Last weekend saw Carrickfergus Sailing Club welcome the RS200 and RS400 fleets from all over Ireland to Belfast Lough for their Nationals. The decision to launch was made on Friday, but owing to the building wind and a number of capsizes from those early off the slip, racing was postponed and eventually cancelled leading to an early exodus to the club bar. Competitors were met with sun, surf and gusty winds on Saturday, but 4 races were run including exhilarating reaches, back breaking beats and multiple turtles at all points of the course, including the start finish line! It was then back to the club for a buffet dinner and music late into the evening. Again four races were run on the Sunday with lighter conditions early, building throughout the day. The RS200 class was won by visiting Greystones pair Frank O’Rourke and Henry Start, CAYC and CSC boat Polo, crewed by Jocelyn and Emily Hill followed in second, with James Waugh and newbie Callum Pollard of CAYC in third. In the RS400 fleet, the clear winners were BYC pair Rob Espey and Mike Ferguson, followed by Barry Martin and Conor Kinsella from CSBC/GSC, with Peter Kennedy and Stevie Kane of RNIYC in third. It was also great to see CAYC youth helm Luke Simpson coming in 11th place at his first 400 event.. The RS fleet are a great welcoming community, crews ages ranging from 15-72! This weekend shows how well CSC can run an event with our amazing volunteers, great location and champagne sailing conditions. Huge thanks to Roger Woodward for his organisation of the event and all our volunteers for assisting, from the safety boats to the bar, boat shed and slipway and to our judges and race officers and committee boat crews. No rest for CSC as our regatta follows this weekend followed by the GP14 Ulster Championship on the weekend of the 31st.
