Viking Marine Frostbites Series Series 1, Round 5 at Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club

by Cormac Bradley 3 Dec 10:42 PST 1 December 2024

Dun Laoghaire Frostbites Series 1: (l-r) Messrs Butler, Oram and Phelan in close Aero action in Race 2 © Alyson Orr

Dun Laoghaire Frostbites Series 1: John Marmelstein (ILCA 7) approaches the leeward mark in Race 2 © Alyson Orr

Having missed the previous Sunday due to Storm Bert, the Viking Marine sponsored Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, hosted by the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club returned on Sunday 1st December with continued mild conditions, 13 degrees and sunshine, but with a very fickle breeze in terms of both strength and direction.

Earlier in the week the prospect of racing looked grim with the 7-Day forecast of Monday showing strong winds for Sunday but as the week progressed, both Met Eireann and XCWeather showed the wind moderating and by Saturday evening the forecast was for 7-9 knots gusting into the high teens. In reality the wind range was 5 knots to a maximum of 15 knots, the latter late in the afternoon when the bulk of the fleet were homeward bound. However, with the committee boat in the vicinity of the obelisk on the upper East Pier, the variation in wind direction was from the Royal Irish Yacht Club to the ESB chimneys. Eventually we settled for a windward mark halfway along the western breakwater and set the fleets a 2-lap windward-leeward course.

At this stage of the afternoon, the wind was light, fluctuating around the 5-knot mark but without a uniform distribution across the course. Indeed, upwind of the committee boat there were patches on the water where there appeared to be very little breeze. For the majority of this shorter race, the wind stayed reasonably true to its windward-leeward declaration but it was touch and go!

All three fleets got away cleanly from their respective starts and initially seemed to favour the left hand side of the beat. However, across all three starts there were those who decided that going right was the way to go. Given the light winds at the time the quest may have been to stay in wind rather than champion one or other side of the course.

In the PY fleet Barry McCartin and Harry Thompson (FB15114) romped, in distance terms, away from the fleet, winning by just over three minutes over the next Fireball and by just less than three minutes over the first Aero, Noel Butler. Butler just squeaked home by 2 seconds on Paul Phelan with Roy van Maanen a minute and eight seconds down on Phelan. Pierre & Remy Long (IDRA 161) and Norman Lee & Alan Leddy (GP14 14143) were twenty-six seconds and 1:22 down on van Maanen respectively.

On handicap, the finishing order saw the Fireballs shut out from the top five, with three Aeros in this group, Butler (1), van Maanen (3) and Phelan (4). The Longs prevented an Aero 1-2-3 and the GP14 of Lee & Leddy gave the double handers a second top five slot. McCartin & Thompson came home in sixth on handicap with a block of Aeros finishing in 7th to 10th inclusively. Alastair Court & Gordon Syme finished 11th on corrected time with Fireballs also occupying 13th - 16th overall. The RS200 of Jamie Tingle was 12th on corrected time, five minutes down on the winning Aero.

Dun Laoghaire Frostbites Series 1: Shirley Gilmore (ILCA 6, Race 1) receives her Frostbite Mug from RO Cormac Bradley - photo © Alyson Orr

Seventeen ILCA6s were led home by Shirley Gilmore, recording her first win of the series to date. Behind her there was a new name in Gareth Gyles, with regulars David Cahill, Michael Norman and Conor Clancy occupying the balance of the top five places on the water.

The ILCA7s had a slightly smaller fleet than usual and there were repeat names in the podium place with Conor Byrne, John Marmelstein and Matteo Valentini the respective first, second and third finishers.

A change of windward mark also prompted a change of course and an original consideration of three races for the day by the Race Officer evaporated. The weather mark was moved to the area of the entrance to the marina and an Olympic course of three laps was signalled.

At this stage there was more body to the breeze which was climbing up to ten knots with occasional gusts getting into the low teens. By the end of the afternoon, a wind speed of 15 knots had been recorded but more importantly, from a direction point of view, it was more stable.

Dun Laoghaire Frostbites Series 1: Anne-Marie Cox with her Frostbite Mug for Race 2 in the ILCA 6s - photo © Alyson Orr

The ILCA6s had a great competition at the front of the fleet with places at the head of the fleet tight throughout the race. Prominent in these manoeuvres were Conor Clancy and Anne-Marie Cox who were rewarded with first and second places at the finish. Behind them Judy O'Beirne took third place with David Cahill and Shirley Gilmore in fourth and fifth.

In the ILCA7s, Marmelstein, Valentini and Byrne were prominently at the head of the fleet throughout the race. They stayed there for the finish with Valentini taking the win from Byrne and Marmelstein.

In the PY Fleet, a Fireball 1-2 was achieved on the water with McCartin & Thompson getting home 13 seconds ahead of Court & Syme. In the Aeros, the majority leader on the water for this class found himself a bit further down the pecking order as Sarah Dwyer took the Aero win on the water with Noel 46 seconds behind. The GP14 also featured strongly finishing between Dwyer and Butler on the water, forty seconds down on Dwyer and six seconds ahead of Butler. Admittedly they were 4:43 down on the leading Fireball but were ultimately rewarded with a handicap win.

The triangle element of the course gave the spinnaker classes some good reaching, particularly on the second reach.

On corrected time, the finishing order (top 5) was Lee & Leddy (GP14), Dwyer (Aero), McCartin & Thompson (Fireball), Court & Syme (Fireball) and Butler (Aero).

Frostbite Mug winners on the day were as follows: