Liverpool Yacht Club Ladies and Autumn Series 2022 penultimate weekend

The last weekend of November was a busy one for Liverpool Yacht Club. It was the penultimate races for our Ladies and Autumn Series.

Saturday was the Ladies race; meaning the helm and main sheet trimmers needed to be female to qualify. The forecast was ominous with a force 4 wind gusting to 7 and a spring tide running at four knots. Fortunately, the upper Mersey is protected from the sea and at high tide and provides a racing area four miles long and up to 1.5 miles wide; so, it was race on. Three boats entered with the Race Officer setting a ten mile windward/leeward course.

After over 1.5 hours of racing, including a broach or two, the first two boats finished one second apart on corrected time which was impressively close. The results were as follows:

For Sunday's Autumn Series race it was a light force 2 but with occasion gusts up to 4 at the start of the race. There were 10 boats on the water with over 50 LYC sailors onboard. It was another windward/leeward course but mainly in the Garston channel, where the sailors had to use their knowledge of the tide to make gains while keeping a lookout for favourable gusts.

Liverpool Yacht Club Ladies and Autumn Series 2022 - photo © Alistair Roaf

With the strong tide, the Tranmere side of the river was favoured at the start. MAXTOO, the series leader, looked like they had the best start until the Race Officer called them back. This gave the other five boats in IRC Class 1 an opportunity.

After a three mile beat to the windward mark, MAXTOO rounded first, closely followed by EAZITIGER and BOJANGLES then LA REPUBLIC, SHAULA and RUN (racing for the first time in IRC). Mixed in with the back of Class 1 were the Class 2 boats JONDO and SKUKUSA. For the run to buoy G3 there was a lot of gybing as boats sought to avoid the tide by going close to the shore while trying to avoid being covered.

Liverpool Yacht Club Ladies and Autumn Series 2022 - photo © Alistair Roaf

After an hour of racing, MAXTOO rounded G3 first, followed by BOJANGLES; however, BOJANGLES was late getting their spinnaker down and EAZITIGER cut inside them. In Class 2, SKUKUSA had overtaken JONDO and rounded the buoy first.

After the final windward/leeward section MAXTOO finished first on the water for Class 1. However, on corrected time EAZITIGER was first, BOJANGLES was second and MAXTOO was third. In Class 2 SKUKUSA took the honours and in the Venture Class WILD WOOD won. Well done everyone.

Sunday's results:

Liverpool Yacht Club Ladies and Autumn Series 2022 - photo © Alistair Roaf