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To paraphrase the astute football commentator who told his audience that football was a game of two halves, the Flying Fifteen Nationals, hosted this past weekend by Carrickfergus Sailing Club on the shores of Belfast Lough, could be described as a game of three halves – too much wind on the Friday, not enough wind on the Saturday but just about perfect winds on the Sunday – in which case the story of Goldilocks and the three Bears might be a more apt comparison.

However, to give the Principal Race Officer, Bill O’Hara (IRO/IJ/IU), and his very able assistant Sheena Lewis (NRO) their dues, they did try very hard to get the maximum number of races in. Unfortunately, the varied conditions of Days 1 & 2, meant that we fell short of the seven-race programme, but managed to sail enough races to give the fleet a discard.

Some people made their own decisions about the viability of Friday racing and hit the snooze alarm that would have facilitated an early departure from Dun Laoghaire on Friday and were vindicated when they found the whole fleet ashore when they did arrive. Other DL fleet members did make the early departure and yet others went up on Thursday afternoon. Other travellers were already in place, the Westerners, the South coasters, the non-Belfast Lough teams and encouragingly two teams from Carlingford Lough (southern shore).

The PRO indicated that he would make a decision by12 noon on whether we would be racing or not, but the reality was that the fleet already knew that the writing was on the wall. And so it came to pass, without protest or surprise that we didn’t race and the start time for Saturday was brought forward with a plan to sail four races. Some people decided a movie would kill the extra hours off the water but went for a sleep instead! One combination availed of the opportunity to check and recheck mast and rigging set-up while others debated various aspects of Flying Fifteen business, before making their way to their respective accommodations in advance of an evening BBQ brought forward in time due to the absence of racing.

Given Saturday’s projected programme and the forecast, the Friday evening session was neither raucous nor late and by 22:00 most competitors had made their way home.
Saturday saw better wind conditions but much lighter than forecast and with the assistance of CSC volunteers and RIBs, the fleet was launched and took temporary occupation in the adjacent marina in between the early launch (due to tides) and the race start.

The light and variable conditions, as confirmed by the Race Officials proved to be challenging for a large number of competitors and only three boats managed to keep all their results inside the top ten. It was the sort of day where you could sail two-thirds of a beat on one side of the course, convinced you had got it right only to find boats piling in from the opposite side of the course and rounding the weather mark ahead of you. Finding a hole in the wind was also less of a challenge than normal. It led to some “up and down” individual race results.

The three exceptions to this malaise were Niall O’Brien and Dermot Flaherty (4092, Flying Fifteens Chonamara) who put together a 3, 2, 2 portfolio of results to lead the standings overnight. On more than one occasion, we (author + helm) were in close company with 4092 only to see them disappear and finish with low number results. It seems boat speed and a “nous” for the wind were critical to success in these conditions. Lee Statham & Andy Paul (4070, Waterford Harbour Sailing Club) improved with each race of the day to post a 6, 3, 1 to occupy second place overnight. And locals Matthew McClernon & Paul Fekkes (3782, Carrickfergus Sailing Club) produced the performance of the day with a 2,1 9 to finish third overall on the day. Why “performance of the day” when they were third overall? Well to my knowledge they hadn’t sailed a Flying Fifteen event before, they were using Dad Alan McClernon and Trevor D’Arcy’s previous boat (3782), which Alan did admit was a very good boat and finally, Matthews is probably half the age of the majority of the helms at the event.

It wasn’t completely “doom and gloom” for everyone else! Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (4093, National Yacht Club) took the first race of the day and followed it up with a sixth, but a last race seventeenth was an unusual blot on the copy book for them. This combination of scores left them sitting in seventh place. The aforementioned Alan McClernon and Trevor D’Arcy (4061, Carrickfergus Sailing Club) scored two fourth places and a 12th to lie fourth overall on Saturday evening. Class President, Peter Kennedy, and crew Stephen Kane (4134, Strangford Lough Yacht Club & Royal North of Ireland) counted 5, 15, 3 to lie in fifth place. First lady overall on Saturday evening,

Emma Pierce, & crew (3892, Strangford Lough Yacht Club) lay 6th counting 13, 5, 6. The top ten was closed out by Alastair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753, Royal St George Yacht Club) in 8th, Andy McCleery & Colin Dougan (4120, Killyleagh Yacht Club) in 9th and John Lavery & Chris Doorly (4071, National Yacht Club) in 10th.

Double Reward: Keith Poole (left) and Ian Mathews collect the Gerry Dunleavy Trophy for winning the first race and the Jack Roy Trophy as first Dún Laoghaire boat at the Flying Fifteen Nationals prize-giving. Photo: Cormac Bradley

CSC laid on a three course, main course buffet dinner on Saturday night which a large number of the fleet enjoyed but people were also careful in view of a scheduled 09:25 start, two race programme for Sunday. Still the atmosphere in the club was good.

The brisker breeze on Sunday promised better sailing conditions and a number of combinations were seen to be removing new sails in favour of older sails. Post racing Sheena Lewis indicated that the wind strength hit a high of 15 knots towards the end of the second race but for both races the wind strength was in double figures up to the late high recorded on the race committee vessel.

As a consequence the racing was much closer, both upwind and downwind and some of the spinnaker manoeuvres were conducted in close company. It made for an excellent close to the regatta and for some it afforded them an opportunity to secure a more respectable finish in overall terms.

Niall and Dermot recorded two race wins to consolidate their lead and secure the 2026 Championships, but they had to come from behind on both occasions in order to secure their wins. Trevor and Alan added two second places to their overnight score to finish second overall, but the second race second place was only secured after a very tight spinnaker tussle with Andy and Colin who scored a 5, 3 on Sunday. Lee and Andy scored a 4,7 on

Sunday and Chris Arrowsmith & Cormac Bradley (3920, Royal St George Yacht Club & Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club) scored the reverse 11 points with a 7, 4 count. Matthew and Paul had two sixth places.
These combinations of scores left the overall positions as follows:

It was very encouraging to have two entries from Carlingford after the eastern Championships had been held there earlier in the season. Vivian Devlin, crewing for Slava Luzhansky, (3969) impressed everyone with his enthusiasm for all things Flying Fifteen and it would be hard to see him not pushing for a return visit to Carlingford Lough and a growth in numbers there. Twenty boats entered the regatta which means we may qualify the Class for Irish Sailing’s Champion of Champions Regatta. 

Carrickfergus were great hosts with teas/coffees and scones on all three mornings and soup after racing on Sunday. As reported, we had a BBQ on the Friday night and a sit-down three course meal on the Saturday night, included in the entry. Volunteers in RIBs assisted with launching and recovery on Saturday and Sunday with other volunteers and competitors in the water to assist the process in the onshore wind conditions on Sunday. 

Race Officers Bill and Sheena and their race management team worked hard, especially on Saturday to keep the racing fair and competitive, even if Mother Nature didn’t completely cooperate on Sunday. All in all an excellent three days given the varied conditions!