Viking Marine Frostbite Series at Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club - Day 7

Series 1 of the Viking Marine-sponsored Frostbites hosted by the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club closed yesterday in light and challenging conditions for the Race Management Team and the competitors alike. Having enjoyed very reliable winds for all of his sessions on the water to date, Race Officer Cormac Bradley had a different scenario to deal with yesterday, akin to the situation last Sunday.

Both XCWeather and the Windy App were predicting light N-Easterlies from midweek and so it proved, except that NE was just one of the directions the wind came from during the course of the afternoon. A north easterly meant that the course would extend across the shorter dimension of the outer harbour with a weather mark situated in the area of the harbour mouth. The problem was that the wind was flicking between the Boyd Memorial on the upper wall of the East Pier to a position just west of the East Pier lighthouse - a distance of maybe 150 - 200m on the water. In the end the weather mark was situated between the Boyd Memorial and the weather station on the upper East Pier wall with the leeward gate situated upwind of the marine entrance.

A late decision to drop the weather mark just prompted another wild swing in the wind direction prompting the flying of a postponement flag and the re-setting of the course. However, it became apparent that the direction wasn't going to settle and so, with all of the fleet in attendance a start sequence was initiated in the knowledge that it wasn't an ideal course but in the spirit of giving a race to those who had made the effort to come out.

A two lap Windward-Leeward course was set, but that merely referred to the configuration of the ideal course, the wind making the first "beat" more of a two sailed fetch. Indeed, the subsequent leg for the spinnaker classes saw a few struggle to get down to the leeward gate. The wind direction moved constantly throughout the race, but I did witness some boats in upwind settings heading towards the weather mark. Strength-wise the "breeze" rarely got above 5 knots, though we did have a 7-knot reading during the start sequence.

With each start, the trick was to get onto port tack at the earliest opportunity and initially it looked as though it didn't matter too much where that happened. An early tack by one of the Aero 7s looked as though it might pay huge dividends but by the weather mark the GP14 of David Mulvin and Ronan Beirne (14069) was well up in company with Regatta Director Neil Colin and Marjo Moonen (14775). As they came back past the committee boat on their way to the leeward gate, there were more Aero 7s to the fore. All the fleets got away at the first time of asking.

The Fireball race within a race was dominated by Neil Colin and Marjo Moonen who went right up the first beat and found a reasonable breeze along the east pier side of the harbour. They were followed in the seven boat Fireball fleet by Louise McKenna/Hermine O'Keeffe (15016), Owen Sinnott sailing with Paul ter Horst (14865) and Cariosa Power/Marie Barry (14854). Taking up the rear with the other Fireballs were Frank Miller and Ed Butler (14713) who were caught napping too far upwind and were almost two minutes late for their start. Colin/Moonen appeared to have the two-lap w/l race in the bag but Power/Barry found wind on the final run and used the following breeze to slip inside the leaders by the final leeward mark to take the Fireball line honours from Colin. Miller/Butler were third Fireball having managed to claw their way past McKenna/O'Keeffe and Sinnott/ter Horst in the shifty and patchy wind. On PY Stephen Oram won on handicap in his Aero.

Viking Marine Frostbites 7th Round: (Sunday 19th December)

PY Class (22 boats)
1. Stephen Oram
2. Noel Butler (Both Aero 7s)
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (GP 14 - 14069)
4. Brendan Foley (Aero 7)
5. Roy van Mannen (Aero 5)
6. Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (FB 14854)
7. Neil Colin & Marjo Moonen (FB 14775)
8. Pierre Long & son (IDRA)
9. Tom Murphy (K1)
10. Frank Miller & ed Butler (FB 14713)

ILCA 7s (Full Rig) (4 boats)
1. Conrad Vandlik
2. Chris Arrowsmith
3. Gary O'Hare

ILCA 4s (4.7s) (8 boats)
1. Ava Ennis
2. Daniel O'Connor
3. Emily Cantwell

ILCA 6s (Radials)
1. Michael Norman
2. Archie Daly
3. Brendan Hughes
4. Sophie Kilmartin
5. Judy O'Beirne

With discretion being the better part of valour, or the nautical equivalent, it was decided there was no real justification for a second race in the prevailing conditions and the fleet was sent to shore.

