#fireball – The one regatta date given out in last week's report was, in accordance with Murphy's or Sod's law, incorrect. This week that error is corrected and another two dates are added.

Irish Fireball Class Association Domestic Regatta Fixtures 2014

Ulster Championship Ballyholme Yacht Club (Belfast Lough) 17/18 May (Correction) Joint event with 5o5s.

Open Championships & Classic Trophy Clontarf Yacht & & Boat Club 14/15 June

As part of festivities to celebrate 1,000 Anniversary of Battle of Clontarf.

Nationals Lough Ree Yacht Club 12/13/14 Sept.

Joint event with Wayfarers.

Negotiations to close out the regatta fixture list are ongoing, and at this stage we are hopeful of having the Leinsters in Dublin Bay with the Munsters at one of our favourite venues. We will also be promoting a number of other events at clubs where Fireballs are sailed, including the Skerries Regatta which takes place on 26/27 July. There is also another Dublin Bay event, scheduled for midsummer, which we will be encouraging you to attend. Details will follow!

The Nationals are being held late to accommodate a number of events that are taking place in June, July and August. Given the fleet size in 2013, we are very anxious to avoid dates that might generate clashes and might thus cost us entries. The Lough Ree event in September last year is the motivation for taking our Nationals back there.

#fireball – After a six-week hiatus, due to gale-force winds and the scheduled break of the Sundays either side of Christmas, the 2014 half of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club's 2013/14 Frostbite Series finally got underway yesterday, the third Sunday of January, writes Cormac Bradley.

Fourteen Fireballs took to the water and were rewarded by favourable conditions that allowed the Race Team to take the racing outside the harbour. This correspondent viewed the unfolding events with binoculars from the end of the West Pier, a cold enough existence on a day when the wind was modest, but enough to get the crews onto trapeze going upwind, certainly in the first race.

A slightly late arrival at my viewing position saw me miss the start of the first race – 3 laps of a trapezoid course, but the sense was that the fleet simply tacked off the start line onto port tack to make their way to a separate weather mark from the rest of the Frostbite fleet. With the ebb tide only about an hour old, as the boats approached the weather mark on port they would have been broadside on to the tide sweeping from right to left across the course (in very simple terms).

Kenneth Rumball & David Moran (15058) led the fleet around the first weather mark and were never headed thereafter. Behind them there was a tight sequence of rounding boats – Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella (14820), Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061), Conor & James Clancy (14807). By Mark 3 of the first trapezoid the Clancy brothers had gone into second place.

At the last mark of the first lap, the leaders took a hitch on starboard before coming across to the weather mark. By the second rounding of the weather mark the sequence was Rumball/Moran, Clancy/Clancy, Butler/Oram, Andy Boyle & Teddy Byrne (14934) and McCartin/Kinsella.

Slightly further back a very tight group of Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775), Luke Malcolm & Shane Divinney (14790), Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691) and Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire (14865) were clearly enjoying their own race.

The opening race of 2014 also saw some debuts:- Ismail Inan, weekending in Ireland from work in London teamed up with Owen Sinnott to race Frank Miller's boat (14713). Frank is recuperating from knee surgery, but was mobile enough to put in a dry land appearance. Fireball 14330, "Blue Eyes" formerly owned by Conor Byrne (now residing in Australia's Northern Territory and sailing Tasars) made its debut in the ownership of Darragh McDonogh.

At Mark 4 for the second time, Rumball/Moran kept a watching brief on their pursuers. Butler/Oram tacked immediately at the mark and sailed almost as far as Mark 3 before making their port tack approach to the final weather mark. By the time Rumball/Moran came across to cover them they had put in three tacks to ensure they were to windward and effectively closer to the weather mark relative to the other pair. When this translated to a "cross", from a binocular assessment there was only a couple of boat-lengths between them. Rumball/Moran crossed ahead and covered the other pair gradually opening up a straight-line lead on the water. Team Clancy and McCartin/Kinsella rounded bow to stern in third and fourth respectively, while Boyle/Byrne closed out the top five. These were the finishing positions as well.

Before the second race, the wind started to drop and there was very little trapezing on the early upwind legs of the second race. Butler/Oram were much too early for the start and were already engaging in corrective action by the time the start signal went. Others were in trouble as well, but from my vantage point, even with binoculars, I couldn't be certain who had transgressed on the start line. The pin end appeared to be the "holy grail" but given the tide situation that appeared to be an odd choice. Indeed, when the boats that had gone further left came into the weather mark, they were sailing very freely........too much so!

