#frostbites – Thanks to weekend storms both east and south coast sailing frostbite series were cancelled yesterday. Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club's Frostbite Dinghy harbour series was scrubbed and likewise on the south coast where Kinsale's renowned sheltered harbour was no match for the south westerly gale that prompted an orange alert warning from Met Eiereann and the Coast Guard.

Both series are expected to resume next Sunday.

#fireball – The last Sunday of Frostbite racing in Dun Laoghaire for 2013 was brought to an early close when the Race Team decided that the combination of the overnight weather forecast (Storm Force 9) and the actual conditions meant that racing should not proceed. There didn't seem to be too much objection to the decision from those who were in the clubhouse of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club when the Race Team made their decision public. Some three hours later, when a modest gathering formed at the clubhouse for the series prize-giving, the wisdom of the decision to abandon racing was confirmed when the comment was made "that you wouldn't have wanted to be on the water at 14:45!"

Considering that the entry level for the Frostbites is nearly ninety boats, the turn out for the prize-giving was modest – none of the four classes, PY, Lasers, RS Classes and Fireballs had a full turnout of the 1-2-3 prizewinners. Due thanks were recorded to the Race Team who have provided racing from November 3rd by the principle organizer and MC for the prize-giving at each Sunday and yesterday, Olivier Proveur. He, in turn, was thanked by a member of the Race Team for all his effort.

The Fireball results for Series 1 of the Frostbites have seen an unusual scenario, Messrs Butler and Oram back in third place overall, without a 2013/14 Frostbite Mug in their respective trophy cabinets. However, that observation has to be tempered by the fact that only four points cover the top three boats. The loss of yesterday's race also meant that there is no discard for Series 1 so the results of two weeks ago are now the final results.

#fireball – Halloween has gone.........it must be Frostbite Time! With the celebrations of ghouls and ghosts gone for another year, the Irish Fireball fleet can embrace the prospect of Frostbite and Sunday afternoon sailing for the next 5 months.

A modest fleet of eight Fireballs initiated the 2013/14 Frostbite Series in the company of RS 400s, RS 200s, Lasers, Lasers Radials, IDRAs and one 470.

On Saturday the wind was very strong and both the Met Eireann and XC Weather websites were suggesting that we were in for a battering on Saturday night, but that the winds would ease during the course of Sunday – so much so that by 18:00 on Sunday evening XC Weather was saying that there would be as little as 1 – 2 knots. The Race Committee went out into the main body of Dun Laoghaire's harbour under blue skies and a modest breeze out of the West. With the obvious intent of taking advantage of the benign weather a programme of two races was declared.

As the last start of the day, the Fireballs were clustered towards the pin-end of the line with a group of probably five boats fighting to be the pin end boat. Kenneth Rumball, with brother Alexander as crew (15058) was in the mix with Noel Butler and Joe O'Reilly (15061), Neil Colin and Margaret Casey (14775), Alistair Court and Gordon Syme (14706). The quest for the pin was to facilitate an early tack onto port to sail up the port-hand side of the course. There had to be a victim in this quest and so it was as an individual recall was signaled after the start. No-one went back.

Those boats who had not pursued the pin-slot were of course subject to the prospect of being sailed over by those who were to windward of them. One of these was Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007) who saw Court/Syme go over them. Others who were slightly to leeward of the ideal line to the first weather mark were Mary Chambers and Brenda McGuire (14865), Conor Clancy (14807) and Luke Malcolm and Shane Divenny (14790). An adverse wind shift as they approached the weather mark saw Smyth & Bradley round this mark in last place. In reverse order, the sequence was Smyth, Chambers, Clancy, Malcolm, Court, Colin, Rumball & Butler. Messrs Butler & Rumball tagged each other round the rest of the course with never more than a few boat-lengths between them. The lead changed hands a number of times, even on the same leg! This gave Colin & Casey a bit of leeway to do their own thing and on occasion they sailed a very different upwind leg to the rest of the fleet, staying right rather than going left immediately after the leeward mark.

