On Saturday, Royal Cork's own Rian Collins grip on the Topper fleet continued on the third day of racing at the Investwise Youth Sailing Nationals at Royal Cork Yacht Club.

After seven races sailed, the host club ace extended his lead by two points in the biggest fleet of the championships in a scoreline that includes three race wins.

The 38-boat fleet had a long day on the water in a bid to complete racing before strong winds set in on Cork Harbour on Sunday. 

The fleet spent at least six hours on the water with racing delayed waiting for breeze to arrive. 

Third overall Bobby Driscoll of Belfast Lough at a weather mark on the third day of Topper dinghy class Youth Nationals racing in Cork Harbour Photo: Bob Bateman

Collins's clubmate Dan O'Leary stays second, having equally built up his points cushion over chasing Northern Ireland sailor Bobby Disrcoll from Belfast Lough in third place. Results below.

Subject to weather, racing will conclude on Sunday afternoon. 

Update Sunday 09.24: Due to current wind conditions and forecast, the race committee has decided to cancel sailing for the day. Prizegiving at 10 am in the marquee

Topper: Sailed: 7, Discards: 1, To count: 6, Entries: 38

Topper sailor Rian Collin of the host club leads the biggest fleet of the youth sailing national championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club.

After three races sailed, Collins, on four points, leads clubmate Dan O'Leary by an impressive ten points. 

Howth's Ciara McMahon took third place in the 38-boat fleet on 17 points, some six points ahead of Northern Ireland Topper champion Bobby Driscoll of Royal Northern Ireland Yacht Club.

The 38-boat Topper fleet was racing on the Curlane Bank course

Topper : Sailed: 3, Discards: 0, To count: 3, Entries: 38

That's the thing about an unstable weather system – testing conditions in Belfast Lough, which threatened the race programme for the Irish Topper Championships this weekend.

Hosted by Carrickfergus Sailing Club on the north shore of Belfast Lough over three days - Friday 20th till Sunday 22nd, the event was sponsored by commercial property consultants Osborne King and supported by Mid and East Antrim Council. Over those three days, the 56 competitors in two fleets of 4.2 and 5.3 had moderate winds but an awkward chop on the Friday, persistent rain and a gusty 18-knot breeze yesterday and hardly any wind for a time on the final day. The principal Race Officer was Sheela Lewis from County Antrim, BC.

But patience paid off in the end and the breeze filled in enough from the north to run two races yesterday (22nd) to complete a nine-race event.

In the 10 boats 4.2 fleet it was Tom Driscoll of Royal North at Cultra and Ballyholme, on the south side of Belfast Lough and Callum Pollard of County Antrim YC, a few miles east of Carrickfergus, who topped the table in that order, with scores never below a 5th, which were the discards in both cases. Finishing with a flourish and a first place was local girl Chloe Craig assuring her of third overall.

Toppers prepare to launch at Carrickfergus's new slipway

There were 56 competitors in two Topper fleets of 4.2 and 5.3

Top of the 46 strong 5.3 fleet was Daniel Palmer of Ballyholme, and he finished 5 points ahead of runner up Bobby Driscoll of Royal North and Ballyholme. Up until the final race yesterday, Palmer never dropped below third, but a big fall to 16th in that race meant he needs to discard a 16. The long journey north for the Royal Cork pair, Liam Duggan and Rian Collins paid off as they took third and fourth. And it also did for Julie O'Neill from Royal Cork, who won the overall female prize having finished sixth in the 5.3 fleet.

Tom Driscoll, Irish Topper Championships 4.2 winner

Joining the local Northern Ireland Toppers were visitors from as far away as Waterford Harbour, Malahide, Howth, Cork and Wexford. Also on the water were safety boats supplied by saferwaters.org. This is a not-for-profit service in Northern Ireland, established in 2020 to provide a Safety Boat service for water-based community events such as sailing, swimming, paddle boarding and windsurfing, which may not have safety cover of their own or may need additional resources.

Assistant Race Officer Gavin Pollard was very pleased with how the event turned out; "Despite the challenging range of wind conditions over the three days, the championship ran very well with all races upheld with minimal recall!"

It was worth the wait for Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough to stage a full-on Topper Northern Ireland Championships over the past weekend.

