Sunday's DMYC Frostbites saw two excellent Fireball races in lively conditions in Dun Laoghaire harbour. According to the DLH weather site the wind was mostly westerly about 10-12 knots but gusting at times more than 20 knots.

In both races the pin end was favoured but given that the start line was in the crook of the East Pier there was arguably an advantage to starting at the committee end to get the benefit of lifting gusts at the harbour mouth and also the advantage of the incoming tide through the mouth of the harbour. Anyway spoiler alert; the two races were dominated by the rockstar team of Gerbil Owens and Phil Lawton standing in for Noel Butler and Stephen Oram.

From the start of race one the pair worked the right side of the course and led around the trapezoid course without their lead ever being under real threat. Closest boat was veteran Louis Smyth with Glen Fisher who were looking good until they capsized in round 2 of the 4 lap course near the leeward mark, where for some reason the wind always seemed to ramp up a couple of notches.

Frank Miller with Ed Butler snatched second place and appeared comfortable in that position until the gybe mark in the 4th round where an all too casual gybe delivered the traditional punishment. When the pair recovered from their turtle they were about last but they closed the gap on those who zoomed past and finished 5th in the end with Alistair Court and Gordon Syme taking 2nd and Neil Colin/Margaret Casey 3rd.

The start of race 2 once again saw the seven boat fleet stretched along the line. For this race Lawton / Owens switched roles but continued to dominate the race with a lead of a least a half leg. The pair started at the (technically unfavoured) committee end with a burst of speed which allowed them to drive low almost reaching across the fleet positioning them for first tack to weather of the fleet on the port layline to the windward mark.

The first reach was always tight but the configuration of the harbour discouraged going too high too soon so for both races it was a tricky and close first reach with a near run on the second and a beam reach for the third.

Following Owens/Lawton were Court/Syme and then Miller/Butler. The latter took over the 2nd place on the beat by taking the lifting gusts available on the right side of the course.

This time they kept their noses clean and their mast in the air and held onto that place till the end. Hot on their heels remained Court/Symes but special mention should go to Dara McDonagh who was never far off the lead in his composite fireball proving that a well maintained 20 year old boat is perfectly competitive in the right hands . Spare a thought for Smyth/Fisher; in the second race they had a close encounter with Louise McKenna/Hermine O’Keeffe which resulted in their outhaul being flicked off the end of their boom and sent them home earlier than planned.

All in all this was a terrific days racing in mild but gusty conditions snatched from the jaws of an Irish February ...

There was almost a full turnout of the Fireballs registered for the 2015/16 Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire yesterday when 10 boats assembled on the start line for the first of two trapezoid-course races in sunshine but cool temperatures writes Cormac Bradley. The forecasts for the afternoon were a bit mixed with one site suggesting the N-Westerly would go Northerly and fade while another suggested it would go Southerly and build a little. In the end it was the former forecast that won out.

Two early practice rounds of the course revealed conditions that required trapezing upwind and tight spinnaker legs across the top and bottom of the trapezoid but as the afternoon progressed, the need for trapezing faded though the reaches were still lively.

In Race 1 the fleet had various ideas on how to work the first beat, the Clancy brothers, Conor and James, making a first appearance after a few weeks absence, decided that hitting the East Pier was the way to go with a weather mark just inside the end of the West Pier. The rest of the fleet demurred to varying degrees, preferring to work the middle and left of the course. The majority view was vindicated at the first weather mark with a rounding order of Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061), Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (14706), Darragh McDonagh & Neil Duke (14434), Neil Colin & John (14775), Frank Miller & Cormac Bradley (14713). Team Clancy were down in 7^th in close proximity to Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (14854), Louise McKenna & Tim (14691), Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire (14865) and Peter & Michael Keegan (14676).

By the time the first half of the fleet got to Mark 2, Butler & Oram had pulled out a short lead. At the gybe, Miller gained two places by getting inside McDonagh and Colin and with a faster spinnaker set was able to pull away and to windward of them – time to hunt down Court!

