A great effort from IBRSC sailors at the Topper worlds held from Monday 24th to Friday 28th July 2017 at the seaside port of Loctudy, Brittany, France.
Over 200 sailors competed across the 5.3 and 4.2 fleets. Competitors were from the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Macau, France and notably China. The competition ran over 5 days, with the first 3 days providing qualification into fleets (gold, silver and bronze) which then leads to finals within each of the fleets.
The difference between club sailing and having 60+ boats on a start line, with sea tides and strong winds cannot be more stark! Strong winds and tides are things that inland sailors seldom have to concern themselves with. Loctudy provided all of this in buckets loads!
Each day consisted of around 5 hours on the water, sailing three races of between 30 - 45 minutes. The course sailed is the standard outer / inner loop course used with the majority of Topper events. At one point the first beat was 1km long! The IBRSC sailors demonstrated great determination, skill and fitness taking part in this event.
IBRSC had a great team of sailors taking part in the event.
Left to right- Maxi Tustain (103rd overall (1st place Bronze fleet)), Coco Barrett (20th overall (Gold fleet)), Maisie Bristow (99th Overall (Silver fleet)) Lily Barrett (73rd Overall (Silver fleet)).
The 2018 Topper worlds is to be held in China - Longcheer, Shenzhen.