Honouring a tradition of Belfast Lough sailing which can be traced back to its foundation in 1866 and beyond, the Royal Ulster YC at Bangor on Belfast Lough began its four week “Sesquicentennial Sailing Celebrations” over the weekend with the British & Irish Sigma 33 Championships.

Three days of good racing on the open waters of Belfast Lough were enjoyed by nineteen Sigma 33s, which continue to have significant strongholds in the Firth of Clyde, as well as enthusiastic local small groups at many other ports. Ten races were scheduled, and despite varying winds and weather over the event, all ten were fully completed by a fleet drawn from Cornwall, Liverpool, Dunmore East, the Isle of Man, Glenarm, Strangford Lough and points round the Clyde, together with Belfast Lough-based crews, for the Class’s biggest event of the year.

The racing was close such that seven races on Friday and Saturday produced six winners. Bangor based boat ‘Squawk’ (Emma and Paul Prentice) got the local fleet off to a good start with a win in Race 1. Eric Robertson and Alan Harper from Cove Sailing Club in Loch Long in Argyll won Race 2 in ‘Leaky Roof II’, and Mark Bradshaw and Jack Gallagher in ‘Busy Beaver’, also from Cove SC, took Race 3. In contention after two days was James Miller’s Mayrise from Helensburgh, the winner at the recent Silvers Scottish Series at Tarbert. Race winners on Saturday were ‘Busy Beaver’, Stephen Martin’s ‘Signet of Kip’ from Strangford Lough YC, Allan Lennox and Grant Simpson’s Miss Behavin from Helensburgh SC, and Griogair Whyte’s Close Encounters from Royal Northern and Clyde YC.

Signet of Kip (SLYC) was winner of the Irish Sigma 33 Championship – this is Stephen Martin and his crew from Strangford Lough YC

Sunday saw three races sailed in the only damp weather of the series, and the Bradshaw/Gallagher team on Busy Beaver continued in good form, taking honours in Races 8 & 9. It was left to the Class Chairman, Paul Prentice, and his crew in Squawk to finish the event the way they had started, with the win in Race 10.

SIGMA 33 UK CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER: Busy Beaver (Mark Bradshaw & Jack Gallagher), Cove Sailing Club, Loch Long
Runner Up: Mayrise (James Miller) Helensburgh Sailing Club.
IRISH SIGMA 33 CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER: Signet of Kip – Stephen Martin (Strangford Lough Yacht Club)
Runner Up: Squawk (Emma and Paul Prentice) Royal Ulster Yacht Club/Ballyholme Yacht Club.
The RUYC 150th Anniversary Programme continues this weekend with a thee day Classics Regatta from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th June, in the midst of which on Saturday 24th June is the Sesquicentennial Regatta which will feature a Sailpast by classics and traditional boats, including varied craft from several Irish Sea and Clyde branches of the Old Gaffers Association.

The successful Sigma 33 White Mischief, based in Dun Laoghaire, has gone on sale through yacht broker Leinster Boats.

Built by Marine Projects, the Sigma 33 has proved to be a popular club and regatta one design well capable of making distant passages to regattas and events. This Sigma 33 is one of the last to be built and has been wintered ashore annually and is, according to the broker, 'the best example'.

The Sigma has proven to be a safe family cruiser with the option of class racing in Irish and UK waters. White Micshief's owner and Afloat's Sailor of the Month for November 2015 has moved on to a new sailing project.

Check out the full advert for the yacht here

Multiple champion Tim Goodbody's retirement from the Sigma 33 class was saluted at a packed Royal Irish Yacht Club on Friday night when class captain Paddy Maguire honoured the stalwart with an 'Excellence Award' setting out his achievements over 16 years in the one design keelboat class.

In 1999, Goodbody bought his Sigma 33 White Mischief. He was joined by two of his crew that had sailed with him previously, namely Paul McCarthy and Brendan Farrell and was joined by Patrick Cafferky, Paddy Boyd, David Crawford and Richard Cotton to form the basis of the new crew.

From 1999 to the current season they won the UK National Championships, the Irish Championships and all of the club prizes in Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC). They also achieved podium finishes in many other events. Of all races that Tim and the White Mischief crew competed in, Maguire estimated they won '75% of all races sailed; an extraordinary achievement'.

'This performance record clearly demonstrates an exception level of ability and sailing skills that are so rarely if ever achieved in a One Design Class. More importantly it was achieved on a consistent basis throughout', Maguire told the class.