On the second beat, Miller worked the right hand side of the course while Butler and Court worked the middle. By the time they reached the 2^nd weather mark, Miller had closed dramatically on Court and they rounded with Miller only just ahead. Butler of course was doing his normal thing of putting distance between himself and the rest of the fleet.  Halfway down the top leg of the trapezoid Miller was able to break the overlap with Court and put a few boat-lengths between the boats. This position was retained to the rounding of Mark 4. Behind them, Chambers had dropped out, Colin too had dropped out after an incident on the water and the chasing boats were now Power/Barry and the Clancy brothers.

Third beat and Butler and Court both go left immediately! As piggy in the middle, Miller goes right – a potentially dangerous ploy, leaving the opposition to do their own thing. As they entered the last stages of the beat Court crosses ahead but a few minutes later when they cross again, Miller has sneaked in front. Miller gets to the weather mark first and holds Court off to Mark 4. On the final beat, Miller is much more circumspect, only taking a short hitch to the right to see what Court will do on rounding 4. When Court tacks, so does Miller and the pair sail in close company up the left hand side of the course, with Miller to windward. Butler is “long gone” sailing his own comfortable race. Behind Court and Miller, both Clancy and Power close but not enough to give the “heebie-jeebies” just yet! Miller tacks first for the port lay-line and gets to the weather mark first ahead of Court who is in a slightly more windward slot.  

The last lap is now a race between the Clancys and Power & Barry with the lighter ladies more than holding their own.  They exchange the lead a few times on the top leg, but on the longer leg between 2 and 3 the ladies get into a more secure position and hold off the brothers to the finish.

The fading and northerly shifting breeze now necessitates a change of course but due to the logistics of the harbour, it is not enough to move the weather mark, the committee boat has to move as well, moving inshore towards the gantry for the HSS.  The weather mark, meantime, is now closer to the end of the East Pier. Three laps are set for this second race and at the start the fleet decides that the pin is the place to be. Miller gets his approach wrong, finds he is too early and gybes out from underneath the fleet and works the right hand side of the course. After a single race, the Clancys are back in the groove and they lead the charge to the weather mark followed by Power & Barry, Neil Colin & John, Butler & Oram and Court & Syme. By the time the fleet clear the weather mark, we are treated to the sight of Butler & Oram doing two sets of turns – one set to absolve themselves from an incident with the Clancys and the second for hitting the mark.

Five boats manage to break away from the fleet – Clancys, Power & Barry, Neil & John, Miller and Bradley and Court & Syme.  Behind this bunch, Chambers & McGuire are well placed and of course everyone was aware that Butler & Oram wouldn’t be hanging around the back for any longer than was necessary! Despite the fact that the wind has gone northwards, the right hand side was not paying as much as one would have thought and the fleet consistently worked the middle and left of the course. Clancy and Power were never threatened though their lead did get shortened as the race progressed. Miller gained places off wind to move into third but upwind he lost out to Butler & Oram who worked their way through the fleet.  These places stay as is until the finish with Court & Syme taking the fifth place on the water.

After nineteen races and five discards, the overall situation is as follows;

