Sunday 25th November was the fourth day and halfway point of the Frosty series at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, 23 RS400s hit the start line, easterly 16-27 knot wind with big waves made for entertaining racing in an extremely tight fleet on Belfast Lough.
The first race kicked off with a clean start, with everyone was well mannered, a steady 16knots kept the whole fleet tight, Barry McCartin and Robert Espey reigniting their revival from the previous week out in front at the end of lap one, followed by Sam Pickering in third. the final downwind was tight with anyone of the top 8 still in contention, Sam Pickering showed once again his downwind speed and took the honours in race 1, with Robert Espey 2nd, Paul Mclaughlin third, notably Barry McCartin losing six places on the downwind leg.
With a pin end basis and conditions building in race 2, the start line was more congested resulting in OCS’s for both Olly Lockhead and John Driscoll. Barry McCartin had the best start and put in a dominant performance on his way to winning the second race, Robert Espey in 2nd and Liam Donnelly, who displayed serious speed coming from 7th on the last downwind to finish in 3rd. showing Paul McLaughlin 4th, Tom Purdon 5th and Neil Calvin 6th how it’s done.
Simon Hutchinson’s bent mast tells the story, as the strengthen conditions picked up to 27 knots. This made for hard upwinds and thrilling downwinds, Robert Espey showed his class to win race 3 comfortably ahead of the chasing pack of Barry McCartin in 2nd, Paul McLaughlin in 3rd and Olly Lockhead in 4th.
Great race organisation, conditions and competition made for another excellent day on the water. With Sam Picking up a win, it now means there has been 7 different race winners in 12 races, highlighting how close and competitive the racing is.
