Quoile Yacht Club in the southwestern corner of Strangford Lough held its annual two-day cruiser-racer event over the weekend of 20th and 21st August with 20 entries in three classes.
Sponsored by Ross Boyd Chartered Accountants and Mackey Opticians, the popular event ran two races on the Saturday and one on the Sunday.
Quoile YC pontoons
Strong South Westerlies gusting up to 30 knots got the event off to an exciting start but just after Race 1 got underway the wind had settled into a slightly more manageable 15-22 knots. Generally, the Saturday conditions tested the competitors who relished the challenge.
Sunday required very different sailing tactics as the breeze had dwindled away and racing began in a fickle four knot West/Southwest breeze which held all morning, allowing competitors to finish comfortably.
Peter Holden’s J109, Going to Red
In IRC, Peter Holden’s J109, Going to Red from Strangford Lough YC won all three races. Runner-up was Mike Spence’s A35, Le Basculer from Killyleagh and in third was the only visitor from outside the Lough, the O’Tiarnaigh/Mulholland/Harrington trio from Royal Ulster, Ballyholme and Sutton DC in the IMX 38 Excession.
The NHC class was topped by Michael Petticrew’s stunning Nicolson 43 Magdaleyne from East Down YC followed by the Maxi 999 Cascade (Harte & Orr from SLYC ), and Sea Jade, Maeve and Ian Bogie’s Seaquest (SLYC).
Two first places in the NHCRS division gave Stevie Andrews’ Hanse 371 Dark and Scary overall first with runner up Kyle Bolton’s Moody 31 Kilcuan (Killyleagh YC) and in third Green Ginger, Maria McGrogan’s Sigma 33 from SLYC.
Molly Harwood's Leisure 17 Tara
Echoing the encouragement given to young people racing in the Feva class at the RS event at Ballyholme the same weekend, it was good to witness the efforts of Molly Harwood’s young crew in the Leisure 17 Tara from Strangford Lough YC. Chloe Flemming (14), Aine Harwood (14) and Nikita Kirk (19) braved not only the lively winds on the Saturday, but also persevered with the much lighter winds on Sunday, finishing in first place in NHCRS in the final race.