The third week of the Frostbites in Kinsale Yacht Club was run under testing conditions today. When the Committee Boat, got to the racing area there was barely 5 knots of breeze, compounded by the fact that it was out of the NE and there was a very strong tide ebbing, the windward leg was definitely challenging for the competitors.
9 Squibs were on the start line. 1st race saw Viking Gold, Jeff Condell and Jeff Cochrane, trying hard to hold his position at the Committee Boat end of the line but he got pushed OCS and had to go around. Allegro, Colm Dunne and Rob Gill and Fagin, Cliodhna and Finbarr O’Regan, were neck and neck for the first two legs. Colm came down on starboard on a higher line, Cliodhna ran a more direct line to the mark. However Colm jibed onto port and reached in at speed to take the mark and this was to prove a decisive move in the race. Viking Gold put in a great race and despite the recall managed to overhaul the fleet to take 3rd.
The wind picked up to 8 – 10 knots for the next 2 races which made the challenging beat a little easier. Allegro took command from the start by finding clean air on the line. Fagin and Viking Gold were tick tacking for 2nd place. John Stanley and Alastair Christie on Bateleur and Denis and Brid Cudmore on Sensation were not far behind. Fagin rounded the leeward mark ahead and secured 2nd. Viking Gold decided to come up to the finish line on the left side of the course and this paid off by securing him 3rd place ahead of Sensation and Bateleur.
The final race again saw an OCS, this time Fagin got squeezed over the line and had to come around. Allegro and Viking Gold both got clear starts, Allegro rounded the windward mark first and managed to hold the lead for the rest of the race. Bateleur rounded the windward mark in 3rd and had a very strong race. Despite the recall Fagin picked off the fleet one by one and with some serious hiking by Finbarr and great helming by Cliodhna just managed to get ahead of Bateleur on the last tack to the line to take 3rd. Next week Allegro is away so Viking Gold and Fagin have it all to play for.
The Laser Fleet saw only 3 competitors today as 1st & 2nd in the series are away training. Mathias Hellstern took command of each of the races to take 3 bullets, Chris Baker put in a steady performance to come 2nd each race with Nic Bendon taking 3rd. Hopefully next week will see a larger turnout of Lasers.

A review of Met Eireann’s Sea Area forecast on Saturday might have persuaded those who contest Dun Laoghaire’s Frostbites, that there would be little point in going to the harbour on Sunday afternoon – the forecast was for Force6/7 winds.

In reality, those who were on the water – a fleet of 40-odd boats, 3 GP14s, a Wayfarer, the K1, the Finn, 14 Lasers, 5 RS400s, Laser Vagos, Toppers and eight Fireballs – got two races in, initially in light enough conditions but with more wind developing as the afternoon wore on. The weather station on the harbour was recording 4.7 knots of breeze with a gust of 10.6 knots blowing from a southerly direction (173˚) in a balmy 14.4˚ when I arrived at the harbour. So much for F6 -7!

For the last-starting Fireballs, the majority view was to go left, so all eight boats were on starboard tack heading towards the east pier when the starting signal went. The boat on the pin however tacked quite early and crossed the others and on the basis that they were first at the first weather mark, I am going to credit that tactic to Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (14691). Indeed, the pecking order at the first mark was very interesting – Louise and Hermine led, followed by Class Chairman Marie Barry crewing for Cariosa Power (14854), followed by Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (14713), Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire (14865), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775), Dara McDonagh (14330), Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) and Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (14706).

At Mk 2 the lead boats sailed on towards the harbour mouth while Neil & Margaret gybed to sail a course towards the centre of the harbour before gybing back again to get around Mk3. I am not sure that they gained anything by that! The pecking order changed dramatically at Mk4 after a tight 3-sailer between Mks 2 & 3, when the fleet concertina-ed into itself. An apparent lack of wind and the presence of other boats at this mark saw a very different order established and manifested even further by the leading two boats getting away. At the second weather mark, Butler & Oram were ahead, followed by Miller & Donnelly, Colin & Casey, Power & Barry and Court & Syme. The lead boat at the first weather mark was now the tail-ender!

The breeze started to get up a little at this stage and the trend now was to sail on at Mk2 before gybing to round Mk3. The leg from 3 to 4 was also getting tighter and on the second lap, Messrs Butler & Oram did an Aussie-drop well before the last mark of the lap. What had been an iffy wind condition turned into a healthier situation so that the crews were now trapezing upwind and the off-wind legs were getting a bit more exciting. For Power and Barry, this resulted in a capsize between 3 and 4 on the third lap which put an end to their race. Butler & Oram built on their led over the latter half of the race to be comfortable winners in the end, followed home by Miller & Donnelly, Colin & Casey, Court & Syme and McKenna & O’Keeffe.

