From Thursday onwards the forecast for the penultimate round of the Viking Marine sponsored Frostbites, hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, showed winds of the order of fifteen knots with gusts in the high twenties. With a projected wind direction from the south, the harbour would still be relatively sheltered, but the high twenties gusts gave cause for concern. A change of Race Officer for the day’s proceedings, meant that this correspondent wasn’t on the water but watched the first race from the western breakwater inside the harbour.
A PY Start Photo: Ian Cutliffe
A balmy 12°, according to the car thermometer, greeted the competitors but there was no evident sign of the promised 15 knots. Indeed, the water of the inner harbour, on the doorstep of the DMYC was very calm and some boat would subsequently need a tow out to the race area. Race Officer Ben Mulligan (Flying Fifteens) certainly had his hands full as the breeze in the outer harbour was very fickle and shifting around very considerably. The committee boat was set up off the end of the western breakwater and the weather mark went in to the west of the Hi-speed ferry dolphins. That left the gybe mark of the triangular course in the approximate area of the harbour mouth and a leeward mark close to the green pontoon of the INSS.
Light winds for the PY fleet
For the PY Fleet’s first start there was a traffic jam at the pin end as boats struggled to cross the line on starboard and instead tried to line up to make a snappy pin end port-tack start. Even from the inshore end of the breakwater, I could hear loud voices asserting their rights to do whatever they thought was right. It led to a right/left split of the fleet and Frank Miller scored by going left. For the subsequent starts of the ILCAs, there was further chaos, multiple sound signals and coloured flags flying. The Race Officer subsequently shortened the PYs to a single triangle and once they were finished started proceedings again with the ILCA 7s and 4s getting away first followed by the ILCA 6s.
ILCA start Photo: Ian Cutliffe
The PYs then went into a second two-triangle race. The two ILCA fleets were then afforded a second one-triangle race so that all fleets went home with two races under their belts. The balmy, blue skies gave way to greyer clouds and more gusty conditions and some well-known combinations found themselves swimming a great deal more than they would have expected.
Viking Marine Frostbites, Round 6
1st Race
PY Fleet (28 boats)
1. Noel Butler
2. Mark Gavin
3. Mick McCambridge (All Aero 7s)
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (GP14 -14069)
5. Frank Miller & Ed Butler (FB – 14713)
8. Jemima Owens & Henry Start (RS200)
9. Tom Murphy (K1)
11. Pierre Long & Son (IDRA)
ILCA 7s (7 boats)
1. Gavan Murphy
2. Conrad Vandlik
3. Chris Arrowsmith
ILCA 4s (8 boats)
1. Emily Cantwell
2. Daniel O’Connor
3. Ava Ennis
4. Donal Walsh
5. Dylan de Vreeze
ILCA 6s (19 boats)
1. Alan Coakley
2. Sophie Kilmartin
3. Alison Pigot
4. Peter Kilmartin
5. Conor Clancy
2nd Race
PY Fleet (26 boats)
1. Mark Gavin
2. Brendan Foley
3. Noel Butler
4. Stephen Oram (All Aero 7s)
5. Roy Van Maanen (Aero 5)
6. Frank Miller & Ed Butler (FB 14713)
7. Sarah Dwyer (Aero 5)
8. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (GP14 14069)
10. Pierre Long & Son (IDRA)
ILCA 7s (6 boats)
1. Chris Arrowsmith
2. Conrad Vandlik
3. Gary O’Hare
ILCA 4s (7 boats)
1. Daniel O’Connor
2. Brian Carroll
3. Ava Ennis
ILCA 6s (15 boats)
1. Brendan Hughes
2. Archie Daly
3. Conor Clancy
4. Sophie Kilmartin
5. Judy O’Beirne
Fireballs Race within a Race
As usual, the Fireballs had their race within a race, with eight Fireballs starting amongst the mixed PY fleet. With wildly oscillating winds and probably an expectation that the wind would swing right the start line for Race One had a massive port bias making it almost impossible to get off the line on starboard.
In the midst of the chaos, Neil Colin sailing with Marjo Moonen (14775) managed to flip over to port and found a gap to pop through, pulling off a brave but perfectly safe and legal start. Frank Miller and Ed Butler (14713) played dodgems and managed to get off the pin without any contact. The pair found what there was of decent air and favourable shifts and led around the windward mark by several boat lengths. The pair extended their lead on the chasing fleet on the first reach, initially two-sailing it in the very light winds and hoisting only when there was enough wind to make a difference. Along the second reach, they were ahead of all PY boats by almost half a leg and rounded the leeward with a big lead. However, a third the way up the beat they were told the race was being shortened and sailed downwind again to dip the line and head up again for a windward finish, giving them line honours. They were followed home by Colin/Moonen (14775) and McKenna/O'Keeffe (15016) while Aero sailor Noel Butler won on handicap.
For Race Two Miller/Butler got off the boat-end favoured line cleanly about a third the way along and used their weight to good advantage in gusty conditions to pull away from the rest of the fleet. They led the two-triangle race to the finish this time followed home by McKenna/O'Keeffe while Colin/Moonen had a swim caused by the very difficult airs surrounding the weather mark. On handicap race two was won by Mark Gavin in an Aero.
The final race of Series 1 will be hosted next Sunday, 19th December. Competitors should note that due to the ongoing measures necessitated by Covid there will be no Series 1 prize-giving in the DMYC Clubhouse after racing. Regatta Director Neil Colin advises that prizes will be either be available for collection at the DMYC by individuals, or a plan will be made to get prizes to winner’s home clubs.
