Mirror Northerns Report 2007

For full results click here

It’s been a fairly awful year from the point of view of weather. Even non-sailors are starting to notice that lakes are suddenly a lot closer to their houses than they used to be! One thing the popular media hasn’t picked up on, however, is the poor quality of the wind. My reports so far have been littered with words like “frustrating”, “light”, and “slow”. It is a great relief now to be able to use words like “Planing”, “fast”, and my personal favourite, “exhilarating”!  

The calm before the storm...

  Belfast Lough was the venue for the fourth and final regional of the season, and nine British boats, along with special guest, returning 2005 world champion Ross Kearney, travelled to sample the excellent racing Royal North always provide. The current crop of Irish racers were falling over each other for a chance to prove themselves against a legend, but they were left disappointed when Ross opened up an unassailable lead off the start line. Second round the windward was me, still wondering why there was only one boat ahead of me, third was Edward Grey, a visitor from Britain, and behind this group was a huge pack of boats tussling for a shot at the leaders. Planing down the first reach was both fast and exhilarating (Got all three in there!!), but the gybe that followed was just plain scary. The wind had risen to a healthy 4-5 by this stage, and I was just millimetres away from a spectacular capsize right in front of the camera boat, which is even worse than capsizing on the start line! Single-hander Simon Lovesey from Warsash in the UK made the most of my brief moment of confusion at his lack of crew, and he slipped past me on the next beat. (I am shamelessly writing about myself here, I don’t often get a chance to!). The top two were by now completely untouchable, and the superior downwind skills of the British sailors were starting to show, as they moved in to occupy more of the top spots. The final results were Ross in first, followed by Edward Grey, then David Grey, both British. Fourth was Simon Lovesey, the latest in a long, and still growing, list of people to sail Turmoil II. Fifth was Mike Hill.

The wind had thankfully dropped for race 2, but again it was Ross Kearney who was top of the fleet, making best use of a wind bend to the left hand side of the course after a nearly flawless pin-end start. After the hectic events of the previous race, the force 3-4 seemed like a flat calm. Ross was the winner by a healthy margin from Mark Boylan. Third place was Mike Hill, and fourth was Roseanna Yeoward, sailing world-championship-winning boat Simply Gorgeous. Fifth was Edward Grey.

I managed to completely fluff the start of the third race due to a fear of the black flag, which race officer Nigel Kearney pulled out of the bag after two general recalls (Both of which were Barry Armstrong’s fault!). This meant I hadn’t a clue what was going on in front of me, except that Ross was winning again, and I only knew this by virtue of the fact that his spinnaker was the only one up for a long time before anyone else’s. Despite the wind dropping further, the ferocious conditions earlier in the day had taken their toll, and the rate of attrition was high, with only 29 boats out of the 41 finishing due to fatigue and gear failure.  

Tricky conditions caused several capsizes

That night the traditional Royal North entertainment was rolled out, although it was difficult to get near to the Xbox due to the crush of Sligo sailors taking out their frustrations with a very angry game of football.

Day 2 dawned calm and rainy. So rainy, in fact, that absolutely nobody wanted to go out, not even people carrying DNFs. It was with dismay, then, that we watched the breeze build to a force 2, and the rain build to a downpour. The PRO pulled down the Answering Pennant and we were forcibly ejected from the doorway where about twenty people had been praying for either a flat calm or a hurricane.

It’s only when you don’t have the use of your tell tales that you realise how much you use them! Not that I could see them particularly well anyway through the river that was running out of my hair, over my face, then straight down the front of my wetsuit. The wind was still around a force 2, and from the east, so a small chop was starting to build. This was a sign of things to come as race 4 got under way.

This was to be Mike Hill’s race. The conditions suited the veteran perfectly, and on home waters not even Ross could catch him. In the report on last year’s Northerns, I attributed Alan Blay’s first place to voodoo. In this race, Aileen Boylan seemed to have been the victim of some as well. A strong tide pulled her down into the first windward, and then a solid wall of boats on starboard prevented her from rounding. Then, as she fought her way back up the fleet, a huge left shift on the second beat left her, and several others, caught out on the right.

A horrible slop had built up by now, and it was frustrating even for those of us who were on the favoured left hand side, by luck or design. My sides still ache writing this from working the boat over the waves.

At the gun, Mike had firmly established himself in the lead. Second place was David Grey, third Rachel Guy, much improved in her preferred light conditions. Fourth was Ross Kearney and fifth a blow-in from lasers, Ross Vaughan.

Shifting winds and continuing torrential rain were irritating for everyone from the race officer to Toby McCullough, the youngest helm on the water. When the race was eventually started, it was in the same slop as before. After nearly T-boning Niall Carbery (I really owe that child a drink! It wasn’t the first time he has cut me some slack!) I somehow managed to round the top mark in second, behind Mike Hill, and just beside Rachel Guy and Simon Lovesey. This time, however, it was me who was a victim of the tide, as the corner of the transom just clipped the mark. I was frantically trying to get clear to do my turns, but Rachel Guy reckoned I was up to something sneaky, and completely abandoned her own race to try and sail over the top of me! After the world’s worst 360 I was a long way away from 2^nd, and the leaders had disappeared.

Despite Mike’s best efforts, Ross Kearney was the winner of this race, with Mike in second. Third place was Rachel, despite her little detour, fourth was Ross Vaughan and fifth was Mark Armstrong.

Final results, after packing up the boats in yet more torrential rain were-

The event was excellently run, as we have come to expect from Royal North, and it was good to see such a good turnout, boosted by the travelling British.

The next event is the nationals in Sligo Yacht Club from the 23^rd to the 26^th of August. Entry forms available on www.freewebs.com/sycmirror

Apologies for the lateness of the report, and for the lack of photos! I've been on holiday!

Peter Collings