Neyland Yacht Club

First race of the 2025 Frostbite Series

Against the expectation of the majority of the weather forecasts the assembled fleet of 14 crews at NYC was greeted by mild temperatures and not a dead calm for the first race day of the 2025 Frostbite Series.

A patient wait was rewarded by a fresh and gusty breeze (10-23kts) from the south after lunch.  A compact triangular course was set to the east of the club beginning with a downwind start to a dropped mark set off the marina car park (S), then a beat to Neyland Spit (S) and a final broad reach to hook around the club line.

All were clear at the start with Simon G in his Int. Moth leading the fleet to the first mark, with Alan G and Annie R in their Dart 18 chasing hard.  Geoff T rounded in 3rd having started closer to the shore than the bulk of the fleet at the pin end and so sailing a hotter angle to the first mark.  The 29er of Kiera E and Simon T was knocked flat by a gust as they were hoisting - the first capsize of the fleet today.  Positions remained unchanged by completion of the lap with the Solution of Ross P extremely close to the Supernova followed by Alec D in her ILCA 6.  The lead Moth was completing laps at an average time of 2m37s so made short work of the 4-lap course, would it however be fast enough to take the win on corrected?  The Dart 18 was too completing laps quickly, looking to be fast on the bottom reaches, finishing 2nd on the water.  The Supernova had maintained his lead over the Solution, pulling away on each beat only to lose a little on each reach, perhaps a pause by Ross P to delay his gybe on lap 3 would give Geoff T the few seconds he needed on corrected time?  Alec D completed the finishers for division 1 having sailed efficiently without any drama in her ILCA 6.

Isabelle N led the fleet of closely bundled Teras in division 2 to the first mark and up the first beat before her lower mast snapped.  Liam F then took the lead ahead of Cerise L, Anwen S and Ted S, building on his lead over the following 2 laps, clearly revelling in the breeze with his maiden sail of the larger-sized Pro rig.  All in the Tera fleet displayed confident boat handling , especially in the area of confused sea at the beginning of the beat where the main outgoing tide clashed with the back eddy running up the Neyland shore.

The second race of the day was not run due to the delayed start of the first.

With the results in it was the Dart 18 taking the win, Alan G had not paid attention to local advice that catamarans aren’t favoured in Neyland waters, the Solution 2nd, Supernova 3rd, ILCA 6 4th and Int. Moth 5th in Division 1.

Division 2 results were in the order the boats crossed the finish line – Liam F 1st, Cerise L 2nd, Anwen S 3rd, Ted S 4th.

A video of the start is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDFm9TmvWB8

A condensed video of the race can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLIpm7VnaWg