Last Sunday, the dominant weather feature in the week leading up to the opening Sunday of the Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC Frostbites had been Storm Ciaran. For Sunday past, the weather forecast was dominated by the prospect of Storm Debi, which in the Met Eireann forecasts of Saturday evening and night and Sunday morning, was predicting the prospect of Storm Force 10 winds in certain parts of the country and surrounding waters. Granted, the onset of the worst of it was the early hours of Monday morning and at 10:00 on Monday morning, the Dublin Bay buoy was recording gusts of 52 knots.

Sunday morning was a mixed bag, with the Turkey Shoot cancelled due to big winds with heavy rain, but by 11:00, the rain had gone to be replaced by substantially blue skies, and the inner harbour in Dun Laoghaire was glass-like.

In this genteel environment, a further two races were sailed in the Frostbite series, with Olympic courses of three laps set for each race. The wind was initially at about 14/15 knots from a bearing of 270°, and for the first race it managed to stay that way, at least from the committee boat’s perspective. Competitors would advise that it was much shiftier as they approached the weather mark, which was situated to the east of the marina entrance.

Numbers were marginally down from last weekend, with 43 boats on the water, with the lion’s share of those in the PY Fleet.

The ILCA7s mustered six boats for their two races and Theo Lyttle put a further marker down of his intentions by winning both races. The fleet enjoyed a clean start each time and Lyttle led both races with the next four boats in a tight enough bunch behind him. Podium places in the individual races were shared by Lyttle (1,1), Gavan Murphy (3,2), Gary O’Hare (2,4) and Niall Cowman (5,3). In overall terms this gives Lyttle (8) a 2pt cushion over Gavan Murphy (10) with Gary O’Hare (17) and Niall Cowman (18) closing out the top four spots in this fleet.

It took a U-flag start and a tweaking of the pin end to get the ILCA6s away after a P-flag start resulted in a General Recall for the first race. The Pied Piper’s hat (and tin whistle) was passed on from those who starred in that role last Sunday, but an “encore performance” wasn’t needed for the second race, which got away at the first time of asking.

ILCA 6 dinghies arrive at a weather mark at the Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC Frostbites Series in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Photo: Ian Cutliffe

Across the two races, the star performer was Hugh Delap with a 2,1 for the day followed by Conor Clancy with a 3,3, David Cahill with 2 x 4s, Shirley Gilmore with 8,2, Brendan Hughes with 1,10 and Justin Geoghegan with 10,5.

Having allowed “one to get away” last weekend, the Aero fleet shut the door to further donations of race wins this past Sunday by claiming races three and four of the series, with both going to Noel Butler on handicap. In this regard, he was aided and abetted by his co-conspirators Roy van Maanen and Sarah Dwyer who took second and third in Race 3, giving the 6s a clean sweep of the handicap podium. In Race 4 however, the embargo on other classes occupying the top steps on handicap, crashed when the Fireball of Alastair Court & Gordon Syme and the RS200 of Jamie & Katie Tingle finished second and third, respectively.

In Race 3, Court and Syme were 4:58 ahead of Butler on the water and another three Fireballs, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey, Cariosa Power & Marie Barry and Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe also got home ahead of the single hander, but on paper, the calculations gave a 1:25 advantage to the Aero with Van Maanen and Dwyer 0:59 and 0:38 ahead of the Fireball as well. The Finn of Brian Sweeney was just 0:09 ahead of the Fireball.

Close racing for the Fireballs; Neil Colin & Margaret Casey to windward, ahead of Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe in the Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC Frostbites Series in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Photo: Cormac Bradley

In Race 4, Court’s advantage on the water over the Aero was 3:59, but that became a deficit of 1:40 on paper. The RS200 of the Tingles was 3:51 astern of the Fireball on the water but they closed to fifteen seconds on corrected time, giving them the third place on the handicap podium. This is one of the best RS200 performances in the Frostbites that I can recall in recent years. Fourth and fifth in Race 4 went to the second Fireball of McKenna & O’Keeffe and the IDRA 14 of the Long family, dad Pierre and sons Paul and Remy, as alternating Sunday crews. The two Finns kept close company in Race 4 with only 15 seconds separating them on the water at the finish.

With three bullets, Butler leads the series thus far on 7pts with Dwyer second on 16, Sweeney on 18, the Longs on 19 and Court & Syme on 23pts.

With the Royal Irish Yacht Club as a backdrop, a section of the Frostbite PY Fleet makes their way from the gybe mark to the leeward mark in Race 4 of the Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC Frostbites Series in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Photo: Cormac Bradley

For the second race the weather mark was relocated from close to the mouth of the marina to a location closer to the Royal Irish Yacht Club, but as the race progressed, the wind started to go more left from the committee boat’s perspective. It didn’t quite turn into a soldier’s course upwind but the wind had started to fade from the finish of the first race.

