ITCA London and South East Topper Traveller Series 2022 at Papercourt Sailing Club

The 14th Traveller on the London and South East region and End of Seasons season event. The event was held on Saturday 26th.

A total of 32 sailors arrived for one of the biggest travellers of the year, including many local sailors and some adults! The day started with light winds but the forecast was for a rising wind all dayand from the South which is perfect for Papercourt Lake. So we launched on time and went into sequence as soon as we could to get all 4 races completed.

Race 1 was light winds about 5 knots, the start was congested and at the windward mark Ian Ma lead around the mark followed by a close chasing pack. The downwind proved tricky with shifty wind and plenty of gybes. The top pack pulled away from the rest of the fleet, as they approached the next beat. Next windward leg was full of shifts of 10% degrees or slowly Leo Yates sailed through the pack to get to the windward mark first, followed by Ian Ma from Papercourt and Leah May. Leo won the 1st race and Ian Ma 2nd, Leah May 3rd.

ITCA London and South East Topper Travellers at Papercourt - photo © Dave Symons

In race 2, the fleet was lead off the line by Leo closely followed by Sam Clancy and Rory Clow. Leo got to the windward mark first again and headed downwind and with a close chasing pack but managed to entend his leadon the next lap. Isla Todd had an excellent second beat to get into third place. The race finished with Leo Yates again in 1st place, Rory Clow 2nd place, Isla Todd 3rd.

In race 3 the wind really began to build and the strong wind sailors came to the front. Lots of capsizes ensued with the gusts both upwind and downwind. Lucas Symons was lying in 3rd place his best race but his mainsheet knot came out from the end of the boom, and ended Lucas's race as there was no way he could rethread mainsheet in the strong winds.

ITCA London and South East Topper Travellers at Papercourt - photo © Dave Symons

The race was dominated by Leo Yates who lead of the first mark chased by Rory Clow with Leah may taking advantage of Lucas's misfortune, and that is how the race ended.

The 4th and final race ended up being an huge battle for first place between Rory Clow and Leo Yates. Rory lead at the first 4 mark roundings with Leo just meters behind. Leo eventually overtook him on the beat after as suspected port/starboard incident. On the downwind Rory shadow closely and after another suspected rules incident, Leo lead at the leeward mark to take his 4th win of the day.

Congratulations to the event winner Leo Yates with four 1st places and a perfect score, and also Rory Clow with an excellent second place with three 2nd places in the races. Leah may came third and first girl and Isla Todd 4th place and 2nd girl.

ITCA London and South East Topper Travellers at Papercourt - photo © Dave Symons

In the 4.2 fleet there were 5 and 1 adult sailors, but a great battle ensued between Oscar Lay, Toby lay and Sam Dence. Oscar dominated the event with 3 race wins followed by his brother Toby Lay and Sam Dence.

A huge thank you goes to our hosts, Papercourt Sailing Club for organising a brilliant event, with excellent winds and setting 4 amazing races. We look forward to returning next year.

Overall Results: