Captain of the Royal Navy's Flagship goes Topper sailing

Some of you may remember that in 2020, Topper International kindly donated 4 Toppers to one of the UK’s Royal Navy aircraft carriers, HMS Prince of Wales. Many Topper sailors join the Navy following their experiences in the Topper, so we thought it was only right that the ship’s crew should continue to experience ‘Toppering’ fun.

So we asked Commander Tom Leonard, the Commander on board HMS Prince of Wales, for an update from the ship. Here is his report:

The Toppers have been with us on our deployment to the Far East, getting as far as Tokyo and Darwin, and whilst they haven’t been used nearly as much as I would wish, they have provided choice to our 1,600 sailors, soldiers and air-specialists which is a key component of their wellbeing.

When the Commanding Officer (Captain Will Blackett) and I arrived early last year we set about building our portfolio of equipment in the Flagship to give our sailors an option in how they could build mental and physical resilience and sourced funding for everything from ice baths to e-sports suites and a huge amount in between, cognisant of how much time people spend away on the aircraft carriers.

Captain of HMS Prince of Wales, Will Blackett, takes 'Command' of his Topper on a blustery day on Loch Long, Scotland.

A couple of our officers were keen sailing enthusiasts and had been desperately trying to get the Toppers out in the water. I for one am a ‘water baby’ and have been around dinghies and windsurfing for the 37 of my last 41 years. Our first real opportunity was up in Loch Long (in Scotland), with water temperature around 5 degrees and what on the forecast was due to be around a 10kt westerly to let the four Toppers with 4 large middle aged men (us) cruise happily up the loch, 6nm to Arrochar, have lunch in the Autumn air and sail back to the Ship which was berthed at the Glen Mallan jetty. The 10kts quickly became 25kts South Westerly which meant those of us with a bit more experience decided that instead of running downwind at ‘Mach 2’ with heavily reefed sails, we would instead cut across on a broad reach until we reached the lee of the land before screaming back and forth toward Arrochar. It was incredible fun and took me back to messing around with my cousins as a kid on their Toppers on the Norfolk Broads (I preferred not to use my Laser as it was a little more unstable with a crowd).

After a couple of hours of speeding around like we were teenagers again, our 40-year old bodies caught up with us and we beached on the opposite shore a few miles down wind of the ship and only half way to Arrochar. The seas funnelling up the Loch had got to around a metre at that point and we decided that it would be wise to wait out the gusts and put a few more reefs in and head back. 

Young Officers from HMS Prince of Wale go 'Toppering' on a calmer day.

Our Young Officers went out in lovely conditions the next day when it had blown through, cruising around the Loch having a whale of a time.

We had planned to conduct regattas in the Task Group, however permissions in the ports we have visited have precluded it thus far, however we are hoping to get at least one in during our transit across the Bay of Bengal and David (who is charged with the Fusions and Toppers and has jacked up yacht sailing in Singapore and Tokyo thus far with the yachties) is looking at getting them ashore in India.