The Liverpool Lash at Liverpool University Sailing Club

8 teams enter the first annual Liverpool Lash team racing event at West Kirby © R. Hodgkins

8 teams enter the first annual Liverpool Lash team racing event at West Kirby © R. Hodgkins

8 teams entered the first annual Liverpool Lash, a team racing event run by Liverpool University Sailing Club, supported by West Kirby Sailing Club.

After a messy night out in Liverpool City Centre on Friday night, 48 bleary-eyed and slightly worse for wear sailors arrived at West Kirby SC for an early start. 2 flights of West Kirby's finest Fireflies were launched and the rest of the morning was taken up with starting practice run by Jamie Marston from the coaching RIB, meanwhile the sailors off the water received expert training on the finer points of team racing rules from umpire David Taylor.

After a short break for lunch the first round robin began. Racing was close and it was good to see that the techniques learned in the earlier coaching were put to good use. At the end of Saturday it was still all to play for, with the top three teams tied for the lead.

After another social out in Liverpool the teams arrived, tired and hungry. The weather on this second day was changeable, with all winds from 5 knots to 20 knots experienced, leading to 4 sail changes throughout the day! In the end a defeat of the West Kirby Juniors by Lancaster Uni handed the win to Manchester Uni 1, with some fine sailing by them.

Thanks go to West Kirby SC for their boats, their help and their support. Special mention of thanks goes to Jim Bramley for his help leading up to and throughout the weekend, and to Richard Cornah for his time and effort put into making this happen.

See you all next year!

Overall Results: