The word is that the Golden Jubilee of Howth's legend-laden Frosbite Series is going to be marked by having its 50th Anniversary next year, when the 2024-25 winter programme morphs into the sparkling new season of 2025 with the Round the Island Race circling Ireland's Eye on March 8th.
Certainly that appears to be the intention of the much-maligned Irish weather, which seems to have been so abused during the crazy meteorologies of 2024 that - when dedicated nostalgicists were hoping for a proper Golden Day on Sunday November 3rd - our beloved weather served up a blocking high over Northwest Europe, thereby creating uber-dull cloud cover that provided conditions for which "leaden grey" is an inadequate phrase.
Nevertheless the 2024/25 Howth Yacht Club Winter Frostbite Series launched its landmark 50th anniversary season on Sunday with tricky conditions testing the mettle of competitors across multiple dinghy classes writes Neil Murphy The first races of the series saw sailors contending with light winds and powerful Spring tides, creating a challenging tactical environment for the competitors.
Blast from the past. Ryan Cairns brought the classically-built IDRA 14 Wicked Sadie from Clontarf, and went home with second in PY
Racing kicked off as planned at 10:45 with two back-to-back races scheduled for the day. The race management team reported extremely variable conditions, with wind speeds fluctuating between 2.5 and 5 knots, and direction swinging dramatically between 100 and 220 degrees. Combined with a strong ebbing tide around the noon high water, these conditions turned the race course into a game of snakes and ladders for competitors.
The ILCA Fleet
In the ILCA 7 (formerly Laser Standard) fleet, Tom Fox of the Royal St. George Yacht Club emerged as the early series leader, securing a win in the first race and following up with a second place in race two. Andrejs Samoilovs from Malahide Yacht Club showed his light air prowess by claiming victory in the second race, placing him second overall, tied on points with HYC's Colm Cunningham but ahead on countback.
The ILCA 6 (Radial) fleet saw a dominant performance from Carla Fagan of Howth Yacht Club, who posted two bullets for a perfect score on the day. Charlie Power and Dylan Cassidy, both also representing the host club, are tied for second overall with 5 points each, with Power claiming the advantage on countback.
In the ILCA 4 (4.7) fleet, Nicole Quinn represented Howth Yacht Club and completed the day's racing in the challenging conditions.
It sounds almost insulting to describe the ever-young ILCA/Laser as "The Mother Ship" for Howth frostbite sailing's Golden Jubilee. Yet such is indisputably the case. This is Zander MacKay (Howth YC) making the scene with his classic ILCA 7 in the place of origin exactly fifty years later. Photo: HYC
The PY Fleet
The PY fleet, racing under the Portsmouth Yardstick handicap system, saw incredibly tight competition at the top, with the first three boats all tied on 5 points. The McMahon Duo claimed overall honours on countback, followed by Ryan Cairns in second, with John Phelan taking third. Daragh Sheridan, who won the first race but finished sixth in race two, currently sits in fourth position.
Melges 15 Fleet
The Melges 15 class, also competing for scratch prizes, saw the McMahons demonstrate exceptional light air speed with two bullets. Karena Knaggs secured second place overall with consistent top-three finishes, while Cormac Farrelly rounded out the podium positions. The strong tide proved particularly challenging for this fleet, with one competitor falling foul of an OCS (On Course Side) start in the second race despite valiant attempts to return against the tide.
Full Results are available online at hyc.ie
This opening race day marks the beginning of the first half of the series, which will run every Sunday until December 15th. The second series will commence on January 5th, 2024, continuing through to March 2nd, with the traditional Round the Island Race serving as the grand finale on March 8th.
A special thanks goes out to the race management and mark laying teams who handled the challenging conditions with their usual expertise, getting both races completed despite the light and shifty breeze. Racing continues next Sunday, and while the Spring tides will hopefully be easing, the competition certainly won't be!
Photo Credits: Neil Murphy
