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First day's qualifying series - Monday, 19th July.
The Topper 4.2 and 5.3 fleets headed out to the IJseelmeer for the first races of the 2025 World Championship in perfect conditions, warm sun and a building SE breeze. Race 1 for the 5.3’s was started in 16 knots, with a short, tricky chop to negotiate.
In the Yellow & Blue fleets race, Adam Green (IRL 464) showed his great off-wind technique to lead around mark 2 from Edward Lee, (GBR 343)
In the 4.2 class, Joel Keen, (GBR 56) from Stokes Bay SC led the fleet from Draycote Water’s Henry Cruse (GBR 88) and James Martin of Whitstable YC, (GBR 214)
Race 2 for the 5.3 Yellow & Red fleet saw much of the eager fleet over early, leading to a general recall, followed by a black flag start. Sam Mason, (GBR 55) made the best of the restart to lead by a good distance at the bottom gate. However, Ethan Rhodes (GBR 614) of Warsash SC overhauled him on the second beat to take his second win of the day to lead the class overnight..
Dark, threatening clouds heralded a massive 90-degree shift to the SW, and a localised increase to 25 knots, catching the first start of the third 5.3 race on the first reach across the top of the trapezoid. The PRO Rob Hoogstra of the Royal Hollandia YC, wisely decided to abandon the race, and both 5.3 fleets were sent ashore, just after the 4.2 class managed to complete their third race. Feiran Wan, (CHN 879) of Whisper of the Wind SC led the 4.2 fleet after day’s 3 races, from Joel Keen, (GBR 56) and Reuben Wealthy (GBR 241).
After some overnight rain, Tuesday morning brightened up to produce champagne sailing conditions, with a 15-knot westerly that built to 20 kts in the afternoon and tested all the sailors.
The 4.2 fleet started first, with most of the fleet at the pin end at the start. Sam Taylor, (GBR 654) nailed a great port tack start, whilst Haoya Wang (CHN 875) pulled the trigger perfectly to shoot off the line on starboard. With the wind shifting, it was the right-hand side of the beat that generally paid. At the finish, it was Reuben Wealthy (GBR) from Stokes Bay SC getting the better of Whisper of the Wind SC’s Haoyu Wang, and the consistent Joel Keen in third.
As the breeze built through the afternoon to a testing 16-knots plus, James Martin, (GBR 214) stamped his authority on the fleet, taking the fourth race win from Vanhang Sailing’s Wanqui Luo (CHN 842), Rex Wraight (GBR 501) and Henry Cruse, (GBR 88).
Race three for the Topper 5.3 fleet saw Ireland’s Adam Green, (IRL 464) head the white & yellow flights race, taking the win from Sam Mason (GBR 55).
The red & Blue flights start was held up as a 30-degree wind shift that required a reorientation of the course, but once underway Ethan Rhodes from Warsash SC (GBR 614) took another win and topped the Topper 5.3 fleet overnight, with a 1,1,1,(3),1, scoreline, ahead of Harry Dence (GBR 513) of Island Barn SC, who was level on points with third place Sam Mason (GBR 56) of Silver Wing SC. Sam was runner-up in the Topper 4.2 Worlds last year in Spain, and looks to have made a smooth transition to the 5.3 rig.
The Topper 4.2 fleet continued their championship series, with Henry Cruse of Draycote Water SC (GBR 88) maintaining the lead, from James Martin of Whitstable SC (GBR 214), who in turn is just a point ahead of Joel Keen, (GBR 56) of Stokes Bay SC and a tight following pair of clubmate Reuban Wealthy, (GBR 241) and Feiran Wan, (CHN 879), both level on 20 points.
After racing, 20 parents and coaches, all desperate to get afloat themselves and prove they still have it, took to the water for a Topper 6.4 Masters practice race, which was fiercely contested! The 15 knot wind proved a perfect test for the 6.4 rigs, with Ex-World Champion Liam Glynn taking the bullet from Ian Matthews and Pitor Tokajuk, the defending Masters Champion.
