Scottish Topper Squad 2010/11

With the squad gathering for the first time at Inverclyde for their orientation weekend I can now confirm the squad members for this year will be

Aaron Murray

Jack Aitken

Jo Barrie

Jo Foster

Iain McLaughlan

Kae Clark

David Abraham

Jessica Milford

Lewis Marr

Dean Malcolm

Andrew Mitchell

Ryan McIntyre

G.

Carsington Nationwide

Five determined Scots headed off for Alton Towers last weekend and took the chance to drop in on the final Topper GBR Nationwide event at Carsington.  The weekend started well with a promising 10-14 mph Northerly breeze but alas the forecast was for it to drop steadily through the day which unfortunately it did making for very testing conditions on the racecourse.

In the 4.2 fleet Lewis Marr was consistently at the front end of the 27 boat fleet scoring 3,3,5,4,2,4,2 to take third overall.

In the 5.3 eevnt it was Samantha Foster who showed the early form opening with a 9th and a tenth to place 12th overall after 2.  Alas the dying wind put an end to that with a 33 in race three!  Next Scot overnight was Joanne Foster in 55 with Aaron Murray close behind on 59.  Jack Aitken was also inside the top 100.

Sunday dawned and exactly as forecast the lake was a beautiful mill pond.  The AP was broken out and the waiting started.  Around 11 the wise owls in the bar were proved right as a fairly steady Southerly filled in and the fleet set out into a light but race-able 6mph breeze.  Race two was a good one in 10 mph with several sailors seen to be sitting out but alas for race six it was back to tip toes and roll tacks.

Sammi again led the way including an impressive 4th in race 5 but found the light winds very difficult and actually dropped to a dissapointing 39th by the end.  Aaron on the other hand was getting better as the wind got lighter and finished with an 18 and a 15 to overhaul Jo and finish second Scot in 57th.  Jo dropped to 70th and Jack had another steady day and came home 87th.

Final places
Samantha 39th (10,9,33,39,4,42)
Aaron 57th (37,25,38,32,18,15)
Jo 70th (33,25,30,47,35,29)
Jack 87th (42,22,50,58,41,39)

This was the final event of the 2010 Nationwide Series and six Scots made the top 100.
Samanatha 29th, Alexander 33rd, Aaron 36, Jordan 62, Jessica 69, Jack 98.

Topper 4.2 National Squad Selected.

For 2010/11 the National Topper 4.2 Squad will be supported financially by the RYA.  The growing popularity of the Topper 4.2 for younger and lighter sailors resulted in a growth to 28 applications this year for the ITCA (GBR) Topper 4.2 National Squad. The standard of sailing during the indicator events was extremely high which made the selection process very hard. Congratulations to the following sailors who have been offered a place in the squad:

Nicola Stagg • Haydn Griffiths • Ella Methven • Elliott Kuzyk • Crispin Beaumont • Megan Bailey • Lewis Marr • Ethan Dawson • Elsa Robinson • Georgie McKenzie • Elizabeth Sherwood • Eleanor Hutchings • Nina Tilley • Miles Weekes • Alexander Hughes • Joseph Mullan • Rhiannon Flack • Halden Neilsen-Timms • Hannah Stowe.

Well done Lewis, Scotland will be relying on you to retain the Nationwide Championship won by our very own Joanne Foster in 2010!

Chuckie's Topper for Sale

Click here for details.

Photograph courtesy of fotoboat.

Scottish Laser Radials Blog

Well it comes to us all - well to most of us - in the end.  We just reach that point when the attractions of the Topper class are insufficient for our growing needs and we find ourselves moving on. For some it is a matter of age, for some it is the lure of Olympic competition and for some it is just size that proves the deciding factor.

But fear not, for those of you who have to leave us for the Laser Radial at least, there is now a Scottish Laser Radial blog to remind you of those halcyon days of Topper sailing and to act as a notice board for all things Radial in Scotland.

Check out www.scottishradials.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Welsh Zone Championships on BBC Wales

BBC Wales carried a nice report on Welsh Junior and Youth Sailing on the 8th of October.  It is currently available at the link below but may not be there for long.

The sailing starts at 17 minutes and 13 seconds into the 30 minute programme so you will want to jump forwards.  See if you can spot anyone you know

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00v8qgl/Sport_Wales_08_10_2010/

Killer shrimp contained

 

Killer shrimp found in UK waters has been contained.

Grafham Water Sailing Club suffered some minor disruption to its sailing schedule last month due to a small but voracious shrimp found in the reservoir.

Dikerogammarus villosus, nicknamed the "killer shrimp" is a particularly aggressive predator. It preys on a range of invertebrates, particularly native shrimps and young fish, sometimes wiping out entire populations.

Previously unknown in the UK it was spotted by two keen eyed anglers fishing at Grafham Reservoir, early in September who caught some specimens and sent them off to the Environment Agency (EA) for identification.

Ban at Grafham Water now lifted

The club had to cancel a scheduled open event on September 19th – 20th, when a temporary ban on boat movements was imposed on the club whilst the EA investigated.

However the ban has now been lifted and the club has been permitted to operate a regime in which any boat leaving the club premises is first washed down with fresh water.

 For the full story see the RYA web site. www.rya.org.uk

Toppers Wanted

One of the disadvantages of the Topper being such a versatile and durable little boat is that they are always in demand.  That is great news if you have one to sell but not so great for welcoming new sailors to the class.

If you know of any Toppers for sail please drop me a line at arearep.scotland@gbrtopper.co.uk

I would be happy to list boats for sale and I often have enquiries from new sailors looking for boats or bits.

Graham

Royal Tay Winter Series 2010

Why not try something new this year?  If you are within range come and join us on Sundays as below:-

 

Go on - you know you want to!

G.

Winter Squads

For those of you who are awaiting news of your winter squad applications here is a little taster to wet the appetite...

Cick here for video

And remmeber if you do not get picked for a squad, or you did not apply we are going to offer some ITCA Open training this winter or next spring if the ice age weather of last year returns.  Emma Wilkie will be our head coach and the training can be tailored to all your needs from first steps afloat through to National Championship preparation.

If you are interested please e-mail me at arearep.scotland@gbrtopper.co.uk and I will ensure you are on my mailing list.

We are having a rest this weekend after the worlds, the travel then four race weekends on the trot and school and work and scouts etc etc etc.

See some of you at Carsington?

G.