West Lancashire Yacht Clubs 24 Hour Race
by Louise Halliwell 16 Sep 2012 22:00 BST
15-16 September 2012
The 46th 24 Hour Race took place over the weekend of 15-16th September. This year's race began with a running start in a pleasant force 2 with the GP14s in flight 0 setting the pace for the whole event.
The Radio Merseyside Trophy for the fastest first two laps went to Burwain SC A Team with Royal Windermere YC A and South Staffs A in second and third positions. The Enterprise class did not find the conditions favourable but, the boats from West Lancs YC, Killington Lake SA, Soul Sailor RA and 24 Hour Race stalwarts Papercourt SC, had their own close tussle for the first four places in their class. Unfortunately, Soul Sailor, having managed to overtake the others, broke a boom and never managed to fully recover, leaving the other three boats to battle it out..
Early penalties for Burwain A and South Staffs A in the GP Class also changed the rankings with last year's winners, Hollingworth Lake SC A, taking over the lead, pursued by the GPs of Budworth A and Royal Windermere A and Southport SC A. At this point in the afternoon the wind had increased slightly to marginal planing conditions and boats started to entertain the spectators with interesting capsizes and righting techniques.
By nightfall, the GP14 of Hollingworth A and the Enterprise of West Lancs had taken their class leads which they held until the end of the race.
During the afternoon, our two Olympic / Paralympic Sailing medallists from the North West, Stuart Bithell, silver medallist in the 470 class, and Niki Birrell, bronze medallist in the SKUD18 class, had kindly exhibited their medals and later allowed some of the very young sailors to wear them and be photographed with their heroes. Hopefully the youngsters will be inspired to follow in their footsteps (and will their friends believe them when they tell them they have worn the medals?).
During the course of the evening, there was a continuous battle between the GPs of Budworth A, Royal Windermere A, Southport A, West Lancs A and Derwentwater A.
The Dogwatch Trophy for the fastest lap at 8pm was won by Hollingworth A with West Lancs B and Budworth A in second and third.
Late in the evening, the West Lancs GP took a penalty and slipped from third to sixth.
The Midnight Race was won by Budworth A with South Staffs A and Hollingworth A in 2nd and 3rd. At this time of night there is also the Don Ibbetson Trophy for the boat in first place at the race's halfway stage, this went to Hollingworth A.
The wind had become quite light in the late evening but the night hawks were exposed to an unpleasant squall in the early hours. As the night slowly faded, the South Staffs A GP clawed their way back from their one lap penalty and took 3rd place behind Budworth A, and the West Lancs Enterprise crept into the top ten in the ninth place remaining there until an unfortunate incident with a port tack boat caused them to capsize. However, their position as first Enterprise remained unchallenged. Behind them, Pilkington A had consolidated their position as second Enterprise, with Ulley A passing Killington shortly before the end to finish third Enterprise.
The Stanley Leach Trophy for the Dawn Race was won by Southport A with Burwain A and Midland A in 2nd and 3rd.
The Coddington Cup, sailed at 8am, was won by Hollingworth A with South Staffs A and Budworth A in 2nd and 3rd.
The Heineken Trophy for the fastest lap sailed by an all female crew next after 10am was won by Ann Jackson and Alex Halliwell of the previously unlucky Soul Sailor team.
The race finished without any of the strong winds threatened in the coastal waters forecast for the Irish Sea and before the rain really arrived.
At the Prizegiving the visiting teams were welcomed to Southport by the Mayor of Sefton,who had also officiated at the start of the event.
