Well known Dun Laoghaire Harbour sailor Liam Owens of Sandycove in County Dublin has died.

A former Commodore of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Owens also served as the Convenor of the Dun Laoghaire Combined Yacht Clubs. 

Owens led a successful campaign in 2016 against the threat of supersized cruise ships coming into the Harbour.

In 2016, An Bord Pleanala limited any proposed cruise liner development to accommodate a maximum size of cruise ship to 250m.

Owens said the decision 'secured the future of the harbour and its premier location for the benefit of all Dun Laoghaire residents, watersports users, walkers and all those visitors and locals who value this historic amenity'.

He was enjoying sailing his own boat on Dublin Bay this season and continued to be actively involved in harbour affairs. 

Our heartfelt condolences are with his family and his many friends at home and throughout Ireland and the world.

Funeral details are here

The West Pier based Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club is advertising marina berths as part of its membership package in the West Bight area of Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The club caters for all types of craft and sailors, from serious sailors to those who just enjoy being out on Dublin Bay.

"With an already strong presence on the West Bight harbour, this additional service provides an exciting opportunity for our club to expand its membership base", DMYC Commodore Ian Cutliffe told Afloat.

"The club would like to extend an invitation to potential new members, including boat owners, to join, so if you are interested in joining the club, please get in touch with us on 01 2801371 or e-mail [email protected], Cutliffe says.

The penultimate Sunday of the 2021/22 Viking Marine sponsored Frostbites, hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club started off with some discussion in the race management group as to whether sailing would take place.

Despite a forecast on Friday, published as part of the Snakes’ Alive report on Afloat, of 12-15 knots, the wind on the day was a few knots higher than this and some of the squalls were generating whistling in the rigging at the DMYC. And yet, when the squalls dissipated, the wind was fine. Given that it was the penultimate Sunday, the sun was shining and we had lost so many Sundays since the New Year, the RO decided we should at least go out and have a look. The forecast was for the wind to drop, so a postponement on the water might be used to get racing underway in more benign conditions.

The PY start Photo: Noel Butler

And given that a fleet of Optimists were having a coaching session on the water, it seemed that the wind in the corner of the harbour occupied by the DMYC was much more squally due to its direction and maybe a wider view of the race area would be beneficial.

Yes, on going out to the middle of the harbour, the breeze was around the 15 – 18 mark and there were stronger gusts but the gusts were in the high teens very low twenties and a decision was taken to sail windward-leeward for the first race and review the situation on completion.

With the wind from an almost identical direction to Friday’s Snakes’ Alive racing, 140°, the weather mark was laid on the offshore side of the bandstand on the East Pier, about a third of the way between the bandstand and the obelisk on the upper wall. The Leeward gate was laid in the elbow of the western breakwater and the West Pier. A similar fleet size to Friday was on the water, thirty-three boats, split as follows, PY (14), ILCA 7s (4), ICLA 6s (13) and ILCA 4s (2). All three starts got away at the first time of asking with most boats favouring a starboard tack start and a left-hand side of the beat approach for the opening beat. Later there was more progression to the right-hand side of the beat.

In the PY Fleet, Frank Miller & Ed Butler (FB 14713) dominated proceedings on the water and won with 3:12 in hand over the first Aero 7 of Brendan Foley and 5:29 on the Aero 5 of Sarah Dwyer. Yet they lost out on handicap to both these Aeros and the Finn of Des Fortune by 1:43 to Dwyer, 1:17 to Foley and 0:07 to Fortune. Still the smiles on the faces of all these finishers was testament to the racing that had been enjoyed. Dwyer in particular loved the stronger breeze.

In the ILCA 7s, Conor O’Leary stole a march on the regulars of Gavan Murphy and Chris Arrowsmith to take the gun while Zoe Hall put in another sterling performance in the breeze to take the ILCA 4s.
In the ILCA 6s, Marco Sorgassi came home with a tight chasing pack a short distance off his transom as he finished in first place. Behind him the pecking order was Conor Galligan, Conor Clancy, Sean Flanagan and Brendan Hughes.

ILCA racing at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites Photo: Noel Butler

The wind had moderated during the course of the race, though there were still squalls coming through but without the same viciousness as the morning. And given that the sun was out and the first race had been a fast one – four laps of a Windward-Leeward had generated a race time of 38:29 for Miller/Butler, a four-lap Olympic was signalled for the second race.