 In winter sunshine, a “flight” of Aeros lead the ILCAs on the downwind leg of the sausage in Race 4 of the Viking Marine-sponsored DMYC Frostbites Series in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Photo: Cormac Bradley

Still racing under blue skies in mild temperatures in mid-November can’t give too much reason to complain.

Post-racing in the DMYC, after two stewards’ enquiries over the provisional results, with appeals upheld, Frostbite Mugs were presented to Roy van Maanen (Aero 6/Race 3), Brendan Hughes (ILCA6/Race 3) and Hugh Delap (ILCA6/Race 4). Absentees at the prize-giving came from the PY Fleet (Race 4) and the ILCA7s (both races).

Despite the forecasts of the early part of the week, that Storm Ciaran was going to be the dominant weather system for the week, by the time the weekend arrived the numbers on XCWeather had dropped significantly and while Saturday, for the Flying Fifteen Frostbites, was grey and cold with winds of 15 – 20 knots, the dinghy version of the Frostbites inside the harbour on Sunday was sailed under blue skies and a modest temperature in winds that started in the mid-teens and dropped to 4/5 knots by the end of the afternoon. Initially, the wind was almost due west, which meant a reasonable beat across the harbour could be set – with a weather mark around 560m from the committee boat. That left the weather mark in the lee of the western breakwater, a gybe mark halfway between the high-speed ferry berth and the entrance to the marina and a leeward mark just north of the monument on the upper wall of the East Pier.

Reflecting the modest entry to the DMYC Viking Marine Frostbites overall to date, 48 boats took to the water for the opening Sunday, with the PY fleet boasting 20 boats, the ILCA 6s 18 boats and the ILCA 7s ten boats. The very modest presence of ILCA 4s from last year seems to have evaporated completely.

The PY fleet, made up of Fireballs, Aeros, (2) Finns, an IDRA, a couple of RSs and a Laser Vago, had a clean start, with Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167) starting at the pin end and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (FB 14998) starting late at the committee boat. The blue spinnaker of Court & Syme was the first to show at the weather mark, with Colin & Casey leading the charge behind them. As expected, the Aeros were well up on the water as was the Finn (1620) of Brian Sweeney and the IDRA (161) of father and son Pierre & Remy Long. Four Fireballs got ahead/stayed ahead of the Aeros, with Court & Syme extending their lead on the water throughout the race, finishing 2:46 ahead of the Aero 7 of Stephen Oram (3288) with Noel Butler in the Aero 6 (3289) 7 seconds astern of Oram. However, on corrected time, the Aeros took all the podium places with the sequence Butler (37:32), Sarah Dwyer (Aero 6 3433) (38:53) and Oram (38:55). Another two places separated the Aeros from the lead Fireball, the Finn of Brian Sweeney and the IDRA of Long & Long).

Ten ILCA 7s had a tight but clean start and stayed in reasonably close company throughout the race. Theo Lyttle (211129) led home the 1-2-3 with Conor Byrne (181204) and Gavan Murphy (212521) in his wake.

There was a struggle to get the eighteen ILCA 6s away and in fact, it took three attempts and two black flags to achieve the objective. The first start was a conventional “blue peter” but the congregation at the pin with seconds still to go meant that it couldn’t possibly have been a fair start, nor could all the premature starters be identified. With time being of more essence for the Frostbite starts than in normal racing, the decision of the RO was to go direct to “Black Flag”. However, with 30 seconds to go, a well-known ILCA 6-er was completely over the line, soon to be joined by another and the whole fleet took the bait and crowded onto the pin again. Another “Black Flag” start was signalled and an even more high profile ILCA-er fell foul of that imaginary line but the fleet got away on a reduced race of two laps rather than the three laps the other starts enjoyed around the triangular course. Having kept his nose clean through the two aborted starts and the one that got away, Conor Clancy (213048) took the bragging rights for Race 1, followed by Justin Geoghegan (165512), Shirley Gilmore (216238), David Cahill (186302) and Ali Robinson (213842).

By the end of the first race, the wind had started to move southwards, from the mouth of the marina so the RO rejigged the course bringing the windward mark nearly 100m to the port-hand side of the course, while the balance of the committee boat crew completed the finishing process for the first race. The gybe mark was dropped closer to the Hyspeed ferry while the leeward mark stayed in place. By now, the breeze was starting to fade, and the course was changed to a two-lap Olympic configuration.

