Manx Sail Racer

Report by Jenni Kneale

The 2006 Topper Challenge was on Sunday 5th November at Mooragh Park. The event was conceived by Nigel Hendy of the Manx Sailing and Cruising Club back in 1994 and was originally contested between the MS&CC and the Isle Of Man Yacht Club. King Williams College were invited to enter a team a few years ago and they have dominated the event ever since. This year the newly established 7th Wave Water Activities Centre based in Port Erin were also invited to enter a team. A total of fifteen sailors all aged 16 and under attended the event. Two teams were entered by King Williams College. The IOMYC, MS&CC and 7th Wave each entered one team.

The Topper Challenge is a team-racing event with the aim in each race being to get as may of your own boats over the finish line ahead of boats from the other team. Team racing is tactically challenging and great for spectators, the races are just a few minutes in length, with teams switching over between races. Over a total of ten races all the teams got the chance to race every other team and the overall winner was the team who scored the least points over the series.

Sunday’s racing was very close and highly competitive. Mooragh Park provided fluky wind and testing conditions for the young competitors. King Williams College 1 fielded the most consistent and possibly worst results of the day being beaten in all their races, including a defeat by their second team! Chris Hill somehow managed to sail for both teams on the day, sailing his good races for the 2nd team and his bad races for the 1st team! 7th Wave who had the youngest competitor on the water James Kelly aged 9, won two races and lost two. The Manx Sailing & Cruising Club put in a good performance with their lads all sailing well, winning two and losing two races. The IOMYC team captain Joe Stockman scored first place in all their races, with the rest of his team scoring mixed results to also win two and lose two. The overall winners were King Williams College 2 who sailed consistently well winning all of their races. There were a couple of photo finishes on the day luckily Dave Kneale was armed with camera so there could be no disputes as to the finishing order.

Thanks to all who were involved in making the day a success; the Race Committee, David & Wendy Hill for their efforts in getting teams together, Mike Bowles and Jon Quillin for getting the boats up to the Mooragh Park and to the Manx Sailing & Cruising Club for their hospitality and much needed hot food after a cold afternoon at the pond!

Results:

KWC 2 (Chris Hill, Guy Wood & Kate Stockman) 35 points
IOMYC (Joe Stockman, Harry Davies & Craig Hodge) 41 points
MS&CC (Thomas Cole, Patrick Evans & Charlie Edwards) 42 points
7th Wave (Alison Hinds, Alex Sharpe & James Kelly) 44 points
KWC 1 (Chris Hill, Breeshey Harkin & Luke Collins) 48 points

Thanks to Dave Kneale for the pictures, full range available on the Gallery