Please select your home edition
Edition
upffront 2024 December Leaderboard

SW Topper Travellers at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

by James Willis 13 Oct 09:59 PDT 5-6 October 2024
Topper Travellers at Chew Valley Lake © James Mills

A huge thank you to the very friendly and scenic Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club for a superb weekend as we sailed the last but one SW Topper Traveller event of the season on 5th and 6th October 2024. A no tide inland lake was a first and quite a novelty for those of us who do most of our sailing in Salcombe.

Saturday featured the usual coaching sessions in building and eventually breezy conditions, setting everyone up for race day on Sunday. Sunday's race day brought shifting conditions that varied from race to race for the four that were sailed back to back over a trapezoid course. The threatened rain thankfully managed to hold off until the fourth race had been sailed and all of us were ashore. Close competition filled the fleet but with a particularly fitting dominant performance by Thomas Semmens and Harry Mills swapping the 1st and 2nd positions between them in their final event in the Topper class.

Thomas had a strong start, winning both Race 1 and Race 2. Harry followed closely behind, finishing in second place in each race. Charlie MacKenzie also performed really well, securing a third place in both.

The third race saw a shift in the order as Harry took first place, moving Thomas to second. Amelie Ballantyne from Starcross YC delivered an impressive performance, finishing in third. In the final race, Thomas regained his lead, finishing first again, with Harry in second and George Reynolds taking third.

The PRO Tim Johnson was very complimentary of the high standard of racing but particularly impressed that, although the fleets pressed the start line to the limit, nobody was OCS in any of the races.

Chew Valley Sailing Club were exceptional hosts, providing very well organised races and a warm Topper welcome and it was great to be able to fuel up with delicious sausage baps before and chilli fries after racing.

Congratulations to Thomas Semmens, Harry Mills, and George Reynolds for placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively in the 5.3 fleet class, and to Brooke Browning, Finley Kirby and James Colis who were 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 4.2 fleet.

The next and last SW Topper Traveller event this season is a two day championship at Parkstone on October 19th and 20th. Look forward to seeing everyone and rounding things off there.

Best of luck to Thomas and Harry and their support teams as they continue their sailing journey into ILCAs. We will miss them but it will be good to have some room at the head of the SW Topper fleet to aim to move into and they will be hard acts to follow.

Related Articles

Southern Rooster Topper Travellers at Spinnaker
Soggy weather conditions and a tricky westerly wind for the final event of the series Soggy weather conditions and a tricky westerly wind direction greeted 29 Topper sailors to Spinnaker Sailing Club on 19th October. This was the final Southern Area Rooster Traveller series of the year, with eleven 5.3 and eighteen 4.2 sailors. Posted on 22 Oct
ITCA Midlands Topper Travellers at Shustoke
Third round of the 2024 mini-series The ITCA Midlands Topper Traveller series ventured out to a new location at Shustoke Sailing Club on October 6th, to complete the third round of the 2024 mini-series. Posted on 20 Oct
Toppers and Teras at Starcross
With capture the flag and tug of war Following the tradition started last year, the day of the annual Tera and Topper Open Meeting dawned sunny and windless. Nearly 30 sailors had travelled to Starcross, from as far afield as Oxfordshire and Fowey in Cornwall. Posted on 14 Oct
NEYYSA event at Yeadon
17 youth sailors brave the uncertain forecast During the two weeks prior to Sunday 29th of September the forecast offered a variety of possible options, ranging from heavy rain with F8 gusts, to clear skies and no wind. When the day arrived, it settled somewhere in the middle. Posted on 9 Oct
ITCA GBR Topper NS1 event at Carsington
A glowing report on the club's facilities and friendliness Carsington was our closest NS event this series, only 4 hours away! When we got there we ran out of gas and then the hot water boiler wouldn't work in our motorhome so things hadn't started well. Posted on 3 Oct
P&B Northamptonshire Youth Series finale
Draycote sees 40 sailors applying suncream The season finale took place at Draycote. The forecast was for a building breeze up to perhaps 14 knots. Sun cream was definitely required, but would the wind fill in as forecast? More than 40 sailors signed on. Posted on 2 Oct
Parkstone Youth Week
Lifelong friendships through sailing At Youth Week, we believe that "Lifelong Friendships Through Sailing" lies at the core of everything we do. With this guiding principle, our team began planning Youth Week back in January, thanks to the return of Quilter Cheviot as our Title Sponsor. Posted on 30 Sep
Kent School Sailing Association Annual Regatta
Held this year at Downs Sailing Club The Kent School Sailing Association's annual 2024 Regatta was held this year at Downs Sailing Club on Saturday 14th September. This was particularly appropriate given that Downs is marking its 75th anniversary this year. Posted on 30 Sep
RYA Welsh Youth and Junior Championships
Nearly 100 sailors took part in an epic weekend of racing at Pwllheli Nearly 100 sailors from across Wales and beyond took part in an epic weekend of racing at Pwllheli for the Welsh Youth & Junior Championships. Posted on 24 Sep
Island Barn Topper Open
The cream rises to the top, even in very light winds How is it when the wind is 1-3 knots, at times barely ruffling the water, and people are saying "this is a complete lottery", the top sailors still fill the top places? Posted on 24 Sep
Lloyd Stevenson - Catalyst Yacht Tender 1456x180px BOTTOMArmstrong 728x90 - A-Wing XPS - BOTTOMSavvy Navvy 2024