Topper Eastern Area Championships 2002

A fresh south-westerly brought superb sailing conditions to Great Moor SC for the 27 Toppers who entered the ITCA Eastern Region Championships on Saturday 27th April.

Race officer Marc Savitsky made the most of the lake's 65 acres in setting a varied course with 2 beats, 3 reaches and a downwind leg.

Race 1 started on schedule and after the first lap Richard Valentine (Great Moor) led convincingly from Kyle Paternoster (Grafham Water) and Alec Savitsky (Great Moor). Martyn Borley (Brightlingsea) and Justin Martin (Grafham Water) made up the top five at this point. However National Squad pride asserted itself and after 4 laps and nearly an hour of hard racing, Valentine led Paternoster home to win, followed by Nathan Batchelor (Clevedon), Roger Phillips (Great Moor) and Jonathan White (Pevensey Bay).

Race 2 saw some new faces in the lead at the top mark as Will Espiner (Great Moor) led from Savitsky, followed by Evan Scott (Grafham Water). In the second lap Valentine fought through to take the lead with Tom Winskell (Stewartby Water Sports) also moving up the field, but after 3 laps the winner was Espiner, followed by Valentine and Winskell. Savitsky was 4th, and Paternoster 5th.

After a welcome chance to warm up over the lunch break, the fleet took to the water for the third race in even stronger winds with some rain in the air. This was the chance for local club Laser champion Rich Patrick (Great Moor) in a borrowed boat to lead the way for the first lap in the heavy conditions. However the wind eased considerably in the later stages and he was overhauled by Valentine and Paternoster, with Batchelor and White following.

In the final race Paternoster took an early lead and was never challenged, but there was close racing in the pack behind with Valentine pulling through for 2nd, and Winskell in 3rd place.

As always there was good competition throughout the fleet, though the conditions were too strong for the younger sailors to make their mark. Emma Hardcastle won the Junior Female trophy, Evan Scott was awarded the under-14 prize, and Grace Tweddell (Royal Hospital School) the Under-12 prize.

Pos	Sail No	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Discard	Total	Name	Club	M/F	J/Y/S
1	44237	1	2	1	2	2	4	Richard Valentine	Great Moor	M	J
2	44035	2	5	2	1	5	5	Kyle Paternoster	Grafham Water	M	Y
3	43328	3	7	4	4	7	11	Nathan Batchelor	Clevedon	M	Y
4	43011	7	3	28	3	28	13	Tom Winskell	Stewartby	M	Y
5	44209	6	1	8	7	8	14	William Espiner	Great Moor	M	Y
6	40867	16	4	7	5	16	16	Alec Savitsky	Great Moor	M	J
7	43510	4	6	28	6	28	16	Roger Phillips	Great Moor	M	Y
8	43313	5	9	5	28	28	19	Jonathan White	Pevensey Bay	M	Y
9	22922	14	8	3	12	14	23	Richard Patrick	Great Moor	M	A
10	36612	9	11	6	10	11	25	Martyn Borley	Brightlingsea	M	J
11	43720	8	12	13	8	13	28	Evan Scott	Grafham Water	M	J
12	42612	28	10	9	11	28	30	Justin Martin	Grafham Water	M	J
13	44192	11	14	28	9	28	34	Adam Fox	Stewartby	M	J
14	40260	10	18	10	14	18	34	Robert Nunn	Grafham Water	M	J
15	43183	13	13	28	13	28	39	Emma Hardcastle	Grafham Water	F	J
16	36179	15	16	11	28	28	42	Michael Green	Great Moor	M	A
17	18046	12	19	16	17	19	45	Richard Barlow	Grafham Water	M	Y
18	43999	19	20	14	15	20	48	Matthew Undrell	Haversham	M	J
19	35467	17	17	15	16	17	48	Alice Brotchie	Royal Hospital School	F	Y
20	41206	28	15	12	28	28	55	Oliver Tweddell	Grafham Water	M	J
21	41361	18	21	28	18	28	57	Robert Spencer	Broxbourne	M	J
22	35345	20	28	17	28	28	65	Richard Crocker	Emberton Park	M	J
23	42050	28	22	28	28	28	78	Grace Tweddell	Grafham Water	M	J
	20966	28	28	28	28	28	84	Miles Turner	Great Moor	M	J
	19003	28	28	28	28	28	84	Jake Winter	Great Moor	M	J
	12479	28	28	28	28	28	84	Henry Smith	Great Moor/BGSC	M	J
	28083	28	28	28	28	28	84	Joanne Hamilton	Stokes Bay	F	A