24 Hours of Sailing, Cake and Capsizes - Tudor Sailing Club Takes on the Southport 24 Hour Race
by Hannah Barnes 18 Sep 14:25 BST
12-13 September 2026
Tudor SC members at the West Lancashire Yacht Club 24 Hour Race 2026 © TSC
The Southport 24 race is exactly what it sounds like. A 24-hour sailing race, a team of sailors, a lot of wind, very little sleep and, in our case, rather a lot of cake.
This year Tudor Sailing Club headed north to take on the Southport 24 race, hosted by West Lancashire Yacht Club. Our team was Rob Taylor (team captain), Hannah Barnes, Richard Barnes, Ollie Smith, Mark Swallow, Julie Thorpe, Colin Thorpe and Nicola Craig, with a special guest team member, Stephen Taylor, Rob's dad, joining us for the weekend.
We were also brilliantly supported from the shore by the fantastic Phillipa Taylor, who somehow managed to stay awake for the entire 24 hours to look after the sailors, keep everyone fed and watered and provide much-needed encouragement. Colin's brother, who lives locally, also came along with soup, support and encouragement, which was very welcome as the hours ticked by.
Friday: Base Camp Tudor
Most of the team arrived on Friday, with Stephen and Phillipa making up the advance party and arriving early enough to secure us a prime spot for our team base for the weekend.
Rob arrived in the afternoon and got the boat rigged and ready for the race. Meanwhile, the rest of us settled into what would become our home for the next 24 hours.
The team had come well prepared with an impressive selection of snacks and drinks. Julie and Colin had brought some token healthy fruit, while the rest of us took the view that a 24-hour endurance event required considerably more cake.
We were ready.
Saturday Morning: Here We Go
Saturday dawned somewhat drizzly, with a stiff breeze blowing across the lake. It was already looking like it was going to be an interesting day.
Before heading off to the skippers' briefing, Rob gave us all a pep talk. While he was away, the rest of us finished setting up camp and got ourselves organised for the start.
We launched at 11:40, ready for our 12:05 start.
With 74 boats competing, the start line was understandably a little busy. We were boat number 56, so we started in the fifth flight, with ten boats being sent off each minute to prevent complete chaos on the line.
The course itself is a relatively simple triangle, but there are two islands and a breakwater to navigate, adding a few extra challenges. The islands also created some very variable wind conditions on one side of the course.
Rob and Stephen took the first shift, with the team working on allocated 90-minute stints.
It was immediately obvious that the first few hours were going to be tough.
The wind was incredibly gusty and was catching out boats all over the lake. No one seemed immune. A quick look around the fleet told you who had been over by the bent burgees and rigging festooned with weed.
The lake is shallow enough that, if you do go over, you can actually stand on the bottom. Unfortunately, that doesn't make capsizing any less frustrating!
The Capsize Count Begins
After five gruelling laps, including one capsize, Rob and Stephen swapped out for Mark and Ollie.
They promptly decided that one capsize wasn't enough.
Mark and Ollie managed to capsize twice and hit the first mark, all in one lap.
Hitting the mark meant a detour around the D mark, giving them a penalty. With so many boats on the course, it isn't practical to carry out conventional penalty turns, so the D mark provides the alternative penalty route.
They were eventually relieved by Julie and Colin, our third shift.
They managed to only capsize once, and there was a distinct look of happiness on their faces when they were told:
"In next lap."
That left Richard and Hannah to take their first shift. The breeze was still strong, with some large gusts continuing to cause chaos, but they managed to complete their stint without any major incidents or capsizes.
As Rob came back out for his second shift, this time with Nicola as crew, the wind was beginning to ease. Lap times were stretching out to around 30 minutes.
And then came the night.
Kite Up! Kite Up!
Mark and Ollie took the sunset shift, but managed to miss the call to come in and had to complete an extra lap.
By around 9:30pm, the team was giving Julie and Colin a pep talk as they prepared for their next stint. They were understandably wary about flying the spinnaker in the dark.
They headed off to the changeover area.
As they sailed past our gazebo, the shore team broke into a chant:
"Kite up! Kite up! Kite up!"
Followed by a huge cheer from the shore as they duly hoisted the kite.