It is the second honour for Goodbody in as many weeks. Last weekend DBSC honoured the Dun Laoghaire sailor at its prizegiving when it uniquely captured Goodbody, his son and grandchildren all as annual prizewinners in Ireland's biggest sailing league.

86 members were in attendance for the prizegiving including no less than five Commodores and the Chairman of Sigma 33 Class Paul Prentice.

The prizes were awarded to :

White Mischief : Tim Goodbody : Sigma Model : Best of Sigma qualities
Leeuwin: Henry Leonard & Bobby Kerr : Corinthian Qualities
Rupert: Dick & Philip Lovegrove : September Series Winner

This Sigma 33 can be viewed in Dun Laoghaire where she will be lifted for winter storage. Popje is an "in class" Sigma that will make comfortable passage and provide good racing. More details here

#dlregatta – The Sigma 33 class has announced its Irish National Championships 2015 will be held in conjunction with Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta from 9th to 12th July 2015. The regatta is likely to be the biggest Sigma Class event of 2015, accordiong to class captain Paddy Maguire. 'To date there is a very strong entry of seven visiting crews which with the local fleet brings the total entry so far to 16', he told Afloat.ie. This – to date – is the biggest entry of one design cruisers for the 400–boat biennial regatta.

#sigma33 – The Sigma 33 Class on Dublin Bay will race in Cruisers 2 for the first time in 15 years it has been confirmed by Sigma 33 class captain Paddy Maguire.

The Sigma's will receive results in 2015 as one design, IRC and echo which will add a variety to their racing and prove a great challenge for both Sigmas and Cruisers 2 alike.

In November 2014 the Class proposed to DBSC that the Sigma 33 would race in Cruisers 2 for 2015 and this was accepted by DBSC. The reason for the change was to provide a more enjoyable and completive racing by sailing ng against more boats in a bigger fleet. The new Cruisers 2 fleet for 2015 will be one of the biggest keel boat fleets in Dun Laoghaire with approximately 25 Boats.

To compete in 2015 in the Cruisers 2 the Sigma's will have to improve their performance on the water. To this end they have developed a very attractive sailing programme for the season including a Coastal race, Ladies race and a ballet race to name but a few. The new programme of events will be launched this Friday 6th March at the National Yacht Club with a Sailing supper and talk by Prof O'Connell "HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR RESULTS BY 20% in 2015" to a full house.

One of the other big challenges is to increase the number of crew both male and female as part of the process of improving the individual boat performance.

Anyone interested in sailing can obtain the contacts details on the website here 

Donald McClaren sailing Sigmatic won the UK Sigma 33 British Championships on the home waters of the Northern Clyde at the weekend (June 21-23) with Dublin Bay's Tim Goodbody fourth overall in the 18–boat fleet at Helensburgh, Scotland.

Ten races were sailed according to the latest (and poorly presented) results on the Helensburgh Sailing Club website here

Three local Bangor boats, joined 15 others from all over the United Kingdom and Ireland for the Sigma 33 OOD Class Championships in Helensburgh, Scotland from 21-23 June. The boats and crews were treated to incredibly tight racing in the full range of Scottish summer weather; flat calms and scorching sun to driving rain and screaming winds! All spliced together with a warm and sociable welcome from Helensburgh Sailing Club and the Sigma fleet. The members of both former and latter enjoying much discussion of the new trial sails, with both results and conjecture indicating it's the crews not the sails that make the difference.

Despite the changeable weather, all ten races were completed and following the successes of the Royal Ulster/ Ballyholme fleet at the Irish Championships all three crews put in strong performances. Sula (D&E Taylor and crew), showed fantastic speed through out the event but suffered at the hands of some unfortunate start line incidents. Despite this they fought back to record multiple top 5 results and win the Silver fleet. Cariad (G Bell and crew), showed why they are never far off the pace at any event and at times were resurgent right at the front of the fleet fighting it out for line honours finishing a credible 7th overall. They were beaten only by local boats savvy to the complex tides of the race area, ten times Irish Champions White Mischief (T Goodbody and crew) from Dublin and newly crowned Irish Champions for 2013, Squawk (P&E Prentice and crew.) Squawk had a consistent regatta collecting multiple top 3 results, including two race wins. Leading by one point going into the last race fell at the final hurdle to finish 3rd Overall, drawn down the fleet by a single result in double figures.

The reigning Class Champion Sigmatic (D Mclaren and crew) won the event with as much flare and passion as they put into organising it. Whilst another boat local to Helensburgh, Close Encounters (G Whyte and crew) sailed a phenomenally consistent event to finish second just two point adrift.

