Southport Sailing Club Junior 12 Hour Race 2013

All week before the race the forecast had been for 10-15 mph of wind and each day the actual wind seen at SSC was well over 25 mph. Following this trend, club racing the day before was held in strong winds (F5-6) which didn't look promising for the following days racing.

Getting up on the day of the race at 05:00 the wind was rattling fence panels and trees were being blown around – it really didn't look good and the prospect of cancellation was looming on the horizon. However to everyone's amazement an hour and a half before the race the wind subsided to a nice F3 and the race preparation was underway. The process of postponement was brought up in the briefing in case the wind returned but thankfully this wasn't needed. In fact the wind gods were kind giving us a fairly constant F3-F4 all day. In addition to this sunny Southport lived up to its name and we ended up with a complete day of Champagne sailing – what more could we ask for!

With 29 boats in the start area the race began at 08:00 with the Enterprises, closely followed by the GP's and Bosuns at one minute intervals. After the first hour of the race the two GP's of South Staffordshire Sailing Club (with one male team and one female team) had begun a battle of the sexes closely followed by the Enterprise of West Lancashire Yacht Club. These three boats pushed each other all through the race. A notable point at this time needs to be made of a very young West Lancs team whose oldest member was under 16, clearly worth a watch for future races.

Throughout the rest of the field there was some incredibly close racing with places swapping throughout the day and the various smaller races giving everyone something to aim for and another boat to chase down. These teams ranged from those clubs who have been entering for many years right through to a few new teams for this year who we were very happy to see and welcome to the event.

At this point I would like to thank all of the competitors who showed an impressive level of competence and racing knowledge to keep going for the full 12 hours. What's more there wasn't a single protest form asked for in the entire race, showing the good humour and respect being shown by all parties on the water. Whilst there were some bumps and accidents; all teams showed how a self-policing sport should be and took their penalties – a great demonstration for all and clearly a good omen for the future of our sport.

As prize giving arrived this good behaviour was rewarded and we were able to start just over an hour after the final boat left the water – surely a record for the 12 hour. Prizes were handed out by our commodore Paul Harris who also thanked all competitors and helpers from all teams involved.

The final results were South Staffs Girls winning overall and also first GP14 with South Staffs boys coming in second. Coming in third was West Lancs YC who also picked up first under 18 team and first Enterprise. First Bosun was awarded to Sandbach School. Full results and a list of trophy winners can be found at www.southportsailingclub.org.uk.

Finally remains for me to say a big thank you to our sponsors 1st Mark Dinghy Chandlery and all the members of SSC who made the day possible, without whom the race couldn't happen. We also look forward to seeing all of the teams at next year's race – Saturday 28th June.