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Topper South East Winter Regatta at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

by Mike Jones 5 Mar 03:56 PST 1 March 2025
George Sumner (48102) leading in Race 3 - Topper SE Winter Regatta at Island Barn © IBRSC

It was one of those days yet again at Island Barn where the wind was zero for the first four hours. To add to our woes the visibility was just 50 metres, barely longer than the start line. South East Topper sailors and their parents did well just to leave home on such an unpromising day. But 42 toppers did. Well done, all of you!

Early lunch was taken for the third successive Open, and our patience was rewarded with a north easterly 3 knot breeze at 12.30. The course was a simple quadrilateral with a beat, reach, run, reach. For the first time at Island Barn all Toppers were fitted with TracTrac supplied by Brett Lewis.

Racing started at 1.15 and at the first start two boats were OCS, but only one, Alex Balding returned. Sam Mason (Silver Wing), Ralph Hadley (Tankerton Bay SC) and William Sadler (Reading SC) changed places several times on both the very shifty beats, with Mason winning the final beat and holding his position to the finish, with Hadley second and Sadler third.

In Race 2 five boats were over at the pin end but all returned and restarted quickly. The Committee boat team was astounded to see the winner of Race 1, Sam Mason, start last in this, the following race. The firm breeze at the start became sporadic in the second lap, particularly on the beat.

'Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.' These words, from a great Stealers Wheel record of 1972, came to the writer's mind in this beat, where the bulk of the fleet was stuck in the middle with barely a whisper of a breeze; but to the left of the fleet was a 4 knot breeze and to right of the fleet also a 4 knot breeze.

Whoever got to either of these breezes first would profit, but which one to go for? Ben Hughes (Island Barn) got it right; so did Edward Taylor (Island Barn) and William Sadler, who finished in this order.

Race 3 brought a discard into play. Leaders on points were William Sadler, Ralph Hadley and Oscar Lay, in that order. Surely the event winner would come from these three. At the end of lap one, we had William Sadler first, with George Sumner second and Jonathan Shields third. The event would surely go Sadler's way. But wait. Who was in fourth? Our Race 1 winner Sam Mason, who had clearly put his nightmare Race Two behind him. If the order stayed the same to the end Sadler would take the event on 4 points from Mason on 5.

So quite a final lap was in store.

On the final beat Rohan O'Kane (Clyde Cruising Club and son of the visiting ITCA chairman), read the challenging shifts very well and led at the top mark, followed by Sam Mason, who gained two places on this final beat, while William Sadler had dropped from first to third. In a dying breeze, Race 3 was shortened by two legs, and in the short, final reach, these three retained their positions to the finish line: O'Kane, Mason, Sadler.

Sadly for Sadler, the most consistent sailor of the day (three thirds), his score of 6 after a discard was trumped by the least consistent, Sam Mason, on a first, twenty-first and a second, scoring 3 overall. This is not to diminish Mason's achievement. To score a second after a twenty first showed real bounce-back determination and he was a worthy winner of the Barnstormer Trophy.

The seven strong Topper 4.2 Fleet, which shared the same start as the 5.3s, had some very close racing, but Isabelle Simpson from Island Barn nailed it in two races with two firsts. Alfie Tollit from Shoreham SC took second overall with two seconds.

There was just one Topper 6.4 sailed by Erica Bishop, from Wimbledon Park, who, of course, was first.

1st UNDER 13: Sam Taylor, Island Barn RSC
1st NON SQUAD: Ben Hughes, Island Barn RSC

5.3 Fleet Results:

PosSail NoHelmClubR1R2R3Pts
1st46703Sam MasonSilver Wing SC1‑2123
2nd48683William SadlerReading SC‑3336
3rd49195Rohan O'kaneClyde Cruising Club DS/Largs SC‑10718
4th49358Ralph HadleyTankerton Bay SC/Whitstable YC26‑118
5th49180Oscar LayDesborough SC IBRSC‑64610
6th47649Sam TaylorIBRSC58‑1313
7th32145Ben Hughes 131‑2914
8th48102George SumnerIBRSC11‑15415
9th49177Sam DenceIsland Barn Reservoir SC7‑141017
10th47863Edward TaylorIBRSC172‑2519
11th46656Frances SouthallIBRSC/Minima YC‑2751419
12th44598Evan HellyerAqua Sports4‑191620
13th46007Thomas MatthewsIsland Barn SC9‑161221
14th48660Alex BaldingIsland Barn Reservoir SC15‑17722
15th47030Jonathan ShieldsTonbridge Town SC18‑22523
16th48193Charlie WeatherittTonbridge Town SC1411‑1525
17th49176Harry DenceIsland Barn Reservoir SC8‑231927
18th15725Isaac ChapmanIBRSC‑24101727
19th47647Dan YamamotoTonbridge Town SC1613‑2029
20th49063Toby Turner 22‑25931
21st47184Ethan PillingerPapercourt SC‑3492231
22nd47725izzy Knott 1912‑2331
23rd45093Tom BrownPapercourt SC25‑27833
24th31685Lexi AdamsPapercourt SC12‑242436
25th104Faith Turner 21‑261839
26th49061Joshua BlackmanPapercourt SC‑31182139
27th47853Max PoetChipstead SC20‑292646
28th48930Josie TannerTamesis/QMSC2620‑2746
29th42919Susan LewisPapercourt SC2328‑3051
30th48368Boming TanTamesis2930‑3159
31st44104Myles BotleyTonbridge Town SC2832(DNC)60
32nd1034LukeHousdenWenbley33‑342861
33rd40795Dylan Boynton LavelleIsland Barn Reservoir SC30‑333262
34th48645Arthur Peregrine‑JonesTamesis Club3231(DNC)63

4.2 Fleet Results:

PosSail NoHelmR1R2R3Pts
1st38Isabelle Simpson11‑32
2nd48150Alfie Tollit2‑424
3rd48349Rex Wraight4‑515
4th48913Alexis Skinner33‑46
5th30202Martha Shorter52‑67
6th47949Szymon Giersz‑66511
7th4103Luke Housden‑Thomas(DNC)DNCDNC16

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