Three laps were set for this first race of the Series to accommodate a second race so the pressure was on to recover places. The top three had a slight gap over the rest of us, so the bulk of the changes were among the 5-boat chasing group. Smyth got ahead of Chambers on the first downwind leg, but Malcolm, sailing with us for the first time since the last Frostbite Series, lost out to Smyth and Clancy as the race progressed. The lead alternated between Rumball and Butler but the brothers led at the critical stage – over the finish line. Colin & Casey went over the finish line to silence, meaning that those behind them were elevated by one place.

As XC Weather predicted, the wind then began to switch off and the plan to have a second race was abandoned. The mark-laying ribs helped to get the fleet ashore by offering tows to shore.

Sunday June 9th sees the return of the popular and novel Kish lighthouse Solo/Two Handed Race on Dublin Bay aimed at both the regular Bay racers and non racers alike.

The race is run by the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC).

The event offers a challenge of seamanship to all sailors, as well as the challenge of navigating a course to and manoeuvring around the lighthouse structure.

Last year's  solo category was dominated by Ruffian sailors, with many managing to set the kite during the race. The event is open to all keelboats with an ECHO certificate, who comply with Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) safety standards.

The club will have several support craft along the route and take a cautious view on the weather conditions on the day, to ensure safety is paramount.

Entry forms and the NOR are available from the office in the DMYC on the West Pier.

#dmycfrostbite – Winter ought to be over by now and the DMYC Frostbite series has come to the end of its 42nd year. Quite an institution. However, winter doesn't seem to be finished with us quite yet so 25-35 knot winds and temperatures of 2 degC confronted the fleets instead of the hoped-for Spring warmth.

The organisers and sailors left the decisions as long as possible in the hopes of one last race. There was no let up in the conditions and racing was cancelled for the day so the OK Dinghy didn't have to protect its lead in series 2. In any case, conditions at the RSGYC's slipway meant there was no way that the OK Dinghy could be launched. Enough of the easterly swell was reaching the slip to render any attempt at a launch both foolish and potentially dangerous....on that slipway at least.

However, the fleets took advantage of the lousy weather by heading for the DMYC where pints, prizes and Irish Tapas were the order of the day – along with some interesting announcements about the summer sailing.

In the PY fleet there were two sets of results up for grabs; the post-Xmas races in Series 2 and the Overall 2012/13 series.

The results in Series 2 were as follows:

OK Dinghy / Sheehy
GP14 / O'Brien & Sheridan
IDRA14 / Long & Rea

While the overall 2012/13 DMYC Frostbite series results were;

OK Dinghy / Sheehy
IDRA14 / Long & Rea
IDRA14 / Hamilton & Byrne

There was also a quick introductory talk about the activities of the Dún Laoghaire Dinghies team and the soon to be launched "Island Trial". These will be exciting additions to dinghy sailing on Dublin Bay in 2013

#fireball – The decision to race the Frostbites on St. Patrick's Day, 17th March, neither attracted a big fleet nor nice weather. The smallest Fireball fleet of the entire series, 9 boats, was greeted by damp grey, flat conditions and no obvious sign of the means to have a race. Getting out of the harbour was an extended exercise in kinetics and some of those who mistimed their departure from shore in the conditions will have been grateful for the postponement enforced on the Race Officer who had nothing to work with at the scheduled start of 14:00.

What little wind that did appear came out of the NE but it was very fickle and at its strongest on the first lap of the initial three lap course. Eight of the nine boats in the fleet worked the middle and left of the course. The exception was Conor Clancy, crewed by James Devlin (150**) who went right off the line. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) also went right but at a later stage of the first beat. The leaders in the series Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) worked the middle to keep a watching brief on Kenny Rumball who had a guest crew in the form of Shane McCarthy (15058).

Clancy's right side play was rewarded when he rounded first but the second boat was Alistair Court and Gordon Syme (14706) who approached the weather mark on the port layline. Third round were Butler & Oram, followed by Colin & Casey and Rumball/McCarthy. However, at this stage the fleet was in close company and only a few boat lengths separated each of the boats from the one in front of them. The two reaches of the first triangle didn't conjure up any place changes.

