North West Junior Travellers Trophy final 2018 event at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club

North West Junior Travellers at Leigh & Lowton SC © Richard Catchpole

In conditions ranging from 9 knots up to a gust of 25, 47 junior and youth participants at the Leigh & Lowton NWJTT event on Saturday 27th October had a great but cold day with a biting northerly wind.

Race 1 saw a general recall for the handicap fleet as a bunch popped off the line about 3 seconds before the gun so the Optimists got away first as a result. After that, for the rest of the day, the handicap fleet was very well behaved. with no further problems. Sam Cooper from West Lancs led the handicap race from start to finish, eventually having a 45 second margin over the next Laser, Lucas Barrow from Rudyard SC. However, the Toppers had sailed hard and the end result saw Leah Fidling (LLSC/Chester SC) take second place with Emily Page from Budworth SC stealing third place and Oliver Mills from Pennine in fourth place before Lucas could get his fifth place. In the Optimists Ben Welfare from LLSC led the fleet around but with Holly Wright from West Kirby chasing him hard and Jacob Bennett from Debdale Outdoor in third.

After a great lunch which saw several parents trying to thaw fingers and toes out, the fleet returned to the water with about 8 boats missing and the fleets got away in very ordered style. Once again Sam led the fleet around for the first lap although at the end of the second Lap Lucas had taken the lead. Unfortunately for his, his toe-strap decided it had had enough and his retirement saw Sam retake the lead and hold it until the end with a 3 minute lead over the next Laser. However, it just wasn't enough to defeat Leah who came in less than 5 minutes behind Sam to take the win on handicap. Toppers then filled the next six places until Joseph Blease from Bassenthwaite, sailing a Laser 4.7, took eighth. In the Optimists, down now just the three boats, Ben took the bullet but not without a fight from Holly who led after the first lap and finished just 4 seconds behind Ben.

The last race saw the wind lift to its strongest for the day and swing around to the North which meant a relaying of the course to suit the new direction. Once the new course was set, the fleets got away cleanly again but with numbers now down to thirty. Sam again led the way around with Lucas on his heels, having repaired his boat. Over the length of the race, Sam extended his lead to almost two and a half minutes from Lucas and it was enough to give him first place on handicap with Leah in second place and Chloe Mills from Pennine SC in third. Joseph scored his best place in this race with a fifth. The Optimists result gave Ben his third bullet of the day with Holly and Jacob in second and third places again.

Prize Winners:

Youth
1st Male: Sam Cooper
1st Female: Isobel Lamb (Chester)

Optimists:
1st Ben Welfare
2nd Holly Wright
3rd Jacob Bennett

Endeavour:
Ava Harris Scott (Elton)

Handicap:
1st Female and 1st place: Leah Fidling
2nd Emily Page
3rd Austin Wright
4th (and 1st U14 Boy) Thomas Link
5th (and 1st U14 Girl) Chloe Mills
6th Joseph Blease
7th William Burbedge

Full results on the LLSC website at www.llsc.org.uk/LLSC/Results/2018/nwjtt.htm?v=1