McCartin/Kinsella were comfortably first at the weather mark, followed by Boyle/Byrne, Chambers/McGuire, Rumball/Moran, and Cariosa Power, sailing with her son, Odhran, in another Frostbite debut performance. Odhran is easily the youngest Fireball debutant we have had this season and is only in his very early teens! (Hope I have got that right!) Another pairing showing good form in this race was Eamon Bourke & Robert Slater (14817) from Howth in 6th place. For round two, the starboard tack hitch offshore was the preferred choice of the majority of the fleet in wind that had increased again. McCartin/Kinsella took on the responsibility of watching the fleet, sailing a course that left them in the classic covering position, to windward of everyone else and between the fleet and the weather mark.

The rounding order at the second weather mark was:- McCartin, Clancy, Boyle, Rumball, Butler, Bourke, Chambers, Power, Sinnott, Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (14706), McKenna/O'Keeffe, Malcolm/Divinney, Colin/Casey and McDonogh.

McCartin held the lead throughout the race but the boats behind him were having a good fight with place changing continuing throughout the race – Rumball closed significantly on Clancy & Boyle and at the last time of rounding Mark 4 appeared to have put Clancy behind him and was taking on Boyle for 2nd place. The angle of the finish line made definite calls on finishing positions from my vantage point difficult, but afterwards in the DMYC I was able to get these finalized. McCartin/Kinsella were deemed to be OCS and thus lost their first place, giving the race win to Boyle & Byrne.

Frostbites 2013 – 2014, Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club
Series 2 (Overall). R1 R2 Total Pts.
1 Kenneth Rumball & David Moran Irish National Sailing School 15058 1 2 3
2 Andy Boyle & Teddy Byrne Royal Irish Yacht Club 14934 5 1 6
2 Conor and James Clancy Royal St. George Yacht Club 14807 3 3 6
2 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club 15061 2 4 6
5 Luke Malcolm & Shane Divinney Howth Yacht Club 14790 6 6 12

Thus the first Frostbites Mugs for 2014 go to Messrs Butler and Oram for Race 1 and Messrs Boyle and Byrne for Race 2.

#fireball – As this report is being typed, racing's "flags of surrender" to the elements are flying briskly from the flagpole of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club writes Cormac Bradley. For the second Sunday of Series 2, "N over A" is being flown to signify that racing has been abandoned. A quick visit to the website that is providing current weather details for Dun Laoghaire harbour – I don't fancy the East Pier walk today – reveals that the wind speed is 25 knots and the highest gust is 39.9knots. Wind direction is SSE, which means that the Dun Laoghaire side of Dublin Bay is the lee shore, but with 25 knots blowing inside the harbour it is easy to see why we are not racing!

Thus, the start of the Series 2 continues in the same vein as the end of Series 1 with races being abandoned. We have not had racing for six Sundays in a row, two Sundays blown out at the end of Series 1, no racing on the Sundays immediately before and after Christmas and no racing yet in January. This is sharp contrast to my recall of last year's Frostbites, when we had more benign weather right throughout the Series.

In terms of our regular season regatta schedule, there are ongoing discussions taking place to finalise the calendar. One date that can be confirmed at this stage is the Ulsters – taking place at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough in conjunction with the 5o5s, over the weekend of 14/15 June. (I am writing this from memory and will confirm, but this is my memory of an E-mail or Facebook entry.)

First Frostbite of 2014 goes the same way as the closing Frostbite of 2013 – abandoned! writes Cormac Bradley. In the context of the severe storms and damage of the Christmas and New Year storms, reporting that the first Frostbite race of 2014 was abandoned might seem to be rather mundane and potentially insensitive, but in the context of sailing it is appropriate! However, this is the fate that befell the first race of 2014 when everyone put "2 and 2 together" and racing was abandoned. The Sea Area forecast on the Saturday night was intimidating as it was but with the direction of the wind, Dun Laoghaire harbour was on the lee shore, which might have meant that something was possible. However, with sever gusts being recorded in the harbour, the decision that no racing would take place was conveyed electronically via Facebook and E-mail as much as by word of mouth.

A quick trip to the harbour indicated that everyone had seen sense and the only "sailing" activity was an "N over A signal" flying from the clubhouse of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club. The attached photographs give a taste of the conditions in Dun Laoghaire Harbour yesterday.

So while there has been no Fireball activity to report on, there has been Fireball personality activity that I can bring to your attention.

The Irish National Sailing School's Kenny Rumball winged his way to Sydney for the Christmas break and a debut performance in the Sydney to Hobart Race which started on December 26th. With Barry Hurley also on board the Beneteau 40, Breakthrough, Kenny, Barry and the crew finished 6th in IRC Division 3, 27th in IRC overall and were 61st over the line in a fleet of 94 boats of which 10 retired.

In Australia, the Fireball fleet had their nationals in Warrnambool on the SW coast in the State of Victoria. Ben Schulz, who contested the 2011 Worlds in Sligo, finished 4th overall sailing with his brother Jeff.