For Series 1 ten races were sailed with a total of four races lost to weather. On one weekend we had no racing at all and on two weekends we only had a single race. On that basis, two discards were available to all the fleets. Fleet totals in the section below reflect total entries relative to the 120-boat cut off declared before entries were opened.

Series 1 Overall Results:

PY Class (42 boats)
1. Noel Butler 20pts
2. Mark Gavin 23pts
3. Brendan Foley 25pts
4. Stephen Oram 44.5pts (All Aero 7s)
5. Frank Miller & Ed Butler (FB 14713) 49pts
6. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (GP14 14069) 61pts
7. Pierre Long & Son (IDRA) 61pts
8. Roy van Mannen 65pts
9. Sarah Dwyer 74pts (Both Aero 5s)
10. Neil Colin & Marjo Moonen (FB 14775) 79.5pts

ILCA 7s (Full Rig) (15 boats)
1. Gavan Murphy 12pts
2. Chris Arrowsmith 17pts
3. Gary O'Hare 36pts
4. Conrad Vandlik 40pts
5. Kei Walker 46pts

ILCA 4s (4.7s) (23 boats)
1. Donal Walsh 24pts
2. Emily Cantwell 26pts
3. Daniel O'Connor 33pts
4. Ava Ennis 33pts
5. Brian Carroll 34pts

ILCA 6s (Radials) (43 boats)
1. Brendan Hughes 14pts
2. Conor Clancy 40pts
3. Mark Henry 48pts
4. Archie Daly 53pts
5. Peter Kilmartin 54pts
6. Judy O'Beirne 56pts
7. Luke Turvey 68pts
8. Sean Flanagan 73pts
9. Hugh Cahill 80pts
10. Sophie Kilmartin 84pts

Fireballs (14 boats)
1. Frank Miller & Ed Butler 14713, 10pts
2. Neil Colin & Marjo Moonen 14775, 24pts
3. Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe 15016, 28pts
4. Alistair Court & Gordon Syme 14706, 39pts
5. Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly 14865, 40pts

As the principal sponsor, Viking Marine provided Rick Tomlinson 2022 calendars as prizes to the podium finishers across all the Frostbite fleets and a similar token was given to the large group of volunteers required to make the Frostbites a viable regatta.

All those associated with the Frostbites, competitors and volunteers are encouraged to support Viking Marine as a thank-you for their sponsorship of this perennial series.

Readers of this column should also note that a "Christmas Cracker Race" will be held in the harbour on Monday 27th December as a charity fund-raiser for the RNLI. Viking Marine have again stepped up to provide some prizes for this event. Hosted by DMYC, the entry has gone live on their website this morning (Monday) and there should also be a piece on the Afloat website. This is an open entry to Series 1 & 2 Frostbiters and anyone else who is interested. A €5 entry fee applies to cover petrol costs and a link to make donations to the RNLI online is to be made available. The race will be run on a PY basis on a course that will have marks situated around the harbour - not in Olympic, triangle or Windward-Leeward configuration - to maximise the spectator element. An upwind leg will be selected to the first mark and a F-flag will be used at the last mark, to be decided by the RO, to direct boats to the finish. In between, the intent is to sail laps of the harbour.

As this is the last Frostbite column for 2021, may I thank all the volunteers of the Race Management Team for their assistance in Series 1. Thanks to all the competitors who have contested the seven Sundays of racing. And most especially, thank you to Viking Marine for their generous sponsorship.

Happy Christmas to all! If I don't see you on the 27th, we start Series 2 on the 2nd January 2022.