Surprises galore order of the day at Narrows Series

Surprises galore order of the day at Narrows Series

12 July 2017

A FOUR-DAY festival of sailing took place at the weekend as Portaferry and Strangford Sailing Clubs hosted their annual Narrows Regatta Series. 

Starting on Friday night, 58 yachts of all shapes and sizes lined up to compete in the Bar Buoy race, racing down the Narrows to the Irish Sea and back. 

With the tide and light winds causing large splits in the fleet, the most competitive class on the night was the NHC1 class where Curran and Hamilton’s Gaelforce took first place, beating Peter Bloch’s Flint 2 by just one second. 

Roger Chamberlain took line honours in The Final Resort in the Flying Fifteen class while Stephen Lynn in Mipaal threw down the gauntlet for the rest of the weekend as he stormed home in IRC2.

With the Volvo regatta in Dun Laoghaire claiming some of the usual competitors, a number of classes were left wide open to a range of challengers as the regattas proper started on Saturday at Strangford.

In total, over 90 competitors lined up to take part as glorious sunshine and a steady breeze saw Darren Martin’s Shark Bait hold off Ernie Kelly’s What’s the Rush II by just 13 seconds on day one. 

After a sterling start,  second and fifth places on the next two days put the tiny flyer on the top of the pile, ahead of the rest of the much larger IRC yachts.     

Three bullets made Stephen Lynn’s Mipaal unbeatable in IRC2, while the NHC1 class went to fellow East Down YC member Grant McCullough in Stardust.

Light and variable winds may have made race officer John McAlea’s life difficult on Sunday and Monday, but they helped Ryan Kelly’s Wandering Angus lift two first places in the NHC2 class while Stuart Cranston in Evenflow copied this performance with two firsts in the NHCRS1 class. 

KYC commodore Kyle Bolton and his crew in Backdraft may have struggled on Sunday, but three consistent second places put them top overall, lifting the series prize.

Thirteen Flying Fifteens turned up on the start line to show the lough that they are still the strongest and most popular one design fleet around and a consistent performance from Brian McKee in Stiffler’s Mom put him at the top of the pile. The Flying Fifteen Cup however, for the winner of Portaferry Town Regatta, went to the father-and-son combination of Marcus and Jack Crichton.

The prolific Kenny and Sonia Smith again lifted the River trophy while two firsts for Ian Gleadhill’s Glen Shiel were too much for the others in the Glen fleet to beat.

The only Squib to take part, however, had little competition and Jim Rodgers’ Mikado coasted home to an easy victory as a result.   

While the adults battled the conditions in the lough, the up and coming sailors of the future took part in a series of nine races over the three days in Castleward Bay.

Fifteen Topper sailors competed for the overall prize and after day two,Strangford Sailing Club’s Conor McVeigh and Sara Kelly from Killyleagh Yacht Club were joint on 11 points each. 

With all to play for, the light and variable conditions on Conor’s home turf 

gave him the advantage and three firsts on day three put the trophy firmly in his hands. 

Four firsts out of nine for Jordan Conway were also unbeatable in the Laser 4.7 class. Paul McMeekin made it three for three for SSC as he claimed first in the Laser Radial class overall, while Charlotte Ashe, from Quoile Yacht Club gave a stellar display to win the Topper 4.2 category.

Overall results

IRC1: 1st Shark Bait, Darren Martin; 2nd What’s the Rush II, Ernie Kelly; 3rd Go to Red, Peter Holden.

IRC2: 1st Mipaal, Stephen Lynn; 2nd Signet of Kip, Stephen Martin; 3rd Alcyone, Peter Thompson.

NHC1: 1st Stardust, McCullough/Maxwell; 2nd Rock n Goose, McLarnon/Wilkinson; 3rd Flint 2, Peter Bloch.

NHC2: 1st Wandering Angus, Ryan Kelly; 2nd Triad, Robert Darnley; 3rd Escape, Dessie Swail.

NHCRS1: 1st Evenflow, Stuart Cranston; 2nd Diana, Shane Cooke; 3rd Salena, Robert Clegg.

NHCRS2: 1st Backdraft, Kyle and Sharon Bolton; 2nd Sea Borne, Robert Dow; 3rd Kestrel, Keith Carr.

Flying Fifteen: 1st Stiffler’s Mom, Brian McKee; 2nd The Final Resort, Roger Chamberlain; 3rd Final Fling, McCarthy/Rodgers.

River: 1st Laragh, Kenny and Sonia Smyth; 2nd Quoile, John McVeigh; 3rd Strule, Edwards, Hinds, McKnight.

Glen: 1st Glen Shiel, Ian Gleadhill; 2nd Glen Lark, Richard Aiken; 3rd Glen Iris, Henry Anstey.

Squib: 1st Mikado, Jim Rodgers.

Topper: 1st Conor McVeigh, 2nd Sara Kelly, 3rd Nikita Kirk.

Topper 4.2: 1st Charlotte Ashe.

Laser 4.7: 1st Jordan Conway, 2nd Aimie Cushley, 3rd Anna Rose Kelly.

Laser Radial: 1st Paul McMeekin, 2nd Fouad Ghareeb, 3rd Peter Ramsey.

Dinghy Handicap: 1st Richard Ramsay, 2nd Team McMeekin, 3rd Torran Stock/Christopher Cannon.

Optimist: 1st Eva Beau Lawson, 2nd Richard, 3rd Violet McLaughlin.

Bar Buoy results

IRC1: 1st Le Bascular, Mike Spence; 2nd Shark Bait, Darren Martin; 3rd What’s the Rush II, Ernie Kelly.

IRC2: 1st Mipaal, Stephen Lynn; 2nd Signet of Kip, Stephen Martin.

NHC1: 1st Gaelforce, Curran/Hamilton; 2nd Flint 2, Peter Bloch; 3rd Scampede, John McAlea.

NHC2: 1st Monkey Business, Niall Bradshaw; 2nd Wandering Angus, Ryan Kelly.

NHCRS1: 1st Self Expression, Findlay/Ramsey; 2nd Diana, Shane Cooke;3rd Evenflow, Stuart Cranston.

NHCRS2: 1st Backdraft, Kyle and Sharon Bolton; 2nd Kestrel, Keith Carr.

Flying Fifteen: 1st The Final Resort, Roger Chamberlain; 2nd fFast Antic, McCleary/Dougan; 3rd fFrig-it, Peter Lawson.

River: 1st Laragh, Kenny and Sonia Smyth; 2nd Quoile, John McVeigh; 3rd Strule, Edwards, Hinds, McKnight.

Glen: 1st Glen Shiel, Ian Gleadhill; 2nd Glen Iris, Henry Anstey; 3rd Glen Moyle, Corin Mackenzie.

Squib: 1st Mikado, Jim Rodgers.

Dinghy Handicap: 1st (Laser) Richard Ramsey.