West Lancs dominate S2S event at Leigh & Lowton
The S2S is a team event held annually in June at Leigh & Lowton SC in GPs, Ents and Fireflies starting at sunrise (4.40am) and finishing at sunset (9.40pm).
West Lancs went one better this year to claim the overall S2S trophy for the first time in a somewhat feisty day at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club on 14th June. After a close second last year when Toddbrook/Coombs (Combrook) won the annual Sunrise to Sunset event, West Lancs made no mistake this year by winning in style in their GP14. The Enterprises made a close fight of it this year and were in the leading pack in the earlier lighter winds but as the gusts came down in the afternoon they struggled to hold off the GPs.
The early start at 4.40am caught out the home Enterprise of the Southwell team who were OCS, half a boat length in front of the rest of the fleet, getting penalised 15 minutes for their efforts. The winners of the first lap Sparrow’s F*rt Trophy in the very light conditions that greeted the fleet were Combrook. Their Enterprise team was the one to take the Breakfast Time trophy though by half a minute.
West Lancs had got well into their rhythm by mid-morning to win the Fastest Cowboy Lap Trophy at 10 to 10 and were settling into a comfortable ½ lap lead.
The wind was building step by step by late morning and gusts of 25 knots were to be seen blowing off the clubhouse shore in the early afternoon. Plenty of capsizes and multiple gear failures were setting back some of the team.
The wind was blowing hard enough that a lot of the teams were fretting about what to do with the ladies and junior race in these conditions. Some opted out, and it was a lively lap of racing. The home team won the junior race with Flynn McLean picking up the trophy on the team’s behalf while LLSC Southwell’s Alice Carter and Rebecca McGuiness were first crew in the ladies race.
The masters race proved to be as competitive as ever with 5 teams competing, Team Southwell came out on top with a 36 second victory on the lap for yet another trophy!
Overall, it was an impressive performance from West Lancs, with no capsizes and a 50 second per lap average lap time better than the second placed team, to take the overall trophy in a dying breeze. The battle for second was intense with never more than a lap separating the LLSC Slimfast team and Combrook, but a navigation error on the last shift allowed LLSC Slimfast to take the honours.
Overall, a great day’s racing in varied conditions and well done to the OOD team for putting on a great spectacle once again. Everyone was exhausted by the conditions but there was still time for more partying!!
A note for your diaries – next year’s event will be on Saturday 13th June, any other clubs willing to come and take on the challenge? The event is growing year by year with Etherow joining the fray this year. Looking forward to the West Lancs 24hr race in September.
1st – West Lancs GP14
2nd – LLSC Slimfast GP14
3rd – Combrook GP14
4th – LLSC/Southwell Enterprise
5th – Combrook Enterprise
Lap trophies:
Sparrow’s F*rt – Combrook GP14
Breakfast time – Combrook Enterprise
Fastest Cowboy – West Lancs GP14
Midday madness – Combrook Enterprise
Youth Race – LLSC Marine Force One GP14
Ladies Race – LLSC Southwell Enterprise
Bar’s Open – Combrook GP14
Soon to be Bedtime (Masters) – LLSC Southwell Enterprise
Full results details at: