Thanks southern race with main lot of water (6,3)
I believe the answer is:
tasman sea
'lot of water' is the definition.
'tasman sea' can be an answer for 'water' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'lot of' bit.
'thanks southern race with main' is the wordplay.
'thanks' becomes 'ta' (UK informal version of 'thank you').
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'race' becomes 'man' (I've seen this before).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'main' becomes 'sea' (the main is an old name for the sea).
'ta'+'s'+'man'+'sea'='TASMAN SEA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tasman sea that I've seen before include "it's wet" , "an arm of the Pacific" , "Place to sail far away" , "Cook explored here" , "part of Pacific" .)