The Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC dinghy Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour concludes this Sunday, 26th March. There is a favourable forecast for the afternoon with 15/16 knots from the North, the current projection on XCWeather.

As reported after last Sunday's racing, all but one of the classes are cut and dried in terms of the overall positions in Series 2 so many of the prize winners are already known.

Prizes will be awarded only to those in the room, so don't let your season's effort go without recognition.

And given that, touch wood, we will have raced. every Sunday in Series 2, there should be lots to discuss post-racing.

Please note that the front door access is unavailable on Sunday, so entry will be at the steps at the back of the club or through the lower boat park.

Hoping to see lots of you there!

The film “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” dominated the Oscars on the Sunday before the Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites second last Frostbite Sunday, and the Frostbite community on Sunday past might have enjoyed an amendment to this film title, along the lines of Something, Somewhere, Just For An Hour!

Two forecasting apps suggested that wind of the order of 6 – 8 knots would be SSE moving to the South as the afternoon progressed. Met Eireann apparently wasn’t so sure about that and the reality was that on arriving in the race area, what wind there was, was blowing from a northerly quarter, though the smoke from the Incinerator was suggesting a westerly of varying strength. Interestingly, the incinerator smoke blew that way all afternoon, though to varying strengths. The committee boat took up station off the end of the Carlisle Pier, which would have given a windward mark position in the proximity of the end of the West Pier. However, as soon as the weather mark went in, the wind started moving, initially to the end of the East Pier, then progressively eastwards until the weather mark would have gone in between the end of the Carlisle Pier and the wall of the East Pier, giving a beat of 50m. That necessitated a change to the committee boat position and after one further change, the committee boat ended up north of the western breakwater just off the end of the breakwater.

A triangular course was set of two laps, with the weather mark about 80m on the seaward side of the East Pier bandstand, a gybe mark in the middle of the harbour and a leeward mark close to, but outside the committee boat. As RO, my prayer was that the wind would stay in the “right” direction to get the three starts away, as it was already moving around.
Given that this was a three-day weekend for the St Patrick’s Day holiday on Friday there was a good turnout of boats across the three starts – PY (16), ILCA 7s (6), ILCA 6s (17) and ILCA 4s (3).

Thankfully all three fleets got away first time with only an individual recall in one start to blot the copybook. And for the first leg, there was a good resemblance to a beat, admittedly in lighter airs than had been forecast. However, the top end of the course was not as genteel on the competitors and boats were soon sailing at a variety of angles and tacks trying to get to the gybe mark and, subsequently, to the leeward mark. Out of this situation the boats to show first were the Fireball of Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167), the Aero 7 of Stephen Oram (3288) and the Finn of Brian Sweeney (1620). Indeed, at the gybe mark, an ILCA 7 was mixing it with the PY fleet who had started 3 minutes before him. Spinnakers were being flown along parts of the second and third legs of the course but not to best effect and not continuously. Indeed, the majority of the fleet had to beat in part to get to the leeward mark.

At this stage as RO, I had to debate whether the race was still fair (doubtful) and whether it should be abandoned altogether. However, having 42 boats on the water committed to a race, meant it would be rather unfair of me to simply abandon the whole thing. I decided that a suggestion from my weather mark rib to finish at the weather mark was a suitable compromise that gave everyone a race and a finish to reward them for their perseverance. And so, flying a shortened course signal at the weather mark, proceedings were brought to a close, with no sign that any better conditions were likely to arrive. There were lots of empathetic comments from boats finishing that a race had been achieved in the prevailing conditions.

 Paul (L) and Morris (R) ter Horst, PY Mug winners 12th March (Fireball 14790) at the Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Frank Miller

Viking Marine Frostbites, Penultimate Sunday

PY Fleet
1. Patrick Hassett, 2.4m
2. Noel Butler, Aero 6
3. Brian Sweeney, Finn
4. Roy van Maanen, Aero 6
5. Alastair Court & Gordon Syme, Fireball.

Court & Syme won the race on the water with a finish time of 31:25, but the Finn of Brian Sweeney was only 1:43 behind them. The Aeros of Noel Butler and Roy van Maanen finished at 33:38 and 35:56 respectively while Patrick Hassett was a slightly distant finisher at 37:16. However, on computation with the handicaps the 2.4m of Hassett won by a fine margin of 23 seconds. 

ILCA 7s
1. Sean Bowden
2. Theo Lyttle
3. Chris Arrowsmith.

ILCA 6s
1. Sean Craig
2. Alison Pigot
3. Darren Griffin
4. Barry McCartin
5. Shirley Gilmore.

Alison Pigot – ILCA6 Mug winner (12th March) at the Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Frank Miller

ILCA 4s
1. Zita Tempany
2. Sam Legge
3. Sergei Vasilev.

With only one Sunday left and the prospect of two races, the overall situation in Series 2 is “cut and dried” in all but one class, the ILCA 7s, where two points separate 1st and 2nd, 8 points cover 1st and 3rd and twelve points cover 1st and 4th.

Viking Marine Series 2 Overall (with 6 discards counting).

PY Fleet
1. Noel Butler, 29pts
2. Stephen Oram, 82.5pts
3. Roy van Maanen, 105pts
4. Sarah Dwyer, 110pts
5. Stuart Harris, 114pts
6. Alastair Court & Gordon Syme 132pts.

ILCA 7s
1. Gavan Murphy, 71pts
2. Theo Lyttle 73pts
3. Conor Byrne, 79pts
4. Sean Bowden, 83pts
5. Chris Arrowsmith, 100pts.

ILCA 6s
1. Sean Craig, 34pts
2. Darren Griffin, 61pts
3. Conor Clancy, 71pts
4. John O’Driscoll, 128pts
5. David Cahill, 141pts
6. Shirley Gilmore, 166 pts.

ILCA 4s
1. Zita Tempany, 31pts
2. Patrick Foley, 35pts
3. Grace Gavin, 40 pts
4. Sam Legge 42pts

Dave Coleman (L) – ILCA6 Mug winner 19th March with Race Officer and article author Cormac Bradley at the at the Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Frank Miller

Frostbite Mugs for the day were awarded to Dave Coleman (ILCA 6s) and Roy McKay (ILCA 7s) who just missed the photographs. The prize-giving for Series 2 and the Overall Series will take place after racing next Sunday, 26th March, in the DMYC clubhouse.

From midweek, the forecast for this past Sunday of Viking Marine DMYC-sponsored Frostbite racing was favourable from a wind perspective – westerlies of the order of 10 – 12 knots but with a cool temperature. However, the latter wasn’t as cold as predicted though it was cool when the sun went behind a cloud, but when it was available to shine, there was a pleasantness about it.

The three fleets responded with good numbers, twenty boats in the PY Class with ten Fireballs on the water, twenty-five ILCA 6s and eight ILCA 7s. Yet again, there were no ILCA 4s on the water.

With the wind in this direction, a good length beat was available to the Race Officer (Cormac Bradley) and he placed the weather mark north of the entrance to the marina. The layer of the gybe mark asked for a bearing to put this mark in place, which he got, and situated it in the proximity of the (redundant) dolphins for the HySpeed ferry and a leeward mark was laid off the obelisk on the upper deck of the East Pier. The committee boat was situated a bit further upwind of the leeward mark to try and give the fleet more of a beat to the finish when that time came.

For the first race, all three fleets got away first time on a three-lap Olympic course. All three fleets chose a starboard tack start to get across to the shore side of the beat, with some early defections tacking to go right up the other side of the beat.

The windward mark layer expressed the view that those who had gone right early had benefitted but as RO it was encouraging to see the fleet spread across the width of the course halfway up the beat.

The Fireball fleet chases early race leaders (out of shot) round the weather mark. From right to left – Glen Fisher & Michael Keegan (14676), Jack McNaughton & Jamie Malcolm (14101), Paul & Morris ter Horst (14790), Frank Miller & Neil Cramer (14915) and the “pink ladies, Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016) Photo Ian Cutliffe

A cluster of Fireballs led at the windward mark and red spinnakers were to the fore – with the combination of Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (14854) identified as the leaders when sail numbers became legible. Others to feature here were Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167), Jack McNaughton & Jamie Malcolm (14101) and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775). A three-sail reach evolved for the spinnaker classes on the top reach and it looked very exciting from my perspective. The second reach was a little more genteel but proved to be competitive as well. The Aeros were not far behind the Fireballs at the weather mark, but the spinnaker reach allowed the Fireballs to pull away on the water. Noel Butler (Aero 6) led the Aero charge and, on the water, he was followed by Stephen Oram (Aero 7) and Sarah Dwyer (Aero 6). Also well placed, though it was only after the handicaps were calculated that we knew how well, were the IDRA 14 of Pierre Long and son Remy and the Finn of Brian Sweeney.

Ciara Mulvey & Peter Murphy (GP 14 11111) [blue hull], Pierre & Remy Long (IDRA 161), Damien Dion (Aero 3431) and Sean Lillis and Stephen Hawkins (Wayfarer 10449) at the weather mark Photo: Ian Cutliffe 

While Court & Syme came home in 27:05 and a further seven Fireballs came home before Butler, the Aero 6 took the race win on handicap by 1:42, 26:45 to Court’s 28:27. Sarah Dwyer took second, followed by the Long’s IDRA, Sweeney’s Finn, Oram’s Aeros 7 and Court’s Fireball.

