July for the Frostbites

Ireland's weather is a mystery. After two blown out weeks we had sun, southerly breezes and the feel of July. Correctly the committee took us outside enclosed waters and set courses with the windward mark nearly in the mouth of the harbour. Despite a strong cross-course tide the courses were spot on and we got two three-lap trapezoid races completed. A heck of a day.

The view from the piers

The starts were tricky though, and OCS was a fairly common result. Cruel for the victims but that's the game! A strong tide and pin end bias tempted many too close to the line before the gun and several race winners got bad news on the finish line. 

In Race 1 Frank Hamilton's IDRA was the notable victim in PY. What seemed like a perfect start in exactly the right spot on the line and then a perfect race left him clear winner...except to hear he was OCS at the finish. In his place, a surprised Sheehy picked up the race win in the OK Dinghy. The OK had even sailed over to congratulate Hamilton on a great race. 

Hamilton - Fastest PY on the day. But OCS in R1

Similarly in the Laser fleet, David Dwyer led home with great pace and solid tactics only to discover that Marc Coakley had started - vitally - behind the line. In the Fireball and RS fleets it was simpler. Rumball led the Fireballs from start to finish and Ryan did a similar job in the RS fleet. 

Dwyer - fast but OCS!

Fireballs approaching windward mark

Ryan's RS400 in front

Race 2 saw the wind drop and that line was again causing errors and confusion! 

In PY Hamilton made no mistakes this time, nailed the start and sailed away to the win. Behind him the tight finishing times and jumbled order between the two races showed the tightness of the fleet. Coakley doubled up in the Lasers showing that living in SE Asia hasn't damaged his ability to sail on cold water. In the Fireball fleet that tricky line played its part and with McCartin leading a tight fleet home but called OCS at the end, Andrew Boyle picked up a solid race win. Ryan won again in the RS fleet, though not by much this time.  

It's early in series 2 still, but we see leaders already. In PY Hamilton is strong in the IDRA 14 and Tom Murphy looks increasingly threatening in the K1. Coakley's performance in the Laser was dominant, as was Ryan in the RS400, although Sean Cleary was a LOT closer in Race 2. The Fireball fleet was more interesting. Rumball is ahead, but there's lots of strength there. 

Results:

PY Race 1

PY Race 2

Laser Race 1

Laser Race 2

Fireball Race 1

Fireball Race 2

RS Race 1

RS Race 2

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Photos copyright Cormac Bradley and the DMYC Facebook page.