For the first time this season, the Viking Marine sponsored Frostbites, hosted by the DMYC, lived up to their name as yesterday’s racing was held in very low temperatures, only a couple of degrees above zero. And, accordingly, the speculation from mid-week wasn’t exclusively about wind but rather about temperature. That sense, that it might just be too cold, was heightened by a light falling of snow outside my window on Thursday night, some of which was still lying on Sunday morning.

An earlier morning appointment to “bend the knee” suggested that it wasn’t quite as cold as I expected, but that was a false dawn in terms of the temperature on the water, on board the committee boat. And any sense of temperature related discomfort for everyone was heightened when the L.E James Joyce was delayed in getting out of her berth alongside the Carlisle Pier before racing. Initially advised that she was leaving at 13:30, racing had to be postponed until the vessel departed around 14:20.

The actual wind direction on the day was further west that both XCWeather and the Windy App had been suggesting, flicking 10° either side of due west for most of the afternoon. Wind strength was as predicted, in the range of 8 – 13knots.  That allowed for a reasonable length of course to be laid with only one race on the agenda for the day – the logic being to get a good length race in and everyone ashore before the afternoon got too cold. Thus, a five-lap Olympic was set, an easy start line in terms of length and bias and a marker buoy was floated off the transom of the committee boat to dissuade boats from hiding behind the port quarter of the committee boat and jumping the gun. All the competitors must have read my mental script as all three starts got away cleanly at the first time of asking!

The weather did impact on the numbers with 17 PYs claiming the biggest start honours, followed by the ILCA 6s (13), the ILCA 7s (5) and the ILCA 4s (2). The weather mark was set about 60m north of the end of the western breakwater, out of its wind-shadow, the gybe mark about 100m west of the Hy-speed ferry gantry and the leeward mark off the monument on the upper level of the East Pier. Early tracking of the top reach showed that the Fireballs were getting a nice three-sail reach to the gybe.

On the water the Fireballs of Frank Miller and Alastair Court dominated proceedings with less than thirty seconds separating them at the finish and each of them of the order of five minutes ahead of the Aeros of Stephen Oram, Roy Van Maanen and Noel Butler in that order. These three were separated by five seconds but the finishing order was turned on its head in the very last seconds on the finish line when Butler capsized while trying to clear the committee boat, allowing the other two to finish ahead of him. These two sets of boats, the two Fireballs and the three Aeros enjoyed close racing throughout the five laps and this was one of the reasons for letting the race run its full length, despite the delayed start. On corrected time Oram’s bigger Aero sail (7) saw him demoted on handicap to fourth place against the 6s of Van Maanen, Butler and Stuart Harris who would have won the Race Mug had he been at the day prizegiving. Meanwhile on time, the two Fireballs lost out again, finishing 5^th and 6^th respectively, their five-minute advantage on the water translating to a 1:13 deficit between Van Maanen in 1^st Overall and Miller & Butler (FB 14915) in 5^th. Court & Syme (FB15167) were 6^th ahead of the first PY Lady, Sarah Dwyer (Aero 6). Paul & Morris ter Horst (FB14790) had a very good day on the water finishing third amongst the Fireballs.   

In the ILCA 7s, there was an ongoing tussle throughout the race between Gavan Murphy and Theo Lyttle. As with the PYs, this was a good reason to allow the race to run its full length. Hovering a short distance behind them was Conor O’Leary ready to take an advantage of any mistakes by the front two. At the most important point of the race, the finish, Murphy was in pole position, followed by Lyttle and O’Leary.    

In contrast to the previous two classes, the ILCA 6s were led from start to finish by Sean Craig who had a comfortable lead at the finish. Behind him, the finishing order was Brendan Hughes, John O’Driscoll, Darren Griffin and David Williams. Brendan Hughes collected his Frostbite Mug for the day’s race win.

And in the two boat ILCA 4s, the initial sense was that Kate Flood and Grace Gavan were quite content to race around the course in each other’s company, because as soon as we saw one, we saw the other. However, in the latter stages of the race that changed and Kate Flood took the honours quite comfortably.

For the early beats the fleet was spread across the N-S width of the harbour, but as the afternoon progressed, it appeared that the left side was more favoured. However, there was no sense that it had turned into a soldier’s course and the feedback from selected finishers is that it had been a good course. The race was completed just after 15:30 as the sun began to disappear behind clouds, at which point the coldness of the air was much more pronounced.

The pre-Christmas, Series 1 Frostbites conclude next Sunday, 18^th December and will be followed by the Series 1 prize-giving in the DMYC Clubhouse. Leading contenders for possible prizes (see below) are encouraged to be in attendance to collect their prizes.

It should also be noted that there will be a race in aid of the RNLI on Tuesday 27^th December. Frostbiters who have entered the series do not have to pay an entry fee but are requested to make an online donation to the organisation. Anyone who wants to sail on the day can also do so, subject to NoR requirements. A NoR will be published imminently for everyone’s attention, including entry details and online donation details.