Luke takes Silver Medal at 470 Worlds

Former RYA Scotland squad member and Skandia Team GBR sailor Luke Patience has pulled off a dramtic Silver medal at the 470 Worlds. Well done Luke.

See http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=148373

for a full report.

Helensburgh Nationwide

Please sign up now for the Helensburgh Nationwide in October. For anyone who sails a Topper in Scotland or ever has sailed a Topper in Scotland this has to be the number one event of the Autumn!

Click here for google maps.

Helensburgh has a fantastic new clubhouse and is looking forward to welcoming the Toppers for what will be the final event in the UK Nationwide series 2009.

For details click here.

Irish Topper Nationals at Blessington

As most Scottish Toppers were sitting out the gales at Royal Forth, Angus Gray-Stephens was in Ireland as part of the GBR Junior Squad Team selected by Head Coach Dave Cockerill.

This three day event took place at Blessington Sailing Club and unlike the Scottish Equivalent the weather conditions were kind and all nine scheduled races were completed.  Angus did extremely well to secure 12th place overall in what is likley to be his final National event in Toppers as he is off to the 420 Nationals with new sailing partner Jamie Noyes next week.

Jamie and Angus have already completed the 2009 Youth Nationals in the 420 this year and are looking an extremely promising team.  Good luck chaps!

A Full report and results from the Irish Nationals is available on the Irish Topper web site.  Click here to link to the relevant home page. 

Scottish Championships blown away

The stage was set, the competitors ready and the welcome warm but the weather was against us. As the fleet set out from Granton East Harbour and into Wardie Bay the brisk South Westerly breeze was exactly what was needed for a "proper" championship event. The OOD set a trapezoid course with a single outer loop and the racing began on time at 1pm. The early leader was Andrew MacGowan but the chasing pack were not in the mood to let him get away. At the end of the first run the leader was clear but the fight for the minor placings was close between Jamie, Alexander, Emma, Rory, Emma, Emily and Samantha. With some serious squalls to catch the unwary Andrew was playing it safe at the front but just a little too safe and at the last mark Jamie had the lead down to just a few lengths. The two boats split to opposite sides of the short final beat and at the finish it was Jamie who took line honours.

With the wind now building towards a force six there was a lengthy delay as the RIBS tended to tail enders and an increasing number of capsizes in the waiting fleet. Several sailors were jealousy eying Joanne's 4.2 sail as the wisest choice of the afternoon showing it does pay to check the forecast. (thanks dad!)

After a significant delay to ensure the smaller sailors were safely rescued race two was underway on the same trapezoid course. The first beat was proving a real test but once the leaders were across the reach and into the run the fun really started. With the wind now steadily over 30 knots and the run on the more gusty South side of the course at least half the fleet simultaneously spun out with those who survived disappearing in a ball of spray downwind. Survival was now definitely the order of the day and even those who tried to tack round were finding it almost impossible to make progress downwind without a periscope. As Joanne rounded the second windward mark in seventh place (yes seventh) and looked ever more likely to make the top 3 it was a disspointed Dad who saw the N over A broken out as the conditions became unsailable for all but the best swimmers.

With all the sailors safely tallied back ashore it was clear that with the club anemometer showing regular numbers in the 40 knot range that the OOD had made the right call and the Barbecue was fired up a little early. An excellent spread was served by the freindly Royal Forth Team and we headed home with hopes of 4 more great races to come.

Sadly Sunday morning saw conditions stubbornly refusing to improve and after a short delay and a discussion with the sailors all attempts at holding further races were abandoned. So it was Jamie Noyes who took the prize for winning the only race of the weekend but with only one race to count there was no series and so the Scottish Championship now rolls over to the next available event. Prestwick Sailing Club on 12th and 13th September. (And don't forget the season finale and part 2 of the Inland Championship at Loch Tummel SC the week after - 19/20th September)

See You there.

Thank you Royal Forth for a great weekend. Sorry about the weather.

G.

Scot wins national Championships

Scottish sailor Calum Airlie has won the British Open Optimist Championships. Sailing in very difficult conditions in the week long championship sailed at Largs SC Calum came through a dissapointing first day then put together an incredible sequence of top results to attain third place going into the final day. An outstanding sequence of 1, 2, 7 gave Calum victory from the 350 strong fleet.

All of us her here at Scottish Toppers congratulate you Calum, very well done.

Click here for the full Y and Y report.

Scottish Topper Championships

The Scottish Topper Chamionships take place this weekend, Saturday 15th August to Sunday 16th August 2009 at Royal Forth Yacht Club, Granton Harbour, Edinburgh.

The Entry Form and Sailing Instructions are available at http://www.rfyc.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=1HUgaaJhzXk%3d&tabid=37&mid=394.

Registration is from 09.30 to 11.00 on Saturday with a brifeing at 11.30. There will be six races over the weekend.

See you there.

G.

RYA Scottish Zone Championships

With the Nationals completed thoughts quickly turn to the RYA Zone and Home Countries Championships which take place all over the UK on 26th and 27th September 2009. This is a key indicator event for the selection of sailors for the various RYA supported Junior Squads including the Topper and Optimist.

