Bosun Bob's RS400s Frostie Series at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club - Day 7

Bosun Bob's RS400s Frostie Series © Simon McIlwaine

The series so far has been a challenging one as the weather hasn't been playing ball. We have just completed the 7th day out of 8 and so far but have only managed to race on 4 occasions due to too little wind and last week too much wind. This Sunday's weather was probably one of the best yet in the series with bright sunshine with a lovely breeze from the south west but with a finger and toe numbing minus 2 degree wind chill!

Since our last report there have been some changes in the dinghy park which has had chins wagging. D'Arcy & Ginge have invested in a fresher boat 1366, they have sold 815 onto Mirror & GP14 champions Ross & Jane Kearny, 1179 has moved north of the border and is in the hands of Niall & Conor Walters and there is chat of others on the lookout for boats. Welcome to all the new RS400 owners and crews.

The race team didn't hang about and started sharp. 13 boats lined up and with a clean start Darcy & Ginge took off in their new boat and no one stood a chance of catch them to the first mark. New to the 400s the Kearney's were second around the windward mark showing they had great upwind pace but couldn't quiet master the downwind and dropped back four spots letting Andrew Vaughan creep up to second, followed by Woo Kearney into third.

Race two started very quickly after the last finisher as the race committee were getting cold! The fleet grew to 14 as we were joined by Peter Kennedy and Stevie Kane, someone had forgotten to turn up on time. The breeze built up a bit which meant the crews could hike hard off the starting gun. First to the windward mark were Hastings & Higgins followed by Vaughan & McCullough, then Kennedy & Kane. The fleet split off with the bulk heading to the left hand side of the course but Hastings then Vaughan stuck to the Right hand side and stayed in front of the baying pack right up to the second windward mark. Up wind McLaughlin & Penny managed to get past Kennedy & Kane but found themselves in a tricky situation when hoisting their kite as McLaughlin was nearly violated from the rear by Kennedy pole but he just about fended off his advances. The wind was getting lighter and the boats that soaked hard downwind made big gains. At the finish line Hastings & Higgins held onto first with Vaughan & McCulloch in second with D'Arcy & Ginge climbing up into third.

By this stage, everyone's feet were going numb and race three kicked off and low and behold there was an individual recall gun and it wasn't for our usual suspect Liam Donnelly! This time it was for Holmes & Smith who were half way to the windward mark. Stupidly for Hastings & Higgins they thought they were over so they went back and dipped the line, only find out later they had been safe all along. By race three, Ross & Jane Kearney had discovered how to make their new toy work and they took off into the distance leaving everyone in their wake. They couldn't be beaten so they took line honours followed by D'Arcy & Ginge in second and Donnelly and McCaig in third. Fairly new comers to the fleet Luke McIllwane & Liam Coffey found their grove and managed to leap frog numerous boats and jumped from tenth to fifth in one lap getting past a good number of experienced crews.

There were plans to run a fourth race but the race committee had a different idea and bailed to the shore as quick as the ribs could go. It turned out to be the right idea as the wind decided to switch off which resulted in the boats rocking themselves to the shore.

So the winners from the day and the series so far were Vaughan & McCullough in third on 43 points, Hastings & Higgins in second with 36 points and still at the top are the very consistent D'Arcy & Ginge with 27 points.

Next Sunday the 22nd December is the last race day of the series followed by the RS400 Christmas Dinner and Prize Giving. Racing starts at 13.00 sharp and 4 races are planned. Thanks as always to the freezing cold race and rescue team who generously give up their time to let us have fun.

Results after Day 7: