On the 3rd to the 8th of August 2008 the Magic Marine Topper Nationals took place in Paignton, Torquay. 310 boats, 279 in the main fleet, and 31 in the regatta fleet, raced it out over a 6 day intensive racing programme. There were competitors in the main fleet aged from 9 to 52. From John O’Groats all the way to Land’s End and Ireland. The regatta fleet did a few races every day against each other in the confines of the cove. The regatta fleet generally comprises the siblings of older sailors competing in the main fleet.
The main fleet battle it out in 3 random flights, red, blue and yellow for the first 3 days. This is called the qualification stage. The flights are randomly rearranged every morning in the hope of letting everyone race against most people. At the end of the qualification stage the sailors are put into gold, silver and bronze fleets, the best 93 in gold fleet, the next best 93 in silver fleet and the others in bronze fleet.
Jonathan Olin finished an astounding 12th, a great success. Joe Cheetham finished in 85th in his 5th national championships. Topper West Zone Squad member James Bennett finished an impressive 90th in gold fleet considering he is only 14! Rachel Wilcock, also from the Topper West Zone Squad finished 37th in bronze fleet, a great result as this is only her 1st nationals in the main fleet. The overall winner was Elliot Hanson, a National Squad sailor from Redesmere SC, near Macclesfield. He is the first sailor ever to win all three big regattas, the Worlds, Nationals and Inlands in the same year!
The weather was very windy for all three days of the qualifying series. The wind was accompanied by rain and dark clouds throughout all three days. Sailors were on the water for up to 6 hours every day with no time to come ashore as the race area was a half an hour sail away and that it took an hour to launch and another hour to recover the whole fleet. Elliot managed to get a 1st in all 8 races. The weather throughout the Final series was very hot and sunny before launching, but cloudy and sometimes wet during racing. On the last day of racing Elliot trapped his finger under the dagger board whilst slamming it down and injured it, he couldn’t sail the last two races, however as he had already racked up a brilliant score he didn’t need to do these races and still beat Felicity Foulds who finished second.
Ken Falcon, the principal race officer, managed to award 58 black flags in one day, a record! Many people got black flagged for being on course side within the 1 minute period before the start of a race. If you get a black flag you get a BFD (black flag de) which is a score of the total number of boats plus one. The jury boat also gave out lots of yellow flags for offences such as pumping, sculling and hitting marks. A yellow flag means you have to do a 720 straight away otherwise you get protested by the jury, almost a definite loss!
After the racing there was a big prize giving. A one and a half hour wait with over 600 people packed like sardines into a marquee. After the wait flower bouquets were given out to helpers and officials. Then Plates, trophies and equipment were handed out to competitors for things like race 5 winner, Best female and Highest placed over 30 and best under 13. At the end of the ceremony Elliot was given the topper top hat and the National Champion Trophy!
Written By James Bennett
Hannah Bristow, from Macclesfield has been selected by Henri Lloyd and Mailspeed Marine to receive support in the form of a selection of technical marine clothing jointly designed by Henri Lloyd and double gold medallist Ben Ainslie. Hannah, aged 10 is currently competing in the Optimist class out of Budworth Sailing Club.