Magic Marine - Inlands @ Grafham Water

Next weekend's event is the Magic Marine Topper Inlands @ Grafham Water.

Registration will commence at 09.15 hours on Saturday 5th May at the Event for those that haven't already registered on-line.

Do remember to register that you've arrived and collect your flight ribbon. With the number of competitors it is expected that there will be four flights in two starts, the first start sailing the outer loop and the second start the inner loop - but be sure to check the Sailing Instructions, and any Supplemental ones too, (links below).

Sailing Instructions are available on the ITCA(GBR) class website and any supplementary sailing instructions will be given in writing at Registration and/or displayed on the event notice board, and can also be downloaded from these links. So far 259 "Main Fleet" sailors have registered on-line, and in addition to the main fleet there are a further 26 in the "Regatta Fleet". Rumour has it that the 300 mark has been broken!!

More information on the event can be found directly from the Grafham Water SC Website. As usual the first race is not expected to begin before 12:00 (Noon), but a Balcony Briefing will take place in the hour prior to the start.

The Wind Guru forecast is a maximum of 13 knots NE, dropping on Sunday to 8 knots ENE, with temperatures as high as 19 Celsius.

One last thing - there is a chandlers on site - so if you forget, or break anything, you may well be able to buy it at Grafham. Dave Cockerill of Sailing Solutions will also be there so feel free to pre-order anything for him to bring up to the event.

For those travelling from Southport, it's just short of 190 miles and is expected to take about three and a half hours, so safe journey - see you at the Travel Lodge ;-)

Good Luck to the Fleet of Toppers from Southport.

Event Results: Main Fleet, Regatta Fleet

NW Traveller #3 @ Nantwich & Borders

The third NW Topper Traveller event is this weekend on Saturday the 21st of April, at Nantwich & Borders Sailing Club in Cheshire.

The club is just about 71 miles from Southport and is estimated to take about an hour and a half to get there.

The usual NW Traveller times apply: briefing @ 10:30 with a first start at 11:00.

The Club's sailing instructions for the event can be found at the end of this link.

Good luck to all Topper sailors that enter.

Event Results.

NW Junior Traveller Trophy @ Winsford Flash

This weekends NW JTT event takes pace at Winsford Flash Sailing Club in Cheshire.

For more details of the event see the NWJTT web site.

Good luck to all the Optimist sailors that enter.

NW Traveller #2 @ Redesmere

The next of the North West Topper Traveller events is comming up this weekend; at Redesmere Sailing Club in Cheshire.

The sailing club is just over 50 miles from Southport, and is estimated to take almost an hour and a quarter to get there.

For those of you with GPS navigation the post code is: SK11 9PR.

There's no need to pre-book the event, but the race briefing is at 10:30 with the first race starting at 11:00, for more information from their site follow this link.

Good Luck to all those that make the journey and sail, I'll link to the results after the event.

Event Results

Nationwide #1 @ Rutland SC

Congratulations to Stephen Beckett (Solva Rowing & Watersports Club) on wining the first Nationwide Event of 2007.

One hundred and eighty eight competitors started racing in very challenging F5-F6 conditions on the Saturday.

Full results are here, with a gallery of photographs from the event here.

As you can see from these photographs there was a fair amount of chop on both days, with a number of entrants deciding that discretion was definitely the better part of valour on the Sunday. The forecast of 20-21 knots on Saturday, dropping off to 15-18 on Sunday was not what was experienced by the sailors on the water.

However, a big thank you should be given to the race officers and the safety boat crews for the excellent management and cover that was provided, especially for "Race Box", who single-handedly coordinated the race and safety crews during the event. Whoever you are, you did a marvelous job.