Lough Erne Yacht Club

News > Autumn Regatta Report - Update Yeoman Winner Picture

Created: 10/12/2009 2:03:18 PM, Updated: 5/24/2010 4:36:50 PM

Over 40 sailors in 18 boats enjoyed five good races, in Saturday’s moderate southerly winds, and in Sunday’s sometimes nasty northerly squalls, at Lough Erne Yacht Club’s Autumn Regatta, over the weekend, 10 & 11 October.


Picture - welcome back racing, the Fairy Doreen

Meantime, LEYC youth sailors were away at Saturday’s selection trials at Cushendall SC for the RYA Laser dinghy Youth Squad or at Carrickfergus SC on Belfast Lough for the season’s final Topper Traveller event. Word on any selection successes for young LEYC hopefuls is expected late this week. And what good news it was - see LEYC Trio on RYA Squad report on this page.

Regatta courses used the official LEYC buoys as marked on the Ordnance Survey map, with all starts and finishes on the club line in Gublusk Bay. Saturday’s three races, in a warm moderate south west wind, used Horse upwind to Ely mark, with it moved 500metres North West. The faster J/24s did three rounds and other boats two. Bay and Divann buoys, likewise about a kilometre apart, were used in Sunday’s strong squally northwest wind.

These courses gave good sport upwind and downwind, big spinnakers set, with perhaps a bit too much excitement for some in Sunday’s final race.

Yeoman Keelboats
Declan Dooley and Mary Anne Sutton in Honeybee won all three of Saturday’s races in a fleet of eight Yeoman keelboats with 16 crew. Not easily, for they were challenged by Raymond Morrison’s Lady Rose, scores 2, 3, 3, and Bertie Forsythe in Crista, scores 3, 2, 4. Brendan Gallagher and Ruth Richie in Nelly Kelly also featured with a second place in the third race.

Crista threatened Honeybee’s overnight lead by winning Sunday’s first race in that strong North West breeze, with Lady Rose second and Honeybee third. Furthermore, Lady Rose won, indeed she was the only Yeoman to finish the final race in its heavy squalls. Calculating overall places, Honeybee and Crista omitted this 9 point DNF penalty score, likewise Lady Rose a third, 3 points.

Overall places then emerged as Honeybee first, 6 points net, Lady Rose 8, and Crista 10. Close one design racing like this is great sporting fun.

J/24 Keelboats
Among five J/24 keelboats with 18 crew, best overall, winning all five races, was Robin Eagleson’s Luder Too with crew who included the 2009 Irish National Champion, Michael McCaldin, doing a little deck work for a change. His deck crew were helming in two Fairy and two Yeoman keel boats.

J/24 Fleet Captain, Barry Humphries in Mejoolie counted four second places. His third (by redress) in the final race was omitted in Sailing’s scoring system which uses total race scores, omitting worst, to calculate overall regatta placing. Third overall, Michael Clarke’s Jeriatrix counted three thirds and a second (redress) in the final race. These redress scores, in accordance with sailing rules, represent the places on the course of Jeriatrix and Mejoolie at the time that both ceased racing, as priority shifted to a successful rescue of two crew from the water whose Yeoman was overwhelmed in a squall.

On loan from Jeriatrix, Katrina McGirr helmed Skipjack while owner John Kane did the deck work in Saturday’s moderate winds. Sean McCosker’s Jade also raced on Saturday but both were unable to take part on Sunday.

Fairy Keelboats
A fleet at LEYC is a minimum three boats. It was good to see not only Michael Whaley’s Maeve and Joey Kelly’s Storm but also Doreen racing again, helm Paul Louden-Brown, at the event that closed the 103rd Fairy season. The heading photo shows Doreen in action at Lough Erne Yacht Club.

In early preparations for the 2006 centenary celebrations, LEYC added a commitment to its constitution that the Fairy fleet be preserved as a viable racing fleet at LEYC. The peak 1930s fleet had numbered ten. Eight raced in the 75th and 80th birthday regattas. At the 100th there were five, with work on others yet to finish. Good news now is that new Fairy owner, Paul Louden-Brown has done great work on Petrel, likewise Fred Ternan on a rebuilt Cygnet and on Snipe, and John Suitor has near finished Zephyr.

By Autumn Regatta 2010, LEYC may have a Fairy fleet similar to 20 years ago.

An incident in a Saturday race showed just how good was and still is the 1902 technology of these remarkable boats. Storm, equal up-wind in lighter winds to a modern J/24, tacked to give way to Jeriatrix, both approaching a mark, then pointed higher into the wind, her momentum superior to the J/24 to round it ahead, and of Maeve on the other side of Jeriatrix and on to win.

