Melges 15 set for Winter Sailing around the country

As the days are getting shorter and the temperature is dropping, Melges 15 sailors are getting set for Winter Frostbite racing around the country. With 37 boats now in Ireland the 15s will be seen racing in Dun Laoghaire, Howth and Ballyholme in a mix of class and PY Racing. The experimental PY handicap continues to refine as more results are entered into the system. The reward for such endeavour will be the now annual trip to Cascais with the Irish Armada scheduled to arrive off the Portugese coast early April next year.

dun Laoghaire

With 17 boats across the waterfront clubs, the Saturday Series is set to kick off on October 4th. The bi-weekly format aims for 6 sprint races a day with a first gun at 10:30. In a new innovation, RaceSense will be used to run this local racing after a successful trial day which saw 6 quick races delivered and run from a floating rib with the tablet. All sailors were showered and coffee’d up by 1pm on Saturday afternoon. Another innovation is the introduction of a coached fleet with specific skills targeted each week; week 1 was tacking, week 2 gybing for example. The coached and non coached fleet race separately for the first 3 races and then together for the final three. This allows the coached sailors a chance to practice and improve for the first 3 races before racing alongside the more experienced crews for the final 3 races.

Racing can be followed on the tracker here

Howth

The 13 boat fleet kick off the 5 weekend Claremount league on Sunday 28th September. Racing in both PY and their own fleet this sets the class up nicely for the Dinghy Frostbites series which is set to start on November 2nd. With last year being the 50th Frostbite series the early Sunday morning series is one of the longest running frostbites in the world. Racing starts at 10:45 and ashore for 12:30 is the objective.

Ballyholme

In Ballyholme The Taggarts Icebreaker series starts on Sunday the 3rd October with afternoon racing starting at 14:24. This runs every Sunday until Christmas. Racing under PY will be the sole Melges 15 in BYC, however the demo boat is expected to make its way up to Ballyholme so keep an eye out for that.

Finally for any non Melges 15 sailors keen to get involved and try the boat out, reach out to John Sheehy of Melges Ireland who can make the appropriate introductions.