Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 1
By Paul Allen on 9 Jan8 January 2012
On the 8th January 2012 the much anticipated Leigh & Lowton's Tipsy Icicle, commenced its run of 11 weeks which ends on the 18th March. Fleets consist of Asymmetric, Handicap, Solos and Lasers. On the day there were in total 71 boats on the water.
Visitors are paying on a week by week basis or for the full series. Entry fees are £10 per day for adult double handers, £5 for single handers, £8 for junior double handers and £4 for junior single
handers. Visitors paying for the full series are leaving their boats at the club for the duration of the series. Full series fees are £70 per person including 3 pursuit races and 16 Sundays and £50 for juniors.
Spectators are also watching the racing from the newly built lounge. The galley is open all day and the bar is serving cold beer from 3pm!
The sailors and visitors were treated to a light and fickle force 1 in race 1 which built to a steady force 4 for race 2.
The Asymmetric fleet in race 1 saw the reformed RS400 team of Paul and Mike Allen return to winning ways with the previous series winners of Hamish Gledhill and Simon Dowse (West Riding) taking the second spot.
In race 2 Hamish and Simon were again second but a new winner in the form of the RS200 of Tony Taylor & Sarah Tyson from SCYC took top spot. In total there 17 boats in the fleet.
The Laser fleet was not dominated by any boat this week. Dave Shiel, Graham Macwhirter (Scammonden Water), Andy Green and Ian Jones (Dovestones) all played at the front at some point in both races. In the end Graham and Ian took the wins and Dave and Andy took the second spots. 18 Lasers were on the water.
A rather depleted fleet of 5 Solos ventured out in both races. Chris Gillard (Sheffield Viking) and Steve White traded blows all day both scoring a bullet and a second each. Ian Hopwood was just off the front and scored two 3rds.
The handicap fleet was the star of the day with 33 boats on the water. Richard Catchpole in the RS300 took the honours in the first race and a second in race 2 whilst the Flying Fifteen of John and Roseanne Walters reversed the position with a second in the first race and a bullet in the second race. The handicap fleet was boosted tremendously by a fleet of 20 Toppers and Optimists. Leigh really is the club for junior racing in the North West.
A special mention has to be made of the PRO, his assistants and the safety teams who ran the whole day from on the water making the start lines great and as bigger courses as possible.
The results can be found on the club website at leighandlowton.wordpress.com
RNLI Pursuit at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club
The forecast for sunny weather brought out the shorty wetsuits for the annual pursuit race in aid of the RNLI.
Posted on 28 Mar
A busy weekend ahead at Leigh & Lowton: Calling all RS400s and Vareos
This weekend will see Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club at full capacity, both on and off the water. Starting at midday on Saturday, the inaugural Bollé RS400 Northern Tour and the RS Vareo Winter Championships will take to the water.
Posted on 16 Mar
Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 10
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Posted on 13 Mar
Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 9
After narrowly missing out on the RYA’s ‘Club of the year’ award on
Saturday the UK’s biggest winter series continued at Leigh and Lowton
on Sunday with weekend number 9 of its 11 weekend run.
Posted on 5 Mar
Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 8
The weather prediction for Sunday 26th February had been poor all week and it was probably this, compounded by the fact that Liverpool were playing in the Carling Cup Final, that meant that the turnout was down over previous weeks.
Posted on 28 Feb
Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 7
After 2 weeks of no sailing due to a frozen lake Pennington Flash finally defrosted to allow the Tipsy series to recommence and it was worth the wait with a clear blue sky and a force 4 wind straight down the lake.
Posted on 21 Feb
Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 4
On the 29th January 2012 the UK’s biggest winter series, Leigh & Lowton’s Tipsy Icicle continued with its run of 11 weeks. Fleets consisted of Asymmetric, Handicap, Solos and Lasers. After 4 weeks of the series we have already had 106 boats on the water.
Posted on 31 Jan
Junior Winter Regatta at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club
Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club hosted their annual Junior Winter Regatta on Saturday 28th January. With 35 boats turning out, it was looking good only for the wind to fail to show up.
Posted on 30 Jan
Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 3
The galley was open all day and the bar was serving cold beer from 3pm. The breeze was spectacular with a strong westerly averaging 20 knots and tipping 35 knots.
Posted on 24 Jan
Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 2
On the 15th January 2012 the UK’s biggest winter series, Leigh & Lowton’s Tipsy Icicle continued with its run of 11 weeks. Fleets consist of Asymmetric, Handicap, Solos and Lasers.
Posted on 16 Jan