Sunshine bliss for sailors at Killyleagh

21 July 2021

KILLYLEAGH Yacht Club hosted the return of their annual regatta on a blisteringly hot Saturday afternoon.

The hottest day ever recorded in Northern Ireland meant afloat was the only place to be, but light and fickle winds made life difficult for the race management team as they watched wind shift after wind shift play havoc with their best laid plans.

Despite this, 80 yachts of various shapes and sizes lined up to compete on the day — all of whom finished, some slightly faster than others.

Peter Holden’s Go To Red showed that the more sail you carry, the faster you go in the IRC1 class, beating Jay Colville’s Forty Licks by less than two minutes on corrected time.

It was also East Down YC all the way in the recently rejuvenated IRC2 class, now with one of the bigger classes thanks to the addition of a fleet of Impalas from EDYC.

On the day it was an Impala one-two-three as Michael Molloy’s Vela, romped home ahead of clubmates Beeste and Alcyone.

Rejuvenation was the order of the day in NHC1 too, as the mighty Fan Tan took a first place for Portaferry SC after a major restoration project completed by the Kelly brothers during lockdown brought her back from almost scrappage.

In the smaller NHC2 class, Jack Kennedy claimed his first ever regatta win in Meltemi, while SLYC also unsurprisingly claimed both the River and Glen prizes.

Laragh and Kenny Smith were back in their customary pole position in the River class. Mike Stephens and Glenoe won the Glen fleet, their third regatta victory this year, while the team of McCleery/Duggan put one on the table for KYC as they finished in a commanding first over the line in Ffast Antic, their Flying Fifteen.

In the last of the one design classes, the Squib prize and the Nautilus Cup this year was taken by Simon Watson in Volante. The very popular restricted sail classes also saw the hosts stay on top as Jamie and Dave McGookin took top spot in NHCRS1 on Sloe Gin while the evergreen Don Bridges made it five in a row for Nirvana of Rhu in NHCRS2.

Gordon and Findlay Reid, representing EDYC, lifted the large dinghy handicap prize in their Wayfarer Mistral 2, while KYC’s Ella Hawthorne took first in the Laser Radial class and Autumn Halliday, youth series hopeful, won the Toppers overall.

With only 80 yachts taking part overall, this has been one of the smaller regattas at KYC for many years. However, kudos to all who took part, as the mighty wind shifts gave even the best of sailors a challenge.

KYC would like to thank all those who helped to make this regatta a huge success, both on and off the water, especially the stalwart supporter of racing in Strangford Lough, Jim Lindsay, who provided both Knot4Sail as the committee boat and a wealth of expertise on the day, from both himself and his extremely hospitable crew.

Results

IRC1: 1st Go To Red, P Holden; 2nd, Forty Licks, J Colville; 3rd Le Basculer, M Spence.

IRC2: 1st Vela, M Molloy; 2nd Beeste, Hamilton/Curran; 3rd Alcyone, Thompson/Watson.

NHC1: 1st Fan Tan, D Kelly Snr; 2nd Scampede, J McAlea; 3rd Cascade, Carson/Harte.

Flying Fifteen: 1st ffast Antic, McCleery/Dougan; 2nd Taking it Easy, Brian Bailie; 3rd The Final Resort, Roger Chamberlain.

NHC2: 1st Meltemi, J Kennedy; 2nd Shanty, B White; 3rd Club Coffee, C Earney.

NHC Restricted Sail 1: 1st Sloe Gin, D & J McGookin; 2nd Just Du It, Nixon/Clarke; 3rd Self Expression – Ramsey/Findlay.

River: 1st Laragh, K Smith; 2nd Gweebarra, Cunningham/Marten/Brooks; 3rd Quoile, J McVea.

Glen: 1st Glenoe, M Stephens; 2nd Glen Elg, P Storey; 3rd Glen Shiel, I Gleadhill.

NHC Restricted Sail 2: 1st Nirvana of Rhu, D Bridges; 2nd Kili, A Morrison; 3rd Starry Night, Baker/Innes.

Squib: 1st Volante, S Watson; 2nd Firecracker, S Bridges; 3rd Blue, D Hanna.

Dinghy Handicap 1134 & under: 1st Mistral 2, F & G Reid; 2nd Almera, A Bell; 3rd RS400, Unknown.

Laser Radial: 1st Ella Hawthorne, 2nd Isabella Kelly.

Topper: 1st Autumn Halliday.

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