What a difference a day makes! John Stanley-Whyte's J109 Blue Jay from Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club, Scotland, outshone the overnight leader, John Minnis's Archambault 35 Final Call II, to win the first-ever Northern Ireland championships in the Irish Sea Nations Cup. Two first places in day 2 gave Blue Jay the one-point difference over Final Call II.
The Irish Sea Nations' Cup comprises four regattas, with points awarded to the best-scoring boat from each country and bonus points to the country with the best visitor-to-boat ratio.
John Stanley-Whyte and the crew of the J109 Blue Jay at the NI IRC prizegiving at Royal Ilster Yacht Club Photo: Fiona Hicks
The event drew 22 entries in three classes to the Royal Ulster YC-hosted event in Bangor on Belfast Lough last weekend in mostly fair conditions with offshore wind on the first day and a manageable northerly yesterday (Sunday).
Snoopy Martin Mahon's Quarter Tonner from Courtown in Wexford Photo: Joshua Conway
In the seven-boat IRC 2 fleet, the Quarter Tonner visitor, Snoopy, from Courtown in Wexford, dominated the fleet with four wins out of five, giving a very comfortable lead of nine points over the second-placed Davy Quinn's local Impala 28 Bonanza.
The Coastal division sailed one race on each day. Day 1 was a Round the Copeland Islands Race with tricky tides and day 2 was essentially a Round Belfast Lough race. Victoria and Martin Dews Sigma 33 Elandra had a win in the first, and Michael Eames Sunfast 3600 Blacksmith won Day 2, but the consistent local Beneteau 40.7 of Shaun Douglas, Game Changer, with two second places, topped the fleet in the end.