For the second start, in which there were seven boats, again the trend was to go left. Miller & Donnelly were closest to the pin, followed by Court & Syme, but the sense was that Butler & Oram were slightly to windward of both boats. Accordingly, he was the first to go right! All seven boats worked the middle and left and those who were closest to the port lay line seemed to be lifted into the mark. The only boat to be slightly out of kilter with the fleet was McKenna/O’Keeffe who ended up sailing a short distance up the starboard lay line. A more usual pecking order of Butler leading the fleet at the first weather mark was in place with Court and Miller in close company in 2nd and 3rd respectively. McKenna & McDonagh closed out the top five. Legs 1 – 2 and legs 3 – 4 were now much tighter, so much so that some of the lighter combinations two-sailed the top reach. Again, the modus operandi for 3 – 4 was to sail towards the harbour mouth before gybing back to round Mk3.

For the upwind legs, Butler seemed to make a point of taking a short port hitch to the right that then allowed him to apply a loose cover on the boats rounding behind him. Thereafter the process was to work left-wards and tack short of the lay-line to pick up the port tack lift into the weather mark.

Butler, Court and Miller had a comfortable gap on the balance of the fleet and at the last weather mark the time intervals were as follows; Butler (00:00), Court (00:50), Miller (01:13), McKenna (01:58), McDonagh (02:48), Chambers (03:22) and Power (03:55).

The early morning forecast told the waking masses that snow had fallen on high ground overnight and on coming ashore after two races, the hills behind Dun Laoghaire had a light dusting of the white stuff.
But for the Fireballs racing on the first Sunday of the second half of the Frostbite Series, the predominant weather was sunshine and blue skies. The wind was a “bit all over the place” with some strong gusts sweeping over the race course but the average wind strength was quite modest. The weather app, “Windfinder” has recorded the wind as being 12 – 18 knots from the SW, with an air temperature of 6˚.
The reconnaissance of the course in advance of the race suggested that there was better wind on the right hand side of the course, the problem with going left was that you got under the lee of the land that bit sooner. The bias of the line favoured a pin-end start so the debate was whether to commit to that end or to hedge one’s bets and start on the middle of the line to facilitate an early departure to the right.
Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) and the Clancy Brothers, Conor and James were in close company at the pin end and at the starting signal they both tacked onto port to set off for the weather mark. Those closer to the committee boat did the same thing but at slightly different times to the two boats mentioned. The starting manoeuvre by Butler & Clancy effectively sealed the race for them as they were never headed thereafter. On days such as these, Neil Colin and Margaret Casey (14775) come into their own and they worked the left hand side of the course as well to round the weather mark in 3rd place. 4th place at this first mark of the course went to Frank Miller and Cormac Bradley (14713) who had tacked off the line earlier than most and were looking good on the right hand side until a header on starboard tack allowed the aforementioned Colin & Casey to get ahead of them. The first reach of the 4-lap trapezoid course was tight but spinnakers were flown. On the next leg there were a variety of approaches to getting to Mark 3 Butler, Clancy, Miller went right, Colin and Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (14706) went left as did some of those who were immediately behind Miller at Mark 1. This led to a convergence at Mark 3 with two boats exchanging views of the applicability of water at the mark to the rounding. Miller & Bradley couldn’t catch Colin & Casey and for the balance of the race, the first four boats weren’t challenged on the race course.
The top reach of the trapezoid became tighter as the wind shifted eastwards and on the second lap no spinnakers were flown, but the wind eased again and three sail reaches reverted to being the order of the day.
Behind the first four boats the competition was between Court/Syme, the all-lady crew of Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (14691) and Darragh McDonagh (14330).
A second, shorter race was sailed in wind that was starting to ease in strength with less frequent gusts. The weather mark stayed where it was, just off the approach to the marina in the harbour, but No. 2 was dropped a little further into the harbour to make the reaches less testing.
Colin & Casey stole the march on the fleet for the second start with a port tack start on the pin. They managed to clear the “cluster” of boats at that end of the line and headed off with a distinct advantage on the rest of the fleet. Miller & Bradley has a poor start, having to duck transoms but the advantage was that they got out to the right hand side. Colin held the lead to the weather mark, chased by Butler & Clancy with Miller pulling in to 4th place. Behind them the other all-lady team of Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire (14865) were leading the chase. Again the first four places stayed stable for the first lap. At Mark 4 Butler & Clancy decided to work the left hand side of the course while Colin stayed right, as did Miller. Halfway up the beat it appeared that the left hand gamble hadn’t paid off as Miller stayed in better breeze on the right. At the weather mark for the second time, Colin was still in charge but now Miller was in 2nd. Past Marks 2, 3 and 4 and Miller was able to stay ahead of Clancy who has passed out Butler.
Up the third and last beat, Butler and Clancy took the same left-ish approach. Miller, sailing between these two and Colin to his lee, but ahead, picked up his own independent supply of wind to sail through Colin’s weather and through the lee of the other two, and was lifted in to the mark. Now sitting in the lead, Miller & Bradley had to keep a watching brief on the Clancy brothers who had “squeaked” into 2nd place just ahead of Colin. From 1 to 2 to 3 Miller didn’t lose distance to the brothers but after the gybe at Mk. 3, taking a slightly windward course to 4, Miller ran out of breeze and despite having to go to leeward of two-single-handers, the brothers slipped into the lead just before Mk.4 and covered Miller up the short hitch to the finish.
2015/16 Frostbites, Dun Laoghaire, 2nd Series R1 R2
Conor & James Clancy 14807 RStGYC 2 1
Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC 1 4
Frank Miller & Cormac Bradley 14713 DMYC 4 2
Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC 3 3
Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe 14691 RStGYC 5 5

