Viking Marine Frostbite Series 2 at Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club - Day 11
by Cormac Bradley 15 Mar 18:29 GMT
12 March 2023
Barry McCartin leads the fleet around the first mark with Conor Clancy coming in on port tack and on the other side of the mark, Sean Craig chases them both - Viking Marine DMYC Frostbite Series 2 day 11 © Ian Cutliffe
After the previous Sunday, March 5th, when the course for the first race was suitable for the second race, without adjustment from the first, Mother Nature gave the Race Officer a more difficult time of it this past Sunday when, although wind strength was favourable, the direction was anything but.
The forecast had been for 10 - 13 knots slightly west of south as the base wind strength but with gusts in the mid to high twenties. However, on the day, the wind didn't get above more that 12 knots but it was very variable in direction. A southerly in Dun Laoghaire harbour means it is an off-the-shore wind and as such it moved around quite a bit.
From my perspective, the variation was of the order of 30 - 40 degrees either side of where the mark was ultimately laid, but competitors spoke of even bigger shifts than that.
And so, a compromise weather mark was set and, for the starts at least, it didn't look to be a bad set-up, at least a) it wasn't a soldier's course and b) the fleet was spread across the beat. Numbers on the water were modest, no doubt influenced by a significant rugby match with a 3pm kick-off in Edinburgh, even though the Frostbite Facebook site had advised that there would be a delayed live transmission in the DMYC Clubhouse after racing.
We had 43 boats on the water with even numbers of PYs and ILCAs, the stalwarts number-wise of the Frostbite fleet. The ILCA 7s have enjoyed an increase in numbers in recent weeks and they mustered seven boats and were joined by two ILCA 4s, a regular and a newcomer, so unfortunately, they didn't have a scoring race.
An Olympic three-lap course was set for Race 1 with a course that occupied the western two-thirds of the harbour, to accommodate the Leinster Schools Team Racing Event, also sponsored by Viking Marine. The PY fleet, Aeros, Fireballs, Finns, IDRA, GP14, Wayfarer and 2.4m had a General Recall to start with prompted by the Fireballs and the 2.4m and paid the price by going to the end of the queue.
The ILCA 6s showed that they could have a tight start without intimidating the line and got away at the first time of asking. Here there was tight racing at the front of the fleet with Barry McCartin, Conor Clancy and Sean Craig leading the fleet around the course in tightish formation.
The ILCA 7s and 4s had the luxury of a long line and also got away without fuss.
A black flag start was used for the PYs' second start and two boats fell foul on this mode of start, one rather surprisingly as his default wasn't actually at the start but in the minute leading up to the start, when there was no "space pressure".
Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (FB 14775) stole a march on the fleet by going left up the beat and steamed in on the port lay-line, never to be sniffed again in this race. They won hands down on the water, romping home by a 3:16 margin on the next Fireball and by 7:31 on the first Aero. The IDRA of Pierre & Remy Long, Brian Sweeney's Finn and Stuart Harris, the first Aero, all finished in 30+ minutes compared to Colin's 26:34 but the sequence above was the handicap result.
Despite a tight arrival to the start area and being behind Clancy and Craig on the first lap, McCartin came through the ILCA 6s to take the win with Craig second and Clancy third. Alison Pigot and Owen Laverty took fourth and fifth respectively.
In the ILCA 7s, Conor Byrne took the win followed by Gary O'Hare, Theo Lyttle, Gavan Murphy and Conor O'Leary.
With approval from the Frostbites Director, a second, short, two triangles course was set for Race 2. The course was tweaked by moving the beat 20m downwind to try and negate the flukiness at the weather mark and moving the leeward mark by the same approximate distance. The wind direction was still variable and strength-wise it was starting to drop.
Still, the weather was pleasant and we could all watch, if we chose, a delayed transmission of the proceedings in Edinburgh.
A black flag start was used for all three classes to try and make sure we got business under way promptly and it worked.
In the fading breeze the on the water activity in the PY fleet was led by father and son Paul & Morris ter Horst (FB 14790), who led the first lap quite comfortably. Another boat to do well, despite the conditions, was the second Finn of Des Fortune.
At the end of the day, after the number crunching to the tune of "Halsail" the Aeros again dominated proceedings taking the first four places - Roy van Maanen, Noel Butler, Stuart Harris and Sarah Dwyer with Des Fortune's Finn fifth and the Fireball of Colin & Casey taking sixth.
In the ILCA 7s, Gary O'Hare finished first, followed by Gavan Murphy, Conor O'Leary, Theo Lyttle, Aidan Geraghty and Roy McKay.
In the ILCA 6s, McCartin took the second race to have two bullets on the day and Craig and Clancy swopped places behind him, Clancy beating Craig with Darren Griffin and Sean Flannagan closing out the top five.
At half-time in the rugby, in the DMYC Clubhouse, Frostbite Mugs were awarded to Paul & Morris ter Horst (PY Fleet) and Alison Pigot (ILCA 6).
There's only two Sundays to go!
PY Fleet results - series so far:
1st Noel Butler, Aero 6, 24.5pts
2nd Stephen Oram, Aero 7, 69pts
3rd Sarah Dwyer, Aero 6, 89pts
4th Pierre & Remy Long, IDRA 14, 89pts
5th Stuart Harris, Aero 6, 90pts
6th Frank Miller & Ed Butler, Fireball, 116pts
ILCA 7 Fleet results - series so far:
1st Gavan Murphy, 63pts
2nd Theo Lyttle, 71pts
3rd Conor Byrne, 75pts
4th Sean Bowden, 82pts
5th Niall Cowman, 92pts
ILCA 6 Fleet results - series so far:
1st Sean Craig, 33pts
2nd Darren Griffin, 58pts
3rd Conor Clancy, 65pts
4th John O'Driscoll, 116pts
5th David Cahill 134pts
ILCA 4 Fleet results - series so far:
1st Patrick Foley, 30pts
2nd Zita Tempany, 30pts
3rd Grace Gavin, 35pts
4th Kate Flood, 40pts
5th Sam Legge, 40pts