DMYC Frostbites – A Return to Racing!

Posted 3 years ago by soram

 

The statistics for the post-Christmas Frostbites make for sobering reading. In nine Sundays up to
yesterday, only five races were sailed across three Sundays. There have been six weekends in which no
racing took place and four of those have fallen in consecutive weekends, up to yesterday.Therefore, it was
great to get two long races in yesterday under sunny but cool conditions. From early on in the week, the
signs were looking good for racing and Mother Nature obliged accordingly.
Fifty-seven boats came under a new Race Officer’s order for the first race with newly elected Commodore
of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Ian Cutliffe, the Master of Ceremonies. With the breeze coming out
of the east, the racecourse spanned the longer dimension of the harbour (east-west) and a weather mark
was set in the location of the Boyd Memorial on the wall of the East Pier. For the first race, four laps of a
triangular course were set with the gybe mark located in the mouth of the harbour and the leeward mark
and committee boat about halfway along the western breakwater. This correspondent was on weather mark
duty and in my estimation the breeze was at about 8 – 10 knots for most of the afternoon. When the sun
wasn’t behind clouds it was pleasant.
In the PY Class, the race on the water was dominated by Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella (15093) who
led at the first weather mark and pulled away from the fleet for the duration of the race. They came up the
left-hand side of the first beat whereas their chasers came from the middle and right-hand side. And,
interestingly, the lead chasers were new occupants of that role, the Fireball of Ciaran Hickey and Mick
Keegan (14676). In Class terms, Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly (14865) and Louise McKenna &
Hermine O’Keeffe (15016) were in close company and towards the end were chasing down Hickey &
Keegan, which meant that Frank Miller & Ed Butler (14713) found themselves further down the pecking
order than they might normally expect. In PY the regular battle for handicap honours is between the
Fireballs and Aeros and yesterday was no different. Brendan Foley (Aero 7) was well up the pecking order
on the water early on, but sailing in clear air, McCartin & Kinsella finished 5:11 ahead of him on the water at
the finish. However, on handicap terms, McCartin’s margin was down to fifteen seconds. Three Aeros
finished in the top five, two 7s and the 5 of Sarah Dwyer, while the GP15 of David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne
(14069) took fourth place. Three more Aero 7s were in the top ten along with the second Fireball of
Hickey/Keegan and IDRA of Pierre Long and son.
In the ILCA 7s and 6s the winners led from start to finish; Sean Craig in the ILCA 6 and Conrad Vandlik in
the ILCA 7. In the 7s, Chris Arrowsmith and Gavan Murphy closed out the podium and in the 6s Adam Irvin,
Shirley Gilmore, Justin Geoghegan and Judy O’Beirne closed out the top five. However, there was some
very close racing in both fleets although there was a contrast in fleet numbers, the bigger rig mustering
seven boats whereas the slightly smaller rig had twenty-three boats.
In the ILCA 4s six boats were on the water with a win for Emma Lynch followed home by Donal Walsh and
Eva Ennis.
For the second race of the day, a four-lap windward-leeward course, the weather mark was moved
marginally southwards and the race proceeded in slightly softer wind conditions.
At the first weather mark the Fireballs were in a tighter bunch, with McCartin/Kinsella setting the pace
again. However, this time the lead chasers were the all-female combination of Louise and Hermine, with
Messrs Hickey, Sinnott and Miller taking the “supporting act roles”. Again, the time challenge for the
Fireballs was staying ahead of the Aeros, and the second race margin was 3:15 on the water for McCartin.
However, even this wasn’t enough as Brendan Foley took the “paper honours” with a time advantage of
1:06. The distribution of the top five was a bit broader across the classes in Race 2 with an Aero 7, a
Fireball, a GP14, a K1 and an Aero 5 taking the honours – Foley, McCartin, Mulvin, Tom Murphy and
Dwyer the beneficiaries. McKenna & O’Keeffe took 6 th , Ciara Mulvey & Peter Murphy (GP14 11111) took
seventh, the Longs (IDRA) eighth and two Aero 7s, Mick McCambridge and Paul Phelan closing out the top
ten.
In the ILCA 7s, Conrad Vandlik banked a double by winning the second race of the day, with Gavan
Murphy finishing second and Niall Cowman third.
In the ILCA 6s, with an additional two boats in the fleet, Sean Craig also banked a double, but my recall is
that he was off the pace at the first weather mark, possibly outside the top five! He clearly recovered to lead
the fleet home with Adam Irvin, Luke Tierney, Brendan Hughes and Brendan Williams in his wake.
In the ILCA 4s, the girls in the first three in Race 1 swopped places with Ava Ennis taking the win and
Emma Lynch taking third. In between another Donal, O’Connor, took second.

Frostbiters are also reminded that a Notice of Race for Friday the 18 th of March has been posted. This is a)
to take advantage of a double Public Holiday (Thursday and Friday), b) to give Frostbiters some more
racing though these races will NOT count in terms of the overall Frostbite Series. Mug prizes will be
presented on the day, to those classes with at least ten entries, but you have to be in attendance to get
your Mug! Free entry to current Frostbiters, all other are asked to make a €20 donation to the RNLI. All
interested parties are requested to register via the DMYC website.

Series 2 Frostbites, 6th March 2022.

Race 1

PY Class 21 Boats

  1. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella (FB 15093)
  2. Brendan Foley (Aero 7)
  3. Mark Gavin (Aero 7)
  4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (GP14 14069)
  5. Sarah Dwyer (Aero 5)

ILCA 7s 7 Boats

  1. Conrad Vandlik
  2. Chris Arrowsmith
  3. Gavan Murphy

ILCA 6s 23 boats

  1. Sean Craig
  2. Adam Irvin
  3. Shirley Gilmore
  4. Justin Geoghegan
  5. Judy O’Beirne

ILCA 4s 6 Boats

  1. Emma Lynch
  2. Donal Walsh
  3. Ava Ennis

Race 2  

PY Class 21 Boats

  1. Brendan Foley
  2. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella
  3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne
  4. Tom Murphy (K1)
  5. Sarah Dwyer

ILCA 7s 7 Boats

  1. Conrad Vandlik
  2. Gavan Murphy
  3. Niall Cowman

ILCA 6s 25 Boats

  1. Sean Craig
  2. Adam Irvin
  3. Luke Tierney
  4. Brendan Hughes
  5. David Williams

ILCA 4s 6 Boats

  1. Ava Ennis
  2. Donal O’Connor
  3. Emma Lynch