Sunshine and light winds greeted the competitors at the Northern Championship in Carrickfergus on Saturday. After an over eager start by most competitors in the first start the race got under way following a Black flag. Local Boat Bullet (T darcy) rounded the first mark in a good position. Sharkbait (B Duncan) was not too far behind and found good pressure on the left hand side of the run to open up a commanding lead by the second windward mark. Sharkbait finished first followed by Modus Operandi (R Collins) in second.The second race saw local boat Bullet take the gun from Sharkbait in second and Splash Gordon (GPatterson) in third. The third race got under way but soon had to be abandoned due to a large windshift. With the match looming and no sign of wind competitors raced for the clubhouse to get seats for the match.
Sunday started on a very different note. Those out early for practice were greeted with a 30 knot squall which caused some damage in the fleet. Shortly afterwards those still ashore sailed out in 10 knots of Breeze and sunshine following the squall.
The first race got under way in 15 knots of breeze which was soon followed by another squall which made the first beat a bit of a challenge. However Shark bait again showed great pace and boat handling and followed with another race win this time followed by Bullet and Spash Gordon
Race four saw McCreedy Sailboats (G Flannigan) win from Redmond Fisher (P Kennedy) with Bullet showing good consistency to take third.
In Race five Modus Operandi took the gun closely followed by Sharkbait who were now in control of the event.
In Race six McCreedy sailboats lead from start to finish taking another race win and with this narrowly secured second place overall on countback from Modus Operandi in third place.
However there was no doubt about the winner with Sharkbait Ben Duncan, Ric Morris, and Brian Moran from Howth Yacht sailing a great event, discarding the last race and winning the event with five points to spare. Full results here.
