RS400 Frosties Series at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club - Day 7

RS400 Frosties Series at the Royal North of Ireland YC day 7 © Sam Pickering

The penultimate Sunday of this winter's Bosun Bob's sponsored Frosties Series dragged sixteen crews to Royal North of Ireland YC. These included one lesser-spotted Paul Mclaughlin who had clearly spent too much time boat tinkering (and sampling Belfast's finest the night before).

As always, the excellent race team were ready to go on the dot at 2pm, and a 10-12 knot breeze that was steadily, but consistently, ticking left gave the fleet all they needed for another day of incredibly tight racing.

Race 1 began with something that is now becoming rather predictable, a general recall! A good start is so crucial in sprint format racing that it is worth the risk of going with others when they decide to push over the line. At the second attempt, and with the persuasive effect of a black flag, the fleet got away. Liam Donnelly and Rick McCaig found themselves in pole position at the windward mark. Unfortunately, Liam struggled to make out the committee boat's start line pole from the prime pin end position they had adopted, so they were found to be OCS. That reduced the race to a mere four-way battle between Barry McCartin/Andrew Penney, Trevor D'Arcy/Alan McLernon, Ross/Andrew Vaughan and Sam Pickering/Sharon Doherty. There was very little speed difference between boats and the race was decided at the final leeward gate when Barry/Andrew correctly chose to swing round the left mark while Sam/Sharon split to the right. Trevor/Alan rounded out the top 3, having finished no more than 15 seconds behind the leaders.

Race 2 and the fleet got away cleanly first time, with Ruan O'Tiarnaigh/Cat Chimney taking full advantage of the clocking breeze and rounding clear ahead of Sam/Sharon and Barry/Andrew. These three were followed by the sound of crunching fibreglass as the mid-fleet battle hotted up. Some good downwind speed from Sam/Sharon allowed them to slip past Ruan/Cat, and with a bit of a gap they were able to manage the race to take 1st. Again, Barry/Andrew finished the race clinically to take 2nd, while Ryan Wilson/Simon Martin had an excellent final run and a clean rounding at the correct side of the crucial final gate to sneak into 3rd.

From this point in the day forwards the author forgot where he was, so apologies in advance to those at the front if the description below is inaccurate!

By Race 3, and after a slight course change and another general recall, Paul Mclaughlin had woken up a little and hit left with his crew Owen McKinley to lead round the windward mark. They were closely chased by the usual crowd of Ruan/Cat and Barry/Andrew. Peter Kennedy/Stephen Kane also decided to join the action, and a final run downwind battle ensued. Unfortunately for the rest of the fleet Barry/Andrew can't seem to get it wrong and took another win. Ruan/Cat, relative newcomers to the fleet, showed they are a force to be reckoned with for the year ahead with a 2nd place, just ahead of Paul/Owen.

Race 4 was an even shorter one-lap affair. Ruan/Cat blasted of the pin end and had some clear water from Barry/Andrew and Tom Purdon by the windward mark. However, a great trait of asymmetric sailing is that the downwind legs are just as (if not more I'll let you decide) important as the upwind sections. Barry/Andrew demonstrated how considerable gains can be made and overhauled Ruan/Cat to take the win. Tom Purdon and his new crew also managed to slide their way past to slot into second, with Ruan/Cat rounding out their excellent day on the water with a 3rd place.

With one more week left before everyone decides to go and bore themselves on boats with lead stabilizers, Barry and Andrew have all but sealed victory again! But with only one point separating 2nd and 3rd there is still much to play for on the final Sunday.

Results after Day 7: