West Lancashire Yacht Club Regatta 2017

West Lancashire Yacht Club 2017 Regatta © Steve Blackburn

West Lancashire Yacht Club 2017 Regatta © Steve Blackburn

Sponsored by Tim Harper Boats

The WLYC Regatta is an Enterprise, GP14, Streaker and Handicap open meeting all rolled into one. The event is usually held on the sea but this year's event was held on the Marine Lake. The reason why the event was held on the lake was because of the predicted wind conditions, which were correct at, 18 mph – 40mph gusts and from a Southerly direction. In other terms whipping dogs of chains...

We had three fleets, the first to start was the handicap fleet which included two Streakers and one laser helmed by Chris Parker (SSC). We only had one visiting the lake, a Streaker from Killington SA, Pete Lawson. A clean start was had by all and Chris won the first race from Steve Blackburn (WLYC) in 2nd place and Pete in 3rd.

The Enterprise fleet was next off with Dave Porter & Roy Kissick (WLYC) rounding the windward mark first and wining the race from Andrew Ashworth & Lynn Kissick (WLYC) in 2nd and Charlie Adams & Alex Halliwell (WLYC) in third. Clive Porter & Tom Dorr (WLYC) unfortunately didn't even make it to the end of the race without some sort of drama and retired to the comforts of the bar. Also their had been some in house tactics with Roy & Lynn who usually sail together but splitting up, only for the day I might add!! and making new teams up for the days racing.

West Lancashire Yacht Club 2017 Regatta - photo © Steve Blackburn

The GP14 Fleet was the final fleet to start and again everyone got away with out any recalls. The GP fleet were all from Southport SC bar one boat from the home club but soon retired due to the fresh breeze. With the WLYC Open trophy up for grabs it wasn't going to be easy to win. The first casualty was Lee Thomas and Ben Swainson (SSC) having a taste of the salty drink not once but a couple of times due to a problem with the kite....aka spinnaker....aka Handkerchief problem. John Hayes & Joel James (SSC) finished in 1st. Next up was Greg Thomas & Poppy James (SSC) in 2nd and 3rd was Johnny Coates and James Bridge (SSC).

West Lancashire Yacht Club 2017 Regatta - photo © Steve Blackburn

The second race was back to back with gusts of wind ever increasing in strength and appearing more frequently. The Handicap fleet went of again first with Pete executing a port flyer, Show off! Chris soon overhauled Pete and took the lead. Steve was in third place but soon caught up with Pete on the long downwind legs and moved in to 2nd place as he rounded the leeward buoy. Chris on the following beat unfortunately fell out the boat and he also miraculously tacked his laser whist he had fallen out of the boat. He jumped....well crawled back in his boat and carried on. By this time he had let Steve through to take the race with Chris 2nd and Pete 3rd.

The Enterprise fleet was next to start, again Dave revelled in the conditions and went onto win the race. Andrew not so far behind and giving Dave a proper challenge, with close and tactical racing, again came in 2nd. Charlie had gear failure caused by the ever increasing wind and retired to the bar for the remaining races. Yet another causality to the ever decreasing Enterprise fleet. The Fleet didn't go out for the final race as no places could be changed by sailing another race, well that's their excuse.

The GP's again had a clear start this time Lee had sorted out his problems from the first race and led his way to the windward mark in first and finishing 1st. Greg sailing Consistently finished in 2nd and Johnny in 3rd. It must have been a little breezy as the kites firmly stayed in the boats on the downwind legs with no real speed advantages.

We had a rest for lunch with curry and rice and spicy new potatoes. Race three nearly didn't happen but the OD and scorer realized that this would hand over the win to Greg in the GP and Steve in Streaker. At first the wind looked liked in had died down but just as the sails had been hoisted the wind was howling stronger than before.

Race three, Chris and Steve were head to head for the last race. Chris unfortunately had a main sheet issue up the first beat and let Steve through up the first beat. Chris subsequently retired with the words “this laser has broken me'. Steve steered his boat home to victory but with a few capsize on the way.

Talking about capsizes....the GP fleet started, well the wind had increased some more with white horses on the shoulders of white horses sporting pony tails. Only two boats were out for the final race, Lee took the lead and finished 1st and Johnny finished 2nd The OD shorten the course as they couldn't stop their boats from falling over. An exciting an exhilarating day's racing was had for all.

Overall Results: