Rooster Topper World Championships at Le cercle nautique de Loctudy - Day 1
by Michelle Hill, ITCA 26 Jul 2017 01:34 AEST
24-28 July 2017
Today marked the start of the Topper World Championships in Loctudy, and what a day with sunshine (very enjoyable after the persistent rain of yesterday) and a fairly stiff breeze with some of the gusts reaching highs in the 20kts.
The 5.3 fleet set out at one o'clock and made their way to the race course for a two o'clock start in what was to be a windy day. Split into three flights, of yellow, blue and red, it was the yellow flight that started first and after only one general recall the start progressed into the first stages of the race.
Soon followed the blue and red flights each having only one general recall (although this resulted in the use of the dreaded U – Flag). The fleet obliged and managed to get a clear start with only a few strays caught out on the course side of the line.
Very close and competitive racing continued throughout the day, but as the afternoon wore on, the wind started to build along with a significant chop, now testing the testing the heavy wind skills of the sailors even more!
Overall for the 5.3 fleet it was a very successful day of racing, with three races being completed. Dan McGaughey IRL took todays honours being ranked first at the end of the day, followed by Lowri Boorman GBR on 8 points and Samuel Copper GBR taking third.
With four days left in the competition, there is still plenty of time for sailors to make up places and the results can change just as quickly as the weather can!
Meanwhile in the 4.2 fleet, racing progressed swiftly with just as testing conditions battling the fleet. With only two flights in this class, racing on this course progressed more swiftly and three races were completed in a very quick time.
Ben Purrier GBR ended top of the leaderboard with three bullets closely followed by Sean Woodward GBR and Xinran Chen CHN. More racing will continue tomorrow in likely the same conditions.
Full results for 5.3 fleet [PDF]
Full results for 4.2 fleet [PDF]