While thirty-five boats had entered the extra Bank Holiday DMYC “Snakes Alive mini dinghy regatta, a slightly smaller number actually appeared on the water in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Of the twenty-five boats that did race, full marks go to the ILCA 4s who had a 100% attendance of the four boats entered – well done to Zoe Hall, Ava Ennis, Dylan de Vreeze and Lucy Nicol who not only appeared but contested all three races.
Next best were the ILCA 7s who had a full suite of three boats, with three finishers in the first race, two in the second and none in the last race as the remaining ILCA 7 offered to start with the PY Fleet – thanks Brian!
The ILCA 6s had fourteen boats entered and eight sailed the first race and seven the remaining two. The PYs also promised fourteen boats with eight answering the starter’s call.
However, how many boats appeared was academic because there was a very favourable reaction from all those who did make it to the water.
Brian Carroll, 218961 leads Marco Sorgassi 211811 on a downwind leg in the ILCA 6 division
With the wind steady from 150° all afternoon, the course needed no adjustment in terms of the location of the weather mark, utilising the maximum dimension of the harbour it was situated east of the bandstand, with the committee boat in the elbow of the western breakwater and the West Pier. For the first two triangular courses, the gybe mark was set inside the end of the East Pier.
The last race was a shorter two-lap windward-leeward which meant that the gybe mark became the second half of the leeward gate.
Frank Miller & Neil Cramer, Fireball 14713 (later in the afternoon)
The wind was at its strongest at the start of the afternoon, with the base wind fluctuating around the 15- 17 knots but during the first race 21 knots was recorded on a handheld device. That afforded the fleet a brisk tour of the harbour and Frank Miller & Neil Cramer (FB 14713) availed of the conditions to romp home by a very comfortable margin in Race 1. However, on corrected time, they lost out to the GP14 of Ciara Mulvey & Peter Murphy. Young Conrad Vandlik in the ILCA 7 continued where he has been for a large part of the season, in pole position.
The ILCA 4s were superb with tight racing all afternoon between Zoe Hall and Ava Ennis, but in the breeziest conditions, their willingness and competitiveness to get around the course was fantastic. These two young ladies are petite, but neither gave way to the conditions. Zoe took the first race, but Ava took the second.
Brendan Foley, Aero 7 1321 – downwind concentration
In the ILCA 6s, only three boats finished the first race with Marco Sorgassi taking the honours, but their numbers went up for races two and three.
As the afternoon wore on the wind eased and the last race of the day was sailed in 8 – 10 knots. While the ILCAs had “enjoyed” a prolonged training session on the water before racing began, they also seemed to enjoy having three races. There were many others who had a smile on their face at the conclusion of the afternoon.
Snakes’ Alive “Regatta” Friday, March 18th – hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club
The regular Frostbites return tomorrow (Sunday) for the penultimate round of racing. The forecast now (16:30, Saturday) is for 13 – 17 knots of South-Easterly with sunshine and a temperature of 9°. See you on the water!