Photo: Noel Butler

There wasn’t an obvious peep from the high-profile character who had been vexed at the RO’s decision on the second race format and length the previous Sunday and during the week he had confirmed to the RO by WhatsApp that he had relented on his initial reaction to the decision. And in the second race said individual had another great result!

While the wind had eased somewhat for the second race, it seemed that some discretion was being displayed by the spinnaker classes on the top reach of the triangle, even though the gybe mark position, inside the red lighthouse, was in a genteel position.

Miller/Butler again dominated the proceedings on the water, free to go wherever they wanted on the course and the margin of victory was 3:47 to Foley in the Aero 7. Yet again, however, it was not enough to save time and Foley took the win, on paper, by 0:56. Des Fortune compounded a good first race (3rd) with another 3rd in the Finn and David Mulvin and Ronan Beirne (GP14 14069) took fourth, with Dwyer in fifth.

RS Aero upwind Photo: Noel Butler

Conor O’Leary did the double in the ILCA 7s, with Arrowsmith and Murphy swopping places from the first race, Arrowsmith second to Murphy’s third. Zoe Hall also did the double, but in the ILCA 6s, there was very tight racing at the front before Sorgassi came through with his double in the latter stages of the race.

The second race took just forty minutes which meant everyone was ashore in a reasonable time.

Viking Marine sponsored Frostbites, Sunday 20th March

Race 1

PY Fleet (14 boats)
1. Sarah Dwyer (Aero 5)
2. Brendan Foley (Aero 7)
3. Des Fortune (Finn)
4. Frank Miller & Ed Butler (Fireball)
5. Stephen Oram (Aero 7)

ILCA 7s (4 boats)
1. Conor O’Leary
2. Gavan Murphy
3. Chris Arrowsmith

ILCA 6s (13 boats)
1. Marco Sorgassi
2. Conor Galligan
3. Conor Clancy
4. Sean Flanagan
5. Brendan Hughes
ILCA 4s
1. Zoe Hall
2. Dylan de Vreeze

Race 2

PY Fleet
1. Brendan Foley
2. Frank Miller & Ed Butler
3. Des Fortune
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (GP14 14069)
5. Sarah Dwyer

ILCA 7s
1. Conor O’Leary
2. Chris Arrowsmith
3. Gavan Murphy

ILCA 6s
1. Marco Sorgassi
2. Conor Galligan
3. Conor Clancy
4. Brendan Hughes
5. Sean Flanagan

ILCA 4s
1. Zoe Hall
2. Dylan de Vreeze

With this being the penultimate day of racing, it is pertinent to publish the current overall results: 

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!

DMYC Race Organiser Neil Colin has issued the last shout out for Friday's 'Snakes Alive' dinghy event at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

"It looks like St Patrick is providing us a spectacular day for sailing on Friday, let’s hope the Hangovers are not too bad and we are all able to get out of bed on the 18th for the “Snakes Alive” event to be run from the DMYC on the successful Frostbite format, Colin told Afloat.

As Afloat reported previously,  the 'Pop Up' dinghy race for the Public Holiday on March 18th, is in place of the weather-related, lost races in the club's Viking Marine Frostbite Series since Christmas.

The races will not count in the series results, but DMYC race mugs will be presented to daily winners.

The “Snakes Alive” Open Event will be held in the Harbour and details can be found here.

Entrants to the Frostbite Series have a free pass, and others are encouraged to register online and make a lifeboat donation.

"We are requesting all entrants to register in advance of sailing, to ensure we have a starters list to assist the record-keeping and base results on', Colin said. 

Day winners across the classes will be presented in the DMYC bar afterwards, with the possibility of watching the Friday evening Six Nations match also on offer.

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

From as early as Thursday evening, the wind forecast for Sunday afternoon and the Viking Marine sponsored DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour was dodgy, 3 knots gusting four was the prediction! By Saturday that had improved slightly to 6knots gusting to 8, but on Sunday afternoon a preliminary trip to the outer harbour to check the scene was required before a decision was made to try and get a race in. At that stage a group of ILCAs, in session in front of the National Yacht Club were moving sufficiently to suggest a race might be possible. And so, we went out!