Sixty-nine young sailors came from the length and breadth of Ireland; from Royal Cork and Waterford in the south and Galway in the West, and even from the south of England to compete within this exciting two-day event. There was racing for two divisions, the 4.2 fleet and the 5.3 Toppers in what turned out to be, weather-wise, completely contrasting conditions on each day. And many of the fleet were first-time competitors.

Winning the 4.2 fleet was Callum Pollard from County Antrim Yacht Club in Whitehead on the north shore of Belfast Lough and Bobby Driscoll, (son of Ireland's 1996 Olympian competitor) in a 5.3 from Royal North, Ballyholme and Strangford Lough Yacht Club, was the overall winner.

The lack of a steady breeze on the Saturday forced Race Officer Commodore Aidan Pounder to postpone racing but he managed to get two completed. The next day had completely different conditions with a strong and eventually rain-laden westerly giving some hair-raising racing in a breaking sea, among sailors most of whom seemed to be able to cope with anything. But the rain has no friends among the Race Committee and having postponed the fifth race due to bad visibility when it cleared, they ironically had to abandon it due to increased winds.

Bobby Driscoll (47521) and Daniel Palmer

In the 54 strong 5.3 fleet, Driscoll and Daniel Palmer from BYC, both Juniors, showed consistency throughout the racing and ended on equal nett points, with the tie split in Driscoll's favour. Driscoll counted two firsts and a second and Palmer the same. Driscoll also won the prize for Ist Junior Male. In the third slot was Liam Duggan from Royal Cork and he also took the prize for 1st Youth Male. In the same fleet fourth-placed Julie O'Neill, also from Royal Cork, took home the prize for 1st Youth Female and Ciara McMahon from Howth and National lifted the prize for 1st Junior Female.

In the 15 strong 4.2 fleet Callum Pollard counted a first and two seconds to finish three points ahead of Tom Driscoll of Royal North and Ballyholme, with Tyler Playfair of Carrickfergus SC third with the same score.

Bobby Driscoll, Topper NI Champion

Callum Pollard, Topper 4.2 NI Champion

Ballyholme Commodore Aidan Pounder was delighted with the success of the event: "With the pandemic forcing the cancellation of the ITCA GBR Nationals this year, Ballyholme Yacht Club (BYC) approached Topper Ireland about hosting an event as restrictions eased.  Over the last few weeks, members of BYC have been very busy putting together 'The Topper Northern Ireland Championships' and were hopeful of a good turnout, given the problems Covid-19 has presented in hosting events. On Saturday we had 69 Toppers take to the water in Belfast Lough for Race 1, a makeup of 15 sailors in the 4.2 class and 54 sailors in the 5.3 class. From a BYC perspective in the competitor make up, BYC Cadets accounted for 10 in the 4.2 fleet and 24 in the 5.3 fleet, a truly fantastic figure and testament to the success of our Cadet programme driven by David Nelson and Colin Robinson. For a lot of these cadets, it was their first event, and they had everything to contend with, from very light wind on Saturday to 22 kts of breeze on the Sunday.

All the competitor sailors did remarkably well with the conditions. I was absolutely delighted to see so many Cadets from both the South and North competing, clearly demonstrating how strong our Cadet sailing is on the island of Ireland, and the great support the families have shown to sailing. I very much hope that it won't be long before we see a return to European and World events in our great sailing waters in Northern Ireland".

Royal Cork Yacht Club congratulated the rescheduled Astra Construction Topper 'Winter' Championships winner at Crosshaven yesterday evening after two full days of competition on the Curlane Bank in Cork Harbour.

As Afloat reported earlier, after four races sailed on Saturday, the host club's Liam Duggan lead the 69 boat 5.3 fleet and on Sunday's two races the RCYC youth extended this lead to six points over clubmate Rian Collins.

Third overall was Ballyholme YC visitor Daniel Palmer from Belfast Lough.

In the much smaller seven boat 4.2 fleet, Riain O'Neill overhauled Hugo Boyd of Ballyholme YC overnight to take the title.

Organisers chose to sail one extra race on Saturday as permitted in the sailing instructions to give the 76 boat fleet a full day on the water in some great Cork Harbour sailing breezes. 

Two races were sailed on Sunday in a light southerly breeze to bring the number of races sailed to six overall. The smooth operation afloat, however, did not stop a number of racing protests before the final results could be announced.

