Mayrise win 2026 Class Championship at Bangor Regatta
- MARK MACKEY
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Not a very surprising headline in recent years although 2026 was possibly the closest Class Championships for a few years. Nine Sigma 33 OODs competed with visiting boats coming from the Clyde, Dun Laoghaire, Wexford Harbour and the South Coast of England.
The 2026 Sigma 33 OOD Class Championship was ran as part of Bangor Regatta hosted by Royal Ulster Yacht Club under Class 3 with four days of windward-leewards in a great variety of conditions and wind strengths, all under Race Officer Con Murphy's stewardship.
Thursday and Friday saw beautiful sunny conditions with 8-12 knots of a northerly breeze for most of each day but a fight between the gradient wind and sea breeze. Different sides of the beat proved advantageous at times but most windward marks (certainly for the first round) saw most of the Sigmas converging together for some very close manoeuvres and encounters.
Unusually Mayrise was a little slow out of of the blocks on Day 1 especially when she came last at race 1 giving hope to the rest of us. White Lightning and Squawk set the pace overnight, the latter with two bullets.
James Millar and the team obviously didn't drink enough at the Sigma 33 drinks reception on Thursday night, cosponsored by Emma Prentice (Healthodontics) and the Mark Mackey (Mackey Opticians), with Mayrise bouncing back on Friday with 3 bullets but not after some more very close racing and interesting sunny and hot weather scenarios to contend with.
The last two days saw much more breeze with only 2 races ran on Saturday with gusts over 30 knots but relatively flat waters with a more sheltered southerly. Squawk and Mayrise shared the bullets. Squawk and Excelle has a little port starboard coming together in Race 8 near the windward mark - spreader against foil - and Squawk was given redress for this. Race 9 was postponed as the forecast was expected to keep building and the other fleets doing a coastal race reported gusts of over 40 knots at times.
With one day to go, Mayrise was sitting with 14 points, White Lightning was on 16 points and Squawk on 20.1. Excelle was secure in fourth while the "Silver fleet" prize for 5-9th was tight between Mithril, Afrita and Sonic with a spread of only 4 points.
Race 9 on Sunday saw 15-20 knots from the south west with a slightly bigger sea than Saturday. White Lightning and Mithril were both late for the start giving the chance to the other boats to make a move forward with Mayrise taking the win from Squawk to secure the Championship.
Race 10 saw Mithril and White Lightning both at the pin on the gun sailing inshore for flatter water and into a heading breeze, followed by Squawk and Mayrise. Flyover and Excelle came from the committee boat end on starboard and crossed well ahead, and Squawk managed to escape from Mayrise's cover. Excelle led round the top marks but a spectacular broach put them back to 5th with Squawk winning the final race. Mithril, Afrita and Sonic went down the first run tight together - a broach by Sonic and Afrita at the gybe then giving Mithril a small window to escape and secure the Silver fleet prize.
James Millar and the team on Mayrise therefore secured the Class Championship with White Lightning beating Squawk by only 0.1 points (due the average redress points given for Race 7).
Many thanks must go the Sigma 33 Committee for organising the event alongside Royal Ulster Yacht Club, their race officials, committee boats, mark boats and the onshore team for a great event with everyone enjoying the varied social program put on and shared across the five different classes.
Comments