Portaferry pair set early pace

Portaferry pair set early pace

26 September 2012

ONCE again the Strangford Lough Flying Fifteen fleet are taking to the water in a quest to be the Master of the Lough.

The coveted title is currently held by Killyleagh Yacht Club’s Andrew McCleery and his crew Colin Dougan, but as KYC played host to the first three races in the series on Saturday, an early challenger emerged.

The Baraka Cup, the first championship in the nine race Masters Series, got off to a slow start on Saturday morning as light, variable winds proved a nightmare for race officer David Young.

A 180 degree wind shift during the first race saw boats beating on the supposedly downwind leg, but, as the breeze filled in, last year’s winners, McCleery and Dougan, in Too Fast and Furious, found themselves on the right side of the course and they romped home to claim the first win in a repeat of their last year’s performance.

Last Orders, under Shane McCarthy and Jeremy Rogers, set a pattern for the rest of the day by claiming a convincing second place, while Philip and Anna Sandford romped home with No Excuse in third.

After a quick course change to keep up with the shifting wind, race two saw McCarthy and Rodgers lead the fleet to the windward mark and despite some tactical gybing downward they maintained this lead throughout the first leg.

Stronger winds gave a port side advantage to the course, masterfully spotted by Gerry Reilly and Patrick McMeekin in Over the Moon, who moved up through the fleet into first place, leaving McCarthy and Rodgers with another second, while Malcolm Crichton and William Findlay sketched through the rest to bring Art Gekko home with a third.

With only four points, McCarthy and Rodgers started race three in pole position, but it was race one winners McCleary and Dougan who led the way in their home waters and the race soon developed into a battle between the top three boats on the day.

On the final downwind leg, Last Orders challenged Too Fast and Furious to a gybing duel and although McCleary and Dougan retained their lead claiming one more first place, it was too little too late as yet another second for the consistent Portaferry duo of McCarthy and Rodgers allowed them to win the day.

With three races counted and no discards, the Baraka Cup was awarded to Shane McCarthy and Jeremy Rodgers in Last Orders, comfortably ahead of Andrew McCleery and Colin Dougan in Too Fast and Furious in second, with Gerry Reilly in Over the Moon a close third. In the Silver Fleet, Jim Rodgers clocked up a win, with David Branniff and Johnny Patterson, in Olimsea, in second.

With six races to go, the Masters Trophy is still up for grabs and the discards will soon be starting to kick in and take effect. With an early lead, and just six points to date, McCarthy and Rodgers are the ones to catch, but last year’s Masters, McCleery and Dougan, are hot on their tails with 10 points overall and the possibility to discard eight of these very soon.

Just two points behind on 12 points are Gerry Reilly and Patrick McMeekin in Over the Moon and as they also have eight points to they could prove to be the one to watch racing in their home waters in the next two weeks.  The field however is still wide open and with only nine points separating the top six boats, the title Master of the Lough has yet to be claimed.