On the second beat it was a case of not getting too far removed form your nearest opposition and as a consequence everyone ended up working the middle of the course to varying degrees. At this stage the wind was still reasonable in the context of the day. At the 2nd weather mark the leaders, Clancy/Devlin, Butler/Oram and Court/Syme gybed immediately to head inshore whereas Colin/Casey, Rumball/McCarthy and Louise McKenna and Hermine O'Keeffe (14691) stayed offshore. The second gybe mark was now a tidal challenge as the ebbing tide held the upper hand on the fading wind. It claimed one victim who then retired altogether.

As the leaders approached the leeward mark a shortened course was signalled. Clancy/Devlin and Butler/Oram were having a close quarter battle for the lead and they took slightly different approaches to the finish. Clancy/Devlin took a short hitch before tacking to the finish whereas Butler/Oram did the opposite. This promoted a very tight finish with the winning margin very much less than a boat-length.

The Series 2 points table sees Butler & Oram with a healthy margin over Rumball & Kinsella/Moran who need to be aware of Team Clancy over their shoulders. A quick perusal of the score sheet for Butler & Oram confirms that their worst result in this Series is a 2nd.

The combined Series 1 and Series 2 table was also available yesterday and this promotes the prospect of a last race duel for the outright win as only two points separate 1^st and 2^nd. Rumball/Kinsella/Moran lead by 2pts from Butler/Oram and neither of them has to worry about the third placed combination, Team Clancy who are 13pts further back. Of course what actually happens on the water is a different story and putting boats between themselves and Rumball will be the prime objective of Butler & Oram. Let’s hope there is wind to make the finale a good one!

#fireball – On Saturday Dublin Bay was a sheet of glass! Very early Sunday morning saw a repeat condition which prompted this correspondent to think we would have a second Sunday cancelled due to a lack of wind writes Cormac Bradley.  However, as those who sailed the keelboats in the morning reported, when they went afloat the wind started to fill in and by 14:30, when I took up my position on the harbour wall, the weather station on the East Pier was recording winds of 10knots on a bearing of 153º in temperatures of 6.7º C.

Racing had been postponed for an hour to accommodate the HSS which is still operating out of Dun Laoghaire, and this factor combined with the favourable weather – sunshine and blue skies – allowed the fleet to go a short distance outside the harbour for their racing.

My last view of the weather station before the start had the wind at 11.5 knots on a bearing of 139º. While racing outside was to the benefit of the fleet, from a reporting perspective it made my job a little harder as I couldn't quite read the sail numbers rounding the weather mark and a preponderance of red spinnakers also caused some confusion. So while this report should have most of the key details right, thanks to being able to identify boats by the clothing combinations and some distinctive spinnaker colours, if all the details aren't right............my apologies!

The PY and Laser fleets had a mixed approach to the start and early stages of the first beat. In contrast the Fireball fleet was uniformly distributed along the start line by the start signal with Mick Creighton & Joe O'Reilly (14740) on the pin and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) one back from the pin. All thirteen boats went left initially before the peel to the right was initiated by some of those who were closer to the committee boat. Colin & Casey also peeled off early and were rewarded for their endeavours when they rounded the first weather mark in pole position. As the fleet was outside the harbour, the Fireballs had a separate weather mark, upwind of the mark for the PY and Laser fleets. Interestingly, as they had worked the other side of the beat, Creighton & O'Reilly rounded second. Thereafter the running order was Kenny Rumball & Dave Moran (15058), Frank Miller & Susie Mulligan (14713), Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061). From my position the Fireballs seemed to sail very high on the first reach, but the consensus afterwards was that the leg was quite broad so sailing high gave them more speed and allowed an earlier gybe into the mark.

Colin & Casey led the fleet into the gybe but due to some close quarter stuff they believed they had infringed and set about doing a penalty. On getting a second opinion they resumed sailing the second reach but crucially had lost time and distance to Rumball/Moran and Creighton/O'Reilly who got away. Rumball/Moran led into the leeward mark.

