Peter Kennedy and Stephen Kane from Strangford Lough YC topped the fourteen-strong fleet of Flying Fifteens at the Northern Championships hosted by County Antrim YC on the north shore of Belfast Lough.
Competitors travelled from as far away as Draycote Sailing Club in the English West Midlands, and the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, Waterford and Connemara.
Race Office Sheela Lewis started the Saturday races in a shifty SSW to SW breeze, average 12kts which necessitated alterations to windward legs after the first beat but they got three two-lap windward/leeward races completed.
On Day 2 the fleet got away in an offshore North Westerly shifting to Westerly of about 8 knots. After Race 4 a lull meant a wait for the breeze to fill in and Race 5 was completed with no further course alterations.
Kennedy and Kane (Team Ridgeway) started with a seventh but subsequently counted three wins and although finishing the five races with a sixth were a reasonably comfortable three points ahead of the runners-up, Bryan Willis and John McPeake in Simply Gold from the host club who counted a first and two seconds. Willis and McPeake are previous Leinster GP 14 champions.
In third slot were the Waterford Harbour SC pair, Lee Stratham and Andrew Paul who did win the final race to tie on 14 points with FFRIGT sailed by Peter Lawson and Chris Hannon of Portaferry, also on Strangford Lough.
The next big event at Whitehead is the Whitehead Water Fest 2022 in aid of RNLI Lifeboats on 30th July. Activities will include a long-distance swim, family fun kayak and SUP races a coastal row and raft races.
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