Open Junior Winter Regatta
2nd February 2008

The weather was always going to be important to the success of the first running of the Leigh & Lowton Open Junior Winter Regatta on Saturday 2nd Feb 2008. With 25+ mph winds forecast for the days leading up to & after the event, the Sailing Committee were always confident that the weather window with 9-15mph winds that was forecast for Saturday would remain open. The panic button was not needed & the early birds arrived at the club with very light airs & whiteout blizzard conditions. The skies soon cleared which left a light dusting of snow to give the arriving visitors some entertaining snowballing & snowman making whilst the parental support machine burst into life rigging boats, launching rescue craft & eating bacon rolls.

Our race officer held a briefing to the assembled 44 helms at 10:30, described the trapezoidal course layout & went for a prompt 11:00 start to the 1st race. The racing got underway in a fine F3/4 with bright sunshine – difficult to imagine better conditions. There was a slight port bias to the start line but the right side of the course was paying so there were tough choices for the competitors to take – it became apparent that the close to zero wind chill was insufficient for some helms who decided to opt for the odd quick capsize to cool themselves down!! – the rescue crews saw a little action but were never put under strain. Clean starts from the well-behaved 40 strong handicap fleet, which was made up of Lasers with a variety of rigs & Toppers, followed by the Optimists 5 minutes later meant that the OD opted for doing 2 races back to back before breaking for lunch. With a 3rd race after the break, the sailing finished whilst there was still daylight to pack boats away & with 28 visitors this was always a consideration – the young helms were welcomed to shore with a warming drink courtesy of the Galley.

Elliot Hanson of Redesmere SC was on fire with 3 bullets in the U16 fleet, he also took 2 of the 3 race wins when both fleet results were combined – only being beaten in the 1st race by local sailor Sophie Stott who opted to sail her Laser 4.7 in the U20 fleet. Elliot was followed by Andrew Dawson 2nd, Sarah Yeates 3rd then Alice Milnes, Andrew Green & Daisy Murphy in the U16 Fleet. The U20 fleet was where the tight racing was to be found, with Jak Cornthwaite of Elton sailing a Laser, tying on points but taking the win based on the last race result from local sailor Chris Wheeler in his Topper, Sophie Stott was 3rd.

The Optimist results were a little clearer as local sailor Jamie Catchpole took 3 bullets from Tom Joesbury of Budworth, who managed to get ahead of Jamie in a couple of races making a good tussle for the win. Local helms, Haydn Griffiths & Bobby Hewitt completed the fleet with Bobby recovering from a death-roll induced capsize to finish the 3rd race.

Its worthy of note that of the 28 visitors, one travelled from Bassenthwaite, where there was 5 inches of snow on the ground & a rather tempting Ski Lift as competition, the draw of the sailing won. The ages of competitors on the day ranged from 9yrs to 18 yrs, West Lancs sent the biggest fleet with 5 sailors and a total of 16 visiting clubs were represented. The total numbers were diluted by the poor Met Office forecast & local conditions in the Midlands & North East, we didn’t trust the Met Office & had a cracking days sailing as a result.

This event will be calendared again for 2009 - Leigh & Lowton SC is currently attracting plenty of Juniors to their Open Winter series & watch this space for details of a Topper 6HR race later in the summer – start getting teams together for a fun packed day.

RESULTS
16/U20 Handicap Fleets
Handicap Combined
Optimists

LLSC Tipsey Series Junior Results

Scroll down for Winter Itinery

New Years Day Pursuit Race Results

LLSC Revett Series Junior Results

WINTER 2007/8

We have now put together an exciting winter calendar for the junior section, including some race training (weather allowing), evening sessions for everyone to get to grips with tactics, rules and boat tuning and for the first time a Junior Winter Regatta for all you hardy youngsters.

1. Race training: we will aim to cater for 3 levels of sailors depending on attendance:

a. intermediate training for those who just started racing this year
b. advanced training for those who want that extra bit of speed out of their boat around the course
c. Laser/Radial/4.7 training for those who are too big (or grown up!) for a Topper


2. Evening sessions: these will use DVD footage and knowledge from more experienced sailors to focus on tactics, rules, strategy, wind, tides, boat preparation and tuning.


3. Junior Winter regatta - a regatta during the winter series to allow to brave amongst you to dust that snow off your boats and go out racing - this is open to visitors also.


Attached is the full-blown detail of what and when, hope to see you down at the club this winter. We will aim to hold all the sessions, if the weather doesn't cooperate we will have land-based training instead.

Let me know if you're planning to attend the race training session so I can plan on numbers for training and rescue.


Thanks.
Richard

Junior Racing/Training Calendar - Winter 2007/8

November
Friday 2nd November - 19.00 hrs - Evening Junior Training Event

Saturday 24th November - 19.00 hrs - Prize Giving & Social

Friday 30th November - 19.00 hrs - Evening Junior Training Event

December
Saturday 1st December - 10.30 hrs - Junior Race Training

Sunday 16th December - Kids Xmas Party -13.05 hrs - Guy Fawkes Pursuit Race (2nd Attempt)

January
Tuesday 1st January - 13.05 hrs - New Years Day Pursuit

Friday 11th January - 19.00 hrs - Evening Junior Training Event

Saturday 12th January - 10.30 hrs - Junior Race Training

February
Saturday 2nd February - 11.00 hrs - Junior Winter Open Regatta

Friday 15th February - 19.00 hrs - Evening Junior Training Event

Saturday 16th February - 10.30 hrs - Junior Race Training

March
Thursday 20th March - 19.00 hrs - Evening Junior Training Event

Friday 21st March - 10.30 hrs - Junior Race Training

Contact: Richard Catchpole for further details
catchusintheuk@btinternet.com

Hi everybody,
I m organising a christmas night out for us all which will take place after the junior training on 1st December, as we don't get our own christmas party at the club.
The plan is that after sailing (you don't have to have been sailing to come) To meet up at pizza hut in Altrincham and then go ice skating at Altrincham Ice Rink.
The ice rink session is from 8-10pm and called disco revival and is aimed at our age group so it should be really fun.
Any one interested in coming please let me know ASAP so I can book tables at Pizza Hut and also if you have any questions please email me or my dad.
Thanks, btw its laura if you didn't know already.
P.S if you no theres anyone i have missed off can you please tell me
my email: angella_101@hotmail.com
my dads-mike barnes: mikexsail@aol.com
*ITINARY
-meet at pizza hut at 6.45pm
(or if you want to just meet us at the ice rink)
-8pm go to alti ice rink
(but we will have to go a bit earlier that eight incase they sell out)
-Sessilon costs £6 + £2 for skate hire
(if we have more than 15 people we get a discount)

the ice rink site: http://www.altrinchamicedome.co.uk/

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