While the sensible people of Fermanagh on Saturday were tucked up indoors, looking out at the weather or jetting off to hotter climates, the sailors at LEYC saw an opportunity for a race.
These gallant or completely mad sailors, depending on your perspective, donned on their wet gear and set off for a bit of fun.
There was very little wind and the boats spent most of the race being propelled by the rain beating on the sails, but the race was just a laugh a minute as Utter Chaos, YO-YO and Honeybee joined up on the line.
The start saw Raymond Morrison in Utter Chaos give Declan Fox and Ken Wilson in YO-YO a tow over the start line to avoid them hitting the start mark, there were yips and chuckles from both boats as they both progressed to the first racing point, Bay North.
The battle of the race was between Utter Chaos and Honeybee, sailed by Declan Dooley, as they changed positions over and over again, though Utter Chaos did bring out the big guns, tossing sweets into Honeybee as it passed!
Honeybee was the victor of the race that did seem at stages to be a form of Chinese torture, with Utter Chaos coming in second and YO-YO third.
Sunday did though see a fabulous day form as the sky was blue and the wind was aplenty.
Mick Whaley took his divinely restored Fairy Maeve out to join the Yeoman fleet in the Sunday race, which saw five Yeoman out in force to complete a course of three rounds from the Inner Bay mark to the Fovar mark.
The start saw Honeybee, Donald McCarthy and Sam Webb in RA and John McCrea in Thief of Time get a clean start whereas there was a close call as Andrew Gray in Skidoo had a bit of difficulty with his gib sheet leading him to almost collide with Maeve.
After a few calls and a deep breath, all the rest of the boats got off. The wind did prove to be a good bit stronger when the boats left Kiladeas Bay and proceeded to the Fovar mark.
Raymond and Warren Cooper in Utter Chaos rounded the mark first and hoisted their spinnaker. RA was second around it and they did the same. Honeybee was third but they opted not to put up their spinnaker as it was proving to be a lot to handle.
Utter Chaos had a good lead as they were taking down the spinnaker before rounding the Inner Bay mark, but Donald McCarthy was hot on their tail as they rounded the mark second.
The positions did not change too much till RA rounded the Inner Limit mark for the second time, as they made their way up to the third and final rounding of Fovar their Genoa came down with a bang as the wire that held it up gave way thus ending their race.
John in Thief of Time hoisted his spinnaker on their third leg, the first outing in strong winds and all was well, which unfortunately could not be said of Honeybee as their one and only hoist on the second run proved too much when they were brought onto a tight reach.
Andrew Gray in his Yeoman Skiddoo also had to retire after a problem appeared with the shrouds. Only three boats made the last leg of the race with Utter Chaos coming in first, Honeybee second and Thief in Time third.
The Yeoman fleet at LEYC is looking forward to partaking in the Second Classic Boat Regatta that will be held this year in Lough Ree YC. Members of LEYC will remember fondly the celebrations held at LEYC last year for the Centenary Year of their Classic fleet, the Fairys, which kick started the three-year celebrations.
The Class would like to extend an invitation to all readers who would like to give sailing a go, contact us on www.leyc.net
