Strangford Lough Yacht Club hosts the Combined the 60th Anniversary of the Glen Class Yacht & Team Racing Championship

Nicky Bloch writes:

 

On the weekend of 27th – 29th July 2007, Strangford Lough Yacht Club hosted the 43rd Annual Inter-Fleet team racing championship between the Glen Classes of Strangford Lough Yacht Club and Dublin Bay Sailing Club.

Every year since its inception in 1964, this yachting event has played a major role in creating lasting friendships between the members of the Glen Class from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland that continue to this day. And every alternate year, the venue switches between Dublin and Whiterock on the shores of Strangford Lough, where the “northern boats” are based.

 

The Glen Class also celebrated its 60th Anniversary with a Special Gala Dinner at the yacht club on the Saturday night attended by not only all the competing teams, but also by many former members of the class. The evening was rounded off by a spectacular video presentation depicting the most memorable sailing moments of the last two years.

 

Unlike traditional yachting events, where each boat races against all the other boats in the fleet - in team racing, it’s the team with the lowest possible points that wins. Group tactics are often taken to extreme within the confines of the International Yacht Racing Rules and this makes for some very exciting racing in close quarters.

To make the races as evenly matched as possible none of the home team sailed in their own boats and after each race, a new draw for boats took place.

The sheltered waters of Strangford Lough were ideally suited for this type of event.

 

A total of four races were sailed in perfect wind conditions. Saturday morning saw the “home” team from S.L.Y.C. flying Blue colours contesting the start with the Red team from Dublin Bay Sailing Club. By the end of the first race, the Home Team had taken the lead by a mere 6 points. Thereafter, the margin widened and despite some superb sailing and aggressive tactical manoeuvring by both sides, the Glen Class of Strangford Lough Yacht Club won the Championship Trophy. A faultless display of sailing earned the Commodore John Pannell and his crew a string of four firsts, whilst Nicky Bloch won the First & Last Trophy.

 

The Commodore’s wife, Caroline Pannell presented the prizes on Sunday afternoon.
In commemoration of the 60-year milestone of the class, the two Class Captains exchanged gifts on behalf of their respective clubs.

Alison O’Brien of the Dublin Team presented to Iain Gleadhill of the Home Team, a photograph of their yacht Glen Dunn that was used on a postage stamp issued in Ireland in 2001. In return, Iain presented Alison with a framed colour copy of the original Glen design specification that was published in Yachting Monthly Magazine in July 1945.

 

Background

The Glen is a classic wooden One Design Class, designed by the highly regarded Scottish yacht designer Alfred Mylne in the late 1940’s and built by Arthur Clapham in the Glen Boatyard, Bangor, Northern Ireland. With an overall length of 25 feet, a tall mast and large spinnaker, the yacht is an attractive boat with a small cabin and ideally suited for inshore racing. Of the 37 built, there are now 14 at S.L.Y.C. and 14 kept at the Royal St. George Yacht Club and Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dublin, racing under the auspices of Dublin Bay Sailing Club.

These yacht clubs race the greatest number of these classic yachts anywhere in these Isles!

 

Originally built for members of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club in the late 1940’s and known then as the Belfast Lough No. 1 Design, over time, the Glens migrated to Strangford Lough and by the mid 50’s the class was firmly established at Strangford Lough Yacht Club where it remains vibrant to this day.
The first Glen came to Dublin in 1951 and today racing in Dublin is as competitive as it is in Northern Ireland.

 

My thank you!


To everyone who sailed, to everyone who took part, to everyone in the background who made it just run so smoothly and to those of you who just enjoyed the festivities both on and off the water, I thank you all, for making this event so memorable and special!


I think it is appropriate to single out a few people who deserve special mention:

To Julian Marshall for his magnificent contribution to Glen archives, for his camera work and most of all, for his enthusiasm on and off the water.
To my dad for all his hard work, heading up the sub-committee that did so much of the ”donkey work” behind the scenes, ably assisted by his team of Dan Uprichard and Valerie Nelson.

To Dan for all his efforts on the clothing front. This was a spectacular success! The 60th Anniversary logo is superb!
To the “delectable” Valerie for the team colours and distracting the opposition when it mattered most!

To Richard Aiken for all his invaluable help and advice at all times of the day and night - and keeping me on the straight and narrow!
To PJ for organising the catering, the bar and getting the numbers sorted out. Everything ran so smoothly.
To Craig and Diane Spratt and particularly to Julia Bloch, for calming my nerves when I needed it most!
To Nick and Jessica for looking after us so well on Friday night and Saturday lunchtime. The food was wonderful and I really appreciate everything that they did to make this event such a success.

To Diane Porter and her team for treating us to a dinner “par excellence” on Saturday evening and a wonderful Sunday lunch.

To my son Adam, who at very short notice, put together a spectacular video presentation which was a fabulous climax to the evening.
To Don Clarke and Chris Boston for ferrying all competitors to and from their boats and all their help.

To Ian D, our Race Officer “extraordinaire” - for setting superb courses within some very stringent time constraints, ably assisted by Emma Rowlands, who I gather really enjoyed herself and learned a lot helping Ian on the battery.

To Caroline Pannell for presenting the prizes.
And to my hard working Class Captain Iain Gleadhill who, through all these months has been my mainstay, guiding me and encouraging me when I just needed a quiet word and a friend to share some thoughts!

And especially to Alison O’Brien, who as Class Captain of DBSC Glen Class, worked tirelessly making all the links fall into place from the Dublin perspective - through countless phone calls and text messages at all hours of the day and night and became a great friend in the process.

 

                                                                             Nicky Bloch, SLYC Glen Class Secretary