What a fantastic weekend of sailing at Lough Erne Yacht Club. The cream of respected award-winning sailors from LEYC joined the Yeoman Fleet on both races over the weekend.
At the start line on Saturday, the Yeomans were joined by LEYC's Rear Commodore Trevor Whittikar, who took Growler out for a race. His daughter, Jennifer, joined Trevor.
The wind was a bit shifty on the lead up to the race and minutes before the start the course had to be changed to a beat to Davar and a run to the Bay North mark.
Growler and Utter Chaos were at the top end of the line and had the best starts. Growler though had more than a great start; they just glided away, having read the wind shift well and gaining several boat lengths.
Utter Chaos was close behind though with Raymond Morrison at the reins, and Warren Cooper at the sheets, and Donald McCarthy helming RA with Garnet Doherty crewing were close behind that.
The wind was gusty at stages and Honeybee decided not to hoist its spinnaker. Once on shore that evening, Raymond did say that it was a bit hairy and that if he did not know what he was doing when he got a gust while he was going around Gublusk Point that could have led onto a broach, though it was fun.
As the Yeoman can plane, the rush of water and the motion of the nose lifting off the water with a whoosh is definitely something else to experience.
The race was taken twice that evening with Utter Chaos coming first in the first race and Thief in Time in the second.
Sunday saw the hardest day of racing that the Yeoman fleet had seen all year with eight of its fleet on the water.
Growler was out again with guest sailors Mick Whaley and Micheal McClalden. Both of these men are top class GP14 and J24 sailors with awards to prove it.
The racing was hard going and Growler, Honeybee and the Utter Chaos where ducking each other with a hair's breath between them, many a starboard was called, it was very exhilarating.
There were also two up and coming young sailors joining the loonies of the Yeoman fleet. Robert Murray, an aspiring Topper sailor who has been featured in the sport pages of the 'Herald', was joining Clive Burgess in his Yeoman Nelly Kelly. Jennifer Whittikar was out again in Thief of Time, having been hooked the night before.
The spinnaker run was a beautiful rainbow of colour as the wind had eased slightly, which enabled all to be raised. The top three, who were Growler, Honeybee and Utter Chaos, were neck and neck as they made it to Gublusk point.
The first race saw Growler finishing first, with Honeybee second and Utter Chaos third. Even though the racing was physically hard, the adrenaline was pumping and they decided on another race.
The course was the same, up to Davan but no Bay mark to start or finish. The second start was even tighter than the first with all getting great starts and everyone staying quite close together for most of the first beat, which is a real testament to the skills that these sailors have and are gaining with each race. Utter Chaos won this race with Growler close behind and then Honeybee.
The Yeoman fleet wish to extend to its members and any other budding sailors to join the fleet for some white sail racing on a Sunday.
The Yeomans are also looking forward now to LEYC's Autumn Regatta, which will be held soon, and with the racing being so unpredictable and exciting it is sure to be a great event.
