Sunday saw the return of the BYC Icebreaker series - and icebreaker it was. The wind was 15, or so, knts with a wind chill of -7. To make matters worse the wind direction was South Easterly which provided some really helpful shifts on the way up the beats. This lead to more than one capsize to weather !!!. Quite a few of us spent some time in the water which was, to say the least, refreshing!!

Swedish tidal energy company Minesto has now finished this period of testing of a scale model of the Deep Green kite tidal power plant, in Strangford Lough, Ballyhenry Bay, about 1.5 km northwest of Portaferry, Co. Down.

BelfastCoastguard have put in place a one mile exclusion zone within Belfast Lough to facilitate a ship to ship oil transfer taking place on 31st Dec 2011

Co-ordinates are as follows:

54º 42.5N

005º 34.5W

Further updates can be obtained by listening to Belfast Coastguard @ Channel 16

Last year, Ballyholme YC was covered in snow and ice and the Boxing Day Regatta was in jeopardy due to the difficulty of launching the RIBs down treacherous slips. This year, Ballyholme was experiencing the warmest Christmas on record although the warm south-westerly breeze also promised gusts up to 40 knots.

Last Sunday saw the conclusion of Part 1 of this year's Ballyholme Yacht Club "StenaLine" Icebreaker series. The event has been a great success so far with only 2 weekends un-sailable due to weather. The numbers have been huge with 44 Laser standards, 15 laser radials, 7 laser 4.7's and 28 Toppers as well as the large dinghy and multihull fleets - all regularly in contention.

The International Formula 18 Catamaran European Championships were held in the Real Cub Nautico de Gran Canarias in Las Palmas from 7th to 11th December, with Ballyholme and Royal Ulster Yacht Clubs Andrew Gallagher and Catherine Gunning representing Ireland in the 85 boat fleet. After successfully defending the top mixed team trophy at the UK F18 Nationals in August, the pair were aiming for a solid position within the top 40 and within the top 5 mixed teams.

The 2011 ISAF world championships started with a bang in Perth on the 3rd of December, the fire works where flying and INXS where rocking.

All the teams were involved in the opening ceremony in the centre of Perth where the local dignitaries commented on how wonderful it was to have over a 1000 athletes competing from over 100 countries and for once they weren’t wrong. The city had been working very hard at making this one of the greatest ISAF world championships in history, no expense was spared.

The annual swim on Boxing Day in aid of ‘Sparks NI’ is as challenging as ever! I know how many of you were left feeling disappointed by last year's cancellation due to the extreme weather conditions, so put it into your Christmas calendar and turn up to renew old friendships or make new ones, while supporting a very worthy cause.

Sunday 11th December started off as a windy day but the wind died off to allow the sailors in the Stenaline Icebreaker Series to just drift round. The course was course 2 and the race was started from the north east with a starboard start which confused many people.

Well the conditions changed last Sunday with a stiff NW breeze and a big drop in temperature. This did not dampen the spirts of all fleets who took to the water for one of the most exhilarating sails of the year.

Sunday morning was very still with not many clouds to be seen. The temperature did not reflect the fact that Christmas tree lights were switched on the night before. Surely it will not be long until we have to put our summer sailing gear away and pull out our winter ones!!!...... but not just yet....

The wind finally arrived on Sunday but thankfully the temperature remained at its unseasonably high. This gave near perfect conditions for exciting racing in Sunday’s Stena Line Icebreaker series.

Our favourite charity, the Bangor branch of the RNLI is busy in the run up to Christmas. Don’t forget the RNLI Christmas shop in Bosun Bob’s at the bottom of High Street in Bangor. Please shop early and then you will have the best choice from the full range of Christmas Cards, Calendars and Diaries to choose from.

Sunday 16th October was perfect sailing weather with mild temperatures and strong wind from the north-west. There was an amazing turnout of 86 boats!

The final race of the Mackey Eyecare Autumn Series next Sunday will be a nail biter for some of the fleets. In IRC class Ian Wilson’s Corby 29 RESPECT leads with a three point lead, despite Mark Ross’s TROUBLE winning Sunday’s race. Mind you, there is a protest pending, so results may change and the discard has not been applied. Second was another Corby, RATTLE N’ HMM owned by Harrington, McVicar & McClughan with Ken Halliwell’s CHAIN GANG third. It’s all to race for on Sunday.