Scorching day at at Killyleagh Regatta

Scorching day at at Killyleagh Regatta

24 July 2013

WALL to wall sunshine and light winds provided for excellent racing at Killyleagh Yacht Club’s annual regatta on Saturday and the club’s round of the Strangford Lough Youth Series 24 hours later.

There was an excellent turnout at the main regatta with 108 boats racing in 16 classes on Saturday, while the young sailors turned out en masse on Sunday with a magnificent 41 boats in 5 classes taking part in the youth event.

With light conditions throughout the day, tactics and luck were key and it was KYC’s own Raymond Killops and the crew of Movistar Bleu who claimed an assured victory in the big boat IRC1 class, ahead of Ernie Kelly’s What’s the Rush II and Darren Martin’s Soda Bread.

In IRC2, the Impalas showed how it should be done with Stephen Lynn’s Mipaal from EDYC in first place, ahead of George Cromie and the crew of Chorus Line, from the home club, in second.

In the PY1 and PY2 classes, competitors from neighbouring EDYC also took the top spots as Frank Petticrew and the crew of Magdaleyne romped home almost four minutes clear of second-placed Rock ‘n’ Goose in PY1, while Colin Earney’s Club Coffee had an even more convincing lead ahead of Denis Kirk’s Load of Mischief in PY2. 

Close, competitive racing was the order of the day for the only two Flying Fifteens, both from PSC, who participated in the regatta and they took advantage of the reduced fleet size to swap boats, allowing Shane McCarthy to claim the victory, albeit in Peter Lawson’s Friggit, while Lawson came a close second in McCarthy’s Final Fling.

In the Squib class, John and Joanne Magowan from QYC held off the best of the rest to come first in the 12-boat fleet and also receiving the Nautilus Cup, while it was a KYC double in second and third with Don and Steven Bridges in Firecracker in second and Robert Marshall and Gary Watson in Slipstream in third.

In the much smaller Glen, River and Sonata fleets, Richard Aiken in Glen Lark, Graham Smyth in River Enler and Chris Burrows in Entertainer Too all claimed the top spots.

The restricted sail fleet also proved very popular with 18 yachts racing in two classes, but it was QYC’s Jeff Baker in Trinity who came out on top in PYRS1, while in PYRS2 Quinto and Graeme Farrington from EDYC romped home almost eight minutes ahead of David Neilly’s Silmarillion, which finished in second place.

In the dinghy handicap the GP14s dominated the day with Bounce Back under J. Orr leading the fleet by a clear five minutes while in the junior classes, Paul McMeekin from SSC claimed victory in the well-attended Topper class and Philip Crichton won the 4.2 class in Top Dollar.  Dinghy Handicap 2 was convincingly claimed by Manus O’Kane who proved untouchable in an RS Tera while the Mirror class was won by Emma Gibson in Snow.

Results

IRC1: 1st Movistar Bleu, R. Killops, 2nd What’s the Rush, E. Kelly, 3rd Soda Bread, D. Martin.

IRC2: 1st Mipaal, S. Lynn, 2nd Chorus Line, G. Cromie, 3rd Flashpoint, J. Murray.

PY1: 1st Magdaleyne, F. Petticrew, 2nd Rock ‘n’ Goose, McLarnon/Wilkinson, 3rd Mad Fish, R. Crosby.

Flying Fifteens: 1st Friggit, S. McCarthy/J. Rodgers, 2nd Final Fling, P. Lawson/J. Bridges.

PY2: 1st Club Coffee, C. Earney, 2nd Load of Mischief, D. Kirk, 3rd Wandering Angus, R. Kelly.

PY Restricted Sail 1: 1st Trinity, J. Baker, 2nd Finola’s Wing, Galloway/Thompson, 3rd First Magic, P. Niblock.

Sonata: 1st Entertainer Too, C. Burrows, 2nd Hi-Note, C. Markwell.

Rivers: 1st Enler, G. & C. Smyth, 2nd Shimna, Andrews and Andrews.

Glens: 1st Glen Lark, R. Aiken, 2nd Glen Shiel, Gleadhill/Nelson, 3rd Glen Cona, Messrs Bloch.

PY Restricted Sail 2: 1st Quinto, G Farrington, 2nd Silmarillion, D Neilly, 3rd Kestrel, J Lowry.

Squibs: 1st Flora, J. & J. Magowan, 2nd Firecracker, D & S Bridges , 3rd Slipstream, Marshall/Watson.

Dinghy Handicap 1130 & under: 1st Bounce Back, J. Orr , 2nd GP14 14130, 3rd Jam, R. Ramsey.

Dinghy Handicap 1131 & over: 1st RS Tera, M. O’Kane, 2nd RS Feva, 3rd Pico no. 13588, D. Patterson & C. Crichton.

Topper: 1st Firebolt, P. McMeekin, 2nd 44947, A. Ferris, 3rd 46714, W. Browne.

Topper 4.2: 1st 37785, P. Crichton, 2nd 8, 3rd 46422, T. Ferris.

Mirror: 1st Snowdrop, E. Gibson, 2nd 65698, Egan Family.