While these Frostbite reports are inclined to focus on the competitive aspect of the racing, given the day that evolved, it is only right to acknowledge the volunteers that give their time to running the racing. On board the committee boat, “Goose” there is a team of six people, five of whom keep track of where the competitors are and yesterday that wasn’t easy. In order to lay marks for the races, a further nine people were enlisted, that makes 15 people trying to give 65 boats a race or races as the case may be. To all those volunteers, our thanks.

The Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy fleet spread across Dun Laoghaire Harbour in the search for wind

When “Goose” came out to the race area, a bit more breeze had filled in and the wind was coming out of the southern sector of the compass. The word sector is used advisedly as there was quite a bit of variation in where it was coming from. With the committee boat sitting inside the end of the West Pier, the variation in wind direction, at its worst, would have had a weather mark to the east of the Carlisle Pier or, alternatively, a weather mark at the entrance to the marina. That huge variance eventually gave way to a much more modest swing, but even so the weather mark ended up being in a compromised position, about 175m west of the Ferry dolphins. The leeward gate was just off the end of the West Pier.

Four laps of a Windward-Leeward course were signalled, the premise being that if it went light or silly, the course could be shortened. And the prospect of a second race wasn’t really being contemplated at that early stage of the afternoon.

In the build-up to the start, it seemed Mother Nature might be willing to give the Race Officer a reprieve as we started recording up to 9knots of breeze……..maybe this would work! The 9knots didn’t hang around!
The 28-boat PY fleet, with 10 Fireballs, 7 Aeros, 3 GP14s, 2 RS400s, the IDRA, the K1, 2 Laser Vagos, a Laser Pico and a Wayfarer struggled with their first start, prompting a General Recall and relegation to the back of the queue. The pin was adjusted and the ILCA 7s and 4s, in a 15-boat fleet got away first time with the majority of the fleet heading to the left hand-side of the beat, which was still a beat at this stage.

Next up were the ILCA 6s, of which there were 22 and they too had problems with the line as the wind and my setting of the pin end came in to play. That demoted them to a second attempt at starting behind the PY fleet who again couldn’t get away. After the ILCA 6s, the PY fleet started under a black flag and while there was an even distribution of boats along the line, Neil Colin & Marjo Moneen (FB14775) came in marginally late around the port quarter of the committee boat and seemed to have stolen a march of the rest of the boats further down the line. However, post-race they admitted that they then sailed into a hole and the guys that went left initially stormed in from that side of the course. Another post-race comment was that a particular Aero had been able to lay the weather mark on one tack almost from the start. I must admit I didn’t spot that myself, but there were other signs that things were going awry!

First the breeze had faded and while the ILCA 7s and 4s were running back from the weather mark as I expected, the boats going upwind weren’t all beating. Another tell-tale sign was that the committee boat was now sitting upwind of the leeward gate, but orientated to a S-Westerly bearing, out to the right-hand side of the course. The committee boat moved in an attempt to get a beat in to the finish, even at an early stage in the race but no sooner had the anchor been dropped than it became apparent that the new position wouldn’t work either. A decision was then taken to finish at what had been the weather mark, though what it was now was open to debate. The problem is that with the size of the course and the overall fleet size, there is no time gap in which to shift the weather mark. And abandonment would undo the efforts of all the competitors who had stayed out on the course. Next task was to identify where the leaders in each of the fleets were. The recording team had their work cut out for them today!

A shortened course was signalled at the committee boat together with a flag declaration that there would be no more racing, because at this stage the wind was at zephyr strength and very, very fickle.

To give all the competitors their dues, nobody made a grumble at the finish, and everyone seemed to appreciate that a race had been completed. It wouldn’t have stood scrutiny as a club championship race, but it did allow people to be out on the water on what was a nice afternoon temperature wise.

Viking Marine Frostbites Day 4

PY Class 28 boats
1. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella FB 15093
2. Cariosa Power & Marie Barry FB14854
3. Stephen Oram Aero 7 3288
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne GP14 14069
5. Roy Van Maneen Aero 7 3822
6. Paul Phelan Aero 7 2523
7. Frank Miller & Neil Cramer FB14713
8. Ronan Wallace & Crew FB 14840
9. Brendan Foley Aero 7 1321
10. Andrew Irvin & Aisling O’Grady RS400 1044

ILCA 7s 8 boats

1. Conrad Vandlik
2. Gary O’Hare
3. Chris Arrowsmith
ILCA 6s 22 boats
1. Brain Carroll
2. Sean Craig
3. Shirley Gilmore
4. Adam Irvin
5. Conor Clancy
ILCA 4s 7 boats
1. Daniel O’Connor
2. Emma Lynch
3. Ava Ennis

After two Sundays of high wind forecasts leading to the cancellation of racing the Viking Marine sponsored DMYC Frostbites Series 2, post-Christmas, got underway yesterday in bright sunshine and good winds. In contrast to the previous Sundays when the late-week forecasts were ominous the lead up to the third Sunday left me wondering if there would be enough wind to have racing. On Thursday, the forecast was for winds of 3 knots and through Friday that didn’t improve much. However, the Met Eireann forecast at 23:55 on Friday night suggested there would be breeze enough for the business of the day, though which actual part of the westerly quarter it would come from was the source of some speculation. The forecast held up on the Saturday and on Sunday a projection of 9 – 15 knots was offered for the early part of the afternoon.

Rounding a busy weather mark Photo: Ian Cutliffe

In real time we had a wind strength that varied between 8 and 16 knots during the afternoon, but for the most part was in the 8 – 11 band of strength. While there was some fluctuation in direction, a weather mark was set in the elbow of the western breakwater where it joins the West Pier. In that location, the wind was measured as being due west and allowed a beat across the longest dimension of the harbour. With a 3-lap triangle course declared for Race 1, a gybe mark was set about 150m to leeward of the marina entrance and a leeward mark was set in the approximate location of the Boyd Memorial on the East Pier.

Given the day that was in it, there was a temptation to try and get three races in, after all the last time most people had raced was on December 27th for the Charity Race. However, given that there had been such a long break, Frostbites Director, Neil Colin, cautioned that discretion might be the better part of valour – we might get a bumper fleet given that all 120 slots for Series 2 had been taken up. In the end, we had 71 boats on the water and sailed two races of the same triangular course, of three laps and four laps respectively.

Damien Dion in the RS Aero 7 Photo: Cormac Bradley

In the PY Class, there was a healthy turnout of 33 boats with the Fireballs and Aeros tying in terms of the biggest representation – 11 boats each. Add to that 2 x RS400s, 2 x GP14s, an IDRA, a Wayfarer, a Kona Windsurfer, a 470, a Pico, a Vago and a 2.4m and one can see the broad attraction of winter racing in Dun Laoghaire.

Monica Schaeffer’s Wayfarer 11299 and Charlotte O’Kelly’s Aero 7 3290 going upwind with the GP 14 of Mulvey & Murphy going the opposite way. (Red & Green spinnaker) Photo: Cormac Bradley

Fireball debutants in this series of the Frostbites, Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella (15093) dominated both races on the water and managed to save their time on the pursuing Aeros. Indeed, in Race 1 a Fireball 1-2 was recorded with Alistair Court and Gordon Syme (14706), finishing behind the leaders. Positions 3- 8 on handicap were filled by a procession of Aeros, 7s in 3 – 7 and Sarah Dwyer taking 8th in a 5. The Aero role of honour was Paul Phelan, Brendan Foley, Mark Gavin, Noel Butler, Stephen Oram, Sarah Dwyer, with the Fireball of Frank Miller and Ed Butler (14713) 9th and Roy van Maanen 10th in another Aero 7. Ciaran Keogh (13624) won the battle of the GP14s. The RS 400s finished 12 seconds apart with Brian O’Hare and Lucy O Donoghue (582) taking the honours. The fleet enjoyed a good beat and some exhilarating reaches especially when the breeze got up a bit.

Ciara Mulvey & Peter Murphy (GP14 11111) drop spinnaker as they approach the leeward mark Photo: Cormac Bradley

Series 2 for the ILCA fleets saw the return of two stalwarts, Sean Craig and Marco Sorgassi respectively. The former had been campaigning a ILCA 6 with great success in Barcelona while the latter had simply missed the cut for Series 1. Both made appropriate amends in the ILCA 6 fleet with Craig taking the gun ahead of Sorgassi and Conor Clancy. Ladies took the next two places in the form of Judy O’Beirne and Shirley Gilmore.

The ILCA 7s and 4s share a start and jumped the gun for their first start. That relegated them to the back of the queue, behind their smaller siblings, the ILCA 4s. A better approach to the starting procedure saw them away at the second time of asking and the finishing order in the ILCA 7s was Niall Cowman, Gary O’Hare, Chris Arrowsmith, Owen Laverty and Conrad Vandlik.