Week 3 of the DMYC Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire Harbour showed a more friendly (wind wise), but less friendly (temperature wise) forecast, this led to many of the RS fleet finally opening their frostbite series despite there being 3 races held already,

The RS fleet was part of over 60 dinghies spread over 4 classes, that raced on Sunday, the harbour was full to the brim, with 20+ RS Fevas doing their Sunday coaching, numerous Oppie and laser squads out training, along with college sailors team racing.

Two races was the order of the day, and a nice 15knots gusting 18 from a cold northwesterly direction greeted the fleet as they made their way to the start area,

There were plenty of new faces on the water, with 2 x Olympian Gerbil Owens making his first outing in his new RS200, crewed by Beijing 2008 Olympic crew Phil Lawton, also new to the class were Maeve Rafferty and Rosanna Cassidy who were joined by Sean and Heather Craig, Greystones pairing of Frank O'Rourke and Sarah Byrne and Marty O'Leary and Rachel Williamson also braved the cold to start their series.

12 RS's made it to the startline. Race 1 saw the fleet split to both sides of the harbour with the left coming out in front, Alexander Rumball lead the fleet around the windward mark followed closely by Sean and Heather Craig,

The course for race 1 was 4 laps of the trapezoid, giving two great planing reaches and one very square downwind which meant lots of place changes, after the four sprint like laps which were completed in about 33 minutes, it was Marty and Rachel who found some form later in the race to claim victory, with Sean and Heather second and Emmet and James Ryan third. It was all very close with only 28 seconds between 2nd place and Frank and Sarah in 6th place.

Race two saw a fairly sizeable pin end bias and a few boats not naming any names attempted to port tack the fleet, the results were not pretty. The course was to be 3 laps this time, by the windward mark, it was all very close again with Emmet and James taking an early lead, at the leeward mark it was Frank and Sarah who got the early gybe into the lead, by the top of the 2nd beat someone seemed to press that switch that makes all RS 200s turn into magnets and instantly want to join together, this time with Marty and Rachel managing to cause a pile up at the windward mark slowing just about everyone down, including some Sunday walkers on the pier. After unwrapping themselves from the windward mark and taking a penalty turn they rejoined the race. It was much more of the same for the remaining lap and a half with numerous place swapping. Frank and Sarah had managed to break away from the mayhem behind and claim 1st, closely followed by Emmet and James in 2nd and Marty and Rach managed to claw back to 3rd just seconds ahead Sean and Heather, who it turned out were OCS, leaving Gerbil and Phil to take 4th.

The Weekly Mugs went to Marty and Rach for Race 1 and Frank and Sarah for race 2

This afternoon's DMYC dinghy frostbite series has met the same fate as this morning's DBSC Turkey Shoot due to gale force winds on Dublin Bay. Racing continues next Sunday.

