Topper Nationals 2006

It’s been years since anyone from Sutton did the topper nationals and now we have a team together, which kick ass. There’s no other way to put it. When out on the water we don’t say good luck. We say “kick ass”

This year we didn’t kick ass. We did ok. It was a great week and we all learned a lot. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Steve Venables, Greg O’Brien and Allan Coleman for training us over the last few months. Also our parents for taking us to the event.

But onto the week its self. Five of us took part. James Hill, Dan Ewers, Matt and Dan Venables and I. Dan Venables was in Regatta Fleet, meaning that he did training and had fun all week. They went on picnics and did capsize drill while the rest of us raced hard.

The first day there was just enough wind and managed to get the scheduled three races in. Day two came and there was absolutely no wind but after hours of postponement we managed to get one race in. The wind dropped again and we all came in. Day three, four races were scheduled to try and get all races of the qualifying series in. Luckily there was some wind and the four races took place. Although none of us finished the fourth as it was a lot for us. Six or so hours on the water!

So after three days were split into two starts- Gold, the best 130 and Silver, the remaining 130, all Sutton boats being the Silver fleet.

Day four. There was lots of wind. Big waves and lots of aching legs. Very different to Sutton.

None of us expected more wind on day five but there was. James and Dan both decided to reef. Matt didn’t race, but joined the regatta fleet. And I decided to be brave, and be one of the few to use full sail. (I later heard that my dad, Peter and Allan thought that we must be very brave to go out in that wind, or very mad)
We all just about scraped by in the first two races. But, in the third race the three of us were occupying the last three places. Dan and I both caught the same gust going down wind and death rolled, and then turtled. James took this opportunity to get ahead while Dan and I were upside down. We got out boats up, nose dived a few times, before I death rolled again. This time I decided to call it a day but Dan carried on.

So the last day came, Dan, James and I needed to do these two races in to qualify. There was a little less wind than the day before, but we all reefed. Then, the wind dropped and we were all very annoyed, so took our reefs out and then spent the next hour or so drifting round until the wind picked up. The races started and it was very close with Dan finishing first out of Sutton boats, then me, the James. So the end of the week came and we are all now experts of sea sailing, turteling and nose-diving.

The highlights of the week have to be Dan swallowing the ring pull of a coke can, James being locked in a port a loo and on the down side I am now known by three hundred people as the girl who fancies Mike Wood (which, for those of you who were there and know who I’m talking about, I don’t)

Once again thank you for a great week, especially from the support team- My dad, Pete, Allan, Beth, Steve and Jude- who you can guess spent most of the week drinking!

So in the end overall (in the Silver Fleet)
James- 105
Georgina- 106 (by half a point, you can imagine how annoyed I was)
Dan- 114
And Matt- 130 (because he didn’t complete all the races)

And maybe next year we can (as Pete repeatedly said) knock the hundred off our places!

By Georgina Fletcher (t.f.c) and Dan Ewers.