The post-Christmas series of Howth YC's ever-expanding Dinghy Frostbites began on Sunday, 7th January, under light but bright conditions to kick off everyone's year. With the very celebratory Achievers Awards party in the clubhouse the night before, not all who had entered for the nine weekends appeared on this first sunny but decidedly crisp and sometimes rainbow-blessed January morning, as some absences were also away ski-ing - piste and off-piste, as you might say.
Nevertheless, 23 boats made it out to the start line, where the race management team, led by Liam Dineen, sent the fleets out on a windward leeward course for both races. Light winds of 3-6 knots, shifting between 210-260 degrees made for some snakes and ladders around the course, with the added challenge of an ebb tide coming against and across the fleet as they made their way upwind. Both races were shortened to two laps instead of the usual 3.
It was “as you were” with the ILCA 7s, with Rory Lynch of Baltimore leading from Conor Murphy of Howth and Tom Fox (ILCA 6) of Rush third
In the ILCA 7s, Rory Lynch of Baltimore SC continued his winning ways following a pre-Christmas series win, and took 1st in the first race of the day, unchallenged after a great start and first beat. Dave Kirwan (Malahide) fought his way through the pack on the second upwind to claim second, while fellow MYC sailor Colm Cunningham took third.
In the Race 2 of the day, Conor Murphy of the host club led the fleet for the first lap, but Rory Lynch didn't take it lying down, and slowly but surely closed the gap over the following lap. While the two used to race together in UCD team racing, on Sunday they were trading blows with each other around the final few hundred metres of the course, with Murphy just about sneaking the win. Dan O'Connell of Cove SC took third.
“I am their leader, which way did they go?” Alan Blay (Sutton) in his GP14 in the PY Fleet and Viktor Samoilov (Malahide & Howth) in the ILCA 6s aiming at different targets
TIGHT LEADERBOARD IN ILCA 6s
The ILCA 6s see a packed leaderboard after the first 2 races, with 4 sailors on equal points in the form of Tom Fox (Rush SC) Ciara McMahon (Howth), Darragh Peelo (Malahide) and Viktor Samoilov (Malahide). With more entrants set to return in weeks to come, it will be all to play for as the fleet expands and the discards kick in.
In the ILCA 4s, Stan O'Rourke and Oleksandr Bezpalyi traded first and second in each race, and Conor O'Sullivan took 3rd in both. Stan leads the fleet on countback. The junior ILCA 4 and 6 sailors are continuing to benefit from frequent training led by the HYC coaches of Luke Turvey and Rocco Wright.
PY FLEET DIVERSITY
The PY class continues to show its diversity, with an IDRA 14 entered by Ryan Cairns of Clontarf joining the fleet for this series. An Enterprise dinghy has also entered and will be on the water in the weeks to come, so with a B14 and at least one Melges 15 in the fleet along with the GP14s, it will be like a living history of two-person dinghy racing.
Two-boat Champion. Alan Blay of Sutton & Howth is current Puppeteer 22 National Championship, and he has taken a title or three in the GP 14s, seen here crewed by Hugh McNally on is way to success on Sunday
While Daragh Sheridan's RS Aero is a frequent race winner in the PY fleet, he had to settle for a second and a third in the day's racing, as the light weather, windward-leeward racing didn't suit him as much as it did the symmetrical GP14 and IDRA 14.
Alan Blay and Hugh McNally in their GP14 made their return to the series with a bang, taking two bullets. Ryan Cairns' IDRA 14 and Daragh Sheridan traded second and third in each race. Jeremy Beshoff's B14 took line honours in both races, but was fourth in both races after handicaps applied.
Blast from the past. Ryan Cairns of Clontarf racing the “plastic fantastic” IDRA 14, whose design origins go back to 1946 and even 1938
The series runs for eight more weekends, and will be followed by the annual Round the Island Race, a staple of the dinghy calendar, attracting sailors from all over to determine who can make their way around Ireland's Eye the fastest. Full results are below and more entries to the series are still encouraged and made welcome through the HYC website.
Some places had magic weather on Sunday, and Howth was one of them. The pink asymmetric is Jeremy Beshoff’s B14, but like the Melges 15, she found that the symmetricals did best on the day
