#fireball – As this report is being typed, racing's "flags of surrender" to the elements are flying briskly from the flagpole of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club writes Cormac Bradley. For the second Sunday of Series 2, "N over A" is being flown to signify that racing has been abandoned. A quick visit to the website that is providing current weather details for Dun Laoghaire harbour – I don't fancy the East Pier walk today – reveals that the wind speed is 25 knots and the highest gust is 39.9knots. Wind direction is SSE, which means that the Dun Laoghaire side of Dublin Bay is the lee shore, but with 25 knots blowing inside the harbour it is easy to see why we are not racing!
Thus, the start of the Series 2 continues in the same vein as the end of Series 1 with races being abandoned. We have not had racing for six Sundays in a row, two Sundays blown out at the end of Series 1, no racing on the Sundays immediately before and after Christmas and no racing yet in January. This is sharp contrast to my recall of last year's Frostbites, when we had more benign weather right throughout the Series.
In terms of our regular season regatta schedule, there are ongoing discussions taking place to finalise the calendar. One date that can be confirmed at this stage is the Ulsters – taking place at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough in conjunction with the 5o5s, over the weekend of 14/15 June. (I am writing this from memory and will confirm, but this is my memory of an E-mail or Facebook entry.)
