Although some five day forecasts had made any resumption of Howth’s Frostbites seem unlikely, a sudden change of tone and a very welcome weather window arrived over the weekend. After a three-week enforced break, when each named storm had seemed to run into the one ahead while pulling along the one behind, the HYC Dinghy Frostbites resumed regular service on Sunday, 11th February.
With those three weekends missed, the race organisers aimed to complete three races to get the show back on the road. 24 boats across the ILCA and PY fleets hit the water, where they raced in a westerly breeze up to 20 knots, with a strong ebb tide for the sailors to fight against as they headed upwind. Jim Lambkin set fair windward/leeward courses for each of the races.
Darragh Peelo of Malahide in windward action. Despite pessimistic forecasts at mid-week, the weekend weather came good
BALTIMORE, CORK AND HOWTH BATTLE FOR HONOURS
The ILCA 7s saw series leader Rory Lynch (Baltimore) battling with Dan O'Connell (Cove SC) and Conor Murphy (Howth) for podium places in the first two races, with Conor taking a win in the first and Rory taking it in the second. The 3rd race saw a strengthening tide pushing everyone down onto the pin, and an individual recall was signalled, so a number of boats returned to restart.
And why shouldn’t he be smiling? After three close contests on the morning, Rory Lynch of Baltimore SC emerged from Sunday’s racing as the overall leader of the ILCA 7s
Conor Murphy didn't return, either being confident he was not OCS or - with a number of his competitors returning to restart – hoping he’d an opportunity to gain some distance on them. He called it right to lead the race, followed by Colm Cunningham (Malahide) and Rory Lynch to round out the podium. Lynch now leads the series overall on 9 points, followed by Murphy (10) and O'Connell (18).
Conor Murphy (Howth) chasing Dan O’Connell (Cove SC) as the February sunshine reached its peak
The afternoon cloud starts building over the land to close the weather window, but with their racing still in sunshine, Dan O’Connell (Cove) leads Darragh Peelo (Malahide)
ILCA 6 SYMMETRY
The ILCA 6s' results showed some symmetry, as results were the same in the first 2 races, with Tom Fox (Rush SC) followed by Peter Hassett (Dublin Bay SC and Viktor Samoilovs (Howth & Malahide). Their pace was undeniable, making inroads into the usually faster ILCA 7 fleet. The 3rd race saw a shake up in the results, with Peter Hassett claiming victory, followed by Tom and Darragh Peelo. Fox leads the series on 9 points, followed by Samoilovs (15) & Hassett (20).
TRAINING BENEFITS A DUNNE DEAL
The ILCA 4s were on the water early, with many of them taking part in the preliminary training session led by national stars Luke Turvey & Rocco Wright. Harry Dunne seems to be the biggest beneficiary of the training, coming away from the day with a 2, 1, 1. Stan O'Rourke had a great day, following closely with a 1, 2, 2. Oleksandr Bezpalyi and Freddie Doig claimed the remaining podium places for the day. O'Rourke has a healthy lead on the series with 8 points, followed by Oleksandr Bezpalyi (20) and Connor O'Sullivan (24).
A time to stay cool. Alan Blay does the balancing act as his spinnaker-toting GP14 closes in on the lee mark just as a 20-knot gust arrives
The battle between GP14s and RS Aeros continues to rage in the PY Fleet. Daragh Sheridan's RS Aero, and the GP14s of Conor Twohig & Alan Blay(both of Sutton) each had a race win in the hard day. Sam Street's GP14 from the mountains of Blessington rounded out the podium places among the race winners listed, such that Alan Blay holds a narrow lead on the series over Daragh Sheridan, followed by Sam Street in third place.
Coming up from the lee mark, Darragh Sheridan with his RS Aero keeps a brace of GP 14s firmly in place
The annual Round the Island Race will take place on Saturday 9th March, followed by an afternoon of prizes, lunch and rugby on the TV in the HYC clubhouse. It's always a great day, entry and NOR will be available on www.hyc.ie shortly.
Full results are available below.
The Annual “frostbite finishing” race round Howth’s island of Ireland’s Eye is scheduled for Saturday March 9th. The traditional event’s USP is that each skipper can choose to go clockwise or anti-clockwise