Eight ILCA 7s had a relaxed start with the line length set for the bigger classes and a conspicuous absentee in the form of Gavan Murphy. That allowed Conor Byrne to take the first race win, followed home by Chris Arrowsmith, Niall Cowman, Sean Bowden and Conor O’Leary.

The ILCA 6s with twenty-five boats had a busier start line, not helped by an “in to windward” capsize on the second row of the grid. A second boat got tangled up in the spill but both boats recovered to get away. A late starter in this fleet only just made the start and was managing a great recovery until he rolled to weather (I think) and got himself fouled wit the limit mark of the finish line. He did finish, but his early work was undone by this incident.
Sean Craig led the fleet home, followed by the Williams, Peter and David in second and third, with Darren Griffin fourth and Conor Clancy fifth.

Mother Nature was at her co-operative best and gave the RO no cause to alter the course for the second race. Instead, he added a lap to the race to take advantage of the weather. From a high of 12 knots, the wind was now in the range 7 – 9 knots and nobody seemed to have a problem with an extra lap.

The PY fleet had their copy book blotted by a General Recall triggered by over-enthusiastic Fireballs and they went to the back of the starting queue as a consequence. The ILCA 7s were fine and the ILCA 6s produced a very close call on their start but got away at the first time of asking.

In the ILCA 7s Conor Byrne did the double, but the sequence behind him changed with Bowden, Cowman, Arrowsmith and Roy McKay filling places 2 – 5.

There was speculative evidence in the ILCA 6 start that two boats were eyeing each other pre-start. When both of them have been on the water, in time for the start, they have enjoyed a close race and there was a slight sense that one was watching the other in the final countdown to the start. That suspicion manifested itself at the first leeward mark when one of the two led the fleet around with the other a boat away, but as the race proceeded the order of the boats changed and they finished with a third boat separating them.

Sean Craig led early on, but at the line Barry McCartin took the win with Peter Williams second, Craig third, followed by Darren Griffin and John O’Driscoll.

With three Sundays to go – 12th, 19th and 26th, DMYC posted overall results (Series 1 & 2) to their website and the top places in each fleet are detailed here. Given that Scotland – Ireland is playing in Six Nations on Sunday rather than Saturday, the plan is to race as per normal, and make a judgement call on the day relative to the start of the rugby.

Viking Marine DMYC Frostbite Racing overall resultsat March 5 2023

Frostbite Mugs would have been awarded had the recipients been there…… but they weren’t!

On Sunday past, 26^th February, a full quota of races was completed for the Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC dinghy Frostbites with all starts being clean, and some decidedly conservative. The overall fleet size was just under the fifty mark with the PY Fleet and the ILCA 6s vying for largest fleet with the ILCAs winners by one, twenty-one versus twenty with the ILCA 7s also having a good turnout with eight boats. The ILCA 4s seem to have abandoned the Frostbites, as for the third weekend in a row, we had none of them on the water.

The PY Fleet had an extremely healthy turnout of eleven Fireballs, almost the full quota of the boats registered for the Series.

Race Officer, Brendan Duffy, located himself just east of the marina entrance and only a short upwind distance off the eastern breakwater with an easterly breeze of 10 – 15 knots, which held up for the duration of the afternoon. That left the weather mark just inshore of the obelisk on the upper deck of the East Pier and a gybe mark just inside the end of the East Pier and a leeward mark situated between the committee boat and the marina entrance – maybe just a little bit squashed. Fortunately, it wasn’t a day when there was going to be multiple capsizes at the leeward mark. An Olympic three-lapper was set for the first and second races.

ILCAs rounding the weather mark at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Photo: Ian Cutliffe

For all three fleets the preferred option was to work the left-hand side of the beat before taking a long port tack across the top of the course to get into the weather mark. In R1 the Fireballs were the first to show at the weather mark with the blue spinnaker of Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167) leading the way. They were followed, in close company by Frank Cassidy & John Hudson (14934), Jack McNaughton & Jamie Malcolm (14101) and Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016). Conspicuous by their absence from the leading bunch were Frank Miller & Ed Butler (14915) and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) who were off the pace despite excessive enthusiasm at the start – Yes, they were OCS!

Fireballs to the fore on 1st weather mark rounding, Race 1 – R – L; McNaughton & Malcolm (14101), Court & Syme (15167), Cassidy & Hudson (14934), Colin & Casey (14775), Miller & Butler (14915) at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Ian Cutliffe

Court & Syme led the fleet all the way round finishing in a time of 22:51. In total four Fireballs finished ahead of the leading Aero on the water, Noel Butler, who had a finish time of 26:15, but when the calculations were completed ashore, Butler and Court were tied on corrected time, 24:00, and the other Fireballs finished behind Butler and Roy van Maanen (Aero). Thus, on corrected time the finishing order was Court, Butler, Roy van Maanen, Cassidy and Sarah Dwyer (Aero). The Fireballs enjoyed three-sail reaches on both triangles and the downwind leg of the sausage was also entertaining.

