We would like to apologise for the difficulties some people have had in renewing their memberships. Membership renewal emails were re-sent on Monday 30th January. If you haven't received a membership renewal email please can you contact webmaster©gbrtopper.co.uk.

The membership fees for 2012 should be £33.00 for Standard Membership and £11 for each Additional Helm. We have had a technical issue in a few cases where different fees were being displayed when people attempted to renew their memberships. We believe that these have now been resolved, but if you do see fees displayed that differ from those above please let [email protected] know as soon as possible.

If you haven't received your membership renewal email or have deleted it by accident, you can renew your membership via the link in the "Update your Membership Details" section on our Membership page. Alternatively please contact [email protected] so that we can help.

Thank you for your patience, and apologies once again for any inconvenience caused.

It is with great sadness that the Class has lost a great friend, Jane Fielder. Jane was South East Area Rep 2002-03 and contributed many cartoons to Topper Times. She was well known on the Topper circuit as a friendly and helpful face with a taste for real ale and a love of football and all sport. She will be missed by everyone who knew her and our thoughts are with her husband Ian and children Andy and Laura.

In 2012 the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show, to be held over the weekend of 3^rd & 4^th March, will have an added attraction in the form of a virtual regatta! The regatta, powered by the inshore sailboat racing and training game SailX.com, will be open to all and will be run over seven weeks in the lead up to the event, culminating with Finals at the dinghy show on the Volvo Main Stage!

The famous Endeavour Trophy will also be associated with this event, with the winning Class being awarded the “2012 RYA Volvo Dinghy Show Championship Trophy” and the winning individual being awarded with the “2012 Virtual Endeavour Trophy”. The Endeavour Trophy, a fine silver replica of the J Class Endeavour donated by Beecher Moore in 1934 which has been awarded to the “Champion of Champions” of the British dinghy world almost every year since then, will also be on display at the show. The virtual nature of this regatta will help the Endeavour Championship to broaden its reach beyond the thirty or so Classes which can physically be accommodated in the real-world event and it will give all Classes an equal chance to present the quality and depth of sailing talent in their fleets.

If you are interested in taking part you can find more information at www.sailx.com/ryavolvodinghyshow 

Membership renewal invitations are currently being prepared. Members should receive their renewal invitations via an email from SailRacer in the next 10 days or so (by 22 January).

This year's AGM will take place during our Inland Championships on Saturday 5th May, at approximately 7:30pm. The start time may vary slightly depending on when the day's racing finishes.

The AGM is your opportunity to influence how our class develops in the future. It would be great to see a large turnout of members, so why not add it to your diaries now? See you there!

The Winter Regatta will be held on 25th/26th February at Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy. Entries are now open. Click here for further information and to enter. Please note that a Late Entry Fee will apply for entries received on or after Saturday 11th February. 
We look forward to seeing you there.

A good number of Toppers race regularly in Chichester Harbour Federation week and they would love more members from the Topper fleet to join them in the 2012 event, August 20 to 24.
Fed Week is run from Hayling Island SC, It offers class racing for a dozen different fleets, from Optimists and Fevas to RS 200s and Flying Fifteens, plus five handicap starts, two of them for asymmetric classes. More class starts will be offered if entries are high enough. On average, close to 400 boats compete each year.
Racing is on the broad but comparatively sheltered water of Chichester Harbour,where tactical skill and good use of tides count as well as pure boat speed. There is a single long race each day (the junior classes have two or three short races), with three to count, and social events are organised each evening by federation clubs around the harbour.
It is a family week, often seeing two or three generations of the same family competing, with serious but enjoyable racing. The sandy beach at HISC is great for non-sailing youngsters and the clubhouse offers excellent facilities for spectators.
For more details, please see www.chifed.org.

ITCA (GBR) has made a donation to the RNLI The donation has been sent to the RNLI station at Pwhelli, this is in recognition of the amount saved on fuel at the recent National Series event.

The Topper Midland 2011 Circuit is sponsored by Purple Marine who this summer donnated a new Topper to the area for a fantastic end of season prize draw. The circuit consisted of 10 events throughout the year and each entrant at each event received a Purple Marine raffle ticket, so the more events they entered the more tickets they had for the end of circuit prize draw.

The draw took place at Burton Sailing Club on 1^st October with the winning ticket being pulled out belonging to Robin Jones, aged 16 of Hykeham Sailing Club. Robin who has only been racing Toppers for 2 years finished 5^th overall in
the Purple Marine Midland Circuit and has also been selected for a place in the Purple Marine National Youth Squad.

Thanks to Purple Marie & to Topper International for supplying the boat to Purple Marine.
Greg O'Brien from Purple Marine is pictured handing over the Topper to Robin WWW.PURPLEMARINE.COM

Sail laser has announced a series of 4.7 open winter training dates at WPNSA. Click here for more information and dates 

This is open to any female sailor who sails a Topper. Historically applicants have been drawn from a wide spectrum of experience from those in National Squad to those who could sail a triangular course! It is a great opportunity to develop your sailing but also to make new friends and improve your confidence.

The All-Girls Programme this winter is slightly different:

• In the past we have offered places to sailors of all abilities on two weekend camps for those sailors who live in the ‘north’ and two in the ‘south’.  Effectively this was Open Training for girls.
• All-Girls Open Training will continue this winter (please see the dates on the application form) but the total number of camps will be reduced to three. Sailors are welcome to apply for all three camps but may get less than they would want depending on the number of applicants.
• RYA National Squad and National Intermediate Squad girls are not the intended target for this training but some of them will be invited to help the coaches at these camps.

These are exciting times to be a sailor of any gender but especially for the girls; expect new initiatives in the next few years which are intended to make you see the many opportunities that our sport offers. These opportunities should not just be for the boys! Click Here for further information and application form

Dave Cockerill    RYA National Coach

The arrival information for the Autumn Regatta at Poole can be download by following this link Arrival info.
alternatively the information can be downloaded from general document  in the download area shown in the menus.

                                             
Topper International Ltd have launched a new loyalty card for their customers.
The TOPPER CLUB CARD will entitle members to discounted parts and accessories on all TOPPER SHOP products and give you the opportunity to enter exclusive promotions and competitions throughout the year. In these tough economic times it is a great way to reward boat owners and loyal customers. Membership is FREE. You can register for your card on the Topper website

On the 15^th/16^th October we will be holding our first Autumn
Regatta at Poole Yacht Club. This will be a new format with the girls and boys sailing in separate fleets for their own trophies and championships. In addition we will be awarding prizes for the younger stars, thus reflecting the two themes for the Regatta – girls sailing against girls and recognising the next age group of sailors. There will also be plenty of prizes for the older sailors too!
The Notice of Race has been published, Poole Yacht Club has fantastic new facilities and the stage is set for the final event of 2011. Entries should be made online by 29^th September. See you there!

Poole Yacht Club will also be hosting the second event in the Sailing Solutions Topper 4.2 National Series 2011-12 on 15^th/16^th October. The Topper 4.2s will have a separate course close to the clubhouse, Entries should be made online by 29^th September.