As Afloat.ie previously reported, fifty keen junior sailors from all four provinces took to the waters of Dubin Bay over the weekend as the National Yacht Club, with the support of Viking Marine, hosted Topper Ireland’s third annual Winter Regatta writes Jo Seymour.
Despite heavy overnight winds the wind dropped off as Saturday morning progressed, allowing the sailors to take to the water for Eddie Totterdell to oversee 3 clean races over both the full rig and 4.2 rig fleets, in spite of the wind dropping off at times, and shifting more than 90 degrees (meaning that, after small adjustments by the mark layers between races 1 and 2, a full reset of the course was needed for the final race).
On Sunday the Spring Chicken sailors headed to the Muglins in murky conditions, but it lifted to allow the Toppers a clear race area back off Seapoint. While the first race went off on time, the wind came up earlier than expected and the visibility dropped again so racing was abandoned to bring the sailors to shore. But once hot chocolate, warm showers and food was dished out, the smiles were back and there was a great level of chatter around the deck of the NYC as various fleets of sailors mingled as they waited for the prize giving. A bucket on the table raised a nice donation for the local RNLI station as well.
Prizes went all around the country, and included perpetual trophies for the top sailors – Eoin Horgan (RCYC) in the Youth Male, Emma O’Sullivan (RCYC) in the Youth Female and Charlie Patterson (East Antrim Boat Club) in the overall 4.2 categories. But overall it was a great first gathering of the friendly Topper Community, hoping for a great sailing year ahead. The next event is the first “Traveller” in Quoile Yacht Club, Downpatrick on Sunday 14th April and we are all looking forward to that.
Full results are downloadable here.