The second, and subsequent beats, saw the leaders work the left hand side of the course to varying degrees. Rumball invariably took a port hitch until the second placed boat played their hand and tailored his tactics accordingly. Thus the leaders sailed parallel course up the left-hand side while the chasing group took longer hitches inshore to work inside them but from a position astern. On the second beat Rumball sailed all the way to the port lay line to round ahead of Butler, Creighton and Colin. These positions stayed the same for the remainder of the second lap.

Alexander Rumball & Conor Kinsella (14820) then entered the fray at the third weather mark having worked the beat inside his brother and Butler/Oram. Sailing with a red spinnaker, rather than the blue I would associate with them, this was an instance where the clothing combination allowed them to be identified. Rumball/Moran again rounded first, again favouring a port layline approach, Butler came to the right hand side earlier to approach the mark on starboard tack and Rumball/Kinsella went round third. Creighton/O'Reilly and Colin/Casey closed out the top five, but Gavin Doyle & Dave Sweeney (14953) had come through the fleet to get into sixth while Miller/Mulligan dropped to seventh.

For the latter stages of the next beat a shipping movement to the east of the course, parallel to the port lay-line but far enough away not to present a safety issue, was the feature. Six stainless steel silos for the upgrading of the St James's Gate Guinness brewery in Dublin carried on board the Keizenborg of the Wagenborg line, part of a consignment of 27 silos, arrived in Dun Laoghaire. It didn't really influence the cat and mouse game that had evolved between Rumball/Moran and Butler/Oram, the former doing the classic cover of staying between their opposition and the weather mark. However, they did not go all the way to the lay-line but came across earlier to approach the weather mark on starboard. Rumball/Kinsella split the previous pair to round in second place, approaching the mark on the port lay-line. These three had a significant lead on the rest of the fleet, where the chasing order had changed again! Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691) had passed out Colin/Casey to slot in behind Creighton/O'Reilly and Doyle/Sweeney. By the third leeward mark, Butler/Oram had overtaken the younger Rumball when they went to windward and leeward respectively of a group of Lasers approaching the leeward mark.

Two of these three again worked the left-hand side of the beat, the third taking a more inshore route to the weather mark. Rumball/Moran led around the fourth weather mark, by a margin of 20 seconds, followed by Butler/Oram and his younger brother. McKenna/O'Keeffe pinched more places to go to fourth, with Doyle, Colin, Creighton & Miller chasing them. Rumball K extended his lead on the offwind legs, but the leading three boats were the best part of ¾ of a leg ahead of the rest of the fleet.

As the leaders worked the latter stages of the fifth and final beat the HSS emerged from the harbour, an hour later than had been expected. However, she had no influence on the racing as she turned eastwards on her way to Holyhead. At the fifth weather mark the lead had changed hands. After the race Noel Butler explained how he and Oram had been able to get out from underneath Rumball/Moran to reverse the roles of coverer and coveree and rounding the weather mark for the last time, Butler/Oram had a few boat-lengths of the elder Rumball. Done and dusted...........not quite!
In the final approach to the gybe mark, Butler/Oram nearly went swimming. A very uncharacteristic slip by Oram who was trapezing off the centerboard case saw Butler scrambling to the windward deck to prevent a full immersion. This was enough of a glitch to allow Rumball/Moran to overtake them and go into the lead. On the second reach, the new leaders were able to pull out a few more boat-lengths to hold out for the win.

On my way back along the East Pier the weather station was recording 9.8knots with a "gust-high" of 16.4knots and an air temperature of 6.4º. The blue skies had gone and a mistiness to be replaced by broken grey clouds though the sun still shone.

The post-mortem after the race revealed that Creighton & O'Reilly broke a trapeze wire which explained their drop in the rankings. Doyle & Sweeney were deemed OCS. The day's Frostbite Mugs went to Alexander Rumball & Conor Kinsella.

In overall terms for Series 2, Butler & Oram retain their five point lead which means that their aggregate over the two Series still leaves them on top.

There are three race-days left in the Series, 10th, 17th and 24th March. March 17th is of course St. Patrick's Day and will give us in Ireland a long weekend, as the Monday will be a Bank Holiday in lieu of the Sunday being St. Patrick's Day. The intention is to sail on the 17th and additional day-only entries for the 17th will be accepted. So if you haven't entered for the Series but want to sail on the 17th, you are most welcome and will be included in the day's results.

