Adam proves uncatchable

Adam proves uncatchable

13 September 2017

A BREAK in the strong winds last weekend provided glorious weather for Killyleagh Yacht Club’s annual Closing Day on Saturday.

Despite a bad forecast, light winds prevailed during the morning as only three competitors lined up for the pursuit race. However, what a race it was.

Adam Morrison in his Laser Radial took on the might of Raymond Beattie’s Sun Odyssey 37, Tiger Lily, and Kyle Bolton’s Sabre 27, Backdraft.

Dwarfed in the tiny Laser by the sheer size of his competitors, Morrison sailed off first in a David v Goliath battle to win the Menagerie Race silver platter, followed six minutes later by Backdraft, with the much faster Tiger Lily starting third.

As the race unfolded around a circular course, Beattie set his sights on Backdraft and made his move on the last leg of lap one, overtaking Bolton and his crew 45 minutes into the race.

With 35 minutes left to run on the clock, Morrison still led by over a leg, but Beattie was drawing in the much smaller dinghy minute by minute as the race unfolded.

With Backdraft out of the running, it was down to Morrison to keep his nerve and his lead as he watched the majestic Tiger Lily creeping ever closer. A beat to Mark 2 saw Tiger Lily move to within four minutes of young Morrison.

As Morrison rounded the mark and moved onto a close reach, his Laser Radial found a fresh wind channel and took off, powering past the Town Rock and over the finish line in splendid style, leaving Tiger Lily second, with Bolton’s Backdraft in third. 

Thankfully, more competitors turned out for the three races in the afternoon, which along with a dinghy class, saw NHC and Squib classes compete for the Critics and Marshall Cups.

Despite a massive wind shift, which made a mockery of the race team’s best effort at a decent course, in the all-comers NHC race, Raymond Killops forged ahead from the rest to lift the Critics Cup, with Tiger Lily and Raymond Beattie second again. 

A welcome addition to the fleet on the day was Andrew Shields’ First Magic, helmed admirably by veteran Lightning sailor Willie Lindsay – coming temporarily out of retirement as a critic, to shake up the best of the rest.

Lindsay and First Magic took a very creditable third place, over five minutes ahead of the rest of the fleet – so look out NHC, the Lightning men are making a comeback.

A greatly reduced Squib fleet saw just Firecracker, Volante and Billy Ruff’in battle it out for the Marshall Cup and tight racing was the order of the day as the fleet contested the course with little to spare between them in the early stages of the race.

As they rounded Mark 2 and headed for home, the team of Steven Bridges and Matthew Bolton in Firecracker pulled away from the rest, leaving Dermot Quinn and Rachel Bennett in Billy Ruff’in in second, with Volante, under Simon Watson and Brian Kelly, in third.       

As the battle unfolded on the larger course, the dinghy class stayed closer to home in the steady breeze.  High on his earlier victory, Adam Morrison set off in style ahead of the rest and much like during the morning’s pursuit race, led the fleet round the course for the entire race, making it two for two on the day.

Despite a second place over the finish line, Torran Stock, also in a Laser Radial, took third place overall, while a valiant effort saw Sara Kelly in her Topper, claim second place on corrected time.

Sailing at Killyleagh Yacht Club has always attracted spectators over the years and there have been many generations of ‘critics’ watching from the shore and afloat.

Taking it even further this year, the self-styled Knot for Sail critics, Jim and Willie Lindsay, Frank Gibson and Rob and Brian Lowry very kindly sponsored this year’s closing day events.  With decades of sailing experience at the club, their continued support is very welcome and all at Killyleagh YC would like to offer them a massive thank you for providing a great day on Saturday!

Although closing day sees the end of weekly racing at Killyleagh Yacht Club, the club will again be running their DieHard Dinghy Series, with two races every Saturday from September 30 to October 28.