Full results are here

Royal Cork's Annamarie Fegan, Rear Admiral Dinghies and Maurice Collins, Class Captain of the RCYC Toppers along with PRO Richard Leonard presented the prizes.

See day one racing report and photo gallery here. Day two racing and prizegiving galleries are below

RCYC Astra Topper Championships Day Two Racing Photo gallery by Bob Bateman

RCYC Astra Topper Championships 2021 Prizegiving Photo gallery by Bob Bateman

Royal Cork Yacht Club may have had to cancel its planned Topper World Championships scheduled for next month due to COVID but the Astra Construction Topper 'Winter' Championships at the Crosshaven club is just the ticket for 76 Topper youth sailors in Cork Harbour this weekend.

After four races sailed on Saturday, the host club's Liam Duggan leads the 69 boat 5.3 Fleet. Duggan has a three-point cushion over clubmate Rian Collins. Lying third is Royal North of Ireland's Bobby Driscoll. 

In the much smaller seven boat 4.2 fleet, Hugo Boyd of Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough leads overall.

Full results are here

Astra Topper Championships Photo Gallery By Bob Bateman

Donaghadee Sailing Club on the north County Down coast heard the first gun fired in the Topper Northern Championships on Saturday 3rd July with a sense of relief and excitement.

Race Officer Aidan Pounder, Commodore of Ballyholme YC, assisted by Colin Loughead of Royal Ulster, sent the 37 competitors off for the first of three races on the first day, having waited for the breeze to fill in. The strong tide in the Sound off Donaghadee gave the sailors trouble resulting in general recalls, but all three races were completed successfully.

The Topper Northern Championships get underway at Donaghdee Sailing Club

Not like the following day when racing was abandoned in the early afternoon due to rolling fogbanks, so despite trying to run a fourth race which would have given a discard, three had to suffice.

For Rian Collins of Royal Cork, the long haul north was worthwhile for he lifted the overall first prize with Daniel Palmer of Ballyholme runner up.

Rian Collins of RCYC (left) was the overall winner of the Topper Northerns pciturd here with Donaghedee Sailing Club Brian Lennox

With prizes galore for the two divisions, the spoils were relatively well spread around the country.

Tyler Playfair of Carrickfergus won the 4.2s in Belfast Lough with Ballyholme's Hugo Boyd second. Ella Fitzgerald of National YC and Sutton Dinghy Club took the 5.3 prizes, followed by Eve McDonagh of Ballyholme. Junior Male went to Rian Collins, with Palmer runner up and

Junior Female to Autumn Halliday of Strangford Lough YC with Isobel Nixon of Ballyholme runner up. Toby Hughes (Royal North and Ballyholme) won Youth Male with Max Killiner also from Royal North second.

Brian Lennox, Commodore of Donaghadee SC, was delighted that the event could be held at his club; "I am delighted to see so many dinghies back in the Harbour after such a long break due to Covid. Thanks to all the volunteers who made this event a fantastic occasion".

Ballyholme Yacht Club would have relished hosting the Topper Nationals in August, but sadly this event has suffered the same as the Worlds in Cork and been cancelled.

The joint Organising Authority for the 2021 Topper National Championships has been carefully monitoring the Covid 19 situation and information from the UK Government, Northern Ireland Assembly and the Irish Government. Some time ago, it was determined that a final go/no-go decision should be made at the beginning of June to allow competitors and their families time to make suitable travel and accommodation arrangements and the Organising Authority to commit resources and funds to the event.

This decision was taken due to several factors, but ultimately the safety of competitors, their families, volunteers and the wider local community was key. We hope that making this decision now it will allow families time to make alternative plans.

Aidan Pounder, Commodore of BYC, expressed disappointment that the Club isn't able to welcome the Topper fleet: "ITCA (GBR) and Ballyholme Yacht Club (BYC) are very disappointed that the ITCA GBR Nationals are not proceeding in August this year. With the uncertainty around Covid-19, ongoing restriction reviews and ultimately the safety of all participants, families, friends, and all those associated with the delivery of a safe and fun event being of paramount importance, we have jointly made this decision. A lot of work and organisation went into the hosting of what would undoubtedly have been a great and successful event. I want to take this opportunity to thank all concerned from ITCA (GBR) and Members of BYC and would welcome the opportunity to host this event again in the near future. We wish all the young sailors a safe and happy summer and look forward to welcoming you to BYC in the future"

Following weeks of waiting for Covid 19 travel restrictions to be relaxed, extensive research of all options and agonising over the decision, the Royal Cork Yacht Club says it has been left with no option but to cancel its staging of the 2021 Topper World Championships in Cork Harbour.