The expectation is that weather permitting, the last three days will be raced outside the harbour on the assumption that the HSS will still be operating out of Dun Laoghaire.

#fireball – Blustery conditions in Dun Laoghaire harbour yesterday made the day's Frostbite race more challenging than might normally be the case, for in addition to trying to work out the right way round the course, the wind conditions meant that staying upright also became a significant challenge writes Cormac Bradley.

And while the winners on the day achieved both objectives, some of the other more prominent challengers saw their day's work unravel when they went swimming. Andy Boyle & Brian Flahive (14934) were up at the front end of the chasing pack until an interaction with a Laser, being helmed by a Fireballer, saw them take a swim, break the end of the pole and do damage to their mainsail. Another combination who are enjoying a strong showing in this second half of the Frostbites, Gavin Doyle and Dave Sweeney (14953), had two swims. Mick Creighton and Glen Fisher (14740) also had a capsize on one of the beats. Another podium bid, by the Clancy brothers, Conor and James, (15***) came undone with a capsize at the least weather mark!

With a weather mark sitting just upwind of the ferry gantry and an offshore breeze, the approach to the weather mark required a little circumspection as it got very squally in the immediate vicinity of the mark. The leading boats had initially gone left and approached the weather mark shy of the port layline. However, those who had gone right a bit earlier didn't seem to have lost out and so there was almost a continuous procession of boats round the first weather mark. Kenny Rumball, with Conor Kinsella crewing (15058) got round first having gone left up the first beat, but then had to re-thread their spinnaker when the guy came out. In close proximity to Rumball & Kinsella were Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) and Team Clancy (15***). Luke Malcolm and Shane Divinney (14790) were having a better start to the day than in recent weeks and Gavin Doyle and Dave Sweeney (14953) were also well to the fore, as were Andy Boyle & Brian Flahive (14934). The likes of Neil Colin and Margaret Casey (14775) and Alistair Court and Gordon Syme (14706) were further back along with Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007).

Gybing on the mark left the fleet sailing too high relative to the leeward mark which meant that the double-gybe at the bottom of the second reach made for interesting boat-handling, particularly in the blustery conditions. The position of the limit mark for the start/finish line, on the line between the gybe and leeward mark and only 20-30m upwind of the leeward mark, introduced another "hazard" that some people came closer to than they might have preferred.

The leading boats appeared to favour a short hitch on port after the leeward mark before tacking onto starboard to work the middle of the course. The boats behind then seemed to work the extremes of the course, ending up either hard left or right and it was very easy to get out of synch. Having appeared to have put "boats away" in the early part of the beat, it was then very frustrating to seem them take meters out of you when they rounded the next weather mark ahead.

Butler & Oram did a horizon job on the fleet leading during the second half of the race by almost a leg (leeward to gybe marks). Rumball/Kinsella led the chasing pack and Malcolm/Divinney had their best day for a while by staying with the chasing bunch. Team Clancy were almost ever present in the chase until their unscheduled swim at the last weather mark. Doyle/Sweeney came badly unstuck to fall out of the top half of the fleet as did Boyle/Flahive.

This afforded Colin/Casey and Court/Syme to move up the fleet while in the middle Smyth/Bradley and Creighton/Fisher were dicing with each other.

Despite the viciousness of some of the squalls, the bigger problem was with the lulls and crews had to work very hard to keep their boats upright. Nobody was disappointed when a 2nd race wasn't scheduled.

The day's Frostbite Mugs went to Louis Smyth and Cormac Bradley in 7th place. A fleet of 13 boats started the race but the conditions took their toll with 4 retirals.

In overall terms the 2nd Series of the Frostbites is becoming the Butler & Oram show as they enjoy an 8pts lead over their closest rivals. This will start to have implications for the combined scores of the two series, to find the 2012/3 Frostbite Champion.

Leading Fireball sailor, Noel Butler will join two other high profile dinghy sailors, James Espey (Olympic Laser 2012) and Graham Elmes to give a talk next Saturday, 23rd February in the Royal St. George Yacht Club at 10:30. Marketed as a "First Dinghy Summit", the event has a charge of €10 (at the door) with the option of lunch afterwards.

