TOPPER

SOUTH EAST TRAVELLER 13      

SERIES DECIDER

ISLAND BARN

22 09 07

 

 

Headline

Jonathan Hewat won the event and the Traveller Series in an event which ended with a bizarre Redress situation. Read full report for details.

 

 

 

Report

43 boats arrived for the final Topper Traveller. Well done hardworking Area rep Jo Wicken for generating such enthusiasm so late in the season.

 

Unfortunately, the morning weather, though sunny, was testing in both its lightness and variable direction.

 

Race 1 – Bad news for Topper Sailboats. You don’t need a new boat to win. Good news for oldies. You don’t need to be just a few years past weaning to excel. Clive Jackson from Papercourt, age unknown, but probably the writer’s side of thirty, and sailing Topper 16516 (30,000 Toppers have been made since this one!)) overtook Jonathan Hewat (the series leader) on the final run to take first place. Oldies rejoice.

Race 2 – A big shift left as the gun went meant those at the pin end were laughing and the committee boat starters were cursing the race officer. Hewat got it right and led from start to finish, with Stephanie Wicken a close second. Jackson did well to salvage a 5^th from a poor start.

 

At lunch, Hewat had a 3 point lead over Jackson and Wicken.

 

Race 3. Prayers answered. A steady, if light, south westerly had established itself. The lunch had contained too many calories leading to an over-enthusiastic line charge and general recall. Energy was better managed for the I-flagged second start. Juliet Beck led all the way round lap 1, with Hewat nibbling at her transom, as they started Lap 2. As these two match-raced up the second beat, Jackson caught them in clear air. By the finish, Hewat had hunted down Beck for first, Jackson took second and a weary Beck took third.

Race 4. Beck, resolve undiminished, was a life jacket thickness over at the pin and was called back. Hewat had an easy win and held off Will Street from Pevensay Bay.

This gave Hewat the event and he sailed home.

Race 5. This race had one of the strangest racing incidents the writer has come across and is a lesson to all race officers and sailors. The first lap went beautifully, with Julia Beck leading. As the committee boat crew were writing down Lap 1 positions, a committee crew member did so by resting his recording sheet on a board with a large ‘1/2’ on the back. This was facing the sailors. Boats 1 & 2 ignored it. However boats 3,4,5,6,7,8,9, all took this to mean ½ a lap remaining and returned to the finish after completing the first beat. On receiving no ‘gun’, they retraced their paths, to rejoin near the back, making their displeasure known to the committee boat as they eventually finished. Having established what had happened, the Race Officer’s (writer’s) first instinct was to Abandon, second instinct was to award points based on first lap positions, which seemed to him the fairest option for everyone. However, Abandoning would have been unfair to the leading boats, and the Sailing Instructions / RRS did not allow the second option. So the results were posted as recorded and the inevitable redress against the Race Committee was lodged with about a dozen boats signing the form.

The Protest Committee dismissed the redress and the results stood. This was tough on boats who were misled, but the writer agrees was the correct outcome.

The lessons for the Race Officer are clear. Keep an eagle eye on less experienced assistants and do not allow anything to take place on the Committee boat that might cause confusion. Secondly, do not consider trying to manufacture what might appear to be a fair resolution if the S.I.s do not allow it.

The lessons for the sailors are clear. Read the S.I.s,, stick to them and do not be led astray by extraneous signs, however tempting they might be.

Julia Beck rightfully kept her first place, with Clive Jackson second.

Congratulations to Clive Jackson for giving a lesson to all the Squaddies (except one), to Julia Beck for being single-mindedly competitive in every race, and to Jonathan Hewat who deservedly won the event and the Traveller Series. He looks to have a successful sailing career ahead of him.

 

1   Jonathan Hewat       45500       Medway

2    Clive Jackson          16516       Papercourt

3   Julia Beck                 40877       Papercourt

4   Stephanie Wicken    44304       Wilsonian

5   George Spedding     45594       Queen Mary

6   Will Street                 41590       Pevensey Bay