Inclement weather played havoc with the six-race Royal Ulster Yacht Club Spring Series on Belfast Lough, with Sunday, 7th April, cancelled. However, four races eventually gave overall results.
The last outing on 21st April started with little wind, and the fleet left the marina hoping for the forecast light breeze to kick in for the final races.
After an hour’s postponement, it did just that and Race Officer Colin Loughead ran two races successfully. In the IRC Unrestricted fleet, John Minnis’s Archambault A35 Final Call II dominated with two first places.
The Harrington/O’Tiarnaigh/Mulholland team on the IMX 38 eXcession had a second as did Adrian Allen in the other A35, Succession, newly arrived in Belfast Lough. Nigel Hamilton and David Milne’s Endeavour (Beneteau 31.7) had a third in the first race with another Beneteau 31.7 Caesium (Aidan Pounder) taking third place in the second. Final Call II took first place overall in IRC Unrestricted with Caesium second and Michael Eames
All or Nothing (Sunfast 3200) is in third. This fleet is dual-scored using IRC and the newer YTC rating, and eXcession took overall honours under this system, with Caesium second and Endeavour third. Ruan O’Tiarnaigh said about eXcession’s retirement, “We used our big genoa yesterday in the light stuff, which is fine in YTC but not under IRC, so we retired.”
In the Whitesail Class, the Bell/Bell/Lawther team on the Beneteau Oceanis 37 Merryjack took first place overall with two seconds and one first place with Andrew Kennedy’s Dufour 34 Jacada second overall, counting two first places and a Did Not Start.