All three starts got away at the first time of asking, and in the PY fleet, the ladies of the Fireball fleet led home the fleet in the lighter airs with Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016) taking the gun by 22 seconds from Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (14854) who only had 3 seconds on Court & Syme. Next home was the Finn of Sweeney and the Fireball of Colin & Casey, who staged a major recovery from the first triangle lap. Oram led the Aeros home, with Dwyer getting in ahead of Butler. Sweeney took the win on paper, followed by the Longs in the IDRA, the Aeros of Dwyer and Butler and the Fireball of McKenna & O’Keeffe.

In the ILCA7s, Conor Byrne went one better to take the race win, with Gavan Murphy second and Chris Arrowsmith (201829) third.

In the ILCA6s, David O’Connor (211260) took the gun, with the sequence behind him being Judy O’Beirne (216610), Shirley Gilmore, Sean Craig (218154) and Darren Griffin (219867) and one of these had to be reminded that it was a 2-lap course not a three lap!

Noel Butler (L) picks up his Frostbite Mug for the first race of the 2023/4 Series from Neil Colin. Noel is a stalwart of the Frostbites, saying this may be his 29th consecutive series Photo: Sarah Dwyer

In the PY Fleet, the position after two races sees three boats tied on 5pts – Brian Sweeney (Finn), Noel Butler (Aero 6) and Sarah Dwyer (Aero 6), with the Longs (IDRA) 3pts astern in 4th, Stephen Oram (Aero 7) on 9.5pts and Court & Syme (FB) on 16pts.

Conor Byrne leads the ILCA7s (3pts) with Gavan Murphy on 5pts and Theo Lyttle on 6pts.

Conor Clancy (left) picks up a DMYC Frostbite Mug for Race 1 in the ILCA6s Frostbites Series 2023/4 from Neil Colin Photo Sarah Dwyer

Shirley Gilmore leads the ILCA6s on 6pts, with Daniel O’Connor, Conor Clancy, and Justin Geoghegan tied on 8pts and David Cahill on 14pts.

Post-racing, Frostbite winners’ Mugs were awarded to Noel Butler and Conor Clancy in the host club, Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, but other Mug winners (4 No.) missed out by not being present.

The Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC) is looking forward to the kick-off of this winter’s dinghy Frostbite Series sponsored by Viking Marine in Dun Laoghaire this Sunday afternoon (5 November), with the wind forecast to provide a challenging afternoon.

There is no change to the well-developed formula of racing in the harbour, aiming for at least two races each Sunday, with as short a turnaround as possible between races and a more frequent use of the W ‘whiskey’ flag, awarding finish places to the slower competitors on the water.

Recent days have also seen a flurry of last-minute entries after initially modest interest, with a chart mapping the entry numbers by class on the club website indicating an ever-increasing ILCA 6 (Radial) fleet who will be sure to give the Race Management Team a challenging job.

The scheduled start of the DMYC-hosted Viking Marine-sponsored Frostbites for 2023/24 is just over a week away and yet, to date, there is a very modest entry of boats.

Indeed, the numbers entered thus far would represent a poor turnout on the majority of the Sundays during the 2022/23 series.

As could be expected, the single-handed ILCA fleet has the biggest representation thus far, with a total of 21 boats across two classes. In comparison, the PY Class has only 15 boats to date, with Fireballs having the biggest representation. These numbers would suggest we only need two starts, whereas for the majority of last year, we had three.

This year, there have been a number of changes to the Sailing Instructions to try and accommodate more flexibility in rig selection (for classes that have multiple rigs) depending on the wind conditions, and it will be interesting to see if this option is availed off.

And, of course, given the success of the Aero contingent in individual races and overall in the last series, there has been speculation on how why and if their PY Number should be adjusted.

The formula for the Frostbites is to have two or sometimes three, weather-depending, races with a start time of 14:00 approx. The option to have three is nearly only used when previous races have been lost or the weather conditions are good enough to warrant three to compensate for future cancellations. Thus, the format is short and sharp, which seems to be in vogue with what the Aeros have scheduled for Dun Laoghaire Harbour and their Sprint Event in coming weeks. Likewise, the Fireballs had three races in quick succession last Saturday off Salthill and another four inside the harbour on Sunday. The ILCAs, too, have their sprint regattas! So, the formula for the Frostbites is not out of kilter with what others are doing.

So, in case the imminent start of the Frostbites has dropped off your radar, the organisers would love you to put pen to paper (virtually) and enter the series – via the DMYC website.

See you on the water!

The Notice of Race is now available for the Viking Marine DMYC Frostbite Series, which starts on Sunday 5 November — the same day as the DBSC Turkey Shoot winter series in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Registration for this year’s Frostbites can be done online at the DMYC website HERE.

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.