Day 2, Tuesday Topper 4.2 fleet, Race 4

A postponement flag greeted sailors as they arrived on the 4.2 course, as the wind had already started to shift to the right and was barely 5 knots at the committee boat. However, the regular afternoon wind soon arrived and racing got underway in an 8 knots easterly sea breeze.

GBR 055, Sam Mason (Silver Wing SC) got the best start and covered his opposition, GBR 147, Hari Clark, up the beat. Sam and Hari enjoyed very close, competitive racing with Hari Clark, pushing hard to gain an overlap on the reach to mark 2. This leading pair in the overall standings fought a great battle well ahead of the rest of the fleet, both rounding the starboard gate ahead of GBR 606, Toby Hailey (W&OBYC). On the second upwind, Hari Clark managed to pull out a 10-boat length lead from Sam Mason, exploiting the slightly stronger wind on the left side of the course.

In race 5, the roles were reversed as Sam Mason led the fleet after GBR 147 picked up a yellow flag for body pumping off the start line as he just cleared the pin. By the second upwind Hari was hot on Sam’s heels. As the afternoon breeze built to 13 knots Sam Mason stretched out to a comfortable lead from Hari Clark and Ralph Hadley (Tankerton Bay & WSC).

Over on the Topper 5.3 course, the last races of the qualification series were taking place, as the sailors battled to get into the gold, silver and bronze fleets for the final series. In the red & blue flight race, GBR 264 Emily Shearer from Clyde Cruising SC rounded the windward mark first from ESP 817 Manuel Barrionuevo, (RC Cartagena) and CHN 822 Lijian Zhong but Emily was eventually overhauled as the late afternoon sea breeze built to its zenith of 15 knots, to finish 5^th. Manuel Barrionuevo, using his local knowledge, headed to the right-hand side of the beat to seize the lead which he held to the finish, fighting off the attentions of George Spence GBR (Ripon SC) and Lijian Zhong, in third.

In the final race for the Yellow and white flights, ESP 815 Sergio López Palacios revelled in the stronger wind to take his third straight race win of the day, this time from Leo O’Doherty, IRL 493 (Silgo YC) and Thomas Semmens, GBR 505 (Brixham SC).

Day 3, Wednesday 24th, International Topper 5.3 Finals Series...

Wednesday saw the start of the Topper 5.3 Final Series, with the sailors now divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets, whilst the 4.2 fleet continued in their finals competition.

The first race of the 5.3 finals started in a building 10-11 knots easterly breeze with most of the fleet favouring the left side of the upwind legs. China took all three top positions in the gold fleet with Che Liu, CHN 831 first (Beijing Sailing Centre), Cheng Zhang, CHN 865  (Shenzhen Jr High School) 2nd and Fengyyi Fu CHN 830 3^rd (Beijing SC) as the wind built to a testing 13 knots at the finish. A great result for, Beijing Sailing Centre, and Team China. The start line was perfectly square, thanks to the efficient Race Committee team led by PRO Luky Serrano, and the fleet well spread along its entire length.

The second race for the gold fleet saw the majority of the sailors bunched at the port end of the line, with IRL 729, Gemma Brady (National YC & lough Derg YC) rounding the windward mark first, having taken the best track up the left, followed by her National YC teammate IRL 731, Rory Brennan-Hobbs, ahead of CHN 833 Mingzhu Ye, (Beijing SC). Gemma held her lead downwind in the steady 13 knot afternoon sea breeze, surfing the waves superbly to hold off Rory at the bottom gate. Up the second beat, Chinese ace Che Liu made his move, charging up the fleet but Gemma held her first position to the finish, with Liu second and Leo O’Doherty improving on his first race 4^th with a 3^rd, shading fellow countryman Rory Brennan-Hobbs into 4^th.

In the Silver and Bronze fleet race, CHN 823, Shirley Ma, (Vanhang Sailing) took the win from club mate Chenxi Dong CHN 832 and Zitong Zu in third, whilst in the Bronze fleet, GBR 609 Daniel Plant (Neyland YC) had his best result of the week, winning from GBR 353, Jake Blakeway (Draycote Academy) and CHN 855 Yiqiao Liu (Vanhang Sailing).

Over on the Topper 4.2 course, GBR 147 Hari Clark recovered on the second downwind from a less-than-perfect start to move up from third to first, hotly pursued by IRL 723, Leo West-Hurst (Ballyholme YC) and IRL 485, Tom A’Coistealbha (Malahide YC), finishing in that order, well clear of the rest of the fleet.  GBR 160 Ralph Hadley, (Tankerton Bay SC) maintained his highly consistent set of top 10 results with a 5^th and another steady performance saw GBR 616, Finley Rhodes (Warsash SC & Jets) follow up in 6^th.

