A growing turnout of close to 30 boats hit the water in the third week of HYC's Dinghy Frostbites, aka the Spring Series. In the days leading up to Sunday's racing, some forecasts were teasing light breezes, a welcome prospect for the fleet as nearly every Sunday to date has worked the sailors hard with plenty of strength and skill required to keep boats underneath rigs. In the end, this week's racing was no exception, as the "firm" south to south-east breeze was noticeable in the boat park, and even more so on the water after the sailors performed a testing run out to the course. HYC's newly elected Commodore Neil Murphy led the Race Management Team, and with a breeze of 14-18 knots, and gusting up to 24, he got two races away around a triangular course.
The ILCA 7 fleet saw the usual suspects of Ronan Wallace of Wexford, Rory Lynch of Baltimore and Dan O'Connell of Cobh battling it out in the top three. In the first race, Dan suffered a poorly-timed capsize at the top of the run (what would be "a well-timed capsize"? -Ed) leaving Ronan and Rory to fight it out for the remaining lap, while the rest of the fleet attempted to chase from behind. Ronan took first, Rory second and Oisin Hughes got his first podium of the series taking third. In the second race of the day, Ronan had the lead over Dan and Rory for the first lap, however, a strong downwind and second upwind saw Rory take first and keep it until the finish.
Southern sailors suss out the Howth real estate - with racing around high water, Ronan Wallace of Wexford and Dan O'Connell of Cobh were able to review some of the Peninsula's more desirable waterfront properties. Photo: HYC
Further back in the fleet, positions were hard fought for with Malahide's Andrejs Samoilovs and Vinnie Varley battled it out with Howth's Zander Mackay, Dun Laoghaire's Richard Tate and Lough Ree's Aidan Breen. After 6 races, Rory Lynch leads the fleet but is tied on 7 points with Ronan Wallace. With 12 races to go, and some more discards to come, it's anyone's guess who will be on top by the end of te series.
The ILCA 6 fleet saw Marco Sorgassi's 5 race winning streak coming to an end, as Dave Kirwan of Malahide pipped him for first in race 2. Despite their smaller sails, the ILCA 6s were in the mix with the larger ILCA 7s. Howth's Fiachra Farrelly and Rush's Charlie Savage took third and fourth in each race. Marco still has a healthy lead on the ILCA 6 fleet overall, but the rest of the fleet is tight and will need the 12 remaining races to sort out their finishing order.
Please gather round, girls and boys, and have a good look at a symmetrical spinnaker - just like your granny and grandpa sailed with......Photo: HYC
The ILCA 4s had a great turnout of 8 boats, boosted by the coaching session run alongside the racing, led by HYC's own Aoife Hopkins. In their first weekend of the series, HYC's Krzysztof Ciborowski and Charlie Keating took home first and second in each race. Rush's Riaghan Boardman took a third and a fourth, while Malahide's Viktor Samoilovs recovered well from a seventh in the first race to a third in the second, but while Aisling Kelly had to settle for two fifths, she still leads the series overall.
The PY fleet also grew in numbers, with a growing GP14 presence bringing the first-ever symmetrical spinnakers to a HYC Frostbite series. Daragh Sheridan continues to dominate the timed fleet, adding two more wins to
his tally. Mike Evans' RS800 and Conor Twohig's GP14 swapped 2nd and 3rd in each race, while Jeremy Beshoff's B14 pulled in a fourth in both races. Daragh Sheridan has a clear lead in the series, but all is to play for in the coming weeks.
Somehow Daragh Sheridan managed to find some blue sky sailing as Lambay loomed through the grey day. Photo: HYC
The series continues next weekend and runs until Sunday, 5th March, full results from today are available below. It's never too late to join in.
The annual Round the Island Race will be taking place on Saturday, 11th March, followed by the series closing lunch and prizegiving, which is always a good time. Last year saw the typical Frostbites fleets joined by Waterwags, GP14s, IDRA14s, RS600s and more! Notice of Race and Entry is available.