The overall leader in the ILCA 6s was absent on the day but with a healthy lead over the rest of the fleet, Sean Craig could afford to miss two races. In his absence, a new race winner came to the fore, Pascal Boret, but behind him the pecking order had a ring of familiarity to it – Darren Griffin, Conor Clancy, Brendan Hughes, Peter Williams and Shirley Gilmore.

In the ILCA 7s, the overall leader going into Sunday was Conor Byrne, but his absence saw a change in the overall lead in this Class. Theo Lyttle took the first race win with Gavan Murphy second, Chris Arrowsmith third, Gary O’Hare fourth and Sean Bowden fifth. For Lyttle, this was a first step in taking the overall lead of the Class away from Byrne.

For the second race, the RO tweaked the course to push the gybe mark further away from the committee boat and moved the leeward mark further westwards into the entrance of the marina. For the first triangle this worked with the spinnaker classes being able to three-sail the top reach, admittedly under some pressure as evidenced by flogging mains. However, for the second triangle the wind had gone northwards which meant that the top reach became a tight two-sailer! Again, the Fireballs were to the fore on the water and again, they lost out to the Aeros when the numbers were crunched. Court led the fleet around the course and Cassidy & Hudson also had a particularly good race, holding second until Miller & Butler engaged with them on the final approach to the leeward mark and the resultant “shenanigans” saw Cassidy manoeuvred away from the leeward mark and capsizing before recovering to finish down the pecking order. (I didn’t see the detail on the water!!).

In handicap terms Aeros took first and third, Butler and van Maanen respectively, with the Fireball of Court sandwiched between them. The IDRA 14 of Pierre Long took fourth and another Aero, Stephen Oram finished fifth.

Aeros in close company, Race 1, Noel Butler (3289), Stephen Oram (3288) hidden behind Butler and Roy van Maanen(3822) at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Ian Cutliffe.

In the ILCA 7s, the same five boats occupied the first five places, but in a revised order. Gary O’Hare led them home, followed by Sewan Bowden, Theo Lyttle, Gavan Murphy and Chris Arrowsmith.

In the ILCA 6s there was a different winner as well with Darren Griffin taking the honours with Conor Clancy second and Peter Williams third. Thereafter, the order was Owen Laverty, David Williams with Shirley Gilmore claiming 6^th again.

In daily Frostbite Mug terms, absentee winners would have been Jack McNaughton and Jamie Malcolm (PY), Grattan Donnelly & Marjo (PY) and Owen Laverty (ILCA 6/R2). However, there was a presentation to Shirley Gilmore for her 6^th place in the ILCA 6 for Race 1.

Shirley Gilmore, Frostbite Mug winner – R1 ILCA 6s at the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Photo: Frank Miller

Dublin Bay Frostbites regulars Roy Van Maanen (Greystones SC) and Noel Butler (National YC) both finished second in their respective fleets at the RS Aero US Midwinters in Florida last weekend.

Varied conditions tested sailors in all wind strengths in very pleasant Florida temperatures across the race week held at Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa.

Butler had a consistent performance in the shifty breeze on day two in the 7 fleet, scoring 3,2,3 to secure his podium, while Van Maanen enjoyed a game battle with Philip Myerson of Cedar Point YC in Connecticut for first in the 5 fleet, with the US sailor coming up trumps this time out.

The Irish contingent also competed in the Florida State Championship, with Butler taking third place and Van Maanen placing a more than respectable sixth.

And in the Round the Bay Long Distance Race on 8 February, Butler narrowly missed out on first place — under 10 seconds on handicap — to make it a trifecta of podium finishes.

Noel Butler and Roy Van Maanen (right) at dinner with fellow RS Aero sailors during the race week | Credit: Noel Butler

Butler commented on social media: “Delighted to finish 2nd 7 rig in the RS Aero Class North America Midwinter Championships and 3rd in the Florida State Championships

“Thanks to organiser Ryan Schenck and all at the beautiful Davis Island Yacht Club for the hospitality and a great event.

“Thanks to the Cedar Point Yacht Club RS Aero sailors for providing charter boats and driving them all the way from CT to FL and back!

“Thanks to the Hummingbird Gang (Jeff Dunmall, Madhavan Thirumalai, Boris Mezhibovskiy, Roy Van Maanen) for the epic accomodation, food and fun!”

Both are back in action in Ireland this weekend, with the INSS RS Aero Super Series on Saturday and the DMYC Frostbites on Sunday.

After a Sunday of too much breeze, followed by a Sunday of variable breeze, the DMYC Viking Marine Frostbites fleet had a Sunday where the wind was much more manageable in terms of consistency and strength. We also had a debutant Race Officer in the form of Brendan Duffy from the Ruffian Class in Dun Laoghaire.

