Thursday 26 November 2009

Traveller 2010 Final List

Its not perfect I know but this is it. The 2010 Travellers list.

Annandale, 24/25 April 2010
Dalgety Bay, 22/23 May 2010
Helensburgh, 19/20 June 2010
Largo Bay, 26/27 June 2010
Prestwick, 4/5 September 2010
Loch Tummel, 18/19 September 2010

Graham

Saturday 21 November 2009

Scottish Topper Travellers 2010

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Emma. Emma loved to sail and Emma's Mum loved to see Emma loving to sail so Emma's Mum took on organising Topper events and Emma's mum seemed to love organising sailing events so everyone left Emma's Mum to organise all the Topper sailing events. And everyone loved to grumble about the sailing events and how they seemed to always clash with other events and how they always seemed to come one weekend after another and never leave enough time off for club sailing or holidays but everyone seemd to love grumbling so they just kept on grumbling and Emma's Mum kept on orgaising and everyone was happy.

The the little girl called Emma grew up into a fine young woman, and the fine young woman looked around and found a world beyond the world of Toppers and decided that she loved to sail in the world beyond the world of Toppers and Emma's Mum saw that Emma was happy and loved to see Emma sailing in the world beyond the world of Toppers so she moved on to organising the world beyond the world of Toppers and oh boy does that leave a lot of organising to do! And a lot of grumbling - over to you.....

Having spoken with lots of likely candidate clubs and looked at previous events and attendance numbers the list of provisional venues for 2010 is starting to come together and despite my best efforts there will be clashes and weekends one after another and we cannot fit in several of our first choice events for a variety of reasons.

The provisional 2010 travellers list is therefore currently Annandale, Dalgety Bay, Helensburgh, Largo Bay, Prestwick and Tummel. That is one in the South, two in the East, two in the West and one in the North "ish". This list may still have to change or expand.

The Brown Cup will be at Loch Earn in it's usual early June slot with two days of training beforehand.

We have also have two Nationwides which we should support - Derwent Resevoir , which is more or less the same distance for most of us as Annandale and is a great venue with a super camping field so I would hope to see every Scottish Topper there in June and Largs which is in early September.

The RYA Zone Championships will be in late September venue tbc (? Loch Earn).

I am also in discussions with possible sponsors and "Emma's Mum" (see above) is compiling a bid to the RYA seeking funding for coach support for a Development Fleet at every event.

The RYA Yearbook goes to press very soon and I would like to have our dates fixed by then so further news as I can share it.

Graham

Where has all the Topper News Gone?

Hi Folks,
I was just wondering what is happening in the world of Scottish Toppers and I thought I would cast an eye over that useful Scottish Toppers blog that is always do up to date and informative.... What no posts since October? Have all the Toppers been in hibernation?

Well I know that is not the case! perhaps we are just too busy to remember to share our hectic training schedule with the wider world?

I am currently busy trying to put together next years Open Series events or at least I would be if i could get a minute between working and acting as a delivery driver to Topper training, school events, scout camps, gang shows, swimming pools, parties and the like.

I do know that you have all been very bust (oops, freudian slip, not credit crunch bust, I meant busy) with one thing or another. A chance meeting with the Milford clan last weekend (both days, different venues) confirmed the good news that the West squad had a great first weekend of training at Largs with an overnight at Inverclyde. Well done Laurie, sounds great, hope the new Optimist members did not cause you too much trouble!

The Scottish Squad have now had their first Cumbrae weekend which seems to have gone very well by all accounts. Weather not too bad, nothing broken, rain arrived just in time for packing up on Sunday - as usual.

The same weekend Lesley drove to Alton Towers to collect Sammi from a Scout event on the Saturday and to transfer her to Northampton SC to catch the second day of the first ITCA (GBR) Youth Sqaud weekend. My turn to to the driving next weekend (both the car and a support RIB, brrrrr...) It was howling windy (remember the gales that weekend) but I believe Scottish honour was upheld as Sammi may not have been the fastest round the course but was definitely the last boat still racing when all sailing was abandoned in the face of 40 knots plus.

The next weekend we were off to Largs for a day of Open Training with Joanne whilst Sammi was hanging from a tree. (Venture Scout Hamock camp - sleeping in the open between two trees under a tarpaulin) Joanne and Kae (Clark) had a great day learning to "review". A great excuse for a chat if you ask me! It was also really good to see a number of Scottish Toppers past and present benefiting from Largs SC club training led by our 2009 Development Fleet coach Emma Wilkie. Then my next trip was back to the Royal Tay Yacht Club for our weekly visit to their winter series where Lesley is crewing a 420 for Sammi.

What else is happening? Oh yes that Open series for 2010, well I guess I should start another post for that one. Meanwhile please send me your Scottish Topper News. We all want to know what is happening and our avid readers will soon tire of hearing what I do every weekend...

Graham

Monday 2 November 2009

Brown Cup 2010

Here is advanced notice of the planned dates for the Scottish Schools Sailing Championships 2010 , the Brown Cup to take place on June 12-14, 2010

The Championships will be at Loch Earn Sailing Club and will preceeded by two days of Open Topper Training with some top coaches and the Championship proper will take place on Monday June 14th.

Further details will be posted on the Loch Earn Sailing Club web site next spring.

G.