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Displaying items by tag: Bar Buoy Race

The Bar Buoy lies at the mouth of Strangford Lough in the Narrows which is the six mile long fast-flowing and very tidal neck of water between Ballyquinton Point to the east on the Ards Peninsula and Killard Point on western shore.

It provides a perfect turning mark for the race which traditionally precedes the Strangford Lough Narrows Regatta organised by Strangford Sailing Club and the two clubs in Portaferry.

This year on Monday 11th July 80 boats took part in ten classes ranging from large dinghies to cruiser/racers in IRC. Winds were southerly between 12 and 16 knots with lumpy seas at times.

In the Flying Fifteen and Glen keelboats, first places went to Peter Kennedy in Team Ridgeway from Strangford Lough YC, who recently won the Northerns at County Antrim YC and his clubmate Henry Anstey in Glen Iris.

In IRC 1 the prize went to the visiting Corby 29 Elixir from Carrickfergus on Belfast Lough and in IRC2 it was Mark Mackey’s Sigma 33 Mithril from nearby Quoile YC first. In NHC 1 and 2 the winners were Ronnie McLernon in the Contessa 32 from East Down YC and the visiting Charles Slevin in the Corribee 21 Casualen.

Ryan and Brian Wilson's Elixir from Carrickfergus were IRC winners in the Bar Buoy RaceRyan and Brian Wilson's Elixir from Carrickfergus were IRC winners in the Bar Buoy Race

NHCRS 1 and 2 were won by the East Down boats, Madrigal of Saltash, (Stephen Dow) in an Albin Ballad and Keith Carr’s Jeanneau Sundream, Kestrel. The large dinghy fleet was topped by Patrick Hamilton, Kenny and Sonia Smyth from SLYC won the Rivers and their clubmate Robert Darnley was first Sonata.

The fleet gathering at Audleys Roads Photo: Ian McKelvie The fleet gathering at Audleys Roads Photo: Ian McKelvie

Today (Wednesday) the fleet moves to Portaferry for the Town Regatta and tomorrow it’s the turn of Portaferry Sailing Club’s Regatta.

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.