Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club has completed its keelboat fixture sponsored by Brewin Dolphin consisting of three fleets; RS Elites, SB3s and Squibs, racing six races over two days. The RS Elites was the joint largest fleet this year made up mostly of local boats and two visiting Elites from Ocean Youth Trust. The Squibs were next in numbers, followed by The SB3s.
RS Elite Class Winners Simon Brien, Jack Brien and Ryan Seaton
Simon Brien on "Kin" was to rule the Elite class, and he found he was going to have to fight for it. On Day one, his brother Mark on "Full Marks" was covering him tack for tack and very little separated them on all three races. John McDowell' "Sea Breezes" [From Carrick] was also on the pace and finished the day one point behind "Kin". Bob Espey and Matt McGovern [Ballyholme] on an Ocean Youth Trust Boat was also consistently at the top of the fleet.
SB3 Class Winners Gareth Flannigan Ross Nolan and James Espey
The SB3 fleet also had it tight, day one saw a battle between Gareth Flannigan on "Splash Gordon" with James Espey and Ross Nolan on board match race with Peter Kennedy on "Ridge Fence" both boats finishing the day on equal points, followed closely by Trevor Darcy and Andrew Vaughan on "Bullet" on 8 points. On the Squibs, Greg Bell was out to flex his mussels on his new Squib "Prodigal" against him was Sam Lyness on "Worm" and Peter Wallace on "Toy for the Boy". The first race went to "Worm" with "Toy for the Boy second and "Prodigal" third, however a later protest was to knock "Worm" of her top spot and allowed everyone else to slide up one place. Race two also went to "Worm" followed by "Prodigal" and "High Flyer" in third. The third race again saw a change in the top spot this time "Toy for the Boy" taking pole. By the days end yet another fleet had two boats tied on points for the top spot, "Prodigal" and "Toy". Sundays racing was postponed for an hour to allow for the wind to fill in, and this was welcomed by many of the competitors due to lots of revelry the night before.
A fresh southerly breeze filled in and allowed Principle Race Officer Neale McCullough to get racing under way. Royal North's Commodore Mike Vaughan took race four in the Elite Fleet with "Kin" second and "Full Marks" third.
The fifth race "Kin" was back to her number one slot with the Vaughan's second and Andrew Allen's "No Match" third. The last race in the Elite fleet had to be seen to be believed as each boat tacked up the beat, each boat having to dip a boat that had dipped them on the previous tack and vice versa, by the top mark an d spreader mark they were bumper to bumper only a few inches separating them they looked like a train!
Eventually Simon Brien's "Kin" took the line honours and the series followed by Mike Vaughan's 64 and John McDowell's "Sea Breezes" in third overall.
In the SB3 fleet the second days racing saw no let up in fierce competition between Gareth Flannigan and Peter Kennedy in the end the series went to Flannigan's "Splash Gordon" with Kennedys "Ridge Fence" one point behind and Trevor Darcy's "Bullet third over all.
Squib Winners Greg Bell and Leah Anderson
Race Four for the Squibs gave Greg Bell his first win of the series with Des Clayton on "Inishmara" second and "Worm" third. All change again for race five this time the Anderson brothers "Born Wild" took the bullet followed by the worm and Gordon Patterson's "Quickstep" third. All was to play for in the last race as the series top three places was wide open.
In the end Sam Lyness won the race and secured him a second place overall. "Quickstep" took second giving them a fourth overall. Johnny Parks "Gizmo" finished third in that race quite satisfactory for the Squib newcomer. But the Series top spot went to Greg Bells "Prodigal" on twelve points one point ahead of "Worm" and "Toy for the Boy" third overall on 16 points.
The Commodore of Royal North Mike Vaughan thanked the sponsors Brewin Dolphin and all those who had been involved in the event, he commented on the extremely close racing in all fleets but especially in his own fleet the
Elites which were extraordinary!
