Carpenter Cup Race at West Cheshire Sailing Club

On Saturday May 6th seven Liverpool Yacht Club yachts made up the entire fleet in West Cheshire Sailing Club’s offshore Carpenter Cup race. The course took the yachts from the New Brighton start down the main Mersey shipping channel to the Bar lightship 15 miles away and then further out into Liverpool bay before returning back up the shipping channel. Although the first half of the race was in bright sunshine and light S.E. winds the sky clouded over and towards the end of the race apparent wind speeds of almost 30 knots were reported. The race favoured the smaller yachts with Stuart Lofthouse winning with Andy Napper second despite being shorthanded.

Unfortunately before the race started Andy lost a propeller blade and had to be towed back into the marina and was unable to compete in the following day’s Liverpool Yacht Club Low water racing.

WCSC Carpenter Cup Results:

1st Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala 28 Skukusa
2nd Andy Napper’s GK24 Di-Rich
3rd Paul Boycotts Impala 28 Impact
4th Richard Baldwin’s Superseal Tango
5th Glynn Sheffield’s Humphreys 30 Dynamite Too
6th Steven Jones’s J109 Ulula
7th Brian Moreton’s J109 Juke Box

The following day, Sunday May 7th. Liverpool Yacht Club held their second Low Water race day. 10 Yachts took part in the three races in three IRC classes in a moderate North Westerly.

All ten yachts completed the same course in the first race with Stuart Lofthouse of class 2 continuing to dominate winning the combined fleet race with Paul Hampson also of class 2 second and Neil Thomas, class 1, third.

Class results were almost identical for all three races. During the coarse of the day John D’Henin’s yacht suffered an engine failure. John Myerscough went to tow him back into the lock at the end of the day and then also suffered an engine failure and both boats had to be towed back.

Low Water 2 results:

Class 1 IRC (TCF > 0.936)
Races 1, 2, 3:
1st Neil Thomas’s Prima 38 Mighty Max
2nd Derek Mathews’ Pandanova 2
3rd Brian Moreton’s J109 Juke Box

Class 2 IRC (TCF 0.871 – 0.935)
Race 1:
1st Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala 28 Skukusa
2nd Paul Hampson’s Sigma 33 Magic Moments
3rd John Myerscough’s Sadler 32 Catch 32
Race 2:
1st Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala 28 Skukusa
2nd Paul Hampson’s Sigma 33 Magic Moments
3rd Paul Boycott’s Impala 28 Impact
Race 3:
1st Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala 28 Skukusa
2nd John D’Henin’s Starlight 30 Quilla
3rd Paul Boycott’s Impala 28 Impact

Class 3 IRC (TCF < 0.871)
Races 1, 2, 3:
1st Richard Baldwin’s Superseal Tango
2nd Andy Freeney’s Pacesetter 28 Ameera

The previous weekend Liverpool Yacht Club held their fourth Spring Series result on Sunday April 30th. Neil Thomas’s Prima 38 beat Brian Moreton’s J109 by a very substantial margin. In class 2 Paul Boycott managed to break Stuart Lofthouse’s stranglehold on recent races by winning class 2 with Stuart managing to hold onto second place 1 second ahead of John D’Henin. There were no entrants for class 3.

Spring 4 Results:

Class 1 IRC (TCF > 0.936)
1st Neil Thomas’s Prima 38 Mighty Max
2nd Brian Moreton’s J109 Juke Box

Class 2 IRC (TCF 0.871 – 0.935)
1st Paul Boycott’s Impala 28 Impact
2nd Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala 28 Skukusa
3rd John D’Henin’s Starlight 30 Quilla