Dun Laoghaire's winter sailing fixtures nearly fell victim to the fine weather yesterday but 'miraculously', according to the Fireball facebook page, DMYC race officer Stuart Kinnear got two races in for the opening of the DMYC Frostbites.

Unfortunately, the DBSC Turkey Shoot sailors were abandoned yesterday morning even though an impressive 50–boat fleet had assembled in otherwise beautiful conditions off the West Pier. Yesterday afternoon the DMYC harbour frostbites for PY, Laser, RS (200&400) and Fireballs got away in only light winds but just enough to set a harbour course. In the Fireball class race mug winners were Noel Butler and Luke Malcolm for race one and Frank Miller and Cormac Bradley in race two.

Cormac Bradley of the Fireball class adds:

Two races, 6 boats, 16 degrees. Mirror conditions initially but light breeze developed from west for first race. 3 lap trapezoid. Frank Miller & Cormac Bradley led the fleet to the first mark but were overtaken on the second spinnaker leg by Noel Butler and Luke Malcolm. Places remained this way to the finish with Alistair Court and Peter Doherty.

Wind swung for 2nd race and a new course was set. Miller/ Bradley went right on the first beat while the balance of the fleet went left. Miller/Bradley led by a modest distance and stayed ahead of the pack until the last weather mark when Butler/Malcolm briefly took the lead. However Miller/Bradley sailed through their winward side to retake the lead which they held to the finish. Butler/Malcolm were then put under pressure by Cariosa Power and Marie Barry who had closed up on the second placed boat. Ultimately, the ladies succeeded in taking secobd place in a very tight finish.
Given that the conditions looked so unfavourable at the start of the day, Race Officer Stuart Kinnear and his team did exceptionally well to get two races in – the 45th Frostbite Series is under way.

The Flying Fifteen Frostbite series continued with a great turnout of 16 boats after the break last week for the Lough Derg Keelboat Regatta. Race officer Ian Mathews and his team got two races completed in a building NW wind that touched on 28–knots at one stage during race 2.

Race 1 got going at first time of asking, the line was reasonably square but those who started at the pin end and went in towards the shore came out best at the weather mark after a nice lift up towards the weather mark, McCambridge with Andrew Marshal crewing led the way from Fraser Mitchel & Peter Murphy with the Meaghers, Dooley and O’Neill just behind. This is how it stayed but on the reach of the second lap a valuable lesson was about to be learned.

The two lead boats were vying with each other in a luffing match as they approached the gybe mark. McCambridge luffed up to protect his position but Mitchel kept at him and up and up they went. Rumour has it they touched but no turns were done- we wonder why? Meanwhile as the fleet saw what was happening and the Meaghers quietly went through to take the lead, a lead they kept to the end.

On the next beat McCambridge got back to second place, downwind on the last run was exciting with the wind now up at 20knots, McCambridge was unfortunate as his gooseneck at the boom broke and his race was over. The Meaghers won, with Fraser second, O’Rourke third and the Cahills fourth.

For Race 2 the wind was really up, some boats headed in so only 10 started. Johnny O’Rourke, guesting instead of David Mulvin, and with Ronan Beirne crewing led most of the way but at the last leeward mark they headed up to do another beat, but the blue flag was on the committee boat signalling the finish line, this allowed Murphy to slip in and finish in first place, with O’Rourke second and Colman & Quinn third with the Meaghers fourth.

There are two more weekends of the series left and David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne lead the way from Niall & Nicki Meagher with Alan Dooley & Joe Hickey third and Ben Mulligan & John McAree fourth.

#dbsc – Strong westerly winds gusting to 40 knots put paid to both the DBSC Spring Chicken handicap keelboat series and the DMYC dinghy frostbites on Dublin bay today.
The cruiser event was abandoned just before its first gun this morning. It is the second week running that strong winds have forced cancellation. The plan now, say organisers, is to run an extra race on March 22nd with no race on the 15th due to St. Patrick's weekend.