Killyleagh YC retain shield

Killyleagh YC retain shield

14 August 2019

STRANGFORD Lough Yacht Club, reached a milestone this year celebrating their 85th anniversary, but they still had time to host the finale of the Strangford Lough Youth Series on Sunday afternoon. After a miserable Saturday for the main regatta, with torrential downpours, thunder and lightning and very light winds playing havoc for the sailors, the sun shone down on premier race officer Jack Kennedy and his team as they got under way hosting the last of this five leg event.

The previous four legs of the series saw over 80 junior sailors in total compete, some for personal glory but all to help their team in the race to win the coveted Strangford Lough Youth Series Shield.

Coming into the final day the battle lines were drawn with only four points separating Killyleagh YC in first place and Strangford SC in second, while SLYC looked out of contention some 65 points behind in third.  It is amazing though how everything can change in just an afternoon, on the windy waters of Strangford Lough.

In the highly competitive Laser Radial class, SLYC’s Fergal Mooney took first position in two of the three races to finish first on the day, just ahead of clubmate Emma Greer in second.

After a poor performance in leg four, KYC’s Adam Morrison was on a mission and in a return to form finished in third place, just behind the SLYC pair.

Despite the two bullets for Mooney, it was Emma Greer who showed that girl power is alive and well in sailing, with an overall first place, ahead of Adam Morrison in second, with SSC’s absent Philip Crichton retaining a safe third.

In the Laser 4.7 class, Joseph Dooley, from SSC, and Nikita Kirk, from KYC, entered the final day equal on seven points each.

Meanwhile, Conor McVeigh, from SSC, sitting in fifth place, was determined to move upwards and an unbeatable three firsts on Sunday gave him a first on the day and a second overall — just not enough to snatch the overall victory from clubmate Dooley who retained his top spot on the 4.7 table.

A sterling performance from Will Pannell saw him take third place on the day; However despite breakages and an early return to shore, KYC’s Nikita Kirk finished third on the overall leader board.

Throughout the year 33 young sailors have competed in the ever popular Topper class, but the windy conditions meant that only 13 of these turned up to compete for the top spot overall on Sunday. 

Going into the final day, KYC’s Ella Hawthorne had a four-point lead over team-mate Isabella Kelly, but SSC’s Colin Crichton was just two points behind in third.

With the biggest fleet comes the biggest points in this series, so it was all to play for on the day and both Cody Halliday and Lucien Coole were determined to make the last day count.

SLYC’s Cody Halliday was as good as his word, throwing down the gauntlet to the rest with a first in race one, but the KYC girls were equally determined with Hawthorne in second and Kelly in third.

In a disaster for Team SSC, Coole had several breakages and had to retire during race one, unfortunately for him and for SSC who were already losing points due to the absence of their Topper star, Crichton.

Hawthorne was not about to give up on her lead and won the second race, with SSC’s Sally Reilly also nipping ahead of Halliday, putting him third.

In this, the biggest fleet in the series, the winner came down to the final race and Halliday showed that determination counts as race three echoed race one — Halliday first with Hawthorne and Kelly second and third respectively.

A first overall on the day for Halliday was also enough to reach the podium, ousting SSC’s Colin Crichton to claim third place overall. However, the KYC dream team had done just enough to keep them in the top two places, with Hawthorne and Kelly finishing first and second respectively. 

In the smaller Topper 4.2 class, a sterling performance saw SLYC’s Bobby Driscoll claim first on the day, with two firsts and a second, surprisingly catapulting him into third place overall, just ahead of EDYC’s Sam Kelly, also with a debut in the class that left him in fourth overall.

In the end, however, consistency throughout the series from SSC’s Caitlin Kearney meant a third on Sunday put her in first overall, while Ella Fitzpatrick from QYC finished second. 

The dinghy handicap class has witnessed a mismatch of boats throughout the series and Sunday was no different as two RS400s and a Feva lined up to compete.

The strong winds proved too much for the Feva, quickly leaving just the RS400s battling it out.

With Ben McMeekin heading off, brother Paul stepped in with hired gun Olivia Mooney to finish the McMeekins’ RS campaign for the year

Competition on the day was provided by Henry Greer and William Browne, in a first time entry in a 400.

McMeekin and Mooney quickly proved that it wasn’t just Ben who could turn a race into a swimming competition, allowing Greer and Browne an easy victory in race one, but the pair quickly mastered the technique taking the win in race two.

A first in race three gave Greer and Browne first on the day. However, the overall top spot went to the McMeekin RS400.  Despite missing the final round, SLYC’s Adam Fermor was second overall with Toby Coole from SSC and his Optimist in third. 

Going into this final round, Killyleagh Yacht Club were leading the challenge for the Shield, with SSC looking strong in second.

SLYC were determined not to give up without a fight, laying claim to many of the Laser points on the day and taking the top spot overall in the Radial class.

Once again, however, it became the battle of the Toppers to decide where the Shield would eventually land and a scorching performance from Cody Halliday squeezed Colin Crichton from the top of the table and into fourth, lifting all those points for a delighted SLYC.

Despite this outstanding effort, a solid and consistent performance from Team KYC gave them an unassailable lead overall with SLYC leaping into second, leaving prolific past winners SSC in third.

Many people are involved in this series, and the organisers would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and dedication in encouraging, supporting and managing this event and for the background logistics and coaching involved.

For those who are keen to keep sailing, Killyleagh Yacht Club will be hosting the Topper Northerns over August 24-25, with pre-entry now available, followed by their annual Die Hard Dinghies Series, open to all dinghies, with two races every Sunday for five weeks, starting from September 29.