Topper South East Winter Regatta at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

George Sumner (48102) leading in Race 3 - Topper SE Winter Regatta at Island Barn © IBRSC

It was one of those days yet again at Island Barn where the wind was zero for the first four hours. To add to our woes the visibility was just 50 metres, barely longer than the start line. South East Topper sailors and their parents did well just to leave home on such an unpromising day. But 42 toppers did. Well done, all of you!

Early lunch was taken for the third successive Open, and our patience was rewarded with a north easterly 3 knot breeze at 12.30. The course was a simple quadrilateral with a beat, reach, run, reach. For the first time at Island Barn all Toppers were fitted with TracTrac supplied by Brett Lewis.

Racing started at 1.15 and at the first start two boats were OCS, but only one, Alex Balding returned. Sam Mason (Silver Wing), Ralph Hadley (Tankerton Bay SC) and William Sadler (Reading SC) changed places several times on both the very shifty beats, with Mason winning the final beat and holding his position to the finish, with Hadley second and Sadler third.

Will Sadler (48683) leading by 100m in Race 1 - Topper SE Winter Regatta at Island Barn - photo © IBRSC

In Race 2 five boats were over at the pin end but all returned and restarted quickly. The Committee boat team was astounded to see the winner of Race 1, Sam Mason, start last in this, the following race. The firm breeze at the start became sporadic in the second lap, particularly on the beat.

'Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.' These words, from a great Stealers Wheel record of 1972, came to the writer's mind in this beat, where the bulk of the fleet was stuck in the middle with barely a whisper of a breeze; but to the left of the fleet was a 4 knot breeze and to right of the fleet also a 4 knot breeze.

Whoever got to either of these breezes first would profit, but which one to go for? Ben Hughes (Island Barn) got it right; so did Edward Taylor (Island Barn) and William Sadler, who finished in this order.

Race 3 brought a discard into play. Leaders on points were William Sadler, Ralph Hadley and Oscar Lay, in that order. Surely the event winner would come from these three. At the end of lap one, we had William Sadler first, with George Sumner second and Jonathan Shields third. The event would surely go Sadler's way. But wait. Who was in fourth? Our Race 1 winner Sam Mason, who had clearly put his nightmare Race Two behind him. If the order stayed the same to the end Sadler would take the event on 4 points from Mason on 5.

So quite a final lap was in store.

Good start for Thomas Matthews (46007) - Topper SE Winter Regatta at Island Barn - photo © IBRSC

On the final beat Rohan O'Kane (Clyde Cruising Club and son of the visiting ITCA chairman), read the challenging shifts very well and led at the top mark, followed by Sam Mason, who gained two places on this final beat, while William Sadler had dropped from first to third. In a dying breeze, Race 3 was shortened by two legs, and in the short, final reach, these three retained their positions to the finish line: O'Kane, Mason, Sadler.

Sadly for Sadler, the most consistent sailor of the day (three thirds), his score of 6 after a discard was trumped by the least consistent, Sam Mason, on a first, twenty-first and a second, scoring 3 overall. This is not to diminish Mason's achievement. To score a second after a twenty first showed real bounce-back determination and he was a worthy winner of the Barnstormer Trophy.

The seven strong Topper 4.2 Fleet, which shared the same start as the 5.3s, had some very close racing, but Isabelle Simpson from Island Barn nailed it in two races with two firsts. Alfie Tollit from Shoreham SC took second overall with two seconds.

There was just one Topper 6.4 sailed by Erica Bishop, from Wimbledon Park, who, of course, was first.

1st UNDER 13: Sam Taylor, Island Barn RSC
1st NON SQUAD: Ben Hughes, Island Barn RSC

5.3 Fleet Results:

4.2 Fleet Results: