What a difference a day makes! There’s a eucalyptus tree near my house and if it’s all moving there’s a good chance the fleet is thrashing about Belfast Lough half a mile away. It was pretty active today. Flukey breezes yesterday but for Day 2 there was a decent 20 knot south easterly to start, falling away to 14 knots and then gathering itself again and blowing harder. Throw in sunshine made and the result is exciting encounters.

And in some of the classes of Bangor Town Regatta, those conditions may have gone some way to have brought others into contention.

In Class 2 John Minnis’s Final Call II had Pat Kelly’s J 109 Storm from Howth nipping at her heels and after Day 2’s races, Storm is equal on points. Lying third is Shaun Douglas’s Game Changer from Ballyholme and Cockle Island.

Class 3 is without any home-grown boats but after today the Carrickfergus-based D’Arcy/Mclernon duo in VX One, the high performance keelboat, is leading his class just one point ahead off Michael Eames Sunfast 3200 All or Nothing from Strangford Lough YC who is tying with the Corby 29 (Brian and Ryan Wilson from Carrickfergus) as well as Peter and his son Gavin Doig in Jack, a J92.

Garth Lindsay’s Jonathan Star is holding the lead in Class 4 and in 5 the Bell/Lawther/Bell trio’s Oceanis 37 Merry Jack jumped into the lead after scoring two firsts.

James Miller’s Sigma 33 Mayrise from Helensburgh has a comfortable four-point lead in this One Design class scoring a string of firsts already and in Class 8 four of the seven competitors are racing IRC as well as NHC. Here Ross and Gemma Boyd’s

Evenstar (RUYC/BYC and Quoile) lead IRC while Murray Findlay’s X40 Boxcar is top in NHC.

Gavin Watson, Event Chairman is delighted to say how fantastic the racing has been at BTR. ”Over the first two days fabulous wind and the sun is shining. The hospitality area at the Marina is open and all competitors and guests are enjoying the al fresco entertainment. At RUYC our marquee is a fabulous way to watch the sailing through the day and an amazing venue for all with our BBQ and Bistro dining. I’ve been overwhelmed by the support from all and the effort put in by all our volunteers has been immense”.

Article by Betty Armtrong, Afloat.ie