Two further races were completed in the HYC Dinghy Frostbite on Sunday in conditions that tested the resilience of the fleet.

The southeasterly breeze that hovered in the high teens, occasionally getting into the twenties, brought lots of chill and the 20 degree arc it oscillated through, together with the strongly flooding tide, checked the sailors stamina and tactical nous. The Race Officer decided on Olympic-type course for the two races and, much to the relief of a tiring fleet, shortened the second one at the windward mark after two of the scheduled three laps and, with the finish line near the Harbour mouth, the fleet avoided another three legs in the increasingly testing conditions.

The ILCA fleet produced the biggest turnout of the day and Dan O’Connell’s two clear wins demonstrated both his mastery of the weather conditions and his hard-earned knowledge of the local tidal quirks. Colm Cunningham and Tom Fox shared the other podium places with each scoring a second and a third. In the ILCA 4s, Anna Brereton and Mia Kelleher each won a race while Niamh Connell was runner-up in both. Daragh Peelo added two more firsts to the first and second places he took on weekend one, and opened a six-point gap over the consistent Stan O’Rourke.

The PY fleet again saw a wide variety of boats taking part but Daragh Sheridan and his Aero 6 retained his unbeaten record in the four races sailed to date, extending his lead over the two chasing Melges 15s of Stephen Quinn and Michael Evans while the consistency of Richard Tate in his Finn keeps him in 4th overall. 

The Melges 15s again produced very close racing with Darren Wright and Michael Evans each taking a race win but Stephen Quinn’s second and third, combined with his two race wins on the first Sunday of the series, keep him in the lead overall.

Full results available at https://www.hyc.ie/results.

---Report and photos courtesy of Neil Murphy

Check out more racing photos from the Dinghy Frostbites here.