‘Louis is coming to get us" exclaimed Noel Butler to crew Stephen Oram. Looking over his shoulder he was watching the young Thompson brothers, Daniel and Harry, and perhaps a ghost, closing in rapidly during the second PY race in yesterday’s DMYC frostbite series. The Thompsons are sailing the Fireball of late veteran dinghy racer Louis Smyth who died in June. The pair have been awarded the youth boat for the Frostbites series in an initiative by Louis’ family and the Irish Fireball Association. While the Wexford based pair, who normally sail 420s, had a slow start the previous Sunday yesterday’s races saw them begin to find their stride. In race one they narrowly missed 2nd place to Louise McKenna and Hermine O'Keeffe. In race two the pair were close on the heels of leaders Butler/Oram and by the finish were just a few seconds behind. Aldo back in action in Fireballs is the class boat, a composite Winder on loan for the winter to SID member Nick Miller sailing with an enthusiastic range of crews and helms from the Sailing in Dublin stable.
The Thompson brothers Daniel and Harry with their Fireball dinghy for the DMYC Frostbites Photo: Frank Miller
Sunday’s racing in Dun Laoghaire harbour saw challenging conditions for all participants. The challenge wasn’t so much the wind strength as the variations in pressure and direction around the course. The game for all fleets was one of snakes and ladders.
"The game for all fleets was one of snakes and ladders"
For this winter season, the fleets are divided between three Laser starts and a very mixed PY start, dominated by the ten Fireball entries. With a Met Eireann small craft warning in force some crews expected decent wind but in the event, the Wind Guru forecast proved the more accurate one and with the exception of the occasional gust winds were relatively light. While the line bias may have pointed towards the pin those who started at the committee end of the line tended to come out best at the windward mark with the breeze, when it did occasionally fill, coming from the south. The fleets remained well spread out around the triangular courses though the PY fleet occasionally had to work around a delayed laser start after the leeward mark– a first world complaint and a symptom of the growing frostbites numbers in a confined harbour. For race two the wind shifted right just before the start making the first beat a near fetch and the second reach quite tight.
Nevertheless, the usual suspects managed to find their way to the front. On handicap, the ever consistent Butler/Oram won the first PY race in a Fireball while Shane McCarthy won the second PY race in his Solo. PY mug winners were Fireballers Louise McKenna and Hermine O'Keeffe for race one and Monika Schaefer and Miriam McCarthy in their Wayfarer for race 2. The large fleet of Lasers with multiple starts challenged the recorders but the results show the 4.7s races were won by Adam Walsh and Alana Coakley respectively, Ali Robinson and Sean Craig won the Radial divisions and Gary O’Hare and Chris Arrowsmith won the full rig divisions.
The series, growing again in popularity, continues until late March with intermissions at Christmas and the New Year.
