The Topper is an 11

foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg mad ...

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls: * the sails * the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth) * the trim (forward/rear angle o ...

Ian Proctor Ian Douglas Ben Proctor (12 July 1918 – 23 July 1992) was a British designer of boats, both sailing dinghies and cruisers. He had more than one hundred designs to his credit, from which an estimate of at least 65,000 boats were built. His pion ...

. The Topper is a one-design boat sailed mostly around the British Isles. It was recognised as a

World Sailing World Sailing (WS) is the world sport governing body, governing body for the sailing (sport), sport of sailing recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). History The creation of the Inter ...

Class. The boat is constructed from

polypropylene Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefins a ...

, and is popular as a racing boat or for sail training. The class association (itca) organise racing events, which range from small travellers to major championships. The RYA run squads alongside the events; in these squads young sailors who are given specialist race coaching.

Class history and design

The Topper was designed by

in 1977 as a One-Design racing boat. The Topper has been in continuous production for over four decades and over 50,000 examples have now been sold. The Topper dinghy is built in the UK by Topper International Ltd. owned by Martin Fry who purchased the company from Guinness Leisure in 1983. In 1977 the boat won the Design Council Award and the Horner Award for achievements in plastics. The Topper dinghy is widely used for racing, but it has also gained popularity as a boat in which to learn how to sail. The Topper was originally designed with a

glass reinforced plastic Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clot ...

(GRP) hull making it a relatively light but durable boat, however, it was later decided that the Topper should be constructed with

injection moulding Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...

, using

, which is less expensive but heavier and less rigid. Although the Topper was originally rigged with an aft mainsheet, since 2004 the option to use a centre main has been allowed. The motivation for such a change being that most other dinghies, including the ones Topper sailors are likely to advance to, are rigged with centre mainsheets. In 2005 a smaller 4.2 m² sail was approved, which can optionally be used in favour of the standard 5.3 m² sail. The smaller sail is more efficient than a larger sail that is reefed. The first 4.2m² national championships were held in 2010. In 2018, development began of a new 6.8m rig for the Topper At 11' the Topper is named for the ability to transport it on the roof of a car, and the

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mas ...

splits into two sections, allowing the

spars The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...

to be stored and transported. Despite the age of the design, the Topper Class remains one of the fastest growing classes in the UK, with a very active national association. The Topper class is a recognised

International Class since 2005. The GBR Nationals and the World Championships often have over 200 boats. The largest fleet is in Great Britain where the class is part of the RYA "pathway" class program with turnouts at the RYA Zone Championships and the highest percentage of RYA Transitional Youth Squad members. Most 'GB Young Sailor of the Year' nominations in recent years have come from within the Topper Class.

Event

World Championships

References

External links

International Topper Class Association

World Sailing Topper Microsite

Irish Topper Class Association

Great Britain Topper Class Association

Topper Sailboats Canada

Story of development of the polypropylene version of the Topper
http://www.clockwisedata.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/TopperBooklet-full.pdf] {{DEFAULTSORT:Topper (Dinghy) Dinghies Boats designed by Ian Proctor 1970s sailboat type designs Classes of World Sailing

Class history and design

Event

World Championships

See also

References

External links