Sunny skies greeted sailors for the second Sunday of the HYC Dinghy Frostbites Winter Series, but the bright conditions came with very little breeze. A strong ebb tide, which continued to build throughout the race, combined with very light and patchy winds, made for a particularly challenging day on the water. Sailors had to stay switched on, spot the available patches of breeze, fight the tide and hope for a little luck along the way. The race committee succeeded in completing one windward-leeward race, shortened to two laps. However, with the breeze struggling to settle or strengthen, it was decided to not run second race.

 

In the ILCA 7 fleet, two sailors who missed the opening weekend stormed straight to the front. HYC’s Harry Dunne (pictured above) took the race win, while RStGYC’s John Marmelstein (pictured below) marked his first appearance of the series with an excellent 3rd place. Davie Carr split the pair with a strong performance to secure 2nd. The podium finishers from the previous week all recorded higher scores than they would have wanted, opening up the leaderboard ahead of next Sunday. Daragh Kelleher retains the overall lead on 10 points, with Tom Fox and David Kirwan tied behind him on 13 points.

 

 

It was a similar story in the ILCA 6s. Darragh Peelo and Troy Hopkins both missed the opening weekend, but immediately made their presence felt by taking 1st and 2nd respectively. Dylan Cassidy continued an impressively consistent start to the series, adding a third consecutive 3rd place. Marco Sorgassi remains at the top of the overall standings on 6 points, with Peter Hassett and Cassidy tied on 9.

 

Liam Kingston continued his clean sweep in the ILCA 4 fleet, taking a third consecutive race win over Isobel Hobbs in 2nd, strengthening his early series lead. 

 

In the Melges 15 fleet, Sarah Robertson and Lynne Henderson claimed the race win, moving to the top of the overall standings. The Evans took 2nd, with Cormac Farrelly and Justin Cullen completing the podium in 3rd.

 

The light conditions proved to be a successful day for the Finns in the PY fleet. Richard Tate took the race win, followed by Andrejs Samoilovs in 2nd. The IDRA 14s filled the next two places, with Pierre and Remy Long taking 3rd ahead of Alan Carr and Orla Connolly in 4th. Daragh Sheridan entered the day at the top of the standings after winning both races on the opening weekend, but an OCS penalty proved costly. Sheridan nevertheless holds on to 3rd overall, behind new series leader John Phelan and Samoilovs.

 

With three races now completed, the latest results have tightened several of the leaderboards. The unpredictable nature of Sunday’s racing showed that there is still plenty of room for positions to change as the series continues. Entry is still available at hyc.ie - if the remaining races are completed as planned, discards will apply to the races done so far, so you won’t be disadvantaged by joining next weekend!