Lloyd Hayes Junior Open at West Lancashire Yacht Club
by Sarah Hill 7 Jul 2017 09:11 BST
1 July 2017
Handicap start during the Lloyd Hayes Junior Open Meeting at West Lancs © Paul Craven
On the 1st of July West Lancashire Yacht Club played host to the 6th round of the RYA North West Junior Travellers' Trophy, which also included the Topper and RS Feva Opens.
52 boats were greeted with sunshine and a 10 knot southerly breeze, giving a beat the full length of the lake for the first race.
The first race started promptly at eleven (which caught some out).
The Feva racing was closely fought with Joe Cropper and Jake Dickinson from West Lancs winning the first race and Jamie Rastrick and Madeline Bristow second. Joe and Jake were leading the second race but Rastrick and Bristow managed to overtake them on the run. One all. However it was Joe and Jake's first open meeting and pushing a bit hard on the final race caused a capsize and ripped spinnaker handing first to Rastrick and Bristow.
16 Optimists competed for the Bob Willetts Optimist Trophy. David Bromilow came first, with George Creasy second and Max Ewing third. All from West Kirby.
The Lloyd Hayes Junior Traveller was won by Lorcan Knowles from Leigh and Lowton in a Topper, having won the first and third race. He also won the Topper Open. Second in his Laser Radial was Tom Brindley from Redesmere. Harvey Leigh from Leigh and Lowton was third overall and first under 14 in a Topper.
The youth fleet was closely fought with first going to Ben Fuller from Elton Sailing Club in a Laser.
This is one of the biggest events the club puts on each year and cannot be done without a huge number of volunteers to make it run smoothly. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all that helped to make it a successful day and to Tim Harper Boats and Sails for sponsoring the event.