Rooster Southern Topper Traveller and 2022 End of Season Championships at Warsash Sailing Club
by Stu Davies 20 Oct 2022 19:26 NZDT
15-16 October 2022
There were 52 sailors entered for two days of racing in the Solent for the Southern Area End of Season Championships hosted by Warsash Sailing Club.
The host club set a new club record with 22 of their sailors entered across both fleets and the 4.2 fleet was potentially the largest outside of the Nationals, with 22 sailors entered. Now the winter training squads are announced, it was a great opportunity for sailors to try racing a two-day event for the first time, with many sailors gaining a taste of their first competitive event.
The race management team had been watching various wind models all week, racing on the Saturday looked marginal. When Saturday dawned, it was as fruity as forecast. PRO Peter Knight briefed everyone on the intention to race only if the conditions were sensible, following a couple of APs ashore waiting for the worst of it to blow through, the more experienced racers launched from the Hamble and headed out to the Solent in approximately 18kts of breeze. Once on-post at the racecourse and with the wind now blowing up to some hefty 30kt gusts, it was clear that racing wasn't going to possible. The fleet clearly had fun surfing on the waves whilst returning to the relative shelter of the Hamble to enjoy an evening of Sausage Sizzle and indoor Land Yachting.
Sunday, true to forecast was a much lighter day, so light in fact, most of the fleet had to be towed to the race area, where many of the sailors decided swimming and singing was all that could be done whilst we waited for the wind to increase and stabilise, see the "Toppers in the UK" video below for evidence!
Eventually, the racing got under way in just over 5kts of breeze, in the 5.3 fleet, light wind specialist Ethan Rhodes called the first race correctly as he had a considerable lead by the time he got to the finish line, followed home by Torquil Morrison with Marcus King in third.
In the 4.2 fleet Warsash sailor Charles Wood dominated proceedings, with his first race win from a pin end start, Megan Cerrato came home in second for her best finish of the day and Lucas Keen was third.
It took the Race Office sometime to unpick the results from race 1, as there were some sailors that had missed the large 2 displayed on the back of the committee boat, deciding that a single lap was sufficient in the light airs.
Race 2 was commenced with a pin biased start line, by now the leaders were regularly timing their runs from the inshore end of the line. Charles collected his second 4.2 race victory of the day, this time with Henry Noel in second and William Sadler in third.
In the 5.3 fleet a familiar name was back at the front of the fleet, last years event winner Leo Yates of Island Barn took the gun, followed by Torquil again in second and this time Emily Brushett in third.
Race 3 was almost a carbon copy of the previous race, with the same finishing order in the 5.3 fleet, Leo, Torquil and Emily, Seb Davies crossed the line in second, only to discover he'd fallen foul of the U flag at the gun, Oliver Smith from Poole had his best finish with a fourth.
Charles took his third race win of the day and with it the overall event, with the familiar sailors of Henry, Lucas and Megan sailing home behind.
Having now been on the water for about 6 hours, the race management team called it a day and sent everyone home for the prize-giving, only 3 races were completed, so all races counted, but too be fair, the RO getting 3 races in was a minor miracle with the weather hand we had been dealt.
Once everyone was packed up, more sausages sizzled and cake eaten, the prizes were handed out to the winners.
A massive thank you to all the event sponsors, with prizes from Baltic, Pigbags and Rooster and glassware trophies courtesy of Lewmar.
Prize Winners:
5.3 Fleet
1st Overall Leo Yates (Island Barn)
2nd Overall Torquil Morrison (Emsworth)
3rd Overall Marcus King (Warsash)
1st Girl (Outside Top 3) Emily Brushett (Warsash)
1st Boy (Outside Top 3) Oliver Smith (Poole)
1st Home Club Sailor (Outside Top 3) Jake Davies (Warsash)
Endeavour Sofia Dewsbury (Hamble River)
Full 5.3 Results here...
4.2 Fleet
1st Overall Charles Wood (Warsash)
2nd Overall Henry Noel (Warsash)
3rd Overall Lucas Keen (Stokes Bay)
1st Girl (Outside Top 3) Megan Cerrato (Warsash)
1st Boy (Outside Top 3) William Sadler (Reading)
1st Home Club Sailor (Outside Top 3) Hendricks Long (Warsash)
Endeavour Ewan Parish (Portchester)
Full 4.2 Results here...
Megan Cerrato & William Le Grice, where tied in the land yachting results with Goring Thames' Mattie Svendsen just half a second slower!