Maltese sailors Sayon Bonnici, Aneese Bugeja and Jacob Borg recently took part in the International Topper Worlds held in Medemblik from the 21st to the 25th July. They competed in the 5.3 class and were accompanied by coach Matthew Wallis and team leader Roxane Borg. Sailors travelled the Wednesday before the event so as to train on site and get used to the local conditions.

The event started with two days of qualifying races. A total of 174 sailors registered for the event out of which 131 competed in the 5.3 class. The first day was marked by South East winds and a short chip that was tricky to negotiate. Sayon and Aneese both managed to keep to the top half of their fleet during the races. The third race saw a 90 degree shift to the South West with winds increasing to 25 knots. In these conditions all our sailors pushed harder doing better than the previous day and racing at the front of the fleet. Unfortunately the PRO abandoned the race with all boats sent ashore. Day 2 built up to a steady 18 knot breeze with our sailors pushing harder  in conditions that were more similar to those at home, placing better than the previous day. Both Sayon and Aneese qualified to Gold Fleet while Jacob qualified to Bronze fleet just short of the silver fleet for a few places.

Wednesday, day 1 of the finals series started with a very light 7 knot westerly breeze. Tricky wind conditions finally allowed the fleets to get in a race after 9 abandoned or recalled starts.  The Maltese sailors found the light conditions very challenging with mixed results. On Thursday, the winds failed to develop sufficiently enough to allow the race committee to set a course and after a fruitless wait afloat, the fleet was sent in under the AP signal. No races were held that day.

Friday saw the last day of the final series with only 2 races managed for the day before the time limit. Conditions were light and shifty again with mixed results from the Maltese Sailors in a very competitive fleet. At the end of the championship results were as follows:

Sayon Bonnici Gold Fleet
63rd in Gold Fleet

Aneese Bugeja Gold fleet
66th in Gold Fleet

Jacob Borg Bronze fleet
21st in Bronze fleet

These results were an improvement over the participation in the last two world championships and are attributed to the added physical and on the water training for the sailors. We look forward to our participation in the Topper Worlds next year due to be held in Quiberon France.

Participation of the sailors at the Topperworlds was partly funded by Sportmalta through the international participation scheme. Full results here