A new innovation for this year's races, the setting of a separate weather mark for the Fireballs, was put into place for the fourteen Fireballs that contested the first race of the day and the thirteen boats who sailed the second race.
Both races were sailed in light winds which made for challenging conditions and some boats found windless "holes" from which they struggled to escape – makes one empathise with the Volvo Ocean competitors who have an ocean wide windless zone to negotiate en route to Cape Town. Observing from shore, this correspondent noted that the weather station on the east pier had recorded a maximum gust of 5kts up to the start of the second race. Exciting stuff!!
Messrs Butler and Oram (15061) won both races on the water, the first giving them their 2011/12 Frostbite Mug. They spent the afternoon exchanging places with Graeme Grant & Hugh Butler with Kenneth Rumball and David Moran never too far away.
Rumball/Moran took 2nd place on the water in the day's first race and followed it up with a 3rd in the 2nd race of the day. However, as Butler/Oram and Grant/Butler who finished 1st and 2nd respectively already had Frostbite Mugs, Rumball/Moran took the prize for the fourth race of the series.
In overall terms however, Andrew Boyle/Barry Hurley/Brian Flahive lead the series with a 20pt total. Yesterday they scored a 4th and a 6th to add to the 2 x 5th of Rounds 1 & 2. Butler/Oram and Louise McKenna/Hermine O'Keefe are tied for 2nd overall, 3pts adrift of the leaders, while Grant/Butler and Rumball/Moran close out the top five.
