The best laid plans often go awry - despite what was set to be a great turnout for the annual Round the Island Race, the weather gods didn’t play ball, and a decision was taken 48 hours before the event to cancel the day’s sailing. It meant great disappointment, not only for the series regulars who have been racing in HYC nearly every Sunday since November, but also for the strong visitor turnout. The event was due to see a variety of boats from all over the country, including Fireballs from Cork, RS Aeros from the North and Mermaids from North Dublin.

However, all was not lost, as the shore-side of the day’s agenda could still proceed uninterrupted. The prizegiving for the both Frostbite series and the New Year’s Day race, followed by a lunch and the 6 Nations rugby matches on the big screen gave everyone plenty to look forward to on the day.

Commodore Neil Murphy said a few words to welcome everyone. The main thanks of the event go to the volunteer race officer team, who share weekly duties among themselves and have done for many years. Harry Gallagher, Jim Lambkin, Liam Dineen, Dave Jones, Richard Kissane, Ronan MacDonell and Neil Murphy as race officers, along with many more volunteers who manage the results, and the RIB crews all do a great job of ensuring that everyone gets great, safe racing done all winter long.

Special mentions were also given to the upcoming 50th Anniversary of the Frostbite series in HYC, where there will be a number of on and off the water events to mark the special milestone. Winter sailing in HYC has lots to look forward to - a growing PY fleet including GP14s, B14s and RS Aeros out every week set to be joined next year by a fleet of Melges 15s.

As the prizes were given out, great enjoyment was taken in identifying past winners of each of the trophies and reminiscing on years gone by, while also looking forward to the coming years. Most trophies saw new names being added to them this year, and there were many new visitors to the podium places in each class. While most of the prizes are given out for podium finishes in the series, one prize is given each year to recognise the most improved sailor among the participants. This year, Malahide’s Andrej Samoilov won this prize in his second season at the HYC Frostbites, this year he obtained podium results and led the fleet on occasion.

Andrej Samoilov

Here is the impressive list of all prizes awarded:

2023 Pre-Christmas Series

• ILCA 7 (Courtney Cup): Rory Lynch (Baltimore SC), Daragh Kelleher (SSC), Dave Kirwan (MYC)

Rory Lynch

Dave Kirwan

• ILCA 6 (Stafford Trophy): Tom Fox (Rush SC), Darragh Peelo (Malahide YC), Peter Hassett

Tom Fox

Darragh Peelo

Peter Hassett

• ILCA 4 (Frazer Casey Firefly Cup): Oleksandr Bezpalyi (Obolon SC), Harry Dunne (Howth YC), Stan O'Rourke (MYC/HYC)

Oleksandr Bezpalyi

Stan O'Rourke

• PY: Daragh Sheridan (RS Aero, Howth YC), John Phelan (RS Aero, Howth YC), Jeremy Beshoff & Declan McManus (B14, Howth YC)

Daragh Sheridan

John Phelan

• PY2: Charlie Robertson

Charlie Robertson and Elliot Burke

2024 New Year’s Day Race

• ILCA 7 (New Year’s Day Mug): Colm Cunningham (Malahide YC)
• ILCA 6: Peter Hassett
• PY: Daragh Sheridan

2024 Post-Christmas Series

• ILCA 7 (Rowan Trophy): Conor Murphy (Howth YC), Dan O’Connell (Cobh SC), Rory Lynch (Baltimore SC)

Conor Murphy

• ILCA 6 (Elliot Cup): Tom Fox (Rush SC), Viktor Samoilov (MYC/HYC), Ciara McMahon (Howth YC)

Ciara McMahon

• ILCA 4 (Fitzpatrick Cup): Stan O'Rourke (MYC/HYC), Oleksandr Bezpalyi (Obolon SC), Charlie Power (Howth YC)
• PY: Daragh Sheridan (RS Aero, Howth YC), Alan Blay & Hugh McNally (GP14, Howth YC), Sam Street & Josh Lloyd (GP14, Blessington LSC)

Full results

• Pre-Christmas (link)
• New Year’s Day Race (link)
• Post-Christmas (link)