Noel's presentation will deal with the psychology of winning and being properly prepared and will detail how he came into sailing and how he approaches training. For those of us who have raced against him, this should prove an interesting insight.

James Espey will focus on laser sailing while Graham Elmes will concentrate on starting techniques and the first beat.

Everyone is welcome to the Summit.

#fireball – Yesterday's Fireball Frostbite race, sailed in side the harbour was a case of two races within the same race. Series leaders Noel Butler & Stephen Oram and third-placed Kenny Rumball & Conor Kinsella had their own race, while the rest of us chased each other looking for the sundry places.

With light winds coming out of the SSE and lots of activity in the harbour with Oppies, Laser 4.7s and Toppers all having training sessions, the committee boat was stationed just off the west pier with a weather mark that was just to the left of the StenaLine ferry gantry.

The start was clean and the larger group of the 16 Fireballs contesting the race was at the pin end. Kenny Rumball/Conor Kinsella was the leeward-most boat of this group, but crossed the course to get to the RHS of the course and rounded behind Noel Butler/Stephen Oram. Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly had a late start and went right immediately. It didn't seem to pay the same dividends as the Rumball manoeuvre!

Conor Clancy, helmed 15*** this weekend with John Chambers on the wire and they rounded in third place in reasonable shape. Thereafter there was a log jam at the first weather mark, particularly when the Ryan brothers, Emmet & James, sailing Dogbolter, decided that coming in on port-tack to the weather mark was the best approach relative to a line of other boats coming in on starboard. Boats to the fore in this group were Gavin Doyle & Dave Sweeney sailing 14953, Gavin's latest purchase, Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (14706), Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keefe (14691), Mick Creighton & Joe O"Reilly (14937), Eamon Burke & Robert Slater (14719), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) and the aforementioned Miller/Donnelly as well as Dogbolter, after they had extracted themselves from the consequences of their earlier action. This correspondent was able to watch the action taking place in front of him!!

For the remainder of the five lap race, Butler/Oram & Rumball/Kinsella had their own private session and pulled further and further away from the fleet. It looked as though they had a leg lead on the third placed Clancy/Chambers combination who, in turn, were comfortable relative to the chasing pack. Rumball/Kinsella did take the lead but Butler/Oram took it back when "fluffed" spinnaker gybes allowed the lead to change again.

Behind there were a variety of issues for the chasing pack – a fouled spinnaker halyard, a capsize, a 360º penalty for hitting a mark and at least one interaction between boats on a rules issue – as well as trying to work out which way to go up the beat that proved difficult to work out. These various issues sorted out the latter places with Court/Syme sailing their best race to date to stay at the head of the chasing pack. Creighton/O'Reilly also sailed a good series of beats to score well and Doyle/Sweeney also had their best day. McKenna/O'Keefe (capsize) and Coin/Casey (spinnaker halyard) went the opposite way!

During the race there seemed to be better breeze on the right, but those who went left never seemed to lose out! It would be easy to say it was an unpredictable afternoon (and quite a few of us did) but the lead of the first two boats was testimony to the fact that it could be worked out quite easily.......or at least that's the way they made it look! On the third lap the wind eased a bit, but the final two laps saw the breeze build again and on the last beat, the crews were in full, but comfortable, trapezing mode going upwind.

The Frostbite Mugs went to Alastair Court & Gordon Syme who weren't at the post-race presentation to accept the fruits of their endeavours!

The race between the all-lady crews is tight with Louise and Hermine just ahead of Cariosa Power and Marie Barry in 7th and 8th overall respectively.

42nd Frostbite Series 2012/13; Round 5, Sunday 18th November 2012

#fireball – The 42nd edition of the Frostbite Series got underway in Dun Laoghaire harbour this afternoon, Sunday, 4th November 2012 in grey, blustery and cold conditions writes Cormac Bradley. In contrast to yesterday's sunshine, the skies were full of grey cloud that regularly dumped rain on Dun Laoghaire before the scheduled start. Fortunately, we weren't afflicted by rain on the water, but the grey and the coolness of the air temperature were not alleviated!