This correspondent had a much more genteel afternoon laying the gybe mark for the two-race programme of the day.

Fifty-eight boats answered the starters orders with the ILCA 6s having the biggest fleet of 29 boats. The ILCA 7s also had a good turnout, their biggest of Series 2, with nine boats, while the PY fleet mustered 20 boats, including seven Fireballs. No ILCA 4s got wet!

Fireballs, GP 14, Aero and Wayfarer off the start line Photo: Neil Colin

For the first race, a three-lap Olympic course, a weather mark was set in the approximate location of the bandstand on the East Pier, the gybe mark was in the mouth of the harbour and the leeward mark was in the “elbow” of the western breakwater and the West Pier, with the INSS green raft in close proximity. Wind strength for the day was between 5 and 12 knots from an approximate SE direction.

The first two starts got away at the first time of asking and in the PY Fleet the choice appeared to be to use the left-hand side of the beat initially, before trying to work across the width of the harbour to the starboard layline. The seven Fireballs started in a tightish bunch with Aeros hovering around the fringes, and the first spinnaker to show at the weather mark was from Irish Class Association Secretary and Chairman Frank Miller & Neil Cramer respectively (14915). They had a healthy lead on their classmates for the first lap but as the race progressed, they were put under pressure by the “pink ladies” Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016) and Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167). Different approaches to the downwind sausage in particular seemed to make the difference. Court & Syme having closed on Miller & Cramer worked the left-hand side of the run while Miller and McKenna sailed to the right-hand side. That appeared to cost Court, leaving McKenna and Miller dicing it out for first place on the water. Miller took the win by 22 seconds from Mc Kenna but both lost out to the Aeros of Stuart Harris and Stephen Oram who finished 4:20 and 3:31 minutes astern of Miller, respectively but took the handicap win and second place by 54 and 43 seconds, respectively. A new combination in Fireballs, Jack McNaughton & Jamie Malcolm (GBR 14101) were sailing very well in the conditions and finished a creditable 10th on handicap. Given that this is a boat that they put on the water for the first time in Series 2, this was a commendable performance.

On handicap, the finishing order was Stuart Harris, Stephen Oram, Miller & Cramer, McKenna & O’Keeffe, Sarah Dwyer (Aero 6).

The nine ILCA 7s also seemed to enjoy some close racing and shared the same view as the PY fleet on how the first beat should be sailed. In tandem with the PY fleet, they worked the right-hand side of the beat for subsequent laps. The finishing order was Theo Lyttle, Gavan Murphy, Sean Bowden, Niall Cowman and Gary O’Hare.

Both these fleets then found themselves having to sail through an ILCA 6 fleet that was still in the starting area, due to a number of failed attempts to get started in accordance with the RO’s requirements. By the time they did get away, their course had been reduced to two laps of the course. Up front there was a close battle going on between Barry McCartin (FBs, RSs) and class stalwart Sean Craig which McCartin won, but only after a one-on-one that lasted the whole course. Behind Craig, the order was David Williams, David Cahill and Darren Griffin.

Stephen Oram mixes it with the Fireballs at the weather mark. Photo: Ian Cutliffe

The RO kept the course as was but signalled T2 for the second race – two triangles. Again, the PY fleet and the ILCA 7s got away at the first time of asking and this time there was an earlier choice to use the right-hand side of the beat. This was due to a shift which saw the fleet sailing the first half of the top reach on starboard tack, before gybing long before the gybe mark onto port and closing out with a tight second reach to the leeward mark. The wind had also eased as the afternoon progressed and while the Fireballs were to the fore on the water, they had neither distance nor time to preserve that advantage over the Aeros when it came to the computed results. So, while Miller & Cramer had a “minute and four” advantage over Oram in the Aero, Oram was able to turn the tables on the spreadsheet of results gaining a 1:40 advantage on handicap. Indeed, Miller & Cramer would only claim 8th place on corrected time. Oram (Aero) led home (on paper) Pierre & Remy Long (IDRA 14), Sarah Dwyer (Aero), Monica Schaeffer & Charlie Dunn (Wayfarer) and Patrick Hassett (2.4m).

In the ILCA 7s, Theo Lyttle scored a second win and Roy McKay beat Gavan Murphy into second, with Chris Arrowsmith and Gary O’Hare closing out the top five.

Meanwhile, the ILCA 6s had even more “fun and games” though many may not share that sentiment, for their second race start. Despite four attempts to get the fleet away, the effort was ultimately abandoned and they lost their second race, sent home early for a hot shower. Off the water, the RO’s observation was that even at 30 seconds to go, the vast majority of the fleet was invariably over the line. And positioning a rib just on the course side of the line did not act as the desired deterrent.

