24-Hour Dinghy Race 2025 at West Lancashire Yacht Club - Detailed report
by Alex Halliwell 24 Sep 21:52 UTC
13-14 September 2025
The 2025 reboot of this classic dinghy racing event surely lived up to its name as an endurance event. With just over a week to go there were grave faces around the bar at West Lancs YC as there were rumours of 57mph winds.
Would the home team have enough heavy weather crews to make it through? Would the marquee stay standing? (The long-standing barometer by which all weather is judged.) The organizers held their breath, after all long-range forecasts are famously inaccurate: aren't they...?
The competing teams must have the same inside knowledge, as sixty-three teams arrived to sail in this year's unique edition of the race. Friday night saw the marquee and club bar come alive to the sound of sailors catching up as they enjoyed the live music of The Deltatones and DJ Enterprise. Some life size broccoli even joined in the party.
Saturday dawned dry and with a good breeze. Indeed, the weather looked more promising than expected. As the morning wore on it was clear that the lake conditions looked lively but perfectly sailable. (The sheltered shallow waters of the marine lake in Southport make this venue ideal for this unique event.)
There must have been many sore heads on the shore that morning. With 20 minutes before the midday start, there were still a lot of boats on the shore. Understandably, they were wise to preserve their energy, as some of the boats which were early to launch and keen to demonstrate their skills had already inspected their centerboards and checked to see if their bailers were up to the job.
This year saw the much-anticipated return of the Fireflys, lining up alongside GP14's and Enterprises. The conditions at the start, best described as gusty, provided a challenge as each flight of boats had to time their running start through the box. The GP of Toddbrook SC A or team Toddbroccoli (to their friends) made the most of the testing conditions and appeared to fly off the line with many of the usual race favourites in hot pursuit.
Flying slightly under the spectator's radar was the Firefly belonging to the Firefly Association, along with several other Firefly teams including Southampton, Loughborough and Bath Universities and West Oxfordshire SC.
The conditions clearly suited the Firefly as it quickly took the lead, taking the Radio Merseyside Cup for the fastest first two laps, closely followed by the GP's of Toddbrook SC A and West Lancs YC A. Two hours into this dinghy sailing marathon at 14:00 hours, the Fireflys took the top four places.
Unfortunately, as the activity on the water became fast and furious the organisers began to face some additional challenges. A little hiccup in the computer department meant that the club was unable to live stream the results as planned. A huge thank you to the scorers who worked tirelessly to fix the problem and to the competitors for their patience.
As the afternoon wore on, the wind also continuously increased and decreased in strength, providing challenging sailing conditions and much for spectators to enjoy.
As dusk fell the rain squalls started and brought more intense winds and then to everyone's delight (or maybe not) nature threw in a free light show to make up for the missing fireworks from last year's event. Thunderstorms tracked up the coast, out at sea and inland of Southport providing quite a spectacle. As the night set in, the lightning stopped but the squalls full of rain kept on coming thick and fast.
At this point we must say a huge 'Thank you' to the rescue boat volunteers over the weekend who made this race possible, especially in these testing conditions.
Despite the wild conditions the race continued with teams digging deep. The winners of the Dog Watch trophy at 20:00 hours were the Firefly Association followed by the GP's of Todbrook SC A and South Staffs SC A.
By midnight scoring was live again, the rain stopped, and the wind moderated. The average lap times of leading boats dropped from around 12 minutes to 15 minutes. And I have it on good authority that the race officers on duty breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The winners of the Midnight Race were the Enterprise of the Ogston SC (A) followed by the GP14 of Hollingworth Lake SC (A) and then the Firefly of Southampton University. However, the team leading the race at midnight was the Firefly Association. With twelve hours to go. a lot can change. Could the Firefly Association hang on?
By dawn. the action on the lake felt serene as boats slipped round the course. The Stanley Leech Cup (Dawn Race) for the fastest lap next after 06.00hrs was won by the Firefly of West Oxfordshire (B) followed by the GP14s of South Cerney SC and Budworth SC (A).
At 07.00 hrs. the Firefly Association remained in control, followed by Southampton University and the GP14 of Budworth SC (A). The Coddington Cup for the fastest lap next after 08.00 hours was won by a GP14, Hollingworth Lake (A) with the Enterprise of Wish SC (A) second and the Firefly Association third.
At 09.30 hrs. the Firefly Association team soldiered on keeping calm heads. Could they really win this monster of a race on their first attempt?
The final scheduled special race, for The Heineken Cup, the fastest lap next after 10.00hrs for Female Helm and Crew was won by Jenny Smallwood and Lucie Hopkins of the Firefly Association followed by Chloe Mills and Lucy Street of Southampton University and Elicia Mercer and Roseanne Morley of Bath University (all Fireflys).
At 11.00hrs the first three positions remained unchanged and mirrored the final positions at 12.00 hrs. As the last few GP14s rounded C Mark heading for the finish, the wind blew a little stronger and with spinnakers set, they were planing once again.
While weary sailors and supporters packed up and made their way home to destinations as widespread as Scotland, Sunderland, and Southampton the wind increased dramatically and by Monday morning the wind was gusting 50 mph, it was quite unassailable.
Neptune had been with us. West Lancashire Yacht Club and friends would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped make this race possible from members to their friends and neighbours to supporters from competing clubs. This is a huge event to organize and we could not do it without you.
Huge congratulations to the sailors of the Firefly Association who delivered a masterclass in sailing in the gusty conditions. Please come back next year and bring your friends. The 2026 race will take place over the weekend of the 12th and 13th September 2026 and once again we will be thanking our partners from International Paints for their support.
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