2026 West Lancashire Yacht Club 24 Hour Race - Part 1 of 2

THE West Lancashire Yacht Club (WLYC) held the annual 24 Hour Race from:- 12 September to 13 September 2026, from:- 12 Noon to 12 Noon. 1st held in 1967, this historic endurance event on Southport's Marine Lake was originally created as a supreme test of seamanship, night navigation, and stamina for:- Enterprise, GP14, Lark, and now included the Firefly dinghy classes.  All these boats are designed for small hourly sailings, and not designed or expected to be sailed for 24 hours straight.. This pushes those sailing them and the boats to the limits, and some even sink! Over the past 59 years, it has established itself as 1 of the premier inter club sailing events in the UK, drawing competitors from across the country to race continuously through day and night.

This race is billed as 1 of the toughest sailing events in the world, due to the extremely unusual challenges it puts on those taking part. Each year this dinghy race attracts all levels to take part, including those from all over the world. Although the 2026 event might not have had any British Olympic team members taking part, as they sometimes do, it still had many professional and amateur teams taking part, alongside University teams and local sailing clubs, just for the fun of competing in this unique endurance race.

DARE YOU TO WATCH IN FULL - ENDING IS FUNNY

Among the line up of entries competing in the 2026 event were teams representing:- South Staffordshire Sailing Club, West Lancashire Yacht Club, Budworth Sailing Club, Bolton Sailing Club, and various university sailing clubs, including teams from:- Liverpool, Manchester, and Lancaster universities, along with numerous class association entries.

The event was a very interesting 24 hours with extremely high winds on Saturday making sailing extremely challenging, with lots of capsized crews and fast laps of Marine Lake. Overnight, the weather conditions completely reversed, producing other challenges. Sunday brought the opposite weather conditions, with completely flat winds making laps last over 2 hours.

Off the water, the atmosphere was extremely friendly and it had a fantastic community feel to it. It was also fascinating to hear all the different backgrounds of all the teams.

1 of the teams came from the South Coast after paying just:- £100 for the boat and then entering for the very 1st time. They struggled with equipment failures, but managed to finish, enjoying the adventures along the way. They have already chosen to return after having a fantastic time learning, as they battled the odds to keep in the race.

On the other side, a team of just 2 sailors, Jack and Steven Wilson, completed the full race without any handovers. They were raising money for St John's Hospice, in memory of their Mother, Amanda, who died of cancer 5 years ago.

Marian Newman told us that:- "St John's Hospice, in North Lancashire, had helped Amanda and my 2 grandsons' families, for which they were extremely grateful. As a result, they had chosen to sail for 24 hours with no change of crew, to raise funds for the Hospice. Throughout the race, my granddaughter and the girls passed food to them every 3 hours to keep them nourished. And, I took a collection bucket around the competition encampment."

After the race, we were informed that both Jack and Steven were exhausted, but pleased they had completed the challenge for such a worthy cause. You can see them finishing the race in our video footage.

Marian added:- "People have been very generous and so far, they have received over:- £5,000 in donations."

If you are able to help them to raise even more for this good cause, please visit their JustGiving Page.

This year's leading team was South Staffordshire SC A Team, regaining their grip on the challenging annual race, resulting in them following tradition and throwing the Club's Commodore, Martin Warburton, in the lake to celebrate!

If you would like to enter, sponsor, or take part, please visit:- WLYC.Org.UK, or call:- 01704530840, for more information.

Did you attended this years Race? Please do let us know your memories of this world famous event by emailing our Newsroom at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com, alternatively send you can also send them to us on:- Mastodon, Facebook, or X. Please do let us know as we love to hear your views and thoughts about this major, but hidden, sporting event....