Stewartby Open
Photos available at Gallery
16 Toppers made it to the Stewartby Topper open supported by Bells Motor Group Volvo on Saturday 18th May 2002. A packed Topper calendar and GCSE exams coming up kept many of the usual suspects away. However with 5 national or youth squad sailors in the fleet, the scene was set for some close sailing.
The first race got way in for force 2-3 breeze on a simple trapezoid course. As so often during the day the excitement was saved to the last beat. Roger Phillips led at the leeward mark and covered Alex Cruttenden who slowly eat away at the lead. The stage was set for a tense finish, with Cuttenden easing away at the last tack for the finish. Kyle Paternoster sailed a good race to take third. The next race was back to back and with an increasing breeze. A new course was set with longer reaches, the fleet while jostling for space all managed to get away cleanly. Tom Winskell sailed a strong beat and lead at the first mark but lost it to Paternoster and Valentine on the next beat. However, Winskell dug deep and was in control again for the last beat. A no doubt with his coachs words ringing in his ear he stayed between Paternoster and the line. With the finish approaching it was time to tack for the favoured starboard end. Winskell judged it well if a little finely - he tacked on to port clearing Paternoster by inches to take the winners sport. The tension had only just subsided amongst the spectators, when another battle was developing a few boat lengths behind. Richard Valentine, Roger Phillips and Evan Scott were all sailing on port. But all had to pick their moment to tack on to Starboard. The three all finished within half a boat length, with Valentine just getting the edge ahead of Phillips and Scott. After lunch the breeze has increased to full on planning conditions, but this did not seem to make the fleet line shy with virtually all the fleet pushing it. However in the end, it was only Paternoster who was fractionally over. Sailing in the strongest Breeze of the day the race finished Valentine, Cruttenden, and Winskell. Paternoster recovered well to take fourth. With at least 4 helms capable of winning the open a good start was essential. The fleet got way cleanly despite very few line shy competitors. Valentine put in a solid beat and led at the first mark. He then proceeded to extend his lead, by making good use of the wind bend on the beats to comfortably take the race and the event. Roger Phillips and Will Espiner finished next to make it a 1,2,3 for the Great Moor Mafia. The event produced some close racing with second and fifth only separated by one point and tie breaks. Generous support from Bells Motor Group Volvo enabled sailing and eatable prizes to be awarded down to 10th spot.
Click for Results.