It was great to see 17 boats from all over the north region arrive at Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club for the North West Optimist Championships. Light winds and shifty conditions meant it was tricky sailing, and the race officer did well to get 4 races in. In the first race large shifts meant there were lots of gains to be made, with many place changes throughout. Jacob Bennett (Glossop) came out on top, Ben Welfare (LLSC) came second and Lochlyn Grant (LLSC/WKSC) took third.  In the...

It was a Regatta Weekend like no other, with no visitors and no big party on Saturday night, but club members enjoyed some friendly competition despite it all. The Saturday proved to be very light and tricky. Martin Spencer (D-One) and Tim Coleman (single-handed Albacore) proved best at adapting to the conditions in the adult handicap fleet. A 1st and 2nd apiece meant the day going to Martin on the last race win. Meanwhile, the junior fleet was a family...

LLSC are pleased to announce the arrangements for a one-off event in 2021 – a long distance Junior/Youth Event with restricted entries to comply with COVID, following the understandable cancellation of the annual Southport 12hr race. This is intended as an interim event to promote junior/youth sailing in the region and bridge the gap to the next 12hr race. We hope clubs will be enthused to come and join us for what promises to be a great and safe day...

3 days before the start of Lockdown 2, Leigh & Lowton were able to conclude their 2020 Trophy Days and anoint their Club Champions (virtually of course!).  The Trophy Days had first been postponed due to Lockdown 1 and then the format changed to 4 weekends in September and October, 2 races with no discards for each one, with 5 races to count towards the Club Champion trophy.  It proved to be a lively series with a nail-biting final weekend...

In the absence of the real 24hr Race (cancelled due to COVID restrictions), West Lancs ran a replacement event on line through the night using the VR system which became popular at clubs during lockdown in April and May. We entered both Adult and Youth teams into the event. Most of the event was held remotely due to restrictions but we did put on a screen at the club so people could drop by and see some of the racing....

We’re all getting used to the strange environment we find ourselves in during “lockdown” and now “release from lockdown”. The Solo fleet is no exception, but they made the most of technology to have Sailracer host a National Championships of sorts through their App. With each competitor using their phone to track their every move, the races were tracked and compared across the country to take into account various factors to come up with a winner. Over 100 entries were...

The competition on Virtual Regatta at Leigh & Lowton has been fierce during April, with series on Wednesday nights, Friday night juniors and Sundays getting people warmed up for the Club Championships at the end of April. At stake was the title of Club VR Champ but also the opportunity to represent the club at the RYA Regional Championships later in May, with the carrot of a National Final beyond that if successful. Internet connection issues aside, the VR has...

Junior teams from Leigh & Lowton SC and Nelson Schools in the town of Nelson on the South Island of New Zealand went head to head on the Virtual Racing platform.  The event took place at 9.00am UK time and 8.00pm NZ time on Saturday 18th April. The racing was in teams of 6, with two formats on the day – a team trophy based on the best 5 representatives from each team in each of the 5 races, and...