As the chills and darkness of winter became a distant memory, LYC members got stuck into competing for the Spring Series. Making the most of being out on the river in the sunshine, and taking advantage of the longer evenings for some al fresco post race socialising, it’s been a great series. The series tested sailors with a full spectrum of conditions, providing very strong winds for race 1, no wind for race 3 and some perfect sailing conditions in between! With only 4 races in the series and thus no discards, consistency was key if skippers and their crews wanted to take the series win.
IRC 1 saw Neil Thomas’ Prima 38 (Max Too) take the series win, with a 1st place finish in race 1, 2 and 4. This compensated for a torrid time in race 3 where the very light conditions did not play to their strengths. Richard Mann’s Sunfast 42 (Arcturus) had a shaky start to the series, but after finishing all 4 races and with a 2nd place finish in race 3 and 4, they found themselves in 2nd place overall. Paul Hampson’s J109 (Bojangles) had a tied overall series score of 19 with Simon Windle’s Sunfast 37 (Shaula), Bojangles however were rewarded for displaying a light wind masterclass to win race 3, thus securing their 3rd place overall.
IRC 2 was a duel between John Myerscough’s Sigma 33 (Jon Do) and Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala (Skukusa). With both boats missing the final race of the series, it was straight wins in race 1-3 for Jon Do, securing their place as series winners.
The Venture fleet had a challenging start to the series, with Wildwood and Cool Breeze both deciding that the wind and conditions on the river were too much, both recording a DNS. Persistence paid off for Max Blackwell’s GibSea 760 (Wildwood), as a 2nd place in race 2, 1st place in race 4 and performing race officer duties for race 3, saw them take 1st place overall. Jeff Nelson’s Horizon 30 (Lady Dortothy) took 2nd place in the series, with a win in race 2, followed by overall 3rd in the series for Ian Mercer’s Cool Breeze.
Full series results are available here
Make sure that you don’t miss out on more ‘fun in the sun’ on the Mersey, so get involved in the upcoming Summer Series, 6 races are in the calendar taking us all the way through to August.