1st Sigmatic (D McClaren and crew), 2nd Close Encounters (G Whyte and crew), 3rd Squawk (P Prentice and crew), 4th White Mischief (T Goodbody and crew), 5th Leaky Roof II (A Harper and crew). The class looks forward to joining South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club, Abersoch in June 2014 for the next class championship.

A fortnight ago, Dublin Bay's only entrant in the Royal Ulster YC hosted Irish Sigma 33 Championships in Bangor from 7th–9th June 2013 was past champion, Goodbody.

The White Mischief crew from the Royal Irish YC crew were fourth from a disappointing turnout of eight boats for the ten race series.

The Irish championships was won by Royal Ulster's Squawk sailed by Paul Prentice and followed by Elaine and David Taylor's Sula. Third was Signet of Kip (P Martin) from Strangford.

Full results here

#sigma33 – Not even a judge from the 'Dragon's Den' TV show could stop a Scottish crew from claiming the class Sigma 33 title on Dublin Bay at the weekend. SCROLL DOWN FOR FULL RESULTS SHEETS AND PHOTOS BELOW.

Sailed in a range of both heavy and light conditions defending champion (and the championship host) Tim Goodbody of the Royal Irish Yacht Club lost his title but finished top Dublin Bay boat in third place as Clyde visitor Donald McLaren's Sigma 33 'Sigmatic' emerged as the clear winner.

Fifty knot gusts cancelled Friday's opening two races but Race officer Brian Mathews completed the schedule by setting four races still in blustery conditions on Saturday. A further three races were held yesterday.

Regular Sigma 33 sailor Bobby Kerr, a judge on the TV Business show Dragon's Den, was one of 24 boats competing in what was the biggest Sigma 33 event for a decade.

'Leaky Roof', Alan Harper also from the Clyde was second.

The overall winner Sigmatic

Goodbody's White Mischief also won the Irish Sigma Championships with Sula from Bangor in second place.

Sunday dawned a lovely clear day with steady westerly winds of 15 knots gusting 20 making a difficult choice as the whether a No 1 or No 2 was the correct headsail choice with the fleet evenly divided.

TV's Dragon's Den and Sigma sailor Bobby Kerr in action at the Sigma 33 Nationals on Dublin Bay. Photo: Afloat.ie

Race Officer Jack Roy set perfect starting lines of the correct length with a first windward leg of 1.3 miles and so the faster yachts had time to benefit from any speed advantage and they came to the front consistently. Most results came down to establishing an overlap at the last leeward mark with the top 5 or 6 boats crossing the finishing line closely packed followed by the rest of the fleet competing for their places.

The "Silver" fleet was won by Dick Lovegrove's Rupert with Dermot Clarke and Paddy Maguire's Gwilli Two in second place.

This was a competitive weekend's racing in Dublin Bay and the willingness of competitors to take penalty turns demonstrated a knowledge of the rules and desire to abide by them. This all added to achieving a competitive and friendly regatta which was enjoyed by all.

A gallery of photos from Saturday afternoon's Sigma action is below

#sigma33 – The Sigma 33 class has attracted the highest entry for over a decade for it's national championships on Dublin Bay at the weekend with competitors arriving from across the Irish sea from Scotland, Belfast Lough, Strangford Lough, Liverpool, Abersoch, Plymouth, Kinsale as well as a strong local DBSC contingent.

(Post regatta results, report and photos here)

The Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) is hosting the 20-boat event from Friday through to Sunday.

This strong entry underlines the popularity of this seaworthy One Design offshore racing yacht which enjoys strong one design racing in so many centres as well as being very competitive under IRC.

The Championship offers competitors a choice of windward leeward, Olympic type and "round the cans" courses in Dublin Bay under the expert guidance of Principal Race Officer Jack Roy who will be setting courses at the Olympic Games in Weymouth next month.

The defending Class and Irish Champion is Tim Goodbody's White Mischief and they can expect strong competition from previous Champions such as Sigmatic from the Clyde as well as from many other visiting and local yachts including the Bay's own Gwilli Two skippered by Paddy Maguire.

Up to 40 yachts form the backbone of the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association fleet (ISORA).  Although the 2011 entry list (below) shows a large number of Beneteau models it also reveals a wide range of other marques, largely between 30 and 50 foot. Prominent types are J109s, Sigma 33s and a number of Jeanneau yachts too.

ISORA 2011 Racing Fleet