Five visitors joined seven home boats for this year’s Topper Open, part of the SW circuit. Numbers were unfortunately well below previous year’s due to the proximity to the National Championships, nonetheless some boats travelled through the night to be there and competition throughout the fleet was fierce.
Competitors enjoyed four races in perfect conditions with sunshine and 8 – 12 knots. At the front of the fleet things were very close with each of the top four competitors taking a race win and only 2 points separating the first four places in the final results. Jonathan Wilson of Wimbleball SC came out on top with a very consistent series counting a 1st and two 2nds. Kieran Moore of Bristol Corinthian and Freya Cumpsty of Chew Valley finished on equal points with Kieran taking 2nd working all the way back to their discards to split them, and only a point behind Laurie Tilling of Bristol Corinthian finished 4th.
Throughout the fleet there were some great battles and very close racing. Well done to Ben Sykes, Callum Haine and Zach Freer for some good individual performances. Special mentions to Hugo Broad and Ollie Minkley of Chew Valley and Joe Hartshorn of Frampton who were competing in their first Open. Hugo finished a very impressive 8th overall and Ollie getting the prize for first 4.2 rig.
Photos at Flickr
Nick Martindale