Thursday 25th, Day 4, Finals race 4 on the 5.3 course...

Thursday’s first race kicked off in 8/9knots from 080/085 degrees, with Zac Chappell winning the pin and then tacking onto port to cross the fleet. However, by mark 1 it was the canny Che Liu who had sniffed out the best route up the beat to round first, from teammate CHN 865, Cheng Zhang, with 3 Spanish boats chasing hard in their wake. Mark 2 had drifted out of position but was swiftly replaced by a RIB flying flag M by the efficient mark-laying crew.

At the leeward gate, the sea breeze had built to 19 knots, tempting some boats to bang the right-hand corner in expectation of the sea breeze clocking further right. CHN 865, Cheng Zhang enough of a shift to pass overall leader Che Liu whilst GBR 505, Tom Semmens slugged it out with Ireland’s Gemma Brady for 3^rd, with the Silgo girl using her strong wave technique to gain the upper hand on the line.

  In the second race of the day for the Gold fleet, (race 5), it was the turn of Elsa Rodado, ESP 816, (RC Cartagena) to show her pace upwind, as she found a great port tack lift. Elsa told us she was in training to sail an ILCA 6 and so was having to put on weight to sail the heftier ILCA boat, but was much more at home in the lighter hull of the Topper.

The expected right-hand shifts did not always materialise, with several knocks to the left offering opportunities for those with their heads outside the boat. At the top of the beat, it was Angel Penalver, ESP 820 who rounded ahead of China’s Allan Huang, CHN 866, (Chenjnhao Race Team) and GBR 272, Tristan Shaw (Budworth SC). Leo O’Doherty was up there too but got squeezed onto the windward mark, costing him a penalty turn on the reach from which he recovered to finish a creditable 4^th. Che Liu again worked his way up to take the gun from Alan Huang and Sergio López Palacios.

The final race of the day, race 6 saw ESP 817, Manuel Barrionuevo (RC Cartagena) take his first win from Che Liu and GBR 611 Jess Powell, (Draycote Water SC) found her pace to secure her best finals result in 3^rd.

Meanwhile, on the Topper 4.2 course, all three overall leaders started at the pin, Hari Clark working his boat hard to deliver the best boat speed and maintain his close cover over his nearest rival Sam Mason. Whilst these two were locked in battle, CHN 868 Jiajing Guo, (Chenjinhao Race Team) took the opportunity to slip ahead on the upwind leg. On the second beat, Hari and Sam went left, whilst most of the fleet took the right side, with the result that CHN 877, Zhangling Qi Qi (Whisper of the Wind SC) found herself in the lead, followed by countryman Jiajing Guo and CHN 854 Shaohui Zhuang, (Beijing SC) in third. All three had to hike flat out on the screaming reach to the finish, as Hari Clark and Sam Mason, clearly exhausted after their intense rivalry throughout the day came in i 6^th and 14^th respectively, after being caught out by the left-hander on the second beat.

Day 5, Friday 26th, Final day showdown...

PRO Luky Serrano was spot on with his forecast for the final day of competition for the Topper Worlds. The gradient North Easterly provided sufficient breeze to allow racing to start at the scheduled time of 12.00 in 10 knots.

On the Topper 4.2 course, the majority of the fleet favoured the pin end and once again the two leading protagonists chose to start close to each other to reduce the risk of one of them getting away on a shift. Hari Clark, GBR 147 and Sam Mason, GBR 055 once more duked it out up the beat with Hari first to round the windward mark from CHN 825, Qiushi Li and CHN 876, Linger Zhou (Hainan Haidian Campus).  Sam Mason responded by hiking hard on the top reach to get back up to third, but the lightweight Hari was flying and extended his lead to over 10m. Down the run, Hari chose the port gybe, whilst the following bunch held on to starboard, hoping for some extra pressure.

At the gate, the Brits took the port mark whilst the Chinese team selected the starboard side. Hari Clark looked to be sailing higher on the second upwind, whilst Sam Mason, hot on his heels footed lower to gain pace through the building chop. The pair enjoyed a great battle, as the wind built to 12 knots, Sam hiking as hard as he could on the flying reach to the finish. Hari just managed to hold off his opponent to cross the line a couple of seconds ahead, to record his 10^th win of the series.