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ILCA Northern Championship at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club

by Gordon Riddell 1 Sep 08:07 UTC 30-31 August 2025

The Northern ILCA circuit held the Northern Championship at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club on the weekend of 30th and 31st August. The event was hosted as part of the club's regatta weekend, sharing the water with Solutions, Wayfarers and a mixture of club boats.

Strong, gusty winds from the south meant the courses were challenging, with the windward mark tucked up next to the clubhouse which made it a spectator sport with a number of the fleet taking up open water swimming,

The first race got under way under a darkening sky and an increase in wind speed. The fleet got away cleanly and battled towards the clubhouse. The first beat quickly sorted out the fleet, although a chaotic mark rounding with boats arriving at the mark from some very strange angles and lots of avoiding actions to prevent incidents with capsized boats. The fleet poured around onto the first reach and then proceeded to race around the course. The conditions meant there was no respite, with someone ready to pounce the moment someone ahead ran into issues.

Tim Keighley (West Riding) finally broke away to take the win on the water, but was closely followed by Ian Jones (Doverstones) and Lewis Bacon (Leigh & Lowton), sailing an ILCA6.

The second race followed quickly, with Ian taking the win on the water, closely followed by Lewis less than a minute behind. After two hours on the water the fleet headed to shore for pasta and cake before heading back out for a final showdown.

Race 3 was won by Ian on the water, followed by Tim but neither of them could shake Lewis, who came across the line to win on handicap by less than 20 seconds.

The ILCA6 fleet was extremely competitive across the fleet, with youth sailors Billy Morris (Delph SC) and Ava Harris-Scott (Elton SC) delivering some strong results.

Day 2 started with sunshine, but a more challenging forecast from the same direction. The fleet set off to the start line with less sailors, a number of who had decided that one day was enough. Those who did race experienced a change of course, with reach across the full length of Pennington Flash, in the gusty conditions the fleet stretched out quickly across the 45 minute races although everyone had someone close to them to race against.

6 races were held across the weekend, with local talent Lewis Bacon, sailing an ILCA6, showing some excellent skills keeping his boat upright and moving quickly all weekend, with 4 bullets (on handicap).

Prize giving saw Lewis Bacon taking the overall win and first ILCA6, with Ian Jones taking the ILCA7 prize and Lilly Brown (Delph SC) taking the ILCA4 win. The winners took away the club prizes of wine and chocolate and new sailing kit from circuit sponsor Performance Sailcraft. Will Dyson won the tally prize of a new foil bag.

Next event is at Winsford Flash on 20th September, followed by Elton on 27th September with the series finale at Dovestones on 12th October. The Dovestones event will be the series prize-giving with a range of ILCA kit from sponsor Performance Sailcraft.

Overall Results:

PosClassSail NoHelmClubR1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
1stILCA 6 / Laser Radial224685Lewis BaconLLSC1111-326
2ndILCA 7 / Laser224544Tim KeighleyWest Riding233‑41312
3rdILCA 7 / Laser227315Ian JonesDovestone5223‑9517
4thILCA 6 / Laser Radial225211Billy MorrisIndi371065(DNF)31
5thILCA 6 / Laser Radial216559Gary HowlandBudworth Sc610882(DNF)34
6thILCA 6 / Laser Radial223443Wendy JonesDovestone118‑1574939
7thILCA 7 / Laser223673Stuart BelfieldLLSC75710‑141342
8thILCA 7 / Laser180672Bill BusbyLLSC1269‑13101047
9thILCA 7 / Laser219658Will DysonLLSC10‑17115151152
10thILCA 6 / Laser Radial210047Glyn PurnellLLSC131214‑157854
11thILCA 4 / Laser 4.7217775Lilly BrownDelph Sc1415‑221213761
12thILCA 4 / Laser 4.7195802Poppy BedwellWest Lancs1513.516‑17121268.5
13thILCA 6 / Laser Radial212055Ava Harris‑ScottElton Sc444(DNC)DNCDNC70
14thILCA 6 / Laser Radial221314Paul HeathLLSC(DNC)DNCDNC211172
15thILCA 7 / Laser221325Howard GreenLLSC(DNC)9511DNFDNC74
16thILCA 6 / Laser Radial220826Gordon RiddellDelph(DNC)DNCDNC98479
17thILCA 7 / Laser226632Andy FoxLLSC8162016DNF(DNC)80
18thILCA 7 / Laser206876Oliver BlackburnLLSC(DNC)DNCDNC146684
19thILCA 6 / Laser Radial179656Austin BusbyLLSC18(DNC)1918DNF1489
20thILCA 7 / Laser220826Gordon RiddellDelph1713.56(DNC)DNCDNC94.5
21stILCA 6 / Laser Radial213966Tom AllumCarsington Sc92013(DNC)DNCDNC100
22ndILCA 6 / Laser Radial204123James Wynn‑EdwardsLLSC(DNC)1112DNCDNCDNC110
23rdILCA 6 / Laser Radial143111Morgan BusbyLLSC(DNC)DNC1819DNFDNC115
24thILCA 7 / Laser218272Tom Green 211823(DNC)DNCDNC120
25thILCA 7 / Laser215231Keith CrebbinBlackpool & Fleetwood19(DNC)17DNCDNCDNC123
26thILCA 7 / Laser194679Andy PriceLLSC16(DNC)21DNCDNCDNC124
27thILCA 7 / Laser11Martin FergieLLSC(DNC)19DNCDNCDNCDNC135
28thILCA 6 / Laser Radial10047David LoweLLSC20(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNC136

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