Biggest ever entry

278 boats have been fighting it out for the 2005 Topper National Championship

From the biggest ever entry, Welsh sailor Bleddyn Mon collected his first major title when he secured the Topper class UK National Championship with a 17th in the final race on the Clyde off Largs on Friday 12th Aug.

Mon, from Anglesey's Red Wharf Bay Sailing Club, whose elder brother Eifion holds the Worlds title and is current UK Inland champion, still needed only a conservative final race to win overall but only just did enough to win. Entering the final day with a 38 point cushion over Wimbledon Park's Oscar McVeigh, Mon pushed his strategic plan to sail middle, conservative lanes to the limit.

With big shifts favouring the left after the starts of both races, coupled with the need to start cleanly amidst the melees which had seen plagues of black flag dsq's handed down at many of the starts by race officer Ken Falcon, the pressure on Bleddyn was intense. His final margin may have been only three points over McVeigh, but there was no mistaking his strength and talent in the light prevailing winds. Mon entered the Finals with four race wins from five starts and had a first and second on the penultimate day.
" I was a little nervous," admitted Mon, "But I was pretty confident that I could still put in the top 20 placing that I needed, so I was quite relieved when I heard I had won."

A strong finish - a fifth then a first in the final races - gave McVeigh second overall.
" I was still hoping I could win, but you never really know. I just knew I had to go out and do my best and see what happened. I never saw Bleddyn in either of the races so I knew he had to be back there somewhere but I just concentrated on sailing my own races," explained McVeigh.

Top Scot Peter Irwin (Linlithgow Loch) completed a good comeback after a controversial penalty within yards of the finish line which dropped him from second to 14th on Wednesday which was immediately followed by a disqualification for a starting infringement. Irwin's sixth and ninth gave him third overall, while Tarbert's Nell Hardie finished in 12th place which gave her the girls title.

In the Silver Fleet Jebel Ali's Ben Butler posted a second and a third from the final day to overtake Spey Valley's Kim Ross who took second.

In the 26 boat Regatta fleet, which had a great week including circumnavigating the island of Cumbrae, Elton's Lucy Jackson won from Strathclyde Loch's Hannah Paris.

With a record entry of 278 boats competing, split for the finals into 127 boat gold and silver fleets, plus the Regatta fleet, the championship roundly rebuked the theory that championship entries inherently drop when they venture north of Hadrian's Wall. In itself this made for busy, difficult starting lines, compounded by the need to get away smartly in the light breezes. Capturing the first shift was usually critical in making it
to the top third of the fleet.

As an essential rite of passage on the ladder to greater things, this Topper Nationals was neither easy nor straightforward. The race officer kept the fleet on standby for long periods and so there were few opportunities to leave the venue and relax. Racing often did not get under way until two or three in the afternoon and went on until seven, so it
was sometimes well after eight before the fleet was ashore and fed. Nonetheless it was a well managed and enjoyable regatta. Race officer Falcon paid tribute to the resources at the Scottish Sailing Institute and Largs Sailing Club, and in particular to the efficiency of the on the water mark boats and helpers, which - in terms of moving marks and laying courses - he noted are probably the best he has worked with.

Results:

1-B Mon (Red Wharf Bay SC) 29pts
2-O McVeigh (Wimbledon Park SC) 32pts
3-P Irwin (Linlithgow Loch SC) 43.5 pts
4-T Gillard (Rotherham) 50.5pts
5-E Mon (Red Wharf Bay SC) 54.5pts