Southport 24 Hour Race

The Southport 24 Hour Race is a national sailing endurance race for sailing dinghies held in Southport, Merseyside, England.

The race, hosted by the West Lancs Yacht Club, has a long history and is usually held in September, with the 2016 24 hour race taking place on the 17th and 18th September.

The average turnout, which has grown in recent years, is between 60 and 80 boats.

The event takes place over a weekend in mid September each year on the Marine Lake in Southport, Merseyside. The race starts at 12 noon on the Saturday. The contestants then race their dinghies around the marine lake (a man made feature containing 2 islands and an interesting, concrete jetty on the eastern side) for the next 24 hours, finishing at noon on Sunday. Most entries are teams of up to 12 crew members. The crews take turns to sail their dinghy in the race. The crews are not permitted to sail in more than one dinghy during the event. However, there is nothing (other than exhaustion) to prevent a crew of two from sailing the whole event in one boat, 2 people sailing non stop was successfully sailed by Adam McGovern and Chris Robinson of Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club in the 2007 race.

As with all sailing events, weather is the important element. The other important feature of the 24 hour race is the lack of light at night. During the hours of darkness, the helm and crew of each dinghy must keep watch for other boats (often capsized) and the curious concrete jetty mentioned earlier. Colliding with one or the other can be very dangerous and may even cause the team to abandon further participation in the event.

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