Frostbite series February 2026

Catherine OLeary

A difficult sail; wind was initially force 5 from the south, predicted to drop although it didn’t. Because we were expecting the wind to drop we didn’t put a reef in the mainsail and we were really carrying too much sail. The skipper said we couldn’t reef the Genoa which was surprising. There were 7 of us on the boat so I was largely ballast. It was difficult to get around the boat for tacking, so I was having to go over the roof to tack. But on one tack, my foot got caught betwee the genny sheet and the guardrail and I got trapped which was a bit scary. But I got out in the end without falling in the sea. We came second in the race and third overall in the series.