Leo West-Hurst of Ballyholme Yacht Club has finished third overall at the International Topper World Championships, leading a strong Northern Ireland showing at St Pierre Quiberon in Brittany.
Quiberon Bay sets the stage
The championships were hosted by the Société des Régates St Pierre Quiberon at the ENVSN, the French national sailing academy and Olympic training base.
Quiberon Bay has a reputation, and this week it lived up to it. The narrow Breton peninsula does something special with the wind. Light airs, shifty conditions and long days made it a game of focus and getting the head out of the boat for the sailors.
How it shook out
Topper 5.3
Gold fleet (67 boats):
- Leo West-Hurst (Ballyholme YC / Royal Ulster YC) 3rd
- Adam Green (Lough Erne YC) 8th
- Ben McCaldin (Lough Erne YC) 14th
- Emma West-Hurst (Ballyholme YC / Royal Ulster YC) 20th
- Caroline Byrne (Ballyholme YC) 26th
- James Westhead (Strangford Lough YC) 43rd
- Charlie Haslett (Strangford Lough YC) 55th
- Penny Doig (East Antrim Boat Club) 67th
Silver fleet (41 Boats):
- Max Boyd (Ballyholme YC) 22nd
- Hugh Hutchinson (Royal North of Ireland YC) 28th
Topper 4.2 fleet (42 boats):
- Daniel Long (East Down YC) 9th
View from the coach boat
This was not a week for autopilot sailing. Quiberon served up light, patchy conditions that rewarded patience and punished anyone who stopped thinking.
“The Worlds were very tricky this year, with a real focus on light wind sailing and lots of holes and shifts on the course to deal with,” said NIST coach Luke McIlwaine. “We got off to a strong start and finished qualifying with a strong Gold fleet contingent.”
The breeze made everyone work for it, often filling in late in the day and stretching the race schedule into the evenings. “It created long days on the water,” said Luke. “But our resilience gave us an advantage and we managed to get all but two of the races completed.”
That resilience showed in the scoreline. Eight NI sailors made the Gold fleet, and when the racing got attritional at the sharp end of the week, the results kept coming.
The road ahead
For some the sun barely sets on French waters before they call into Weymouth on the way home for the Topper British Nationals 9th – 14th of August.
Then roll on for the summer finale, our very on Youth Championships, this year proudly hosted at Royal North of Ireland YC and supported again by John Minnis Estate Agents.
With an eye towards winter training and the 2027 season to come, a large amount of our current Topper squad will be trading in the plastic for fiberglass as they transition to the ILCA 4. We are enthusiastic for this new crop of youth sailors coming though and looking forward to supporting them in the NI Sailing Team Programmes.
Quiberon is done. The pathway rolls on.
