It can take a bit of effort to find the intensely local Rush Sailing Club in its secluded location beside the small area of deep water at the entrance to Rogerstown Estuary in the heart of Fingal. And it would be impossible to find a clubhouse and setting that contrasts more markedly with the prominently-towered and conspicuously-sited Royal Ulster Yacht Club in its dominant place above Belfast Lough, in the midst of the waterfront in Bangor.
There, they’ve had to face the problem that their borough’s recent ennoblement to become the City of Bangor would have meant that the expected simple re-titling of the biennial two-day Bangor Town Regatta would result in the handy but rather threatening acronym of COBRA, otherwise City of Bangor Regatta.
Bangor, being famous for its ancient monastery and many saints and scholars, the merest hint of the presence of snakes after their historic banishment by St Patrick wouldn’t do at all, so it’s now just plain, simple, sensible Bangor Regatta.
Either way, the high-performing Kelly family of Rush and their sailing friends with the J/109 Storm have made it a happy hunting ground, as they have further north in Firth of Clyde competitions. It was close as it came to a lengthy count-back after some cut-throat racing, but now the Patriarch Pat Kelly has yet another Bangor trophy to add to his collection.
