Glory for SLYC

Glory for SLYC

10 September 2025

THERE was a disappointing finale to the Strangford Lough Youth Series as, once again, strong winds meant it was not possible for the competitors to take part in the Gore’s Island race, run by Quoile Yacht Club.

Despite this, the club put on a lovely afternoon on Sunday with food and medals for all participants.

In the ILCA handicap class, two firsts and two seconds put Strangford SC’s Sam McLernon five points clear at the top of the table, with East Down YC’s Rose Kelly in second and Killyleagh YC’s Jonah Kelly in third. 

The largest fleet throughout the event, the full rig Topper class with 25 competitors in total, was tightly contested, with only two points between Strangford Lough YC team mates Charlie Haslett in first and Tilly Scott in second. Cementing the victory for SLYC was Abigail Carson in third.

With the Topper scores always highly influential in the race for the shield, two to watch next year are SSC’s Yvaine Parsons and KYC’s Sam Bridges, who finished close behind the leaders in fourth and fifth places respectively.

In a much smaller Topper 4.2 fleet, the unbeaten Daniel Long, from EDYC, took the overall prize, while QYC’s Eliza Ashe, sailing for Team KYC, finished her final season with a respectable second overall.

The Optimist fleet only saw entries from SLYC, so it was a one-two-three for Team SLYC with Ollie Cooke on first, Olivia Wijkstra in second and Oliver Gunderson in third.

Finally, the Feva sailors did not get the chance to change their fate in a final race, so Charlie Stocking and Emily Kelly from East Down YC took first overall, with KYC’s Maya Kelly and Emily Duggan second and Max Robinson-Shields and Anna Fitzpatrick third.

The ethos of the Youth Series has always been to provide a pathway to racing, but also to foster relationships between clubs.

John Magowan, a stalwart race officer from QYC, thanked the volunteers for giving up their time and energy to promote youth sailing on the lough.

Many clubs still embrace this camaraderie and it is rewarding to see sailors supporting and encouraging their club mates in the race for the shield.

This year the shield was decided by the Topper results alone and SLYC’s domination of this class meant they were the clear winners.  EDYC finished in second, very closely followed by KYC in third. 

With a newly refurbished shield presented this year, there are plenty of blank spaces to fill in the years to come, so hopefully the sailors of tomorrow embrace the spirit of the series and come back to support their clubs again next year.