The statistics for the post-Christmas Frostbites make for sobering reading. In nine Sundays up to yesterday, only five races were sailed across three Sundays. There have been six weekends in which no racing took place and four of those have fallen in consecutive weekends, up to yesterday. Therefore, it was great to get two long races in yesterday under sunny but cool conditions. From early on in the week, the signs were looking good for racing and Mother Nature obliged accordingly.
Fifty-seven boats came under a new Race Officer’s order for the first race with newly elected Commodore of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Ian Cutliffe, the Master of Ceremonies.
David Williams (ILCA 6) and Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (FB 15016) Photo: Cormac Bradley
With the breeze coming out of the east, the racecourse spanned the longer dimension of the harbour (east-west) and a weather mark was set in the location of the Boyd Memorial on the wall of the East Pier. For the first race, four laps of a triangular course were set with the gybe mark located in the mouth of the harbour and the leeward mark and committee boat about halfway along the western breakwater. This correspondent was on weather mark duty and in my estimation, the breeze was at about 8 – 10 knots for most of the afternoon. When the sun wasn’t behind clouds it was pleasant.
Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly (FB 14865/Red spinnaker), Brian Carroll (218961/ILCA 6) and Ciaran Hickey & Mick Keegan (FB 14676/White spinnaker). Photo: Cormac Bradley
In the PY Class, the race on the water was dominated by Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella (15093) who led at the first weather mark and pulled away from the fleet for the duration of the race. They came up the left-hand side of the first beat whereas their chasers came from the middle and right-hand side. And, interestingly, the lead chasers were new occupants of that role, the Fireball of Ciaran Hickey and Mick Keegan (14676). In Class terms, Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly (14865) and Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016) were in close company and towards the end were chasing down Hickey & Keegan, which meant that Frank Miller & Ed Butler (14713) found themselves further down the pecking order than they might normally expect. In PY the regular battle for handicap honours is between the Fireballs and Aeros and yesterday was no different. Brendan Foley (Aero 7) was well up the pecking order on the water early on, but sailing in clear air, McCartin & Kinsella finished 5:11 ahead of him on the water at the finish. However, on handicap terms, McCartin’s margin was down to fifteen seconds. Three Aeros finished in the top five, two 7s and the 5 of Sarah Dwyer, while the GP15 of David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (14069) took fourth place. Three more Aero 7s were in the top ten along with the second Fireball of Hickey/Keegan and IDRA of Pierre Long and son.
Shirley Gilmore (216328) and Adam Irvin (8), both ILCA 6s Photo: Cormac Bradley
In the ILCA 7s and 6s the winners led from start to finish; Sean Craig in the ILCA 6 and Conrad Vandlik in the ILCA 7. In the 7s, Chris Arrowsmith and Gavan Murphy closed out the podium and in the 6s Adam Irvin, Shirley Gilmore, Justin Geoghegan and Judy O’Beirne closed out the top five. However, there was some very close racing in both fleets although there was a contrast in fleet numbers, the bigger rig mustering seven boats whereas the slightly smaller rig had twenty-three boats.
In the ILCA 4s six boats were on the water with a win for Emma Lynch followed home by Donal Walsh and Eva Ennis.
For the second race of the day, a four-lap windward-leeward course, the weather mark was moved marginally southwards and the race proceeded in slightly softer wind conditions.
Brendan Foley (1321/Aero 7) leads the Fireball of Hickey & Keegan (14676) at the weather mark Photo: Cormac Bradley
At the first weather mark the Fireballs were in a tighter bunch, with McCartin/Kinsella setting the pace again. However, this time the lead chasers were the all-female combination of Louise and Hermine, with Messrs Hickey, Sinnott and Miller taking the “supporting act roles”. Again, the time challenge for the Fireballs was staying ahead of the Aeros, and the second race margin was 3:15 on the water for McCartin. However, even this wasn’t enough as Brendan Foley took the “paper honours” with a time advantage of 1:06. The distribution of the top five was a bit broader across the classes in Race 2 with an Aero 7, a Fireball, a GP14, a K1 and an Aero 5 taking the honours – Foley, McCartin, Mulvin, Tom Murphy and Dwyer the beneficiaries. McKenna & O’Keeffe took 6th, Ciara Mulvey & Peter Murphy (GP14 11111) took seventh, the Longs (IDRA) eighth and two Aero 7s, Mick McCambridge and Paul Phelan closing out the top ten.
In the ILCA 7s, Conrad Vandlik banked a double by winning the second race of the day, with Gavan Murphy finishing second and Niall Cowman third.
In the ILCA 6s, with an additional two boats in the fleet, Sean Craig also banked a double, but my recall is that he was off the pace at the first weather mark, possibly outside the top five!
He clearly recovered to lead the fleet home with Adam Irvin, Luke Tierney, Brendan Hughes and Brendan Williams in his wake.
In the ILCA 4s, the girls in the first three in Race 1 swapped places with Ava Ennis taking the win and Emma Lynch taking third. In between another Donal, O’Connor, took second.
Frostbiters are also reminded that a Notice of Race for Friday the 18th of March has been posted. This is a) to take advantage of a double Public Holiday (Thursday and Friday), b) to give Frostbiters some more racing though these races will NOT count in terms of the overall Frostbite Series. Mug prizes will be presented on the day, to those classes with at least ten entries, but you have to be in attendance to get your Mug! Free entry to current Frostbiters, all other are asked to make a €20 donation to the RNLI. All interested parties are requested to register via the DMYC website.
Series 2 Frostbites, 6th March 2022
Race 1
PY Class 21 Boats
1. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella (FB 15093)
2. Brendan Foley (Aero 7)
3. Mark Gavin (Aero 7)
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (GP14 14069)
5. Sarah Dwyer (Aero 5)
ILCA 7s 7 Boats
1. Conrad Vandlik
2. Chriss Arrowsmith
3. Gavan Murphy
ILCA 6s 23 boats
1. Sean Craig
2. Adam Irvin
3. Shirley Gilmore
4. Justin Geoghegan
5. Judy O’Beirne
ILCA 4s 6 Boats
1. Emma Lynch
2. Donal Walsh
3. Ava Ennis
Race 2
PY Class 21 Boats
1. Brendan Foley
2. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne
4. Tom Murphy (K1)
5. Sarah Dwyer
ILCA 7s 7 Boats
1. Conrad Vandlik
2. Gavan Murphy
3. Niall Cowman
ILCA 6s 25 Boats
1. Sean Craig
2. Adam Irvin
3. Luke Tierney
4. Brendan Hughes
5. David Williams
ILCA 4s 6 Boats
1. Ava Ennis
2. Donal O’Connor
3. Emma Lynch
