Can The Real Big Class Bangor Please Make Itself Known?

28th October 2026

WM Nixon

Lulworth, Shamrock V, Cambria and White Heather racing off Bangor in 1930

But which Bangor? Four of the big class racing off what we're told is Bangor in North Wales in 1930. Left to right, they're Lulworth, Shamrock V, Cambria and White Heather - at last three have been restored. Photograph courtesy J Class Shamrock V Credit: courtesy J Class Shamrock V

Those of us whose childhoods were shaped by living in Bangor on the south shore of Belfast Lough find it sufficiently bewildering to take on board the fact that what was once a seaside borough town of perfect size has been burdened by its recent re-designation as a city. It's even more bewildering that the new title holds out the temptation of suggesting that the biennial Bangor Regatta could now be called COBRA – aka City Of Bangor Regatta – should anyone so wish.

Seems they don't, and who can blame them? But as regards the spacious sailing water off the borough, we never thought that anyone would confuse our Bangor with Bangor near Belmullet in Mayo, let alone the Bangor on the narrow waters of the Menai Straits in North Wales, and that's without bringing in the river town of Bangor in Maine.

Yet whoever fires out the Facebook posts on behalf of the superbly restored J Class Shamrock V has sent us (and very many others) this photo, with the accompanying note: "From left to right: Lulworth, Shamrock V, Cambria and White Heather V – four extraordinary yachts representing the elegance, ambition and fierce competition of sailing’s golden age". He or she or it (for we may have AI at work here) then goes on to insist it's in 1930 off Bangor, North Wales, because that's the caption the photo carries – wherever this image may currently be stored.

But it's a photo at the mouth of Belfast Lough taken from Luke's Point immediately east of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club battery on the Bangor waterfront, and it's at an angle that cuts out Black Head on the Antrim coast, which would be to the left of the picture.

The extraordinary thing is that most, if not all, of these boats are still sailing, and the greatest wonder of all is the glory of the revived J Class, of which Shamrock V was the first. So we round out this diatribe with a remarkable image of the current J Class racing at Newport, but leave it to the monitoring bot to decide whether it's Newport on Clew Bay in Mayo, or Newport in South Wales.

Magnificent. The restored J Class racing at Newport.

Published in Historic Boats, J Class Yachts, Northern Ireland Waters, Belfast Lough

Published in Historic Boats

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About The Author

WM Nixon

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

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