West Lancs Lloyd Hayes Trophy sponsored by Tim Harper Boats
by Sarah Hill 2 Jun 2014 10:06 BST
31 May 2014
This year's event was held on Saturday 31st May as the fifth part of the North West Junior Traveller Trophy. The event has three fleets: Optimist; Junior handicap (under 17 on the 31st December); Youth handicap (under 19 on the 31st August).
During the first race the wind was predicted to be 10-13mph, this prediction was correct, which led to some close racing between all the fleets. The youth fleet which was made up of Lasers and Laser Radials was eventually won by Adam Russ, while the Graduate of Ben and Gabe Hill won the junior fleet closely followed by Lorcan Knowles, in a Topper. Drew Gibbons was the winner in the Optimist fleet.
The second race started in lighter winds with a new course, the wind dropped slightly throughout the race. This race was won by Drew Gibbons in the Optimist fleet. Lorcan Knowles in his Topper won the Junior handicap fleet from the Graduate of Ben and Gabe Hill by 1 second and Zac Gibbons came first in the Youth handicap fleet.
The third race had the same course with the wind holding up and was won by: Zac Gibbons in the Youth handicap fleet, Harvey Leigh in the Optimist fleet and Ben and Gabe Hill in the Junior handicap fleet.
The overall winners were: Zac Gibbons who sailed a Laser Radial in the Youth handicap fleet; Drew Gibbons in the Optimist fleet who won the Bob Willets Trophy; Ben and Gabe Hill who sailed a Graduate in the Junior handicap fleet, who took home the Lloyd Hayes Trophy.
Thanks go to Tim Harper Boats for sponsoring the event, the people who helped in the galley, the safety team, the race committee and everyone else who helped.
For results please go to www.wlyc.org.uk