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Displaying items by tag: Fairy class

The Fairy class from the Royal North of Ireland fleet at Cultra on Belfast Lough and the River class-based at Strangford Lough YC have raced since 1960 for a special trophy called the Friver Cup.

The Rivers, designed by Alfred Mylne, celebrated their Centenary last year and the Fairy Class was designed by Linton Hope in 1902 for the then-new Royal North of Ireland YC at Cultra on Belfast Lough.

The River Class hosted this year's event, and the boats used were Quoile, Faughan, Roe, Glynn, Strule and Lackagh. Representing the Rivers were Class Captain John McVea, James Nixon and Jack Irwin, and the Fairy class helms were Class Captain David Carlisle along with Jamie Hume and Leah McLeave.

Last Sunday (22nd), the River Class claimed back the Cup from the Fairy Class, sailing two races on windward-leeward courses. The first race saw the Fairy Class ahead on 10 points, to 11 points for the Rivers, and in the second race, the Rivers performed better with eight points to 13 for the Fairy Class. The River Class achieved a 1st, 2nd and a 5th.

Friver Cup (from left) John McVea (River class captain and David Carlisle Fairy class captainFriver Cup (from left) John McVea (River class captain and David Carlisle Fairy class captain

SLYC Commodore Henry Anstey was Race Officer.

Published in Belfast Lough

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago