Coleraine Yacht Club Cruiser Report 2002
In common with the last few years, the weather for sailing has not been exactly as one would have desired, however our club has a hardy breed of sailors who will venture out in most conditions. We have had several additions of boats to the club in past year, including Gannett, a Waarschiff 900 now owned by Joe & Carol SlaterMike Alcorn’s Delphine, a Dehler 34 Aromatic, Alan and Lana Cunningham’s all singing, all dancing Bowman 40 Rowan Wilson has bought Barberry, a Barbican 34. Our commodore, Ivor bought Panther, a Sigma 35 and did a brilliant job cleaning & epoxying the hull, although he waited a few months to sort out the plumbing arrangements. Due to the sad passing of our former commodore Frank Cogan, Finnegan’s Wake, a Telstar 8 metre trimaran has now been bought by Andrew Cameron-Mitchell.Also, Johnny Kennedy is now the proud owner of Ionia, a First 36 which has come the whole way from the Greek Islands. Finally, Terry McCartney has replaced Genesis with another Genesis, a Moody 53. I am sure that Mike Attwod & Billy Marsh will see that they get Terry’s moneys worth out of it. We wish all these new owners the very best of luck with their new pride & joy and we hope to see them out on the race course during the forthcoming year.
Early on in the season, we set up a starting position at Portstewart headland and are now able to offer shore based starts to the cruisers. We also put out 3 marks in Portstewart bay. Using only light ground tackle & polypropylene rope, most of the marks lasted quite a while, so we will try again with stronger kit in the New Year. Thanks to James Burnside, Ivor & Gillian Paul, Jim Millar, Denzyl Dinsmore & especially to Andy Seaton for providing the markers. The Spring Series got the racing off to a good start. Conditions were quite strong on the first few Saturdays so that blew away the cobwebs. Despite good efforts from Delphine & Sorcha, this series was won by Jim Millar and Mahuri (UFO34) and runner up was Armeria, James Burnside’s Hallberg Rassy 36.
The very tidal passage race to Innistrahul was sailed in June. This time, positions were reversed and Armeria won, closely followed by Mahuri. At the end of June, we held the Club Regatta. A three-race event. This was the first race outing for the Slater’s & Gannett. The tide was very strong and plenty of room had to be left for mark rounding, however, Armeria managed to catch the mooring rope of the windward mark and dragged the mark a quarter of a mile from its original position. Eventually James stripped down to his underpants, braved the sharks & got the rope loose. The eventual winner of the Regatta was Mahuri, closely followed by Sorcha, a Westerly Fulmar 33 owned by the McCann family. The Millers were presented with the Cock Trophy at the Harbour Bar after the final race - to the pub. Due to the rough weather conditions, we were unable to sail for the Seaton Trophy in July, however it was sailed for in September and won by Alan McCann in Sorcha.
During July & August, many boat owners went cruising in Scotland and although some experienced rough conditions, everybody seemed to enjoy themselves without any serious mishap. We also had a foggy voyage to Rathlin in mid August. A sudden sea mist dropped in the Sound and for about 30 minutes visibility was down to zero. Not the right time to run out of batteries in the GPS.
August Bank Holiday weekend The Club went on its traditional route. The Rathlin Island Race. The race was started at Portstewart in a gale and by the time we reached the first mark in Portrush bay, the sea had developed a nasty short chop. There was a dead run to a mark near the west beach at Portrush and then a beat back to the outer mark. Mahuri & Carnival (the Maybin family) were neck & neck and had a ding-dong battle the whole way to Benbane head. Meanwhile, Jezebel took full advantage of this, eventually arriving at the Drake mark in Church bay first and winning both overall and on handicap closely followed by Mahuri. This race was particularly well attended. We were also joined by most of Moville Boat club’s yachts and the party on Saturday night was great. Many thanks to Peter & the rest at McCaig’s Pub on the island. Joe Slater has made a video of the first half of the Rathlin race and we hope to have a showing some time in the New Year.
By the time the Autumn series started, all the marks that had been laid earlier had disappeared. Racing was then organised round the Skerries & the Storks mark in Skerries Roads. This series was won by Mahuri (again!!) and Alan McCann in Sorcha was the runner up. Jim Millar has kindly agreed to take on the role of Handicapper and we appreciate his good efforts in that role. It is a difficult & often controversial job. I would ask all boat owning members to provide measurement information so that their boats may have an accurate handicap.
There have been several hairy cruises this year. Panther’s trip to Islay, Genesis’ trip to Cork, but I think that Alan Cunningham and Pascal Eymere’s journey to Islay had a great weekend of tremendous contrasts. The flattest crossing EVER on the way over despite the very strong winds the preceding 3 days; and the windiest ever 35-40kt on the return. Great craic! I would like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to Ivor, our outgoing commodore who has been a wonderful help and support in everything the cruising section has tried to do this year and especially Gillian with her organisational skills. I would also like to thank members for doing their starting duty on Saturday afternoons.
We all wish James the best of success as our incoming Rear Commodore. We all know him for his energetic enthusiam and also for his good fortune to be married to Heather. I know he will be well supported by all the members next year. Finally a big plug - Coleraine Yacht Club Ball is being held in the Lodge Hotel on Saturday March, 1st 2003. At this event, we expect to be presented with the Royal Yachting Association Champion Club Award and I would urge every member to make a point of attending. It is recognition of the great efforts made by members of the club in encouraging sailing in this area.
Have a great sailing season next year -and get your yachts in the water early!!
Anthony Clendinning
December 2002