Series 2 Overall; After 14 races and two discards at the Viking Marine DMYCFrostbites

PY Fleet. Noel Butler (36.5), Stephen Oram (40), Stuart Harris (54), Frank Miller & Ed Butler/Neil Cramer (61), Sarah Dwyer (64).
ILCA 7s. Conor Byrne (31), Gavan Murphy (38), Theo Lyttle (39), Niall Cowman (40), Chris Arrowsmith (41).
ILCA 6s. Sean Craig (19), Conor Clancy (31), Darren Griffin (48), John O’Driscoll (52), David Cahill (59)

 Karl Leavy (Aero) collects his Frostbite Mug for Sunday 12th, February from Cormac Bradley Photo: Frank Miller

Monia Schaeffer & Charlie Dunn receive their Frostbite Mug on Sunday 5th, February Photo: Frank Miller

Noel Butler of the National Yacht Club is Stateside this week for the 2023 Florida RS Aero Winter Series in Tampa.

Davis Island Yacht Club — known for its steady winter winds ranging from 8-15 knots on any given day — is hosting the weeklong event that comprises the Florida State Championships on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 February, the Round the Bay long-distance race on Wednesday 8 February and the Midwinters over the weekend of 10-12 February.

In the meantime, Butler’s absence will give his fellow competitors in the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbite Series a chance to reshuffle the leaderboard.

There was a big breeze and plenty of capsizes at the in-harbour racing of Sunday's Viking Marine DMYC dinghy Frostbite Series at Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay today.

Frank Miller captured the action in this photo gallery below that features the mixed dinghies, Fireballs and ILCA fleets all racing inside the giant harbour walls.  

Over 100 dinghies compete in the races each Sunday afternoon.

Racing continues in Series Two of the annual league until March.

Afloat's regular weekly Frostbite report will follow

Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbite Series at Dun Laoghaire Photo Gallery by Frank Miller

The critical aspect of last Sunday’s DMYC Frostbites, sponsored by Viking Marine, was the air temperature rather than the wind strength. True, there had been a severe wind warning as late at 13:00 on the Saturday, with Severe Gale Force winds predicted for the northern coasts of the island and the northern portion of the Irish Sea, but these were due to blow themselves out and a more sublime Sunday was predicted.

Temperature on the other hand, was an issue and an oft-used anatomical expression of the coldness, which in actual fact has a naval sea-fighting connotation, was appropriate for the day. Fifty-five boats were on the water for the day with the ILCA 6s having the biggest fleet with 22 boats. They were closely followed by the PY fleet, made up of Fireballs, Aeros, an IDRA, a GP 14, a Wayfarer, a Laser Vago, a RS 400, a RS Quest and the 2.4m of Patrick Hassett.

Fireballs at a weather mark in the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Ian Cutliffe

Given the conditions, it was decided beforehand to try and get a short race in first and then review the conditions for a second race. With a wind that initially fluctuated around due west, a weather mark was set up just to the north of the marina entrance, a gybe mark to the east of the dolphins of the Hy-speed ferry terminal and a leeward mark set off the weather station on the upper level of the East Pier. Two triangles were set for Race 1.

A generous length of line and a pin end bias had the desired effect of spreading the fleet along the start line and all three fleets had a clean start, though the bias made for tight calls at the pin end. Still, halfway up the first beat for the PY Class, it was pleasing (as a RO) to see that the fleet was spread across the course rather than hogging one side.

First to show at the weather mark was the father and son combination of Ed and Ed Butler (14915), with young Ed helming in lieu of the regular helm Frank Miller who was off on leave. They scorched around the course taking advantage of good three-sail reaching on the top reach and more genteel three sailing on the second reach. Other Fireballs to feature prominently were Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167) and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) with Glen Fisher and Michael Keegan (14676) not far behind. Also doing well was another father/son combination of Frank and Hugh Cassidy (14934). Hugh has only been introduced to Fireball sailing in this season’s Frostbites and is making a very good go of it thus far. Mixing it with the Fireballs were the Aeros of Noel Butler (3289) and Stephen Oram (3288) and in handicap terms in this race that would be reflected in the results. Three Fireballs finished ahead of the Aeros on the water, Butler/Butler (18:26), Court/Syme (19:11) and Colin/Casey (19:25), with Butler (20:29) beating Oram (20:55) Yet on handicap terms, the Aeros took 1st and 3rd – Butler (18:43), Butler/Butler (19:22), Oram (19:38), Court/Syme (20:09) and Colin/Casey (20:24).

 ILCA 6s at the weather mark in the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Ian Cutliffe

The ILCA 7s and 4s share one start and the start line conditions also meant they had plenty of room to manoeuvre themselves into favourable positions. For the 7s, of which there were eight, the race was run in close company with a finishing order of Conor Byrne, Chris Arrowsmith and Roy McKay. And in the 4s, the finishing order was Grace Gavin, Zita Tempany and Sam Legge.