Overall Results:
| Pos'n | Team | Class/Sail No | Club | Laps | Penalty |
|---|
| 1st | 1 | GP 14021 | Hollingworth Lake S.C. (A) | 95 laps | |
| 2nd | 2 | GP 14039 | South Staffs S.C. (A) | 94 laps | ‑1 |
| 3rd | 3 | GP 13881 | Budworth S.C. (A) | 93 laps | |
| 4th | 18 | GP 18 | West Lancs YC | 92 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 5th | 7 | GP 7 | Southport S.C. (GP) | 92 laps | |
| 6th | 15 | GP 15 | Royal Windermere Y.C. (A) | 92 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 7th | 8 | GP 14037 | Derwent Reservoir S.C. (A) | 92 laps | |
| 8th | 21 | GP 1408 | South Staffs S.C. (Youth) | 91 laps | |
| 9th | 20 | GP 14034 | Derwent Reservoir S.C.(B) | 91 laps | |
| 10th | 5 | Ent 22310 | West Lancashire Y.C. (A) | 91 laps | |
| 11th | 6 | GP 13924 | Burwain S.C. (A) | 92 laps | ‑1 |
| 12th | 12 | GP 13785 | Staunton Harold S.C. (A) | 90 laps | |
| 13th | 14 | Ent 23121 | Pilkington S.C. (A) | 90 laps | |
| 14th | 58 | GP 13709 | Bolton S.C. | 89 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 15th | 16 | GP 16 | Budworth S.C. (Masters) | 89 laps | |
| 16th | 24 | Ent 21889 | Ulley S.C. (B) | 88 laps | |
| 17th | 28 | Ent 22943 | Killington S.A. | 88 laps | |
| 18th | 22 | Ent 22 | West Oxfordshire S.C. (A) | 87 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 19th | 31 | GP 31 | Hollingworth Lake S.C. (B) | 87 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 20th | 4 | Ent 23089 | Soul Sailor Racing Assoc. | 86 laps | |
| 21st | 34 | GP 120 | Winsford Flash S.C. | 86 laps | |
| 22nd | 10 | GP 14089 | South Staffs S.C. (B) | 86 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 23rd | 37 | Ent 20860 | Hoylake S.C. | 85 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 24th | 30 | Ent 20753 | Ogston S.C. | 85 laps | |
| 25th | 26 | Ent 22461 | Scammonden Water S.C. | 84 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 26th | 46 | Ent 22400 | Chester S. and C.C. | 84 laps | |
| 27th | 17 | Ent 17 | Papercourt S.C. | 84 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 28th | 33 | Ent 20518 | Staunton Harold S.C. (B) | 83 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 29th | 49 | Ent 22506 | Manchester University | 83 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 30th | 41 | Ent 20055 | Covenham S.C. (A) | 82 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 31st | 42 | Ent 22901 | Midland S.C. (B) | 81 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 32nd | 43 | Ent 21318 | Toddbrook S.C. | 81 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 33rd | 48 | GP 13760 | Budworth S.C. (C) | 81 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 34th | 25 | Ent 22905 | Combs S.C. | 81 laps | ‑1 |
| 35th | 59 | GP 13810 | South Windermere S.C. | 80 laps | ‑0.75 |
| 36th | 13 | GP 14045 | Midland S.C. (A) | 79 laps | |
| 37th | 29 | Ent 23042 | Sussex Y.C.(A) | 80 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 38th | 27 | Ent 2312 | Pilkington S.C. (B) | 79 laps | |
| 39th | 19 | Ent 22620 | Ulley S.C.(A) | 79 laps | |
| 40th | 60 | GP 13770 | Bangor University S.C. | 79 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 41st | 44 | Ent 22878 | Loughborough University S.C. | 79 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 42nd | 50 | Ent 21543 | Covenham S.C. (B) | 78 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 43rd | 40 | GP 13952 | Royal Windermere Y.C. (B) | 79 laps | ‑0.75 |
| 44th | 23 | GP 13767 | Dovestone S.C. Ladies | 77 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 45th | 55 | Ent 55 | West Oxfordshire S.C. (B) | 76 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 46th | 45 | GP 45 | Burwain S.C. (B) | 76 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 47th | 39 | Ent 20264 | Southport S.C (B) | 75 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 48th | 57 | Ent 18657 | Birmingham University S.C. | 75 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 49th | 54 | Ent 54 | Rudyard Lake S.C. | 74 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 50th | 32 | Ent 20228 | Pennine S.C. | 73 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 51st | 35 | Ent 13518 | Strathclyde University | 71 laps | |
| 52nd | 56 | Ent 22921 | Rotherham S.C. | 72 laps | ‑0.5 |
| 53rd | 51 | Ent 22397 | Etherow Country Park S.C. | 71 laps | ‑0.25 |
| 54th | 36 | Lark 1029 | Sussex Y.C. (Youth) | 71 laps | |
| 55th | 47 | Ent 690 | Pilkington S.C. (C) | 69 laps | |
| 56th | 52 | Ent 2825 | Sedbergh School | 67 laps | |
| 57th | 53 | Ent 18974 | Lancaster University S.C. | 65 laps | ‑0.25 |
