The WLYC 24 Hour Race 12/13 September 2026
Published 14:21 on 1 Oct 2026
As the summer holidays become a distant memory, schools have gone back, and the temperature starts to cool (finally). It is time for the South Cerney team of sailors and shore crew to head north to West Lancs Yacht Club. Mark and Charles Barrett (plus Ava) arrived at the site early on Friday, to set up the club gazebo at the side of the lake. Our base for food, drink, watching the race and naps for the next two days. Friday night is party night, most of us had pizzas from the food truck, then enjoyed the night showing off our new tropical team shirts and very bright orange hats.
The race starts at Midday on Saturday, the morning is spent rigging the boat, checking all the parts so that hopefully everything stays together for the 24 hours. The breeze was around 20 knots from the Southwest, meaning the triangular clockwise course would start with a running spinnaker start. Jonny Stevenson and Alex Atack (Captain and Deputy) started the race in flight 2. Our boat number of 20, determined by our finish last year. It was a windy first session, with lots of capsizing boats especially by mark A. A very quick capsize on the last windward leg was annoying after a good first 90 mins.
Each team changes their crew members in the docking area as many or few times as they want to. Next onto the boat was Al Sim and Will Hancock, a good solid 90 mins from them still in very testing condition, especially on the long downwind leg. At 15;10 the next change. The star pairing of 2025, Bruce Harper and Bruce Ward, the team nick names. BnB: Gday Bruce: Team Bruce could all be heard from the club tent as the boat sailed past. Boats were lapping at about 15 to 18 mins at this time of the race. The forecast was for the wind to start dropping, but still it hadnt. Next up were Mark Barrett and Rosie Hancock, for their 90 min shift. By this time, we had settled into about 23rd place, moving up or down a place depending on the wind shifts and the changeovers. Next in the boat were the Youth Team of Monty Hampton and Alex Nailer. They had a great sail, their first time at the event, the wind was starting to drop now, perfect conditions for them. As it started to get dark Monty and Alex handed over to Charles Barrett and Ava Roberts, both on their 3rd Southport 24 Hour race, we were also stretching the shifts now to about 2 hours. The goal was for all the sailors to sail twice. It had been a long wait for Ali Wallace and Nicola Barrett; they jumped into the boat at 21:30. The wind had settled at about 5 to 8 knots still from the Southwest. We all knew that the forecast was for the wind to vanish in the early hours of Sunday…
Back to the start of the rota now, with Jonny and Alex back out at 23.30 for 2 hours of lovely sailing, everything was going well, and we had moved up to 21st overall. The next challenge now was the vanishing wind.
A quick thank you here for the support crew. Harriet and Jono Hancock both took on volunteer roles on the rescue boats, there are always four on the water at any one time, all supported by volunteers. Mark Nailer was also on hand to help with changeovers during early Sunday morning. Lap times were slowing down, Bruce and Bruce were out at about 1,30am, followed by Mark and Rosie at 3am, lap times were now taking almost an hour. The lake looked like a black mirror. The race just keeps going no matter what. Monty and Alex were up early to get in the boat for a 5am change. I finally went to bed at 4,30am just before that changeover. While I had a few hours sleep the wind moved around to the North and started to increase in strength, phew. Ali W and Charles took over from Monty, then Al Sim and Will back in again. Will helmed for a lap between 9 am and 10am to try and post a quick lap for the new U16 Cup. Finally, the last pair of Nicola and Ava jumped in around 10am to take us through to the finish. Trying their best to score the fastest lap for the Heineken Cup (The Ladies Race). Total Laps completed was 56 laps. The results are worked out on average lap times.
We finished in 23rd Place out of 75 teams.
For the full results click here
Final information:
Thank you to Jonny Stevenson for the loan of his boat.
We were 11th GP14 in the race.
We won the Kicking Strap Cup, for the highest placed boat, who are over 100 miles away and havent won a major trophy in the race.
South Staffordshire SC A Team won the whole event.
We plan to be taking at least one boat to the event in 2027; information will be put on the notice board and in the newsletter in the Spring. The date for 2027 is 11/12 September.
Alex Atack - Sailing Secretary
Last updated 14:21 on 1 October 2026