The 20-boat 6s’ start was busy at the pin end and while it got very close, they did have a clean start. In the first race, a new name was at the head of the fleet, Peter Williams, who was followed home by Conor Clancy, Brendan Hughes, Darren Griffin and Pascal Boret. A high-profile member of this fleet was recorded as a DNF and that, combined with a polite comment on the “earliness” of the blue flag would suggest that he may have gone through the finish line when said blue flag was up. If that is the case, then his actions are commendable and more people should follow his example!

For the latter stages of the first race, the wind was moving northwards and that prompted a review of and an amendment to the course, pushing the weather mark to starboard relative to the committee boat. On that basis the three-start sequence got away again, but then the wind started to move backwards towards its original direction. It didn’t turn the beat into a soldier’s course, fortunately, and the downwind leg of the three-lap Olympic course didn’t turn into a reach.

In the PY fleet the Butler² team in the Fireball repeated their feat of the first race, romping home by a 1:09 margin over Colin & Casey in the second Fireball and by 4:00 on the first Aero of “the other Butler”. However, in a race of just less than half an hour, this wasn’t enough for the Fireball to hold off the Aero on handicap and Butler (Aero) took another individual race win by a margin of 0:04, FOUR SECONDS! In handicap terms the Butlers, singular and plural were followed home by another father and son combination, Pierre & Remy Long in the IDRA, Colin & Casey and Oram.

In the ILCA 7s, Theo Lyttle took the race win followed by Conor Byrne and Gavan Murphy. In the 6s, a more familiar line-up was evident in the finishing order as Sean Craig won comfortably, followed by Darren Griffin, Pascal Boret, Conor Clancy and John O’Driscoll. And in the 4s, Patrick Foley led home Grace Gavin and Zita Tempany.

By 15:30, the fleet was on its way home to thaw out in its respective clubhouses!

In overall terms, the PY fleet is well spread from a points perspective. Noel Butler (6) has eleven points on the Fireball of Frank Miller/Ed Butler and substitute crews and helms (17) with another Aero, Stuart Harris, and another Fireball, Alastair Court & Gordon Syme, tied on 27 pts. Stephen Oram holds fifth place on 29pts.

Likewise, in the ILCA 7s there is a points gap between all the boats at the top end, with eight between Conor Byrne (6) and Chris Arrowsmith (14) in 1st and 2nd. Niall Cowman and Gavan Murphy are separated by a single point, six and seven points behind Arrowsmith, respectively.

In the ILCA 6s, a single point separates Conor Clancy (12) and Sean Craig (13), but they have a comfortable margin, at present, on John O’Driscoll (23). O’Driscoll will need to keep an eye over his shoulder on Darren Griffin (25) with Judy O’Beirne (29) not too far away.

In the ILCA 4s a 4-point spread covers 1st to 3rd with the top two, Patrick Foley and Zita Tempany both on 9 points and Sam Legge on 13.

Frostbite Mug winners on the day were Frank and Hugh Cassidy (R1 PY Fleet), Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (FB/R2 PY Fleet) and Roy McKay (ILCA 7). Mug winners have to be in attendance to get their Frostbite Mugs and get two chances to claim their Mugs.

Ed Butler (right) collects his Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites prizes for Series 1 from DMYC's Neil Colin Photo: Cormac Bradley

Cariosa Power (L) and Marie Barry collect their Viking Marine DMYC Frostbite Mugs for the 2nd PY Race Photo: Cormac Bradley

Roy McKay (ILCA 7s) picks up his Viking Marine DMYC Frostbite Mug. (Race 1) Photo: Cormac Bradley

Hugh (L) and Frank Cassidy collect their Viking Marine Frostbite Mugs for the 1st PY Race Photo: Cormac Bradley

The opening race of the post-Christmas Series 2 of the Viking Marine-sponsored, Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club hosted dinghy Frostbites got off to a quiet start on Sunday 1st January 2023. Quiet; a) because of a much-reduced fleet size and b) because the wind, which was genteel to start, got lighter as the afternoon got later, resulting in a shortening of the second race.

A game of two halves – because for only the second time since Race 1 of Series 1, the Aeros dropped a race win on handicap and the beneficiaries – Neil Colin and Margaret Casey in Fireball 14775 - the only boat to take a handicap race win from the Aeros, their second such win in the 2022/23 Series.

Twenty-eight boats saw in the New Year on the water by taking part in the opening race of Series 2. The Fireballs had the biggest fleet with 9 boats on the water, 75% of their total entry to the event. They were followed by the ILCA 6s with 8 boats, Aeros with 5 boats, and the ILCA 7s and ILCA 4s each having 3 boats.

