ITCA (GBR) Invitational Topper Coaching at Hayling Island Sailing Club
by Victory Montgomery 12 May 22:27 PDT
26-27 April 2025
High Wind Set Up and Practice during the Topper Coaching at Hayling Island © Tim Matthews
The GBR Class Association for Toppers (ITCA-GBR) recently organised an Invitational Coaching Event of 2025 at Hayling Island Sailing Club on 26th/27th April where we had a group of the top 23 very enthusiastic Topper sailors from across the UK were in attendance looking to develop their racing skills ahead of the National Series event season.
This was the second out of three Invitational Coaching event of the year, where Sailors are invited to attend these training events based upon their recent results in the ITCA GBR National Series. This is a great opportunity for the sailors to train with others who they are regularly racing with at these events.
The association arranged for 3 fantastic coaches, Lead Coach Flip Dugdale supported by Tom Scott and Amiee Bray. Additionally, as an added extra, we had a very special evening with Simon Rowell, the British Sailing Team and Olympic Meteorologist deliver an inspirational Zoom session with the sailors which was hugely valuable a week before the event to teach sailors about the wind conditions to expect at Hayling Island.
Victory Montgomery commented "The Topper Invitational Training weekend at Hayling Island Sailing Club brought together many of the UK's top Topper sailors for a focused and challenging weekend on the water at one of the UKs best clubs. With expert coaching from Flip Dugdale (Class Development), Tom Scott and Aimee Bray the weekend centred on developing short-term tactics alongside longer-term strategic thinking."
"Conditions at Hayling were demanding, with very strong tides and light winds in the mornings that gradually built into the afternoons. These variable conditions provided the perfect environment for practicing tactical adaptability. A standout moment came from fellow sailor Rohan O'Kane, who cleverly avoided the tide by lifting his daggerboard and rudder all the way up to skim through the shallow water over a sandbank—an inspired move, possibly straight out of Swallows and Amazons, which was quickly adopted by the rest of the fleet"
"The core focus of the weekend was integrating tactical decision-making into broader race strategies. Particular attention was given to overtaking opportunities in the mid-fleet, mark rounding positioning, and lay line judgment. Sailors were encouraged to chip away at competitors through clever positioning and timing, rather than relying solely on speed."
"The weekend concluded with a short race series, which was won by Victory Montgomery utilising everything he had learned. Second and third places went to Sam Dence and Evan Hellyer, rounding off a strong and competitive showing from the fleet."
Overall, it was a weekend full of learning, creativity, and strong racing spirit. Sailors left more confident and well-prepared for the upcoming Eric Twiname Championships at Rutland and NS4 in Plas Heli. Topper Russ and Rooster kindly provided prizes for the first 5 sailors of the short race series, Victory Montgomery, Sam Dence, Evan Hellyer, Harry Dence and Faith Turner, a big thank you to Topper Russ and Rooster for their generosity and support for this event.
The sailors throughout the group showed focus, determination and resilience across both days where the coaches ensure maximum time was gained on the water. The enthusiasm showed by the sailors was amazing all weekend, they had a great time working with the coaches and their energy levels remain high and focus continued right until the end of the 2nd day. A special thanks to all our coaches and volunteer parents/guardians who really made the weekend so much fun and full of learning. We now look forward to NS4 at Plas Heli, the fourth event in the National Series for 2025.
Entries are open on the ITCA Website (www.itca-gbr.co.uk/calendar). Topper Sailors will be keen to do as well as they can to put themselves in a position to receive an invite to the next ITCA GBR Invitational Coaching which is on July 5th/6th at Poole Yacht Club with Lead Coach Steve Irish, supported by Tom Goodbourn and Topper World Champion Joe Rowe.