis	Lymington Town SC	5	9	15	‑18	4	14	10	57
11	SW	47857	Tayah Gilboy	Paignton SC	‑18	16	8	7	13	15	8	67
12	SW	49232	Charlie MacKenzie	Salcombe YC	16	8	9	13	‑33	9	12	67
13	SW	48508	Joel tidey	Parkstone YC	11	10	‑19	8	18	11	11	69
14	S	49199	James Broad	Hill Head SC/PYC	9	‑17	7	5	17	16	16	70
15	S	46452	Lewis Miller	Spinnaker SC	13	6	12	14	20	‑28	21	86
16	S	48744	Thomas Robinson	Stokes Bay SC	15	‑19	13	16	15	13	18	90
17	S	49200	Henry Noel	Warsash SC	14	20	5	9	21	22	‑23	91
18	SW	48628	Isla Willis	Parkstone YC	‑25	21	24	24	11	6	7	93
19	SW	48356	Holly Williams	Parkstone YC	19	11	14	19	‑29	20	17	100
20	SW	48105	Daniel Cullen	Parkstone YC	21	13	26	‑29	16	18	14	108
21	SW	46895	Tom Smith	SGBA	20	18	21	22	12	21	‑26	114
22	SW	49231	Charlotte Simmonds	Salcombe YC	8	25	18	17	23	‑31	24	115
23	SW	49234	George Reynolds	Salcombe YC	22	22	17	20	‑26	25	22	128
24		44598	Evan Hellyer	Aqua Sports	(DNC [36])	DNC [36]	DNC [36]	DNC [36]	1	7	15	131
25	S	48878	Megan Cerrato	Warsash SC	23	24	22	23	24	19	‑27	135
26	SW	49241	Jamie Semple	Parkstone YC	17	23	20	21	30	‑33	29	140
27	SW	46913	Leo Kaneko	Dittisham SC	24	26	25	26	22	‑27	20	143
28	SW	47653	Martina Vasili	Paignton SC	26	‑28	23	25	27	24	25	150
29	SW	47236	Woody O'Farrell	Poole YC	31	31	33	(DNC [36])	19	23	19	156
30	SW	44108	Ella Bernard	Poole YC	29	29	30	‑31	25	29	30	172
31	SW	45732	Jack Tucker	Castle Cove SC	30	30	29	28	‑34	26	32	175
32	SW	41779	Chloe Pearson	Poole YC	28	27	‑32	30	28	32	31	176
33	SW	45159	Edward Clarke	Poole YC	27	32	27	27	31	‑34	34	178
34	SW	31672	Olly Skeldon	Starcross YC	33	(TLE [34])	28	32	32	30	28	183
35	SW	47731	Constance Laver	Starcross YC	32	33	31	33	‑35	35	33	197
Topper 4.2 Fleet
1	S	49272	Henry Cruse		2	1	‑5	5	1	1	1	11
2	S	48176	Phileas Rousselle	Hamble River SC	1	4	2	1	‑6	5	4	17
3	SW	328	Sacha Gerra	Parkstone YC	7	2	8	‑9	2	2	2	23
4	S	48664	Hendricks Long	Warsash SC	4	5	3	3	3	‑16	5	23
5	S	47860	Finlay Rhodes	Warsash SC	3	6	1	4	11	‑14	10	35
6	S	49081	Matthew Svendsen	Goring Thames SC	‑9	8	4	2	7	7	7	35
7	S	46720	Olaf Storton	Bosham SC	5	3	7	8	‑13	10	12	45
8	SW	47310	Finley Kirkby	Bristol Corinthian YC	8	‑11	6	6	8	9	8	45
9	S	49035	Emily Doughty	Spinnaker SC	‑14	9	12	10	9	4	9	53
10	SW	48685	Emelia Willis	Parkstone YC	15	15	14	(DNC [19])	4	6	3	57
11	S	35327	Charlie Turner	Goring Thames SC	6	(UFD [19])	13	11	10	8	11	59
12	SW	47684	Brooke Browning	Bristol Corinthian YC	11	10	10	(DNC [19])	12	11	6	60
13	S	47676	Thomas Murphy	Hamble River SC/Warsash SC	13	12	‑16	14	5	3	16	63
14	SW	326	Matteo Gerra	Parkstone YC	10	7	11	13	‑15	13	13	67
15	S	47641	Ewan Parish	Stokes Bay SC	12	13	9	12	16	‑17	17	79
16	SW	47835	Harriett Steele	Parkstone YC	‑16	14	15	7	14	15	15	80
17	S	44425	Alixe‑Constance Rousselle	Hamble River SC	17	16	(DNC [19])	DNC [19]	17	12	14	95
18	SW	47754	Annabelle Moyes	Parkstone YC	(DNC [19])	DNC [19]	DNC [19]	DNC [19]	DNC [19]	DNC [19]	DNC [19]	114
Coached Regatta Topper Fleet
1	S	43694	Theo Forbes	Christchurch SC	1	1	1	‑3	1	1	1	6
2	SW	34458	Jasmine Dï¿½Arcy	Starcross YC	(DNC [11])	3	3	1	3	4	2	16
3	SW	28816	Wilfred Summers	Starcross YC	2	4	(DNC [11])	5	4	5	6	26
4	SW	36810	Max Record	Starcross YC	8	(DNC [11])	2	7	2	3	5	27
5	SW	20294	Beatrice Summers	Starcross YC	4	2	(DNC [11])	6	6	8	3	29
6	SW	44652	Rory Dixon	Exe SC	5	5	(DNC [11])	10	5	2	4	31
7	SW	47769	Oliver Furby	Exe SC	3	6	(DNC [11])	2	9	7	9	36
8	S	18744	Polly Robinson	Stokes Bay SC	7	8	(DNC [11])	4	10	10	7	46
9	SW	44750	Henry Perrett	Starcross YC	6	7	(DNC [11])	8	8	9	10	48
10	SW	21149	Ruth Hargreaves	Starcross Fishing and Cruising Club/Star	(DNC [11])	DNC [11]	DNC [11]	9	7	6	8	52