Finals Series: For racing on Wednesday 23rd, the Topper 5.3 Class was split into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets for the finals series, with the scores starting again from scratch. When the sailors went afloat at 11.00, the 7 knot westerly breeze at 280 degrees was already starting to drop and become unstable. The first start for Race 7 of the Topper 4.2 Championships managed to get away before a 20-degree shift arrived under a cloud, causing the postponement of the sequence for the 5.3 Gold fleet. 4.2 managed to complete their race, and it brought the light airs specialists to the fore, with Ireland’s Tomás A’Coistealbha (IRL 485) taking the gun from Whisper of the Wind’s Feiran Wang, (CHN 879) and Yunshuo Gu, (CHN 886)
The wind continued to play games until later in the afternoon when it swung to the southwest and built a little more to allow the 5.3 Fleets to finally get a race in after a plethora of 9 abandoned or recalled starts. This cost the fleet a lot of time afloat, which ultimately contributed to just four races in the finals series. The Silver & Bronze fleet also picked up the urge to start early, causing a general recall with many boats over early. The Royal Hollandia YC Race team did everything possible to squeeze the races in, even waiting a minute before the class flag to drop the windward mark in the ever-shifting breeze.
Eventually, the first 5.3 Gold fleet race got away, with Ralph Hadley from Whitstable SC (GBR 160) in the lead at the bottom gate and together with Sam Mason (GBR 55, Silver Wing SC) choosing the port hand mark, whilst Alex Stainton (GBR 177, Draycote Water SC) and Toby Turner, (GBR 169, Snettisham Beach SC) took the starboard buoy, where there was a bit of a pile up. At the finish, it was Sam Mason with a commanding lead, proving his apprenticeship in the 4.2 fleet had served him well, taking the gun from the battling pair of Alex and Ralph, with Alex pipping his rival into third.
With the wind dropping, the conditions played more into the hands of some of the lighter male and female athletes. Dougal Jackson (GBR 618) took the second finals race from Henry Noel (GBR 346) and Adam Green, (IRL 464) – both of whom had previously scored well in the breeze, proving that size is not a barrier to Topper light airs success!
In the second start for the Silver & Bronze fleets, popular Irish sailor Paidí A’Coistealb (IRL 417) claimed the win from Zuxiang Lin, (CHN 840) and Griff Attrill (GBR 369). Bronze fleet leaders were Matthew McCandless (GBR 515), from JP Shackleton (GBR 2540 and Siyuan Sun (CHN 852)
Thursday - Topper 5.3 Finals Series & 4.2 Championships
Thursday’s IJsselmeer winds failed to develop sufficiently steadily enough to allow the race committee to set a course. The sailors were launched into the harbour minutes before the PRO radioed to keep the fleet ashore. After a fruitless wait afloat, the fleet returned to the harbour at 13.20 under the AP signal, and with no improvement on the race course, racing was abandoned for the day at 15.30.
As the forecast predicted, the breeze close to the harbour filled in later in the afternoon, allowing the Topper 6.4 Master’s race to be held. Originally developed as a fun race for parents, it has become a fiercely contested championship race for coaches, keen parents, older siblings and ex-World Champions. Medemblik 2025 was no exception, with no less than two World Champions and the defending champions in the 25-boat fleet. This was the first time the Masters race had been run using the 6.4 rigs generously loaned by Topper Sailboats.
Joe Rowe, 2022 World Champion, chose the right side of the beat and benefited from a big right-hander and a little more pressure to round the first mark ahead of Liam Glynn, (2013 Champion). James Noel, late launching and with only a few minutes in the boat, was third at the top mark, but got taken out by a port tacker in the zone.
Joe Rowe showed his fitness by extending downwind in the building southwesterly that swirled off the land, despite being flagged for pumping, he still had time to do his turns without losing a place. Liam Glynn was runner-up for the second year, and Vanhang Sailing coach Mc Ma was third.
