From early in the week it was apparent that temperature rather than wind would determine what would be possible on the first Sunday of the 2026 Frostbites. Both XCWeather and, closer to the day, Met Eireann, were agreed on a moderate forecast in terms of wind, but were equally agreed that temperatures would be low – only a couple of degrees above freezing. A number of seasoned Frostbite competitors had contacted me as to what might be possible or what should be available and there was consensus that we should try and get the Series “up and running”. Reading on Facebook of a late cancellation of a well-established “Frostbite event” in the UK, where competitors travel significantly longer distances to participate, due to temperature concerns, there was an increased resolve to make sure we had racing in Dun Laoghaire. Thirty-six boats shared the view that sailing was possible, so with the sun shining deceptively and temperatures in the2-4°range, Series 2 was initiated with a single longer-than-usual race to allow competitors to go straight home after they crossed the finishing line. There were no discordant voices raised to that prospect!

Given the cold, all three starts got away cleanly and even slightly conservatively – possibly as a collective attempt not to stay out on the water any longer than was necessary.

The PY fleet were given a five-lap race of the Olympic configuration, with the westerly breeze placing the weather mark to the north of the marina entrance, the gybe mark off the ferry dolphins and a gybe mark set close to the obelisk on the upper East Pier.

While the wind direction had stayed steady in the lead up to the first gun of the day, it soon started to show change, with the breeze flicking southwards, but coming back enough to still allow for a beat to the first mark.

With wind strength peaking at 18 knots and dropping as low as 13 knots during the afternoon, the Fireballs were in their element, none more so than Frank Miller & Neil Cramer (FB 14915) who rounded the weather mark first and sailed progressively further away from the chasing pack, finishing in a time of 37:50. My recall is that they were the only combination to drop below 40  minutes for the race. The Aero 9 of Paul Phelan was prominent in the early part of the race as was the GP14 of Sean Craig & Stephen Boyle. As the race progressed, Noel Butler in the Aero 6 worked his way up the fleet and Gordon Syme and Neil Colin in the same boats likewise improved as the race progressed. As was to be expected some boats fell foul of the wind conditions and some of the Fireballs capsized during the race which had an impact on their finishing places. Similarly, the second GP14 of Ciara Mulvey & Peter Murphy also fell off the pace.

This first race of 2026 saw the debut of three new boats – a Mirror sailed by Sam Smith & Freddie Nelson – who gave their all, flying spinnaker on the legs where a spinnaker was possible, an OK sailed by Dara MacDonagh and the Fireball of Frank Cassidy, crewed by his 15-year-old son, “a lightie” making his debut in a Fireball.  This latter pair were “chuffed” to be the third Fireball finisher on the water.

Another possible debutant was the RS200 of Sam Magill-Dohan & Lia McCann, who chased the more experienced Sarah Dwyer & Heather King around the course finishing 1:45 down on the latter pair. 

In keeping with the awareness of temperature, both ILCA fleets were given a four-lap race, to compact the finishing window for the whole Frostbite fleet. Six ILCA 7s were joined by a solitary ILCA 4 (Alex Butcher) in the second start – again a conservative one! Here the lead was taken by Hugh Delap at an early stage with Luke Murphy seemingly arriving to the start area slightly late but making up for that by heading the chasing pack behind Delap. Neil Hegarty took third in this fleet.  Despite the cold, Conor O’Leary brought his usual cheery attitude to the race.

The ILCA 6s had a 13-boat fleet and Conor Clancy led the fleet home but had to be wary of the hard-chasing Owen Laverty who would finish second. Gareth Giles sailed a single race in Series 1 but announced his presence by getting a podium finish in this race.

While there were thrills and spills on the course, nobody objected to the single-race format and gave the impression of being happy out with the single longer race. 

Special thanks go to the RIB and Committee Boat Teams who make racing possible every Sunday but who would have had a cold station on Sunday despite the sunshine. 

As I write, there is an ominous forecast for this Sunday afternoon!