In the ILCA 4s, the finishing order was Daniel O’Connor, Ava Ennis, Dylan de Vreeze, Eimear Farrell and Robyn Maguire.

In total, 37 ILCAs sailed on what was the opening day of Series 2.

With the wind still allowing the weather mark position to give a fair beat, a second race of 4 laps of the same triangular course was signalled. This time all three starts got away at the first time of asking, including a port-tack PY-er at the pin end of the start. Again, the Fireballs were well to the fore on the water and McCartin/Kinsella were first to show their spinnaker colour at the weather mark. The Fireballs were grouped closer together this time but McCartin progressively pulled away from his pursuers to win by 1:03 from Court/Syme who had six seconds to spare on Miller/Butler. Neil Colin & Marjo Moonen (14775) went swimming at the weather mark which accounts for them coming in over a minute behind Miller & Butler. However, only McCartin escaped the clutches of the Aeros as Noel Butler (3289) closed the door on the other Fireballs to finish 14 seconds behind on handicap, having finished 4:03 behind McCartin on the water. Four Fireballs (1st, 3rd, 5th and 9th) and six Aero 7s occupied the top ten places on handicap, before Keogh’s GP14 claimed 11th. Sarah Dwyer in the Aero 5 took 12th. Andrew Irvin and Aisling O’Grady (1044) took the RS 400 honours after a swim by O’Hare & Donoghue.

Gary O’Hare in his ILCA 7 Photo: Cormac Bradley

In the ILCA 7s, seven boats raced with Gary O’Hare leading the fleet home followed by Gavan Murphy, Chris Arrowsmith, Conrad Vandlik and Hugh Delap. In the ILCA 4s, the same finishing order as Race 1 was achieved with O’Conor, Ennis, de Vreeze, Farrell and Maguire occupying 1st – 5th.
In the ILCA 6s, the returning Craig and Sorgassi had to do with the lower steps of the podium as Mark Henry took the win. Behind Sorgassi, the order was Conor Clancy and Archie Daly in a 25-boat fleet.
Racing was held in glorious sunshine until the sun dipped behind a bank of cloud at which point the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. Still, by that stage, the large fleet had enjoyed an hour of solid racing over two courses and had hopefully blown away the Christmas and New Year excesses and a few cobwebs besides.

Viking Marine-sponsored Frostbites; hosted by DMYC

Sunday 16th January

Wind Westerly, 8 – 16 knots, Air temperature 8/9°

Race 1
PY Class (33 boats)
1. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella (FB 15093)
2. Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (FB 14706)
3. Paul Phelan
4. Brendan Foley
5. Mark Gavin
6. Noel Butler
7. Stephen Oram (All Aero 7s)
8. Sarah Dwyer (Aero 5)
9. Frank Miller & Ed Butler (FB 14713)
10. Roy Van Maanen (Aero 7)

ILCA 7s (8 boats)
1. Niall Cowman
2. Gary O’Hare
3. Chris Arrowsmith

ILCA 4s (5 boats)
1. Daniel O’Connor
2. Ava Ennis
3. Dylan de Vreeze
4. Eimear Farrell
5. Robyn Maguire

ILCA 6s (24 boats)
1. Sean Craig
2. Marco Sorgassi
3. Conor Clancy
4. Judy O’Beirne
5. Shirley Gilmore

Race 2
PY Class (31 boats)
1. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella
2. Noel Butler
3. Alistair Court & Gordon Syme
4. Brendan Foley
5. Frank Miller & Ed Butler
6. Paul Phelan
7. Mark Gavin
8. Roy Van Maanen
9. Neil Colin & Marjo Moonen
10. Stephen Oram

ILCA 7s (7 boats)
1. Gary O’Hare
2. Gavan Murphy
3. Chris Arrowsmith

ILCA 4s (5 boats)
1. Daniel O’Connor
2. Ava Ennis
3. Dylan de Vreeze
4. Eimear Farrell
5. Robyn Maguire

ILCA 6s (25 boats)
1. Mark Henry
2. Sean Craig
3. Marco Sorgassi
4. Conor Clancy
5. Archie Daly

There was disappointment for Dublin dinghy sailors on Sunday as the DMYC Dun Laoghaire Dinghy Frostbites sponsored by Viking Marine was cancelled.