Friday 25th - Final day
On the final day, the Race Officer signalled his intention to start an hour earlier at 11.00 and aim for 4 races, as the forecast was for the morning winds to drop later in the day. The Fleets left the harbour in a building 12-16 knots westerly.
In the 4.2 fleet, Draycote Water’s Henry Cruse (GBR 88) held a slender two-point lead over Whisper of the Wind SC’s Wan Fei Ran, (CHN 879). The 16-knot wind had created the infamous IJsselmeer’s short chop, particularly hard to drive through with the 4.2 rig. Wan Fei Ran proved more than a match for the conditions, powering through downwind to lead by over 20 m from title rival Cruse and Wanqi Luo (CHN 842) in third.
The pressure was now on Henry Cruse, with his championship lead now cut to a single point and the breeze was dropping, favouring the lighter, female Chinese athlete.
In the 10th and what transpired to be the final race, a major shift during the first upwind caused the race to be abandoned, and the fleet was recalled to start again on a re-laid course. This time, Henry Cruse started mid-line and played the shifts on the left side of the beat. However, the general wind trend was to go right, leaving Henry somewhat isolated on the left, as Stokes Bay’s Reuben Wealthy (GBR 241) rounded ahead with Cruse having to claw his way back to 7th. Wanqi Luo showed his consistency in by taking second, but critically so did Wan Fei Ran, who crossed in third, enough to give her the International Topper 4.2 World Championship by 3 points. An impressive result, making her the first female Topper 4.2 World Champion, and a great boost for the Whisper of the Wind Sailing Club.
Due to the need to keep reorienting the course for windshifts, the 5.3 Gold Fleet only managed two more races before the 15.00 time limit prevented any further starts. Ethan Rhodes, (GBR 614) had dominated the qualifying series to lead the fleet, but was caught out on the first day of Finals, with a 45 and a BFD. However, he got back in the groove on Friday with a 1,2 score, but with only four races completed in the Finals, he was left to rue what might have been. Others were feeling the pressure, with championship contenders Toby Turner (GBR) and Ralph Hadley, (GBR) both scoring UFD in the final race.
However, Sam Mason, second overall going into Friday, was head down in the zone and knew exactly what he had to do to get past the leader, Toby Turner (GBR 169), as he told our press team.
The final race had major drama. Toby Turner started in the middle of the line, but was judged UFD, Sam Mason was deep in the pack on the first beat, but after the second windward leg was shifted to the left, he climbed to 6th place. Joseph Hulse (GBR 181) had his best race of the week, taking the gun from the revitalised Ethan Rhodes, with Sam Dence (GBR 516) also having his best result of the week in third.
Charlie Mackenzie was another consistent performer who had kept his head down all week, never scoring worse than 18th. He pulled out his best on the final day, scoring a 3,4 to lift himself dramatically into the Silver medal position, level on points with Toby Turner but with a better count back. There was considerable confusion on the water as to exactly who had won, until the scores were confirmed and Sam Mason was endorsed as the 2025 International Topper World Champion, by a 7-point margin from the rest of the podium.
At the prize giving, Sam spoke eloquently about his week, the coaching and support he has received over the year, and of the quality of racing in Medemblik. As runner-up in the 4.2 championships last year in Spain, his transition to the Topper 5.3 rig in 12 months is impressive, and we look forward to following his sailing career in the future.
Full results (click on the tab under Details on top left to toggle to Topper 4.2 results)
International Topper 5.3 World Championship Gold fleet podium: 1st Sam Mason 2nd Charlie Mackenzie, 3rd Toby Turner, (all GBR)
International Topper 5.3 World Championship Silver fleet podium: 1st Paidí A' Coistealbha (IRL), 2nd Mattie Svendsen (GBR), 3rd Ruben Lawrence (GBR)
International Topper 5.3 World Championship bronze podium: 1st Edward Taylor (GBR), 2nd Matthew Mccandless (GBR), 3rd Yunyang Zhang (CHN)
International Topper 4.2 World Championship podium: 1st Wan Fei Ran (CHN), 2nd Henry Cruse (GBR), 3rd Reuben Wealthy (GBR),