It is not often that Maeve is beaten, but she was again by Joey Kelly, as he stormed home to win Sunday’s final squally race. Overall, Maeve was first, places 1, 1, 2, 1, 2 net 5 points, Storm second, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1. Doreen did not sail Sunday

Yeoman Crew Rescue
During Sunday’s final race, the squalls became viciously shifty, making exciting downwind spinnaker sailing. Edward Beattie and Teresa O’Hare under spinnaker in a borrowed Yeoman were hit by such a squall and laid right over. Water scooping into the wide open cockpit ran to the stern. It sank, and in minutes, just the bow was above water, crew heads showing nearby.

Jeriatrix saw from 150m upwind, turned fast towards the Yeoman. Likewise did J/24 Mejoolie. In a standard man-over board manoeuvre, like picking up a bow mooring buoy, but aft, skipper Michael Clarke placed his J/24’s lowest after deck right beside Teresa O’Hare. The crew, Katrina McGirr, June Clarke Nessa Murnaghan and Clare Brogan hauled Teresa up out of the water.

Meantime her skipper drifted Jeriatrix astern and clear for a second run in to lift Edward Beattie, who wrote later – it was a very good bit of sailing to get so close to us and a superhuman effort on the part of your crew then to drag me up into the J/24. The whole Jeriatrix team played a tremendous part in our recovery.

Results
5 races, low points system, total race scores excepting worst.

Yeoman – entry 8, so DNC etc scores 9
(Apology, helm details not all available)
1 Honey Bee, Declan Dooley, 1, 1, 1, 3, (DNF) net 6 points
2 Lady Rose, Raymond Morrison, 2, 3, (3), 2, 1, net 8 points
3 Crista, Bertie Forsythe, 3, 2, 4, 1, (DNF), net 10 points
4 Nelly Kelly, Brendan Gallagher, 8, 4, 2, 4, (DNF), net 16
5 Growler, 5, 6, 6, 5, (DNF), net 22
6 Blue Diamond, 4, 5, 8, DNS 9, (DNS), net 26
7 Thief of Time, 6, 8, 5, DNS 9, (DNS) net 28
8 Don McCarthy, 7, 7, 7, DNF 9, DNF, net 30

International J/24, entry 5 so DNC etc scores 6
1 Luder Too, Robin Eagleson, 1, 1, 1, 1, (1), net 4 points
2 Mejoolie, Barry Humphries, 2, 2, 2, 2, (3), net 8
3 Jeriatrix, Michael Clarke, (3), 3, 3, 3, 2, net 11
4 Skipjack, John Kane, 4, 4, (DNS), DNC 6, DNC 6, net 20
5 Jade, Sean McCosker, 5, 5, (DNS), DNC 6, DNC 6, net 22

Fairy Keelboats, entry 3 so DNC etc scores 4
1 Maeve, Michael Whaley, 1, 1, 2, 1, (2), net 5 points
2 Storm, Joey Kelly, 2, 2, 1, (2), 1, net 6 points
3 Doreen, Paul Louden-Brown, 3, 3, 3, DNC 4, (DNC), net 13.
Others
John Taylor sailed all five races in the Belfast Lough Lake Class, Caragh.
Jorgen Pedersen, sailed races one and two in GP14 Probably The Best.

Prize Giving
Commodore, Mary Anne Sutton, presiding, introduced event organiser Edward Beattie to announce prizes and assist her with presentations.
Prizes were elegant engraved glasses. One each, with thanks, went to the RIB crew, Ciaran Martin, Peter Scott and Declan Dooley, who had raised the Yeoman sufficient to tow her back to the crane. Another ‘battered wife prize’ went to the Yeoman crew Teresa O’Hare. Concluding prize-giving, the Yeoman bar of soap prize, which Edward Beattie himself had presented to the skipper involved in a similar knock down at Summer Regatta, was passed back to him for the Autumn incident, along with a lettered mug.
Glasses also went to Race Offficer, Anne Beattie and assistant, John Phillips. On Saturday Hugh and son Jarleth Mahon also helped. Glasses for each crew went to first and second placed boats, Honeybee and Mary Rose in the Yeoman fleet, Maeve and Storm in the Fairy fleet and Luder and Mejoolie in the J/24s. Caragh and Probably The Best crews also got glasses. J/24 cups were awarded, to Luder the Roy Howard Trophy, Mejoolie the Squires Cup and to third placed Jeriatrix the Morris Cup.
There were thanks with acclamation to catering and bar staff.
Michael Clarke, Webmaster