Topper Midlands Championships 2024 at Notts County Sailing Club

Topper Midlands Championships at Notts County © ITCA

Hot on the heels of the ITCA Midlands Topper Traveller Series, the sailors were back on the water for the Topper Midlands Championships held at Nottinghamshire County Sailing Club on 8th and 9th June 2024. This was a two-day event, consisting of a total of seven races with five held on the Saturday followed by a further two on the Sunday.

The first day started looking as though it would be a fairly light day but the Westerly wind quickly picked up with gusts of 18 mph to a point where some of the lighter sailors reefed their sails. The unpredictable gusts made day 1 racing challenging for everyone as the wind went from steady to flat hiking in seconds. The windward-leeward course also added challenge, as whilst being simple, the long dead run back down to the gate caused many death rolls.

Overnight, Jake Blakeway (Trimpley) was unassailably positioned with five wins from five races, but skilful sailing had left 4.2 sailor Hari Clark (Draycott) in second place overall, with Alex Stainton (Hollowell) just a couple of points behind.

Topper Midlands Championships at Notts County - photo © ITCA

Fortunately for most sailors, the wind died down slightly overnight which meant a lot of the racing was more competitive as lighter sailors could show their skills. Jacob Blakeway was the dominant force of the weekend, winning every race despite some good challenges by a variety of sailors, inclusion Alex Stainton, Will Clarke, Hari Clark and James Burton (Notts County), who was the under 13 winner and forth overall.

Aside from the battles at the front of the fleet, there were some courageous battles for survival towards the back, particularly from Audray Yang who completed every race, and a number of first time racers including Elizabeth Stainton, Jack Rowsell, Herbert Parker and Stirling Parker.

Topper Midlands Championships at Notts County - photo © ITCA

The sudden gusts throughout the weekend proved challenging not only to sailors but also to equipment. We were incredibly grateful to have "Topper Russ" Dent on site to work his magic getting boats back out onto water to rejoin racing. As Russ says; "For me, helping a sailor facing a problem with their boat and getting them back out on the water with a smile on their face means more to me than anything. Happy sailors is what we are all about at Topper International."

Midlands ITCA Rep Allison Blakeway was also onsite all weekend and presented Values Awards for not giving up to Dan Riley, Ed Croxton and Harry Fenton and a further award to Thomas Croxton was also rewarded for lending his boom to another sailor. Allison was also able to present the Winner Jackets for the 2023-24 ITCA Midlands Topper Traveller series to 5.3 winner Jacob Blakeway, and 4.2 winner Hari Clark.

Thanks to race officer James Logan and team, and the safety crews.

Topper Midlands Championships at Notts County - photo © ITCA

Overall Results:

1st U19 Jacob Blakeway
2nd U19 Alex Stainton
3rd u19 Will Clarke

U13 1st James Burton
U13 2nd Tom Moriarty
U13 3rd Fred Seddon

4.2 Champion - Hari Clark (3rd place overall)