Fireballs at the head of the fleet, Race 1. Left to right – Colm Breen & Rory Power Breen(just in picture), Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167), Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016), Glen Fisher & Michael Keegan (14676), Paul & Morris ter Horst (14790), Frank Miller & Neil Cramer (14915), with Noel Butler in the Frame (Aero 3289) Photo: Ian Cutliffe

Olympic courses were set for both races with the wind forecast to come from SSW and by Saturday night’s forecast due to be in the region of 10 – 12 knots with gusts in the high teens. In reality the wind fluctuated around due West and strength-wise started at 10 knots but reduced as the afternoon wore on.

A windward mark was laid just north of the marina entrance with a gybe mark in the vicinity of the dolphins for the Hi-Speed ferry and a leeward mark in the vicinity of the weather station on the upper level of the East Pier.

For the period leading up to the start for the PY Fleet, the weather mark was in a good “aggregate” position, but in the count-down it swung rightwards and the RO feared that there would be a soldier’s course to the first mark. That didn’t happen though as the fleet spread itself across the width of the course. Colin & Casey went to the RHS of the beat in deference to their class competitors who were all on their port side. At the top mark they found themselves in third place in a tight group of 5/6 Fireballs with Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167), Frank Miller & Neil Cramer (14915), Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016), Glen Fisher & Michael Keegan (14676) and Paul & Morris ter Horst (14790). A tight three-sail reach kept this group substantially intact to the gybe mark and after rounding that the luffing matches started. But not for the “yellow-spinnakered” Colin& Casey who sailed a lower course and broke away from the “luffers”. It was a lead that they would retain for a large part of the three-lap course but at the third weather mark they were caught out by a wind shift to let Miller take the lead and finished 5 seconds down on Miller at the line.

Race 2 winners Neil Colin & Margaret Casey round the gybe mark in Race 1 Photo: Ian Cutliffe

Between Miller & Cramer at 29:52 elapsed time and Colm Breen & Rory Power Breen at 31:20 elapsed time, seven Fireballs – Miller, Colin, McKenna, Court, ter Horst, Fisher and Breen – finished before Noe Butler (Aero 6) led home an Aero 1-2-3 inside a 1:56 time window. Yet on corrected time, four Aeros took the spoils of the handicap correction – Butler at 29:10 corrected time, followed by Roy van Maanen, Stuart Harris and Sarah Dwyer at 30:18 corrected time versus Miller at 31:22 corrected time.

In the second race the course was set at five laps of the same course and at this stage the wind was starting to fade. Again, the Fireballs would lead the fleet around and again Colin & Casey were at the head of the bunch. They were chased by Miller and Court respectively. The luffing matches that had been a feature earlier in the afternoon were no longer evident as a more sedate pace was taken around the course. With the wind dropping below 5 knots a decision was taken to fly an “F” flag at the leeward mark to get the fleet a second respectable race in. Colin & Casey came home in 45:42 with a 9:10 advantage over Butler in the leading Aero. This was enough, in the conditions, to give Colin a 2:09 advantage over the single-hander and register a second race win in the Frostbites – only the second time that the Aeros haven’t claimed the top step of the handicap podium. A second Fireball, Court & Syme, closed out the podium for race 2.

ILCA 6s in close company – Sean Craig (218154) leads around this mark, followed by John O’Driscoll (210361) and Conor Clancy (213048) Photo: Ian Cutliffe

In the ILCA 7s the finishing order for both races saw the honours go the way of Conor Byrne, Chris Arrowsmith and Aidan Geraghty, while in the ILCA 6s, the top three were the same but Sean Craig took the first race, Conor Clancy the second and John O’Driscoll finished third in both.

In the ILCA 4s the finishing order was the same for both races – Patrick Foley, Zeta Tempany and Sam Legge. 

Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbite results for January 1 2023

Post racing the prize-giving for Series 1 took place in the DMYC Clubhouse;

Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbite Prize-giving photos by Frank Miller

Conor Clancy, ILCA 6s, 3rd Place Series 1 in the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbites

Roy Van Maanen, PY 2nd Place, Series 1, Aero 6

Zeta Tempany, Frostbite Mug Winner. Day 1 Series 2 – ILCA 4s

Chris Arrowsmith, Frostbite Mug Winner. Day 1, Series 2 – ILCA 7s

John O’Driscoll, Frostbite Mug Winner. Day 1, Series 2 – ILCA 6s

Note:  DMYC are pleased to say that with an entry list of over 100 Dinghies for our popular Sunday afternoon winter sailing series, which runs from now to the end of March, they can still accept entries from any dinghy sailors who may not have been available for the pre-Christmas series, and who wish to join in now and avail of the great racing on offer. Discounted entries can be arranged with the race office on Sunday mornings, or by email to [email protected]yc.ie.