On the eve of the third round of the Flying Fifteen Frostbites, hosted by the National Yacht Club, we were all shocked to hear that our dear friend Ben Mulligan had passed away.
Ben was an integral part of the Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen fleet, having sailed in the class over a long number of years. A poll of his contemporaries had indicated that Ben would have wanted the Frostbites to proceed and, on that basis, it was agreed that a tribute to Ben would be paid by the flying of the B flag (for Ben) for a minute’s silence before the start of racing. Ironically, the B flag is the protest flag, something Ben never used – at least in my time sailing with him.
Article author Cormac Bradley (right) sailing with the late Ben Mulligan in September's Flying Fifteen National Championships on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat
Six boats gathered at the start area under the control of Race Officer Keith Poole, and at the appropriate time a minute’s silence was observed. A number of others cried off, given the robustness of the wind on shore.
Three races were sailed on a grey drizzly day with winds regularly hitting the mid-twenties at the start of proceedings but dropping off as the afternoon wore on. The first two races were two-lap Windward – Leeward courses with a weather mark and spreader laid in the vicinity of the Outfall Mark to the west of the harbour entrance. The Leeward mark was in transit with the Poolbeg chimneys.
Racing among the six boats was quite tight – in Race 1 one boat trailed the pack, but in Race 2 the pack was much more compact but the off-wind legs saw the fleet split left and right in the lively conditions.
There was a large swell running so there was some excellent surfing opportunities. The third race was a single-lap race to which five boats responded, and it became the tightest race of them all.
Race wins were shared between John Lavery & Alan Green (4083) who took the first two and Shane McCarthy & Chris Doorly (4085) who took the third. However, the first and third races were extremely tight and the difference between 1st and 2nd was no more than a boat length. Lavery & Green were comfortable winners in Race 2. In the third race, Lavery & Green took a penalty on the water, for infringing on David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068), but still managed to catch the fleet and score a low points finish.
The Dunmore East pair of Lee Statham and Andy Paul (4070) who have travelled up for each of the Frostbite Saturdays, scored three third places on the day and Mulvin and Beirne day’s result left them a point ahead of Ken Dumpleton and Joe Hickey (3955) with Tom Murphy & Matt (4057) closing out the finishing order on the day.
