Zimmer first in frame

NORTHERN Ireland's Jim Rogers and Shane McCarthy, sailing Zimmer, survived a disqualification to win the five-race Carlsberg Irish Flying Fifteen championship at the National Yacht Club over the weekend.

Racing for the 32-boat fleet was marred by light and fickle conditions that presented race officer Martin Byrne with course-laying problems. But he overcame them, in spite of 180 degree windshifts on Saturday.

Congestion on Dublin Bay forced Byrne to move the triangular courses into Killiney Bay on Saturday, but stronger tidal streams there dictated tactics and made windward legs very one-sided for the two-man keelboat class.

The conditions, under five knots, were to the liking of Rogers and McCarthy of Portaferry SC, who despite being premature starters in race two on Friday showed championship form with a first, first and second, sufficient to take the title despite the best efforts of local helmsman Gerry Donleavy of the host club. He took second on 22 points. Third overall was Strangford Lough's Roger Chamberlain.

Racing in both Scotsmans Bay and Salthill, Ross Killian (19) and Alex Blayney (14), sailing Flashpoint II, had not only to contend with the fickle winds but also 140 other boats in the East Coast Mirror championships at the Royal St George Yacht Club.

Killian and Blayney won the last two races of the four-race series to win the regatta and continue their overall lead after three races in the Irish Mirror ranking lists.

The pair beat the ISA Helmsmans champion Tom Fitzpatrick, who was racing in a borrowed boat.