Beneteau 40.7 Game Changer Tops IRC at Royal Ulster Yacht Club Keelboat Event (Update)

23rd August 2021

RUYC Keelboat Weekend Forty Licks (404) (Jay Colville) and Game Changer (Shaun Douglas)

The keelboat weekend held at Royal Ulster Yacht Club on Belfast Lough on 21st and 22nd August is a new venture and benefitted from generous sponsorship by Shortcross Gin.

The nine-strong fleet included five visitors, and of these two were fleet winners. From nearby Ballyholme and Cockle Island clubs, Shaun Douglas's Beneteau 40.7 Game Changer topped the IRC 1 fleet, and in IRC 2, it was the Carrickfergus based Corby 29, Brian and Ryan Wilson's Elixir. The local Dufour Classic 41, Mingulay (Johnny Ritchie) won the Whitesail division. NHC 1 saw a different winner with Jay Colville's First 40, Forty Licks from Royal Ulster and East Down on Strangford Lough first. In NHC 2 Elixir enjoyed another victory with a clean sweep, keeping at bay Paul Fekkes from East Antrim BC in Larne and Carrickfergus SC in the Ultimate 20 Black and Slippy.

The windward-leeward racing suffered the same changeable weather conditions as the Topper Irish Championships at Carrickfergus across the Lough, with 22-knot gusts and rain on the Saturday and the opposite on the Sunday.

Johnny Ritchie, RUYC Rear Commodore, thanked Shortcross Gin for its generous sponsorship; "An enjoyable and well-organised event. Despite the inclement weather on Saturday, we had a wonderful variety of wind conditions. Race Officer Colin Loughead did well to get Race 5 set on Sunday in very light conditions".

RUYC Keelboat Weekend Lucy Smith (Game Changer) with RUYC Rear Commodore Johnny Ritchie

Light winds at RUYC Keelboat Weekend for Forty Licks Jay Colville RUYC and East Down YC

Ryan Wilson Elixir winner of both IRC and NHC 2 with Johnny Ritichie, RUYC Rear Commodore

This article was updated on August 26 2021 following revised results published by RUYC

Published in Northern Ireland Waters, ICRA, Belfast Lough

Published in Northern Ireland Waters

Tagged under

Royal Ulster Yacht Club

About The Author

Betty Armstrong

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Betty Armstrong is Afloat and Yachting Life's Northern Ireland Correspondent. Betty grew up racing dinghies but now sails a more sedate Dehler 36 around County Down

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