The team next door were suitably impressed by our enthusiasm. They were from Poole and had two boats in the race. They had brought their own very enthusiastic support crew, who cheered them in on every single lap, accompanied by the ringing of a cowbell.
Our cheering may not have been quite as consistent, but we definitely made up for it in volume when it mattered.
The Graveyard Shift
Richard and Hannah drew the graveyard shift, sailing from 11pm until 1am.
Rob and Nicola then completed some more laps before Mark and Ollie headed out again at around 2:30am.
Not long afterwards, the wind disappeared.
Completely.
Lap times, which had been around 30 minutes earlier in the evening, started creeping upwards and eventually went over an hour.
With the changeover area itself sitting in a wind hole, the decision was made to cut a shift and adjust the times to reduce unnecessary changeovers.
The next few shifts passed very slowly.
At around 5:30am, Richard and Hannah headed back out. With the wind still incredibly light, they went up the beat looking for boats ahead that could potentially be hunted down.
The spinnaker was hoisted, although for much of the time it was more of a decorative feature than an especially useful one.
When asked if they could do another lap, they said yes.
They regretted that decision.
That extra lap took 75 minutes.
Next up were Mark and Ollie, who somehow managed to break the lap record.
Their lap time?
90 minutes.
By this point the lake looked like glass. Crews were sitting incredibly still in an attempt to keep their boats moving.
One crew from another club had even resorted to having a sleep in their boat after being on the water for six hours straight.
And Then the Wind Came Back
The final stint was Rob and Stephen.
Fortunately for them, the wind decided to make a comeback. It returned at a steady speed and suddenly the boats were moving again.
Their final lap took just 21 minutes.
After 24 hours, the Tudor team had completed 48 laps, stayed on the water for the entire race and finished 51st overall, having started in 56th place.
Not bad for a team that had experienced capsizes, penalties, a night-time spinnaker adventure and several hours of virtually no wind!
The Numbers
Because, of course, I'm an accountant and therefore couldn't possibly complete a 24-hour sailing race without analysing the numbers.
Fastest lap: #2 16 minutes, Rob
Slowest lap: #41 90 minutes, Mark
Laps completed: 48
Time on the water: 24 hours
Final position: 51st
Starting position: 56th
Individual stats:
Rob: 13 laps, 317 minutes, 24-minute average, 1 capsize
Mark: 16 laps, 511 minutes, 31-minute average, 2 capsizes and 1 penalty
Julie: 10 laps, approximately 302 minutes, 30-minute average, 1 capsize and, importantly, flew the kite at night!
Richard: 10 laps, approximately 332 minutes, 33-minute average and no capsizes
The average lap times should, of course, be taken with a very generous pinch of salt. The wind conditions varied enormously depending on when each sailor was on the water. Rob, for example, was fortunate enough to avoid the really light wind period between approximately 3am and 9am.
And the other important statistics:
Cups of tea: Too many to count
Hours of sleep: Not enough
Hours of fun: Lots!
One More Race to Go
We were also scheduled to enter the Ladies' Race at 10am but unfortunately Hannah sustained an injury while exiting the boat at around 7am and wasn't able to sail again.
Huge thanks are due to Julie, who just happens to be an ex-physio, for looking after her and helping her get undressed and dressed again after a shower when the pain made doing it herself rather difficult.
A Huge Team Effort
The Southport 24 race isn't just about the people sailing the boat. It's a team effort from start to finish.
A huge thank you to Rob for letting us use the boat and for getting us all organised and out on the water.
Thank you to Stephen for joining us and putting in the hours, to Nicola, Mark, Ollie, Julie, Colin and Richard for being brilliant teammates, and to Phillipa for being the absolute star of the shore team.
Staying awake for the entire 24 hours to feed, water and encourage a group of increasingly tired sailors deserves a medal in its own right.
And finally, thank you to Colin's brother for the soup and encouragement, both of which were very gratefully received.
It was exhausting, occasionally chaotic, sometimes frustrating and completely brilliant.
We may have finished 51st, but we stayed on the water for the full 24 hours, completed 48 laps and, most importantly, had a fantastic Tudor weekend.
Now, who fancies doing it again next year?