Mayhem on the water

Mayhem on the water

21 June 2017

EVEN the weather was on side as Killyleagh Yacht Club hosted Topperdome on Saturday afternoon.

Wall-to-wall sunshine and light winds provided excellent sailing conditions for the 25 sailors who turned up to take part and raise money for the very worthy NI Air Ambulance. 

With anyone under 25 barred from the event, the KYC juniors took on support and rescue duties for the day, while the very much older, in some cases, slid back into a dinghy.

Taking inspiration from Thunderdome, the race management team at KYC decided that in Topperdome, “two would enter — only one would leave”, and so the first of 15 one-on-one match races began.

Fifteen pairs of intrepid sailors set out with only the winner going forward each time.  Sailing under their chosen battle names, some of the hot favourites after heat one were KYC commodore Kyle ‘Killer’ Bolton, Malcolm and Marcus Crichton and Andrew ‘Komanche Kites’ Killops.

The father-and-son team of ‘Dangerous Don’ and ‘Postie Stevie’ Bridges both won their heats, as did last year’s winner, ‘Defender of the Shield’ Stephen Stewart. 

Girl power was also out in force as ‘Tricky Nicky’ McVeigh romped home with the fastest time of the entire day, while Rachel ‘Boaty McBennettface’ Bennett and ‘Mayhem Mandy’ Broughton also sailed through to the quarter-finals.

Visitors from neighbouring EDYC also kept their hopes afloat as ‘Nik Nak’ John and Colin ‘The Digitiser’ Patterson lined up with ‘Captain Trevor’ Hook,  Anthony ‘Kill em’ Kelly, Darren ‘The Decoy Duck’ Leahy and ‘Rampant Ross’ Bolton for round two.  Ian ‘Bring my Harness’ Barr and Bryan ‘Monster’ Monson completed the quarter final line-up.

With nine races in the quarter-finals, the battle lines were drawn and three of last year’s finalists, Malcolm Crichton, Andrew Killops and Stephen Stewart, fought their way to a place in the semi-finals.  Doing it for the girls, Nicky McVeigh, Rachel Bennett and Mandy Broughton all secured semi-final places with Marcus Crichton, Steven Bridges and Colin Patterson taking the final three spots.

It was girl power all the way in fleet one as Nicky McVeigh romped home ahead of Rachel Bennett, who managed to hold off a downwind attack from Steven Bridges in third.

In fleet two, Mandy Broughton left the Crichton brothers to fight it out as she headed for clear air along the shore, but a wind shift paid to the Crichtons’ advantage as the race saw Malcolm ahead of Marcus, with Mandy in third. 

The third semi-final though provided the most excitement as the ever competitive Andrew Killops pushed Stephen Stewart into the finish line, meaning last year’s champ had to unwind his course and retake the line, all with Colin Patterson storming home from the windward mark.  In the end, Stewart just made it, to take second behind Killops, with Patterson in third.

With the 25 originals narrowed down to a field of six, the final saw a six boat fleet complete a two-lap rounding of the course.

Marcus Crichton was a man on a mission and flew into an early lead, only to come to blows at the leeward mark as a late jibe saw him catapulted from, and swimming after, his Topper as it blew off downwind.

With the path ahead now clear, brother Malcolm headed upwind on the second leg, battling Stephen Stewart for all important supremacy at the windward mark.  Despite a tricky start, Nicky McVeigh had sailed into third place, with Rachel Bennett in fourth. 

As the crowd on the pontoon cheered for KYC, a veritable QYC flotilla on the water cheered ‘Maverick Mal’ Crichton home in first place, with Stephen Stewart in second and Nicky McVeigh in third.  Close behind in fourth was Rachel Bennett, while early leader Marcus Crichton hauled himself out of the water and finished fifth. Andrew Killops, who also suffered a nasty capsize, was close behind in sixth.

Overall, a brilliant day was had by all, both spectators and competitors, but regardless of who lifted the trophy, the winner on the day was the NI Air Ambulance which will receive over £1,000 as a result of the event. 

The organisers would like to thank everyone who helped with the event, including the KYC juniors and the KYC race management team, especially Scott Rodgers, for managing the races.

A big thanks also goes to the many event sponsors including TM Martin & Sons, CH Marine, Gordon Miles, Darren Leahy and J Clarke Marine. But most of all, thank you to all the competitors who embraced the fun, and madness, of adults match racing Toppers and whose outstanding generosity helped to raise this fantastic amount.