September Events

Forthcoming Events in September

Scottish Topper Traveller 5 - Largs Sailing Club - 3rd/4th September 2011

GBR Topper Nationwide 4 - Pwllheli SC (Wales) - 10th/11th September 2011

Scottish Topper Traveller 6 - Prestwick Sailing Club - 17th/18th September 2011

RYA Scotland Zone Championships 2011 - Largs Sailing Club - 24th/25th September 2011

Please Note:- Last entry for the Zone Championships is 20th September 2011 and must be made on line at the RYA Pages on Sailracer.  Anyone who wishes to be considered for squads in 2011/12 must register their interest online via the RYA and also sail at the Zone Championships or contact the RYA High Performance Manager to agree an alternative plan.  On line registration is the single entry point for both national and regional squads.

Volvo Champion Club Regatta 2012

I hope everyone is enjoying a weekend off or perhaps rediscovering their local sailing club?

Last Saturday saw the Annual RYA Scotland Volvo Champion Club Regatta hosted this year at Loch Tummel SC. The event which is firmly aimed at encouraging club level junior sailors to take their first steps into travelling to regional and national level events comprised a morning of coaching for the sailors whilst RYA Pathway Development Officer Adam McGovern met the parents and gave a comprehensive introduction to the RYA Pathway classes and Junior and Youth Racing in Scotland and the UK.  In the afternoon three highly competitive inter-club races were held in the Optimist, Topper and RS Feva Classes.

Overall club winners this year were Loch Tummel SC securing victory by one point despite a very strong challenge by Helensburgh SC.  Read the RYA report here and look out for the full results inclusding individual sailors positions on www.lochtummelsc.org.

Latest Topper News

Joanna Barrie

Samantha 2nd Silver Fleet

Well that's the small Scottish team back from the Worlds.  A good showing, though sadly not spectacular but very promising for next year with Lewis, Joanne and Arron all posting top ten results in individual races and all eligible to compete again as Juniors next year.  Joanna Barrie also performed very well, especially at the beginning of the week and Samantha had a slow start but remembered her Topper skills by the end to secure a place at the prize giving with 2nd overall and first female in the silver fleet.

Dugal and Rory Wilson, plus Lindsay and Scott Johnstone were also enjoying their first experience of a Topper World Championships.

Lewis Marr

Joanne Foster

Aaron Murray

I hope you all found the Championships blog on the special event web site and have enjoyed following our progress.  Sorry I was not Scottish specific updates this time.

These are examples of the many great photo's available to buy from the official event photographer on www.fotosail.com

LARGS SAILING CLUB TRAVELLER

Please be aware that the next Scottish Traveller Event is at LARGS SC on 3rd and 4th September.  This is a replacement for the original plan to go to Loch Lomond which fell through.  Largs are hosting us specially so please make the effort to attend.  This is the venue for the 2011 Zone Championships so with just a few weeks to go to the Zones there could not be a better chance to brush up on sailing at the event venue.  You can enter on the day at Largs.  Alistair Leicester is the club contact.  Further details will appear on the Largs SC web site.

Sovereign Ski Topper World Championships 2011

The 2011 Topper World Championships will shortly take place from the National Yacht Club based in Dun Laoghhaire on Dublin Bay.

Click here to link to the event mini site.

Nationals Report

Wast Lothian Yacht Club were a fantastic host for the 2011 Topper National Championships.  Despite very challenging weather conditions a championship series was held with four races in the qualifying series then four races in the resulting Bronze, Silver and Gold Fleets.  Day 1-5 were held in very challenging light conditions with various interruptions for torrential rain or sea harr reducing visbility below safe levels but the competitiors sprits sayed high.

Friday dawned with sunshine and a good 15 mph Westerley with occassional 20-25 mph gusts and the resulting champagne sailing conditions did at least give the competitiors a taste of East Lothian at its awsome best.

Overall Winner was Gyles Kuzak of Parkstone Yacht Club slipping in front of a very consistent Matt Vennables from Sutton during that last day.  Laura Gilmore from Strangford Lough who had led with a string of first places in the lighter winds could not sustain the challenge in the breeze and finished first female in 6th overall.  Curtis Mearns also enjoyed the breeze to take third overall.

Top Scott was Jack Aitken (JDP) in 32nd overall.  With only four races held in very light breezes the gold fleet was packed out with current Topper 4.2 National squad sailors enjoying the chance to excel with the extra size of the 5.3 sail.  With only one discard there was little room for black flags or errors and several of our top sailors were dissapointed not to make the gold fleet cut in what was to proove a very mixed up set of early results.

Current 4.2 Scottish Star Lewis Marr did make Gold fleet and hung on in the breeze to finish 70th in GOLD and second Scottish sailor overall whilst National Squad Sailors Joanna Barrie (NJS) and Aaron Murray (NIJS) just missed Gold and were 6th and 8th in Silver respectively.

Perhaps the most dissapointed of all was Joanne Foster (NIJS) who might have been a good bet for a top 20 in a breezy event but was lying in the 220's after day one and could not avoid the cut for Bronze fleet!  Fortunately some running repairs solved the problem and she was able to conclude with a 1,3,3,1 scoreline, the only competitor in any fleet to "medal" in every race of the championship series and recovered from 39th to 3rd overall in Bronze.

There are day by day reports on Yachts and Yachting.  The full results and some event pictures are best viewed on the event mini site at http://www.sailracer.us/eventsites/default_eventmode.asp?eventid=63171

The results are currently mixed by fleet so there are three first places then three seconds etc.  These are the gold, silver and bronze fleet positions.

Next up is the Sovereign Ski Topper World Championships in Ireland starting on 15th August 2011.  Lets hope for a more favourable week of weather in Dublin Bay.  Click here for the Worlds Minisite.

Topper 4.2 Flourishing at North Berwick

Just could not resist pointing out the 33 boat Topper 4.2 Regatta Fleet at the Topper Nationals at North Berwick.

Aberdeen and Stonehaven Regatta 2011

The ASYC Open Regatta will take place on 13/14 August (in just over a week), woefully at the same time as the Worlds in Ireland. However, more the reason to make a splash and try out a new venue.

While no longer part of the Topper traveller series, the racing should be very competitive and interesting.
Stonehaven is one of the most picturesque and interesting sailing venues in the country.
Aberdeen & Stonehaven Yacht club would love to welcome as many Toppers come as possible. Two years ago the travelling Optimist fleet voted ASYC as one of their most popular and friendly venues.
Topper Main fleet sailors are invited to compete amongst the General Handicap fleet  - the Development fleet will join the Optimist Regatta fleet on a smaller and fully coached course.
There will be separate prizes for both the Topper main class and Topper Development class.

Event registration via http://www.kbsuk.com/optimist/scotland/index.asp?EventID=72
For more information about the club and NOR check out http://www.asyc.org.uk/

A fully catered for event with even the offer of space on the club house floor if you are struggling to find accommodation.

So what are you waiting for.....