Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club Regatta Weekend

Leigh & Lowton Regatta Weekend 2019 © Lindsay Welfare & Gary Coop

Leigh & Lowton Regatta Weekend 2019 © Gerard van den Hoek

A weekend of family fun and entertainment!

The wind gods had decreed that this was going to be no sunshine-fest but the weather held out enough to allow glimpses of sunshine amongst the showers and fine Saturday night.

Saturday consisted of a family fun day with kids entertained by instructors Lindsay, Will and Tash with duck races, relays, paddling and plenty of splashing around - no one really cared that it was raining.

The adults meanwhile enjoyed some light wind racing at the other end of the lake. On the water Chris Williams and Martin Spencer built up a clear lead but this proved not to be enough, as the RS200s of Graeme/Hannah Bristow and Alistair/Tom Coates worked their way into the top 3 along with the Enterprise of David Southwell and Michelle Raines. The windshifts were testing the race committee and after a reset on the course and a couple of OCS calls the fleets were off again, this time in a more fickle breeze. Alistair/Tom proved too good this time and Neil Catto also hit the front of the fleet in his Solo, followed by the RS400 of Mark Dingsdale and Gary Coop. With the wind shifting through 120 degrees and dropping the OOD decided enough was enough and the fleet didn't seem too disappointed!

The most important race if the weekend, the Bottle Boat Race, took place before the BBQ with all kinds of crafts constructed by the competitors. The drifting conditions suited the high-profile rigs and the clear winner this year was the "Black Pearl" of Freddie Woods/Ollie Blackburn. Of the others, Jack/Charlie Exley were next with Coutney Yarwood coming in 3rd place.

Saturday night produced a wonderful sunset over the flash and Sunday dawned equally inviting, with a F2-3 southerly forecast with sunshine. The OOD Cathy Partington and team set some great courses in the shift across-lake wind conditions.

Leigh & Lowton Regatta Weekend 2019 - photo © Lindsay Welfare & Gary Coop

Over 40 competitors took to the water in 4 fleets. The Laser fleet were off first, dominated all day by Stuart Belfield (LLSC), with Ty Burrows (LLSC) being the best of the rest in 2nd place.

The Handicap fleet was hotly contested and 6 boats had podium positions during the day. The most consistent was Louise McKeand and Nigel Hall (LLSC) who won the last race to take the title; Chris Bows (LLSC) in his Phantom was on equal points but just pipped into 2nd while Nick Turpin (LLSC) secured 3rd spot with 2 podium finishes in his Devoti D-Zero.

Leigh & Lowton Regatta Weekend 2019 - photo © Gerard van den Hoek

The tightest finish of all was reserved for the Asymmetric fleet where the RS400 of Richard Catchpole and Gary Coop (LLSC) won each of the last 2 races by one second on corrected time from Alistair Coates and Tom/Edie Coates (LLSC), unbelievable after 50 minutes of racing. 3rd place was mopped up by Caroline/Dave Exley in their RS400.

Leigh & Lowton Regatta Weekend 2019 - photo © Gerard van den Hoek

The juniors were the biggest fleet and were dominated by Ben Welfare (LLSC) in his Optimist in the light and shifting conditions. John Bridgeman (LLSC) was consistent in his Tera in the top 3 all day to pick up 2nd place, just pipping Lean Kadioelu (West Kirby) on count-back.

A great weekend had by all.

Overall Results:

Saturday

Sunday

Overall Results:

Leigh & Lowton Regatta Weekend 2019 - photo © Jan Nunn