Due to the ongoing uncertainty of when overseas travel restrictions on non-EU countries in Ireland may be lifted, the club said it 'sadly had no option but to cancel' the July event.

The club came to the decision jointly with the International Topper class.

Up to 200 young sailors from around the world planned to come to the event that was scheduled to dovetail with the UK National Championships, following on two days later at Ballyholme YC in Northern Ireland, from the 2nd to 6th August – providing sailors with a fortnight of top-quality racing.

In a joint statement from ITCA World and Royal Cork Yacht Club said: 

"The decision was taken with the safety of sailors and their families, club members and the wider local community at its heart. We also appreciate that sailors and their families need certainty now in order to make their bookings for the event, or to plan alternative activities. Additionally, the lack of clarity on when non-essential overseas travel would be allowed into Ireland and the need to commit significant sums now to prepare for the event that has so much uncertainty around it, has left the organisers with little choice but to cancel the event.

The proposed travel restrictions into Ireland from 19th July will enable EU visitors to travel under the Digital COVID Certificate which will not require self-quarantining based on vaccination or a negative PCR test. However, those travelling from outside of the EU, including from the UK, will have to present a pre-travel PCR test, self-quarantine on arrival and undergo post arrival testing. Considering the strong representation expected from GBR, this has been deemed too restrictive to expect visitors to travel.

ITCA World President Andy Millington said, 'We have exhausted every avenue in an effort to see how it might be possible to run the World Championships with the continued travel restrictions on competitors being able to travel to Cork without quarantining and the added uncertainty over the new variant of Covid 19. In discussions with the RCYC we both agreed that cancelling the 2021 championship in time for families to make alternative holiday or sailing plans was sadly the right thing to do. We would like to thank our partners Ronstan, Rooster and Topper International who had undertaken to generously support the event."

The event was to form part of the continued Tricentenary celebrations of the Royal Cork Yacht Club which mark it's founding in 1720, making it the oldest yacht club in the world. The club is committed to hosting a Topper World championship and have requested to bid for the International Topper 2023 World Championships.

Commenting, Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Colin Morehead said, "It is with considerable regret and sadness that we have to cancel the International Topper Class World Championships. While the vaccine rollout is progressing and restrictions are lifting, the health of our members, our visitors and country continues to be the main priority. I look forward to working with the International Topper Class Association on the possibility of hosting the event in Cork in the near future."

A full refund of entry fees will shortly be processed in line with the Notice of Race.

ITCA World will now focus on its plans for the 2022 International Topper World Championship at Fraglia Della Vela Riva, Garda, where we look forward to welcoming back Topper sailors from across the globe. There are plans to include an inaugural Topper 6.4 championship for those who may by then have outgrown the 5.2 rig and lost the chance to race a world championship but don't want to miss a once in a lifetime opportunity to race on the majestic Lake Garda.

We look forward to seeing you at Riva 2022!" 

Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough will host the British Topper Nationals, scheduled for early August next year, a few days after the World Championships in Cork Harbour.

With the Irish Nationals in Northern Ireland at Strangford Lough Yacht Club in the calendar for 2nd-4th July, there will be a fantastic festival of Topper racing in Ireland next year.

Commodore Aidan Pounder is pleased that the club has been chosen for the event. "Ballyholme Yacht Club is delighted to be hosting the GBR ITCA Topper Nationals on 2nd -6th August 2021. This is the first time the Nationals have been held in Northern Ireland and we very much look forward to welcoming the competitors to our excellent sailing waters for a safe successful event".

The club, on the southern shore of the Lough, is ideally situated on a virtually tideless and hazard free large expanse of water. It has a racing pedigree which has provided sailors and officials to the last five Olympic Regattas and many international events as well as the last Volvo Round the World Race. It has renowned expertise in running large national and international events including the Topper Worlds in 2016.

Principle Race Officer for the event is Bangor man Robin Gray who is an International Race Officer and Judge.

The Topper Worlds is reported to attract more than 250 boats regularly and it is expected that the Nationals entry will be more than that.