Fantastic festival of sailing at Narrows

Fantastic festival of sailing at Narrows

17 July 2019

THE annual four-day festival of sailing that is the Narrows Series regatta kicked off on Friday afternoon, as competitors of all shapes and sizes lined up for the Bar Buoy race.

Despite a forecast for sunshine and steady breezes, things turned grim just before the start as the rain came on and the wind ped.

In conditions that would have made a lesser race officer swim for the shore, the stalwart Gerry Reilly kept calm and carried on, eventually getting the massive flotilla of 72 yachts over the start line and more importantly, all heading in the right direction and pointing the right way.

With the tide still ebbing as the boats returned, a new gauntlet was thrown to Gerry and his team — how to finish 72 boats in ten minutes, as they all piled up at the Gowlands waiting for 

the wind and tide to carry them to the line.

Leading the pack was Portaferry Sailing Club’s Brian Bailie in his Flying 15, Flapping Eagle taking line honours from Peter Chamberlain in See You Later and Oliver Curran in Dream Catcher.

SLYC’s Philip Quinn in Flint had an easy victory in IRC1, while club mates Kerry Mackie and David Hinds won the Glen class in Glen May and the 

team of Cunningham, Marten and Brooks claimed the honours in the River class.

In the cruiser classes, home knowledge was key as PSC led the charge with Wilkinson/McLarnon’s Rock n Goose and Billy White’s Shanty taking the top spots. 

In NHC restricted sail 1, Green Ginger and Maria McGrogan proved victorious for SLYC, while Kyle Bolton and Backdraft kept KYC in the picture with a win in restricted sail 2.

Despite the excellent hospitality from SSC in their beautiful new 

clubhouse encouraging visitors to stay late into the evening, over 70 yachts 

still managed to line up on the main course to take part in an early morning start in much stronger breeze on Saturday.

Combined with almost 40 sailors on the dinghy course, this 110-boat fleet has made this the most popular Narrows series in years, proving sailing is alive and well on Strangford Lough.

On the main course, the fresher breeze certainly suited Peter Holden’s mighty Go to Red in the IRC1 class as he claimed a first place on day one, which along with a second and yet another first over the next two days, lifted him to the top of the pile overall. 

In a much smaller than usual IRC2 class, clubmates Stephen Lynn and Peter Thompson match raced their Impalas over the three days with two firsts and a second, leaving Mipaal ahead by just one point.

The NHC1 class this year was dominated by PSC and although Frank Petticrew and Magdaleyne lifted a first in PSC regatta on Monday for EDYC, it was too little, too late to knock any of the locals off the podium places, with Scampede owned by John McAlea in first, Terence O’Neill’s Juno in second and McLarnon/Wilkinson’s Rock n Goose in third.

PSC also reigned supreme in NHC2 with Billy White in Shanty just pipping the post ahead of Curran/Swail’s Escape, despite an interesting attempt at finishing on day 1.

The sailors from SLYC made up the entire entry in some classes, and for the first time in a number of years a fleet of Sonatas were racing, with Robert Darnley in Triad finishing ahead of both Cockahoop and Hi-Note.

Typically Kenny Smith was king of the River class again, with three bullets to prove his Bar Buoy defeat was a one off, while Henry Anstey in Glen Iris was the popular winner of the Glen class.  

Nine Flying Fifteens turned up on the start line to show the lough that they are still the most popular one design fleet around and a consistent performance from Peter Lawson in Frig-It, with two firsts and a second over the three days, put him out of reach at the top of the table.

The Flying Fifteen Cup, however, for the winner of Portaferry Town Regatta, went to Brian Bailie in Flapping Eagle, putting him in third overall, while a second at Portaferry Sailing Club regatta meant McCarthy/Rodgers’ Final Fling made it a clean sweep of the top three places for PSC in this very competitive class. 

Meanwhile in the Squib class from KYC, two wins put David Hanna’s Blue in first place, with Billy Ruff’in and Dermot Quinn in second and Steven Bridges’ Firecracker in third. 

While wind may have been the problem on Friday night, fog was definitely trying to make race officer John McAlea’s life difficult on Monday, as a rolling mist started to cover the starting area just seconds before the NHCRS2 start.

Fortunately the sun burned this off quickly and a consistent breeze saw the Edwards win the series in Umlani, with Robert Dow’s Sea Borne in second overall.

Local knowledge has been the decider in many a narrows regatta and no more so than this year when judging the speed of the tide at the finish of Portaferry Town Regatta on Sunday proved tricky for some.

Over-shooting the line meant trying to turn and crawl back against the tide, as Maria McGrogran in Green Ginger found to her cost, and despite two firsts on day one and three, missing the line on day two let Ryan Kelly and his new Scampi, Scampalong, sneak past into first place overall. 

Also new to the fleet was Sinead Byrne’s new Dehler 32, Soma, romping home to claim an excellent first place on Sunday.

However, a more consistent performance from Peter Niblock in Zeelander kept them in third place overall.