In an inauspicious start to 2022, it's the second week running for cancellation at Dun Laoghaire Harbour due to a high wind forecast.

The next race of the new 70-boat Series 2 event is scheduled for next Sunday, January, 16th.

Series 1 of the Frostbites closed on December 20 in light and challenging conditions for the Race Management Team and the competitors alike as Afloat reported here.

From an entry list of 72 dinghies, a fleet of 45 answered the Race Officer’s call and presented themselves in the start area of the Christmas Cracker Race – sponsored by Viking Marine and hosted by the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club. This event had a very short gestation period, the idea only being floated on the penultimate Sunday of the pre-Christmas Frostbites. The idea was to have a charity race for the RNLI with entry fees capped at €5/boat and a request that competitors donate online to the RNLI.

In the week leading up to the event, the wind forecast varied enormously from the likelihood of no race due to high winds and gusts to a very light affair of fewer than three knots. Fortunately, neither of those scenarios arose and the fleet of 45 enjoyed winds that went up to a maximum of 15 knots, from the East. The air temperature was a balmy 10°.

Robin and Dacha Hilliard in their Flying Fifteen (3729) in the PY race Photo: Ian Cutliffe

The course was set as a “Tour of the Harbour” with marks in locations to make shoreside viewing easier. Thus, a mark was laid inside the end of the Carlisle Pier, in front of the National Yacht Club, another mark was set inside the fairway entrance to the marina towards the ice-house and the remaining two marks were set close to the Boyd Memorial on the East Pier and upwind of the western breakwater where it joins the West Pier.

Brian and Charlie O’Neil rounding Mark C (Boyd Memorial) Photo: Ian Cutliffe

The fleet was set a beat for the opening leg, to the mark off the Boyd Memorial, and they proceeded in an anti-clockwise direction around the harbour thereafter.

The plan was to have the first boat racing for 75 minutes and the Fireball of Frank Miller & Hermine O’Keeffe (14713), bisected the finish line 1.5 minutes inside that target.

Two Fireballs led the fleet all the way round. Miller was the first to fly spinnaker after rounding the weather mark and he was followed closely by Neil Colin & Marjo Moneen (14775). These were initially challenged on the water by the RS400 of Dave Sweeney and Gavin Doyle but as the race progressed the gap to the Fireballs increased. A strong ILCA turnout was led by Eve McMahon in the ILCA 6 (Radial), Gary O’Hare in the ILCA 7 (full-rig) and Max Cantwell in the ILCA 4 (4.7). Eve has had a great 2021 with a win in Lake Garda in the ILCA 6 Youth Worlds and she followed that up with a top 5 place in the Youth Worlds earlier this month. At the finish, she was only a couple of boat-lengths behind regular ILCA 7 competitor Gary O’Hare.

While the various ILCA rigs represented the largest element of the fleet, there was a good turnout from the Aeros, (5 and 7), the Fireballs, and there were two each of the GP14s and RS400s. The Irish National Sailing School has eight sailors on the water in the form of School Principal Kenneth Rumball, sailing an Aero 7 and seven RS Feva XLs sailed by the senior instructors. A solitary Flying Fifteen sailed by Robin Hilliard and daughter Dacha also contested the event and the Long household had two boats out – father Pierre, and one son in the IDRA and two other sons in the Mirror. We also had a Pico, sailed two-up.

DMYC Viking Marine Christmas Cracker – Top Ten finishers

1. Eve McMahon, Howth Yacht Club, ILCA 6 (Radial)
2. Max Cantwell, Royal St George Yacht Club, ILCA 4 (4.7)
3. Noel Butler, National Yacht Club, Aero 7
4. Brendan Foley, Royal St George Yacht Club, Aero 7
5. Gary O’Hare, Royal St George Yacht Club, ILCA 7 (full-rig)
6. Kenneth Rumball, Irish National Sailing Club, Aero 7
7. David Williams, Royal St George Yacht Club, ILCA 6
8. Mark Gavin, Royal St George Yacht Club, Aero 7
9. Roy van Mannen, Royal St George Yacht Club, Aero 5
10. Conrad Vandlik, Royal St George Yacht Club, ILCA 7.

Prize-winners will be contacted directly about getting their prizes, vouchers from Viking Marine.

The Christmas Cracker fleet under starter’s orders – 20 seconds to go.