Sometimes it's fun to get back to basics .....

[Baggywrinkle]

Had a Topper rig in the shed and found a hull, centerboard, and rudder on E-Bay for €80 .... cleaned it all up and tried it out on the lake this afternoon. No engines, anchors, winches, jabsco toilets - just wind and water ....

 

[SaltyC]

Great fun in F4+ so I can sit on the side! Anything less and kneeling in the Hull, not good. Deffo too heavy for light winds.

 

[johnalison]

The last dinghy I sailed was a Topper belonging to a friend. Great fun, I agree, and better than the Mirror that had been my previous borrowing.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Great fun in F4+ so I can sit on the side! Anything less and kneeling in the Hull, not good. Deffo too heavy for light winds.

That's what I found too, very difficult to get comfortable in light winds unless you like sitting on the floor with a wet ar$e. I'm compact and quite heavy, around 74kg so it's real fun in a blow. Can't believe how cheap the things are on Gumtree in the U.K. .... £225 for what looks like a pretty usable boat.

Topper | in Gosport, Hampshire | Gumtree

 

[fredrussell]

Looks great fun! Technophobe/old man question here: how was that filmed?

 

[Kelpie]

I'm so, so glad that I didn't do the usual thing and buy a RIB as my tender. Instead we built an 11ft nesting dinghy.
Most afternoons we weave around the boats in the anchorage just having fun. Sheet and tiller, it's all you need. Very hard to put that big a smile on your face sailing the mothership.

 

[B27]

That's what I found too, very difficult to get comfortable in light winds unless you like sitting on the floor with a wet ar$e. I'm compact and quite heavy, around 74kg so it's real fun in a blow. Can't believe how cheap the things are on Gumtree in the U.K. .... £225 for what looks like a pretty usable boat.

Topper | in Gosport, Hampshire | Gumtree

A basic sailing dinghy that's uncompetitive in racing is not expensive.
You can buy an old Laser or something for a couple of hundred quid.
I bought a reasonable one for £500, it came with enough spares to get another old one on the water as a 'beach boat' which we sold for £200.
It takes the gloss off when your £200 boat needs a £100 cover or a £200 trolley, or the fees to store it at the club are £100.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

Had a Topper rig in the shed and found a hull, centerboard, and rudder on E-Bay for €80 .... cleaned it all up and tried it out on the lake this afternoon. No engines, anchors, winches, jabsco toilets - just wind and water ....

Would be a bonus if you could one with a (magnified) glass bottom as well.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Looks great fun! Technophobe/old man question here: how was that filmed?

One of these ....

Insta360 Store: Der offzielle Store für Insta360 Kameras, Zubehör und weitere Dienstleistungen

.. and one of these ....

Verlängerten Selfie-Stick kaufen - Langer Selfie-Stick - Insta360

Extended the selfie stick to 3m and poked it out over the bow at about 30°

 

[wonkywinch]

As demonstrated in this Cortina video with a familiar tune from The Italian Job.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

As demonstrated in this Cortina video with a familiar tune from The Italian Job.

Great song great singer.
Reminds me in the 60's after I had passed my driving test. One man in a car freedom........
Unfortunately, cars didn't come with radios then.

 

[Praxinoscope]

I have been thinking about getting a Topper recently, The escalating costs of mooring my Sadler 25 are reaching the point where my pension just won't cover it any more, but I don't want to give up, mucking about in boats, the Topper has the advantages that it is relatively easy to right and it is so low in the water that I can get on board again after the inevitable capsizes.
Not interested in any form of power boat, I do Safety Boat duty now and then, but just don't see any pleasure in regular power boating.

 

[Mark-1]

One of these ....

Insta360 Store: Der offzielle Store für Insta360 Kameras, Zubehör und weitere Dienstleistungen

.. and one of these ....

Verlängerten Selfie-Stick kaufen - Langer Selfie-Stick - Insta360

Extended the selfie stick to 3m and poked it out over the bow at about 30°

How is the selfie stick attached to the boat?

 

[Baggywrinkle]

How is the selfie stick attached to the boat?

Bungee cord to the mast and centre board casing. You can buy various attachment kits but they are overpriced and don't always fit.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I have been thinking about getting a Topper recently, The escalating costs of mooring my Sadler 25 are reaching the point where my pension just won't cover it any more, but I don't want to give up, mucking about in boats, the Topper has the advantages that it is relatively easy to right and it is so low in the water that I can get on board again after the inevitable capsizes.
Not interested in any form of power boat, I do Safety Boat duty now and then, but just don't see any pleasure in regular power boating.

There are quite a few rotomoulded indestructable small dinghies around these days, from both Topper and Laser ... the Topper is not that comfortable and the boom is very low, maybe a Topaz or a Pico might be better? - we only have it because my kids used to sail one and we came across the hull by chance.

 

[Skylark]

As demonstrated in this Cortina video with a familiar tune from The Italian Job.

The car in the video was shown as a Barn Find at NEC, March 2016.

 

[E39mad]

I used to race Toppers in my teens in the 1980's based on Bala Lake. Great fun. Thanks for sharing as brings back great memories.

 

[B27]

I would guess that the demographic on here is not really Topper material in the main?
It's a small agile person's boat really.

I race a Laser sometimes.
There are many choices of singlehander which, if you're not looking to race seriously, are not expensive.
Solo, Phantom, OK, plus many more. Also lots of two-sail boats which can be singlehanded.

Alternatively, this winter we might have a bash at Radio Control racing.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I would guess that the demographic on here is not really Topper material in the main?
It's a small agile person's boat really.

I was small and agile once

 

[dolabriform]

We regularly sail our Toppers, although it's getting to the stage where the kids are getting faster than me as their sail trimming improves and my ballast increases

Still amazingly great fun, getting the three of us playing in the waves in F4 make me grin like a cheshire cat, and as Baggy said so well "just wind and water "

In fact, we're off to the club to sail some this afternoon now. I was going to take a laser out, but it's got to be a topper after seeing this thread