In the lead up to the weekend, the suggestion was that the registered entries for the Frostbites were not as good as they have been in recent years – hardly a surprising prospect given the current climate. However, a late flurry of paperwork saw 17 entries on the register for the series and fourteen of those made it to the first start line. Some people took an early bath, before the start, ostensibly to check out a new dry suit but wrapping a spinnaker round the spreader wasn't on the agenda and the damaged sail compromised the performance in the two races – it couldn't be used.

Tim Costello, of Tiamat fame, was the Race Officer for the day and rather surprisingly set a schedule of three laps for the first race. We were soon to find out why!

Sailing before the start, we felt that the breeze was lifting on the starboard tack as one headed towards the east pier. Additionally, on the practice downwind legs, it was apparent that the seas at the harbour entrance were much confused and choppy. Ipso facto – go right on the first beat!

We didn't have the courage of our convictions and found ourselves in a busy stream of Fireballs going left. However, one boat did go right, and they were rewarded by rounding the weather mark first........even though, by their own admission, they were last off the line. Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (IRL 15061) weren't headed throughout the remainder of the race and they recorded the first win of the 2012/13 series. They were chased around the course by Kenny Rumball & Dave Moran (IRL 15058) and the Clancy brothers, Conor and James, sailing IRL 150. Behind this chasing pair were Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (IRL 14706), Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (IRL 14713), Neil Colin & Margaret Court (IRL 14775) and Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (IRL 15007) who rounded the weather mark in close company. The first reach of the triangle was quite comfortable, but the second reach, in the choppy conditions inside the harbour entrance was a great deal more hairy. Management of these conditions and the subsequent rounding of the leeward mark provided opportunities for place taking. The anchoring of a small raft, just upwind and about 30-40m to starboard of the leeward mark also caused some fun and games.

Different takes on the right-side/left side debate on the upwind course allowed for even more place changing. All the while the lead bunch was sailing away.

The finishing order for Race 1 was Butler/Oram, Rumball/Moran, Clancy/Clancy, Smyth/Bradley, Colin/Casey. However, on shore we found out that Rumball/Moran were scored OCS.

The three laps of Race 1 were then explained........a second race was scheduled! Admittedly, there were only two laps for this one. This time we did have the conviction to go right, though a slow start made that a more attractive prospect than trailing everyone else who had gone left. However, the breeze had also gone left, so the advantage of going right was quite so pronounced. At the first weather mark early running order was Rumball/Moran, Butler/Oram, Luke Malcolm & Shane Divinney (IRL 14790). Court/Syme, Colin/Casey, Miller/Donnelly, Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keefe (IRL 14691), newcomers 14719, Mike Murphy & son James (IRL 14908), the Clancys and Smyth/Bradley were grouped closely together going round the weather mark. One boat without a spinnaker, another in trouble hoisting and fun & games at the first leeward mark, involving two three Fireballs and a Laser saw place swopping going on before the second and last beat. Bradley Smyth came out best by finding themselves challenging the Clancys and Court/Syme to take the lead slot in the chasing group. At the second weather mark these three were in close company again, with Court/Syme leading from Smyth/Bradley and the Clancys. Court/Syme got too intimate with the gybe mark requiring the taking of turns further down the second reach. This provided Smyth/Bradley the opportunity to get ahead into fourth, a position they held on the short hitch to the finish to just pip the Clancys.

Having assumed that the running order at the front had been maintained, it came as a surprise to read on the results sheet that Malcolm/Divinney had scored the 2nd place, behind Rumball/Moran. It appears that Butler/Oram had a complication with the spinnaker which required a sheet to be untied and retied after sorting. This afforded the young Howth Yacht Club combination the chance to take second which they grabbed with both hands.

There were some recognizable sail numbers in new hands on the water today – IRL 14719, previously campaigned by Franko Cassidy and John Hudson has changed hands. "Dogbolter" has been refurbished and was on the water today.

We were also joined on the water by Mike Murphy out of Waterford, sailing with his son, James.

The 42nd Frostbite Series is organised by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club.