While the adults battled the conditions in the lough, the up and coming sailors of the future took part in a series of up to eight races over the three days, all held in Castleward Bay, under the watchful eye of race officer Jane McMeekin.

Eleven Topper sailors competed for the overall prize and after day two, Killyleagh Yacht Club’s Isabella Kelly had only to remain consistent to stay ahead of rivals Cody Halliday and Lucien Coole.

Despite a fifth on day three, a straight first in every other race left her clear ahead of the rest. For her sister Sara, racing in the 4.7 class, four firsts out of nine were also unbeatable. 

SSC’s golden girl, Evie McLaughlin grabbed a fabulous five firsts out of six races, but unfortunately, missing one race in this big competitive class meant Colin Crichton snatched overall victory by just one point, with his brother Philip Crichton in third.

For the first time, the larger dinghy classes started in Castleward Bay, but ventured into the lough, giving the sailors a real challenge in the more testing conditions.

In large dinghy handicap, four firsts put Adam Fermor ahead of the rest, with Ben McMeekin and crew Michael McCusker in second and evergreen Laser racer Richard Ramsey in third.

Bar Buoy results

IRC1: 1st Flint, Philip Quinn; 2nd Movistar Bleu, Raymond Killops; 3rd Redeye, Pete Tyler.

IRC2: 1st Mipaal, Stephen Lynn.

NHC1: 1st Rock n Goose, McLarnon/Wilkinson; 2nd Scampede, John McAlea; 3rd Cheval de Mer, Ronnie Barr, Juno, Terence O’Neill.

NHC2: 1st Shanty, Billy White.

NHCRS1: 1st Green Ginger, Maria McGrogan; 2nd Mannanan Mac Lir, M&M Broughton; 3rd Tiger Rag, Colin Blair.

NHCRS2: 1st Backdraft, Kyle and Sharon Bolton; 2nd Honey B, Clive Bridges; 3rd Umlani, Roy Edwards.

Flying Fifteen: 1st Flapping Eagle, Brian Bailie; 2nd See You Later – Peter Chamberlain; 3rd Dream Catcher, Oliver Curran.

River: 1st Gweebarra, Marten, Cunningham & Brooks; 2nd Strule, Susan McKnight; 3rd Moyola, Dan Dorman.

Glen: 1st Glen May, Mackie & Hinds; 2nd Glen Moyle, Corin McKenzie; 3rd Glen Shiel, Ian Gleadhill.

Sonata: 1st Triad, Robert Darnley; 2nd Hi-Note, Clyde Markwell; 3rd Cockahoop – McGimpsey/Pollock.

Narrows overall results

IRC1: 1st Go to Red, Peter Holden; 2nd Movistar Bleu, Raymond Killops; 3rd What’s the Rush II, Ernie Kelly.

IRC2: 1st Mipaal, Stephen Lynn; 2nd Alcyone, Peter Thompson.

NHC1: 1st Scampede, John McAlea; 2nd Juno, Terence O’Neill; 3rd Rock n Goose, McLarnon/Wilkinson.

NHC2: 1st Shanty, Billy White; 2nd Escape, Curran/Swail; 3rd Club Coffee, Colin Earney.

NHCRS1: 1st Scampalong, Ryan Kelly; 2nd Green Ginger, Maria McGrogan; 3rd Zeelander, Peter Niblock.

NHCRS2: 1st Umlani, R&S Edwards; 2nd Sea Bourne, Robert Dow; 3rd Backdraft, Kyle and Sharon Bolton.

Flying Fifteen: 1st Ffrig-It, Peter Lawson; 2nd Final Fling, McCarthy/Rodgers; 3rd Fflapping Eagle, Brian Bailie.

River: 1st Laragh, Kenny and Sonia Smyth; 2nd Quoile, John McVeigh; 3rd Strule, Edwards, Hinds, McKnight.

Glen: 1st Glen Iris, Henry Anstey; 2nd Glen Elg, Patrick Storey; 3rd Glen Lark, Richard Aiken.

Squib: 1st Blue, David Hanna; 2nd Billy Ruff’in, Dermot Quinn; 3rd Firecracker, Steven Bridges.

Sonata: 1st Triad, Robert Darnley; 2nd Cockahoop, McGimpsey/Pollock; 3rd Hi-Note, Clyde Markwell.

Topper: 1st Isabella Kelly, 2nd Cody Halliday, 3rd Lucien Coole.

Laser 4.7: 1st Sara Kelly, 2nd Joseph Dooley, 3rd Conor McVeigh.

Laser Radial: 1st Colin Crichton, 2nd Evie McLaughlin, 3rd Philip Crichton.

Large Dinghy Handicap: 1st Adam Fermor, 2nd Ben McMeekin/Michael McCusker, 3rd Richard Ramsey.

Topper 4.2: 1st Caitlin Kearney, 2nd Vikki Eames.

Mirror: 1st Ruby and Eliza Ashe.

Optimist: 1st Toby Coole, 2nd Violet McLaughlin.

RS Terra: 1st Tom Driscoll.