Initially, the weather forecast for last Sunday wasn’t that encouraging with the now almost normal prediction of heavy winds. But later in the week there was a change and although Saturday afternoon was blustery, the prediction for the Sunday, from both Met Eireann and XCWeather was for very light winds but enough to contemplate racing. This was confirmed by the late forecast on Saturday night from Met Eireann.
On Sunday however, the seascape suggested anything but a favourable environment for racing. The inner harbour was mirror-like and the flags around the harbour perimeter were limp on their respective flagpoles. Still the Frostbite Team were committed to the idea of trying to get something going and it had been in the RO’s mind that if there were any wind at all then he was going to promote the idea of three races to the Team.
The committee boat headed out into the main harbour to find that conditions were similar to what had been observed in the inner harbour, with one exception, the “team-racers” were out and were moving as was a group of Fevas from the INSS. Additionally, Patrick was out sailing his 2.4m – slowly. We hovered in the middle of the harbour waiting to see if there would be any increase in wind strength and for it to settle to a particular direction, all the time watching the plume of vapour from the incinerator which disappeared in and out of the mist that enveloped Dublin Bay. At about 13:40 the wind had built to 3.5/4 knots and a windward-leeward course was set to a westerly wind direction, with the weather mark in the middle of the western breakwater and the leeward gate in the vicinity of the monument on the upper East Pier wall.
Given that it was a long weekend in celebration of St Brigid’s Day (1 Feb), the turnout of the fleet was quite good with only the ILCA6s significantly down in numbers. The PY fleet was seventeen strong with a good showing of Fireballs and Aeros and a second GP14 to keep Norman and Alan company and the solitary IDRA of the Longs. The ILCA7s had a high percentage turnout of their series entry, while the ILCA6s were just over half of what we would normally expect.
A two-lap windward-leeward course was set for the afternoon’s opener and with a solitary OCS, who went back, the PY fleet went left initially. From an early stage in the race, the Fireball (15114) of Barry McCartin and Harry Thompson dominated proceedings on the water winning very comfortably. The balance of the Fireballs was clustered in a group with some close racing the reward and in the Aeros Noel Butler was finding some stiffer competition from Paul Phelan on the water. The ILCA classes also enjoyed some good racing as well.
With one ILCA offered an early finish on the water, a second windward-leeward course was signalled for Race 2, again of 2 laps duration, with a short turnaround between the races. At this stage the RO was more convinced that unless the wind disappeared, a third race was a distinct possibility and he was rewarded in his thoughts when the wind increased for the second race.
All three fleets got away cleanly at the first time of asking and there was a distinct similarity in the occupants of the podium places in all three fleets at the end of the race, albeit in a slightly different order.
With the breeze getting up to nine knots and with a modest elapsed time for the second race, the RO persuaded the race management team that a third race was possible and while a colleague took over the finishing process, the RO set an adjusted course for the final race of the day. Having had two windward-leeward courses, the fleet were set a two-lap Olympic course for the third race. The weather mark was moved southwards to sit off the end of the western breakwater and a gybe mark was set about 75m west of the dolphins for the ferry. The leeward gate was reduced to a leeward mark and although a few boats went home, the significant majority stayed for the final chapter of the day.
McCartin and Thompson dominated the PY proceedings on the water with comfortable wins, while Butler was consistently chased by Phelan in the Aeros. Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly (FB 14865) had a great third race finishing second on the water.
Symmetry seems to have been the order of the day as the podium places in both the ILCA 7s and the PY fleet were occupied by the same combinations as in Races 1 and 2. Only in the ILCA6s was there a single place change among the podium places. By the end of the race the wind had climbed into double figures which given where we had started made for an enjoyable day after all.
The stalwarts of the DMYC hosted daily prizegiving seemed to have enjoyed the three-race recipe for the day and the fact that all three races were short and sharp seemed to have enhanced that sense of enjoyment.
Viking Marine Frostbites: Sunday 2nd February.
| PY Fleet | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 |
| 1st | Barry McCartin & Harry Thompson (Fireball) | McCartin & Thompson | Lee & Leddy |
| 2nd | Norman Lee & Alan Leddy (GP14) | Butler | McCartin & Thompson |
| 3rd | Noel Butler (Aero 6) | Lee & Leddy | Butler |
| Mug Winner | Neil Colin (Aero 6) | Alan Blay & Hugh McNally (Fireball) | Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly (Fireball) |
| ILCA 7s | |||
| 1st | Hugh Delap | Delap | Byrne |
| 2nd | Conor Byrne | Marmelstein | Delap |
| 3rd | John Marmelstein | Byrne | Marmelstein |
| Mug Winner | Conor O’Leary | Aidan Geraghty | No winner |
| ILCA 6s | |||
| 1st | Darren Griffin | Darren Griffin | Clancy |
| 2nd | Neil Hegarty | Clancy | Griffin |
| 3rd | Conor Clancy | Hegarty | Judy O’Beirne |
| Mug Winner | Mary Chambers | Michael Norman | Judy O’Beirne |
There were some standout performances on the day, with Mary Chambers finishing fourth in the first race of the ILCAs which warranted a Frostbite Mug, but Judy O’Beirne went one better by finishing third in Race 3 which again warranted the award of a Frostbite Mug. All three ILCA 6 Mug Winners were acknowledged by popular acclaim
In the PY Class there were also “home-club” Frostbite Mug winners in the form of Neil Colin for Race 1 and Owen Sinnott and Grattan Donnelly in Race 3. While a Mug winner was declared for Race 2 in the PY Fleet, this result has become the subject of a steward’s enquiry, when a Series 2 entry wasn’t recorded – an IT issue! This will be addressed next Sunday. We also welcomed an Aero 5, sailed by Colin Nixon, to Series 2.
As this is being written (Wednesday evening), XCWeather is suggesting winds of 10-12 knots Easterly for Sunday afternoon, though the current numbers are on a 3hr interval. Met Eireann is suggesting something similar! That might suggest another three-race smorgasbord of racing options!!