Enterprise Masters Championship 2024 at Wigan and St Helens Sailing Club

Enterprise Masters Championship at Wigan and St Helens © David Bill

Wigan and St Helens Sailing Club welcomed visitors to the Enterprise Masters' National Championships from as far afield as South Staffs Sailing Club in the south, up to St Mary's Loch Sailing Club in the north. The day started with a fabulous breakfast made by stand in galley maid, Simon, who was covering for Dave who recently had a new knee installed.

Afterwards, Race Officer Neil Hornby enthusiastically held a briefing making sure everyone fully understood the start and finish lines. It was almost as if he'd had some problems with this before...

And so we took to the water on a surprisingly warm day, and a lightish force 1 to start the first race. A single recall saw Jonathan Woodward (South Staffs SC) return to the line, while Richard Critchley (WiSH SC) took the lead into the first mark with Charles Morrish (St Mary's Loch) following close behind. The wind freshened through the race while Jonathan picked his way up through the fleet passing Paul Sheppard (WiSH SC) and Paul Young (Midland SC). On the last lap, Richard got caught the wrong side a couple of large wind shifts and Jonathan slipped through taking the bullet with Richard second, and Charles third.

After lunch which featured one of the largest jacket potatoes ever witnessed at the club, we headed out for another race.

The wind had picked up to a force 2 with maybe even the odd force 3 gust coming through. Jonathan lead from start to finish, and although there were a couple of changes further back, Charles remained firmly in second, followed by the two Pauls, and then Richard in very close racing, but none able to make up (or lose) any positions. Incredibly, despite the short course, the top five remained on the same leg for almost the whole race.

The sailors stayed on the water waiting for the third and final race on the day, but due to an incident the day had to be curtailed and we were given an early dart.

Enterprise Masters Championship at Wigan and St Helens - photo © David Bill

We awakened to Sunday with a lake which should have been a mirror but was disturbed only by the showery rain. It was no surprise when the AP was hoisted, while the sailors chatted and reminisced. After Jonathan resolutely dragged his boat up the compound, and early lunch was announced with a pudding of a chocolate gateaux which continued the theme set by the baked potato. Once everyone was fed, and the course board dried enough for the marker to do its job, we headed out onto the water to attempt racing.

The first start saw Royston Taggart (WiSH SC) winning the committee boat end, but it was Richard who managed to go round the windward mark in first, with Charles close behind. Richard managed to hold is lead taking the win, with Paul S in third and Royston forth.

So it was down to a final race decider. Charles, Richard, or Jonathan could still take the title, but Jonathan wasn't tempted out and remained on the bank. Charles came off the start line near the pin, tacked onto port on and crossed the fleet while Richard who held the committee boat end was caught out by the wind shifting left. The gap narrowed, and then expanded, and then narrowed in what was a tight first couple of laps, but Charles held onto first place. Richard tried to gybe out to pressure exiting the windward mark on the third lap, but found none, and in the end, Charles Morrish finished with a reasonable lead, taking the Enterprise National Masters' Championship 2024 title.

David Bill, Commodore thanked the members and visitors and paid particular tribute to the camaraderie and support that we'd given each other on the Saturday afternoon. The safety teams of Ewan Kirkbride and Tom Cahill deserve special mention for their efforts too. Charles also thanked everyone and echoed David's words.

Enterprise Masters Championship at Wigan and St Helens - photo © David Bill

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