The Scottish Zone Championships will be hosted this year by Largs Sailing Club. Entries should be completed on line at https://www.sailracer.co.uk/events/enter-v2.asp?eventid=37641

Pwffheli Update

Final Day, sunshine, not much wind. Fleet launched on time. Wind looking good from NW at 10 knots across whole course. Gold Fleet starts. General Recall. Wind dies and backs to South. Short delay. Course re-laid. Wind fills at 8 knots. Gold Fleet away at 13.20. Silver and Bronze follow. All three fleets comlete races one in about 60 minutes. Is there time for one more ?

Gold Fleet away again. Wind dies and much of fleet unable to cross line. General recall signalled. Further delay. Wind veers again and dies. AP over A broken out at 14.30. "No more racing today".

Championship complete. 5 Qualifiers, 7 Championship Races, 3 discards.

Prizegiving at 6.30 pm

Well done all Scottish Toppers Abroad.

13 Joanna Barrie, 71 Jordan Black, 78 Emma Palmer, 122 Andrew Mawyer, 127 Katie Milford, 139 Sophie Joseph, 146 Angus Gray Stephens, 167 Patrick Shellcock, 170 Erin Mills, 172 Lewis Marr, 176 Araan Murray, 218 Joanne Foster, 255 Jessica Milford, 301 Kyle Maxwell-Cox, 306 Andrew MacGowan, 307 Andrew Crockett, 339 Ian Symon, 356 Andrew Mitchell, 381 Jamie Noyes, 382 Rosalind Dunlop, 383 Heather Sword, 385 Ian Sword, 389 Alexander Still, 390 Ian Maclauchlin, 398 David Abraham, 515 Kae Clark, 522 Jennifer Abraham, 550 Rory "pass me a new boom" Kilgore, 582 Ruaridh Mills, 592 Jessica Campbell, 594 Calum MacIvor, 618 Samantha Foster, 628 Emily Robertson, 698 Ryan MacIntyre.

Full Results will appear on sailracer.co.uk soon.

G.

Nationals Blog from Pwllheli

HERE is the direct link to the Nationals blog with live "ish" feeds from the race course.

Fast Fuel

Scottish Toppers at the Nationals are undoubtedly some of the best fed in the fleet thanks to generous support by Scottish Toppers Abroad sponsors Tunnocks, Sainsbury and Marshall's Pasta. With six hours afloat every day and three highly competitive races not to mention the rigors of launching and recovery keeping the young sailors well fed is a top priority of they are to perform at their best all week. The support of Tunnocks, Sainsbury and Marshall's ensures we can give the sailors exactly the sort of high quality, high energy food they need to perform at this level. Every Morning the gas stoves is fired up in the dinghy park and the entire Scottish Team are fed hot pasta before going afloat for the day with a supply of teacakes and caramel wafers for between races.

Thank You Liz

Day Four at Pwllheli and the racing continues. Another good day yesterday. Three races completed in champagne sailing conditions. A race win and a third place for Andrew MacGowan and a third place for Patrick Shellcock in Bronze were the highlights.

Thirty four Scottish Toppers here, six in the Gold fleet, turnouts of over 40 at recent Scottish Travellers and a very active RYA and Open raining programme sees Scottish Toppers in a very healthy position.

Much of the credit for this success must go to out going Scottish Area Rep, Liz Palmer who had been at the helm since 2006. Liz has now retired as Area Rep and the tiller has been passed to your correspondent, Graham Foster who joined the ITCA Committee on Tuesday as Scottish Area Rep and is hoping to be able to at least continue some of the good work Liz has delivered.

Liz was formally thanked for all her work on the ITCA GBR Committee at the helpers reception on Wednesday night. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of all Scottish Topper Sailors, parents and coaches to echo the words of ITCA chairman Charles Glover in thanking Liz for all her hard work over the years. Well done Liz, what would we have done without you?

From Andrew MacGowan competing for places in the top ten to Ian Sword competing in his 4.2 in the Regatta Fleet we all appreciate what you have done for Scottish Toppers and wish you well.

Day Three at Pwllheli - news from the front.

No sailing at all yesterday for the main fleet due to high winds and three metre high vertical faced waves that prevented a course being laid.

Needless to say the Regatta fleet showed everyone up by having two good sessions in the bay although they were two up with two reefs in!

Fleet launched today on time with promising wind but visbility has now dropped to unsafe levels and race one has had to be abandoned. The fleet are now returning to the beach.

Picture shows 300 Toppers heading out this morning.

Latest news from the Nationals - Scottish Toppers on Tour

There is a live update on the nationals being posted every day on www.gbrtopper.co.uk. Today was a fantastic day's sailing enjoyed by all 31 of the travelling Scottish Topper fleet. The fleet launched in good order from Pwffheli's large sandy beach at around 12 noon and the OOD managed to run nine excellent races of approximately 45 minutes each. This keeps all three flights on target for the qualification series which should be completed by Tuesday. With 326 boats competing in the main fleet this was a very impressive achievement and if this is the standard all week then this will be an excellent championship.

Top of the Scots is Andrew MacGowan with results in the top ten and good performances today seeing Angus Gray Stevens, Jamie Noyes, Alexander Still, Sammi Foster and Emily Robertson all recording individual race scores inside the top 20.

Strong winds forecast for tommorow....

G.