GJW Direct Topper Inland Championship at Grafham Water Sailing Club

GJW Direct Topper Inlands at Grafham Water © ITCA GBR Class Association

Jessica Powell wins the 5.3 fleet in the GJW Direct Topper Inlands at Grafham Water © ITCA GBR Class Association

Sam Mason wins the 4.2 fleet in the GJW Direct Topper Inlands at Grafham Water © ITCA GBR Class Association

It was fantastic to be heading back to Grafham Water Sailing Club for the GJW Topper Inlands. Following on from the Winter Champs again we had a pre-entry of over 100 5.3s and 21 4.2s.

The forecast was for light winds for the weekend and on Saturday morning after a week of rain keeping cars and vans off the grass on arrival was essential to avoid getting stuck.

Once again it was fantastic to have Topper Russ from Topper Sailboats on-site and once his van was towed off the grass by the friendly Grafham bosuns tractor he was ready to set up and help support the sailors with spares and repairs making sure everyone was ready to race.

The Fleets launched into 5 knots of breeze hoping to get as many races in as possible with the forecast looking unsailable for Sunday due to no wind.

The first start of the 5.3s was yellow and blue flights with some very close and difficult racing due to many wind shifts coming down the course. Despite this, Olly Smith took the first race win of the day closely followed by Alex Jones and Jess Powell. After watching the 1st start, white and red flights were up with Jasper Bramwell securing the win followed by Rory Clow and Clem Middle. Due to the patchy wind the race officer raised the AP flag with the hope the wind would fill back in. Half an hour later, with enough wind to start the second race with yellow and red off first Jess Powell managed to win the race in some extremely difficult conditions and was followed by Jake Davies and Thomas Semmens whilst in the white and blue fleet Torquil Morrison took the win followed by Olly Smith and Zac Chappell. After the AP was raised again due to lack of wind the RO saw more wind on a different part of the lake so everybody followed the committee boat hoping to get the final race in. Sufficient wind filled in to send off both fleets with Rory Clow taking the win in white and yellow flights closely followed by Torquil Morrison and Jess Powell. In the red and blue flights Cameron McDaid won the race with Holly Norton and Robert Hole in 2nd and 3rd.

In the 4.2 fleet of 21 boats, the Race Officer managed to get 4 races completed on Saturday. The racing was close with Sam Mason of Silver wing, winning race 1 and 3. Race 2 was won by James Pipe of Waldrinfield, and the final race by William Sadler of Reading SC. After a discard, Sam Mason was first, followed by Oscar Lay of Island Barn and Jonathan Shields of Chipstead in third. Congratulations to all sailors on completing all the races.

GJW Direct Topper Inlands at Grafham Water - photo © ITCA GBR Class Association

On Sunday a postponement of 1 hour was raised early on with an indefinite postponement being made at 11am while the Race Officer going to make his final decision at noon. With the wind still incredibly patchy AP over A was raised just after 12 noon meaning no more racing for the day so only 3 races to count and no discards. A massive congratulations to all who sailed at NS3 with some incredibly difficult conditions and well done to all the winners (results below). A huge thanks to all the volunteers who made the event run so smoothly and thanks to the sponsors for the prizes: GJW Direct, Rooster, Optimum time, Harken and Topper Sailboats.

Overall Results:

5.3 Fleet

4.2 Fleet