The Topper fleet offers the easiest way into sailboat racing for young people and small adults. For most people it is a transitional class which takes them all the way from learning the basic skills of sailing right through to racing and the more advanced techniques that involves and then on to bigger boats when they outgrow the Topper. For that reason Topper sailing should be seen as a conveyor belt. Most people get into the Topper very early in their sailing life. When to step off the Topper conveyor is different for almost everybody. Some like me are in the class for life, others spin off into other things as their skills and body size develops.
The first steps with the reformed Topper fleet were little tentative but the conveyor belt is really starting to work now. The first to step off was Adam Larvin who decided that the 29er conveyor was for him. After a tricky first season he is now making a real impact in the class. Most recentley Jack Wetherell outgrew the Topper and moved to the Laser radial with immediate success (5th out of 70 at the Radial inlands) The most encouraging thing this year has been far more people moved in and are already progressing through the fleet. The top end of the fleet have spent time on the open meeting circuit which has allowed a new generation to take on the challenge of club racing.
So, who has been doing what in the Topper fleet during the 2008 season? The Spring Points went to Jack Wetherell with Chris White second. The Summer Points was a decisive win for Chris with Sam Waller taking second. Henry Wetherell finally sailed enough races to take the Autumn points. The Trophy race was an extremely tight affair with Sam edging it on the tie break from Chris with Tim Waller in third. Not to be outdone Roy Moxon also struck a blow for the adults with second overall in Early bird 1 with Emma Grayson in third. It was Toppers 1,2 &3 in the first Junior Series with Chris again taking the honours from Megan Backhouse and Emma Grayson. The weather clearly has not been kind to the Toppers in the big handicap events with success only coming in the Leda Bowl when Jack came out on top. The Junior Regatta was mainly Toppers with Megan Backhouse dominating proceedings with the Mirror of Ed Grayson second and then a whole raft of Toppers after that.
The Beaver Open was part of the Topper North East Travellers series and attracted an excellent 22 boats from all round the region. Despite some starring moments from the home fleet, notably Emma Grayson in race one, the results were dominated by circuit regulars. After three very demanding races Alex Leonard from Sheffield Vikings just edged it from Jack Wetherell with Samantha Towers of Ripon third and Will Hackney (North Lincs. and Beaver) in fourth. These four all feature regularly in the results at National events.
Beaver Toppers have had many highlights away from the club this year with Jack, Will and Henry moving relentlessly up the leader board. All of them were part of training squads last winter and took part in the Worlds (180 entries), Nationals (300 entries) and all of the Nationwide Series ( 140-195 entries) in 2008. All of them improved their results at every event culminating in the final Nationwide at Carsington when they finished 1st (Jack), 5th (Will) and 11th (Henry) in a massive 140 boat fleet. Henry was top 12 year old, the second one only just made the top 100! Jack and Will also won several events on the Topper North Eastern Circuit.
It looks as though 2009 will be a real breakthrough year for the Topper fleet. The number of first timers in Topper racing during 2008 bodes well for the future as these become regular racers and the next group use the coming season to test out the water on the racing pond. Next year I expect to be reporting the successes of this new generation but for now I will end by telling you about the current crop. Jack has not only moved to Laser Radials but has been selected for the RYA Radial Transitional Training Squad. Will Hackney is sailing in the Topper Youth Squad and Henry has been selected for the RYA National Junior Squad. And proving what an excellent training boat it is, Megan Backhouse and Carol White have been selected for the RS Feva Intermediate Squad and James Penty for the RS Feva Northern Squad. All of these are Beaver Topper sailors. Maybe it`s not a conveyor but an escalator up to a higher level !
Julie Harris
