The first event of the 150th Anniversary celebrations for Royal Ulster Yacht Club at Bangor on Belfast Lough will take place from Friday 17th to Sunday 19th June. The Sigma 33 UK & Irish National Championships has attracted twenty boats from throughout the UK and Ireland. From Lough Swilly to Waterford, and from the Clyde to Falmouth taking in Liverpool and the Isle of Man on the way. The visitors will join the local boats for three days of racing on the open waters of Belfast Lough.
The Howth 17s – the first five of which were built on Belfast Lough in 1898 – will be travelling north to join the RUYC Classics Regatta from June 24th to 26th
Randox Health are also the title sponsor of our 150th Keelboat event with racing between Friday 24th and Sunday 25th June. This event has attracted not only local modern yachts but also some of the classics of the sport such as the Howth 17 Class from Howth, Dickie Gomes’ 103 year old yawl ‘Ain Mara’ which also took part in the RUYC Centenary Regatta back in 1966 , the G L Watson-designed Peggy Bawn, owned by Hal Sisk of Dun Laoghaire and built by John Hilditch of Carrickfergus in 1894, Ian Terreblanch’s ‘Trasnagh’ a 1913 Mylne-designed Island Class yawl also built by Hilditch, and the 1958 America’s Cup Challenger, the 12 Metre Sceptre.
Dickie Gomes’ 103-year old Ainmara will be taking part. She also raced in the RUYC Centenary regatta of 1966
Ian Terreblanch’s 39ft gaff yawl Transnagh will be travelling north from Dartmouth in Devon to join the RUYC festivities. Originally she was built by John Hilditch of Carrickfergus in 1913 to be one of the Belfast Lough Island Class yawls
Hal Sisk’s G L Watson-designed Peggy Bawn – built by John Hilditch in 1894 – was a member of the RUYC fleet from 1898 to 1919
It is hoped to also have the Classic Mylne-designed River and Glen Classes from Strangford Lough Yacht Club also competing, as both these boats started their racing careers at Royal Ulster YC, together with other classics and Old Gaffers which are taking part in the Hilditch Regatta across the lough at Carrickfergus, but are shaping their course for Bangor on the Saturday (June 25th) when a highlight of the three day RUYC Regatta will be a Parade of Sail past the historic clubhouse from where Sir Thomas Lipton made his five Americas Cup challenges – all with racing yachts named Shamrock - between 1899 and 1930. The Sail Past will commence at 12.00 and will be followed by the Club’s Annual Regatta supported by Templeton Robinson.
The fortnight of celebrations – with Randox Health on board as title sponsor of the event – concludes on Friday 1st July with a Gala Dinner, following which a large gathering of cruising yachts which will have assembled in Bangor will be making their final preparations to depart on a 150th Anniversary Cruise-in-Company to the West Coast of Scotland jointly involving boats of the Clyde Cruising Club, the Irish Cruising Club, and the Royal Ulster Yacht Club.
The Royal Ulster YC clubhouse at Bangor
