ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River Sailing Club

ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River © Mike Foster

Brilliant sunshine and a building southeasterly wind greeted the 28 sailors who gathered to compete in the second event of the ITCA Rooster Topper Southern area traveller series, hosted by Hamble River Sailing Club.

The fleet included nineteen sailors in the 4.2 fleet and twelve in the 5.3 fleet, all eager to show their skills on the water in breezy wind. Hamble River Sailing Club had an impressive thirteen sailors competing, showcasing their strength as an RYA Pathway Club. With a mix of competitive spirit and strengthening wind, the event was set for a day of exciting racing, and it didn't disappoint.

The sailors, from seasoned competitors to up-and-coming talents, competed in four races, each looking to make an impact in the Southern series standings. As is usual for Topper Open meetings in the Southern series the races were set on a trapezoid course - with the 5.3s racing on the inner loop and the 4.2s on the outer loop, each race lasting approximately 30 minutes.

Initially the wind took some time to stabilise, but after a brief postponement, Race Officer Mike Foster set the course and racing began.

ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River - photo © Rob Klaschka

5.3 Fleet report by Hendricks Long (Hamble & Warsash SC)

Conditions : On the way out of the river the wind started building. Arriving at Cat Head, the wind had built to a steady 15 knots, increasing around 20 knots throughout the day. Big gusts had the fleet taking unexpected dunks!

Race 1 : After a course reset due to a 30-degree shift, race one was finally under way. Finlay Rhodes dominated the start and maintained the lead until the finish, shortly followed by Henry Noel and Lucas Keen.

Race 2 : Race two followed a similar format with Finlay, Henry and Lucas securing the top three spots, closely followed by Tom Robinson in fourth.

ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River - photo © Rob Klaschka

Race 3 : Finlay ran into some bad luck with a broken mast, which saw him retire. If it had not been for this, I think we could have seen Finlay's first traveller win. Despite being over the start line, Henry N demonstrated excellent high wind sailing technique and impressively caught up to finish first, followed by Lucas second, Tom third and Meg Webb raced hard to secure fourth.

Race 4 : Tom had a great race coming over the line second with Henry N taking the top spot and Lucas coming third.

Henry Ross finished all the races in his first Topper event to come ninth and take the Endeavour award.

On behalf of the sailors, a big thanks to Hamble Sailing Club, the race organisers and the Southern area team who put on the event. All went smoothly in some tricky conditions.

4.2 Fleet report by Emily Doughty, Thea Long and Alixe-Constance Rouselle (Hamble River SC)

The first race started after a short delay as the wind shifted around and marks were reset to reflect this. With 15 knots of wind and realising it was rapidly building; sailors were hiking hard off the start line and throughout the race. First at the top windward mark was Henry Cruse closely followed by Reuben Wealthy and Emily Doughty.

We asked Henry how was constantly getting top results: "I hiked out really hard and had good starts at the committee boat end, as the line was square".

On the downwind leg, Joel Keen crept through the fleet to round the leeward mark in third. Henry and Reuben sailed past the windward mark, which enabled Joel to catch-up. Then, a battle ensued between first to fourth with Joel, Henry, Reuben and Emily finishing in quick succession.

ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River - photo © Rob Klaschka

The second race started in about 20 knots of wind leading to start line chaos and many capsizes, as sailors battled hard to stay upright. The order at the windward mark was set for the entirety of the event with Henry, Reuben and Joel hiking hard throughout and sailing fast, to finish in that order.

An exciting downwind leg saw lots of deathrolls and extreme wave surfing, taking its toll on many. Six sailors retired and were later seen tied up to marks, or aboard the committee boat.

One of the Hamble girls, Thea Long quoted: "I capsized, death-rolled, death-rolled, death-rolled, then capsized again and the boat turtled".

ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River - photo © Rob Klaschka

A short delay between races 2 and 3 occurred as safety crew were kept exceedingly busy with Flag W sailors and upside-down sailors. Fortunately, a slight lull in the middle of the day's racing provided some welcome respite from the growing waves and flat-out hiking required, with a resilient eleven 4.2 sailors left competing.

Helpful top tips from Reuben were: "Don't go past the mark and don't get your mast stuck in the mud."

The wind escalated again to 18 knots for the fourth race with Reuben and Henry winning the committee start and Emily the pin, with an unbiased start line. Only 9 boats finished as tiredness set in - a huge well done to all those racing in the very windy conditions. Thomas Jacobs received a well-deserved endeavour prize.

We were welcomed back to shore by the efficient wading team and a hot bowl of pasta, much to the tired sailors delight and we were glad there were no protest hearings, meaning the prize-giving could start promptly.

ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River - photo © Rob Klaschka

Summary

A big congratulation to all the prize winners, and a heartfelt thank you to the many volunteers and parents for their invaluable support. A special mention to Hamble River SC and Cori Rouselle for organising the event, whose hard work made it all possible. Also, a big thank you to Race Officer Mike Foster and his race team, who kept calm in the heavy wind conditions, successfully managing to get all eight starts away smoothly and to the enormous delight of our experienced sailors. Enormous thanks to the rescue and mark-laying crews, who had a particularly busy day.

Thank you to Rooster for their generous sponsorship of the ITCA Southern area series and providing competitors with a Rooster visor.

It's great to see excellent high turnouts at the Rooster ITCA Southern area Traveller series with both the 5.3 and 4.2 fleets showing strong competition, along with great support and helpful hints for the newer sailors - many learning about high wind sailing technique and flat rig set-ups, at this event.

ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River - photo © Rob Klaschka

We look forward to seeing many of you again at the upcoming Southern area events:

• South & Southwest Regional Championships at Weymouth, WPNSA on June 21st and 22nd, followed by the
• Southern Traveller at Stokes Bay on July 6th, with opportunity to practice beforehand at the Stokes Bay Open Training on July 5th.

For more information on upcoming Rooster Topper Southern events, please visit www.itca-gbr.co.uk/area-pages/southern and ask to join our WhatsApp group.

ITCA Rooster Topper Southern Area Traveller series at Hamble River - photo © Sally Wilson

4.2 Fleet Results:

5.3 Fleet Results: