Harold Keay, Josh Hughes and Wayne North claim respective Dymes Cup victories

Division one skipper and club commodore Harold Keay sailed Shagabull to his fifth win in the prestigious Dymes Cup on Saturday.

Division two skipper Josh Hughes who won the cup in 2018 and 2019 also sailed into the history books at Princess Royal Sailing Club when he won on Saturday with Joker.

Flying Fifteen skipper Wayne North was victorious with his first Dymes Cup day trophy.

The Dymes Cup was a harbour course handicap event sailed in a south-westerly breeze that never got over 16 knots and made for fast and pleasant sailing.

In division one Geoff Oliver was away first in Excitabull and he had a one-minute start over Keay’s Shagabull but it wasn’t enough as Keay quickly overhauled him and went to the front.

Murray Deere in Wild One gave Keay a two-minute start in his quest for the trophy but couldn’t make up any ground because when Keay has Shagabull in front, especially in a handicap race, he is hard to beat and he did that with aplomb in Saturday’s big race.

Shagabull finished well ahead of both Wild One which took second place and Excitabull taking third.

In division two six yachts started with Peter Bane in Dunluce away first and looking good in the early stages.

However the more experienced and quicker boats mowed him down towards the end.

Hughes was a little tardy at the start with Joker but gradually got into gear and was causing some angst among the other skippers.

Stephen Lee had Flasheart moving sweetly and looking a threat to the others.

Stephen Brown wasn’t having one of his better days and just couldn’t get Mary Maitland going fast enough.

Neil Worrell in Zuri was another showing promise as he stayed up ahead for much of the journey.

Bob Giles had Footloose moving well under spinnaker whereas Brown wasn’t having the best of days with Mary Maitland as he struggled to get his usual speed.

The handicapping was excellent for this division as four of the six yachts were in with a chance of victory as they entered the last two legs.

Joker made its move as it passed Zuri and kept Flasheart at bay as it surged to the finish line to take the race and the coveted trophy.

Zuri which had been sailing extremely well gave Worrell second place with Flasheart being third and fastest in a brilliant contest.

In the Flying Fifteens, Wayne North in Frequent Flyer got away first, three minutes ahead of Aileen Lucas in Crazy and six minutes in front of Simon Lucas in FForever Young.

North took advantage of his good handicap to stay in front for the entire competition.

Crazy couldn’t make any inroads on North but FForever Young caught and passed Crazy and was slowly bridging the gap to Frequent Flyer.

In a dramatic dash to the finish, North held his nerve and stole the win from the fast-finishing Lucas who was second and fastest in yet another great encounter.