Australian Fireball Nationals
1 Greg Allison & Allan Blenkie 15032 12pts
2 M. Thompson & R Watson 14777 15pts
3 John Heywood & B. Littledike 14786 22pts
4 Ben & Jeff Schulz 15062 33pts
5 P. Peverell & P. Jones 15027 35pst

The Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron, Port Phillip, Australia, hosted the 67-boat Tasar Nationals, in which former Irish Fireballer Conor Byrne, crewed by Michelle Mackie, was a contestant in a brand new Tasar which boasts an Irish sail number (IRL 2846) and enters under the burgee of the Northern Territory. Eventually finishing 13th overall, Conor and Michelle also boasted a race win. Perennial competitors on the international Fireball circuit, Australians Heather McFarlane and Chris Payne, finished 4th overall, behind three former Tasar World Champions.

And in South Africa, Anthony Parker, who enjoyed honorary Irish status with the Irish Fireball team in Barbados, won the South African GP14 Nationals with a clean sweep of race wins that allowed him to sit out the last two races of the regatta which was hosted on the Garden Route on South Africa's east coast (not for from the 2016 venue for the Fireball Worlds). Anthony was crewed by Ferdinand Holm, who I think is one of the driving forces in the SA 5o5 fleet.

#fireball – The last Sunday of Frostbite racing in Dun Laoghaire for 2013 was brought to an early close when the Race Team decided that the combination of the overnight weather forecast (Storm Force 9) and the actual conditions meant that racing should not proceed. There didn't seem to be too much objection to the decision from those who were in the clubhouse of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club when the Race Team made their decision public. Some three hours later, when a modest gathering formed at the clubhouse for the series prize-giving, the wisdom of the decision to abandon racing was confirmed when the comment was made "that you wouldn't have wanted to be on the water at 14:45!"

Considering that the entry level for the Frostbites is nearly ninety boats, the turn out for the prize-giving was modest – none of the four classes, PY, Lasers, RS Classes and Fireballs had a full turnout of the 1-2-3 prizewinners. Due thanks were recorded to the Race Team who have provided racing from November 3rd by the principle organizer and MC for the prize-giving at each Sunday and yesterday, Olivier Proveur. He, in turn, was thanked by a member of the Race Team for all his effort.

The Fireball results for Series 1 of the Frostbites have seen an unusual scenario, Messrs Butler and Oram back in third place overall, without a 2013/14 Frostbite Mug in their respective trophy cabinets. However, that observation has to be tempered by the fact that only four points cover the top three boats. The loss of yesterday's race also meant that there is no discard for Series 1 so the results of two weeks ago are now the final results.

#fireball – The Irish Fireball Association's Open Day on Saturday 30th November was a great success with strong interest in both the morning and afternoon sessions. We were very fortunate with the weather – sunshine and good breeze – enough to allow the boat to be shown off to best effect without putting anyone off the idea of sailing them.

Four Fireballs were used in the morning session with rotation of helms and crews accommodated by having two ribs on the water. In the afternoon, a further two Fireballs were required and while the wind dropped for the latter session there was still enough of it in place to make the afternoon session viable.

The majority of the people who came to sample the boat were Dublin based and the majority of these had racing experience – Laser Vagos, Cadets, 420s, 470s, big boats. However, special mention must be made of the young man who persuaded his mother to take him to Dun Laoghaire for the afternoon – all the way from Youghal! Edward is a 15 year old who blew Noel Butler away with his enthusiasm and knowledge of all things Fireball, so much so that after a short stint on the helm, Noel took up crewing for the remainder of the afternoon to accommodate Edward's enthusiasm.

As a measure of the addiction" we all have for the Class, at least a dozen current Fireballers came out to lend their support to the initiative. Thanks too are due to those people who lent their boats for the day.

Special mention must also be made of the hospitality of the Irish National Sailing School who lent us their premises and two fully fuelled and equipped ribs for the day. Kenny and Mrs. Rumball, (Kenny's "mammy") went out of their way to make sure that we were all properly looked after with tea/coffee and biscuits and made sure that hot water was available for showers afterwards.

If you are interested in sailing a Fireball, be it on a Frostbite Sunday over the winter months, or during summer 2014, in Dublin Bay Sailing Club racing (Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons) or in our own regattas, get in touch with the class via its Facebook page or approach any of the Fireballers who congregate in the DMYC after Frostbite racing on a Sunday.

#fireball – When taking up my station on the east pier of Dun Laoghaire's harbour to watch the day's Frostbite racing for this report, the wind direction was 289º. By the start of the Fireball race it had gone to 002º, then during the race the readings were 353º, 320º, 220º and by the end the reading was 49º. So it doesn't take much to imagine what it was like on the 4-lap trapezoid course set by the Race Committee. Though it was the 1st of December and the start of Advent, the wind gods didn't bring any presents as the highest recorded wind strength of the afternoon was 5.1 knots and the highest recorded gust just over ten knots – though I don't think I saw that on the water and I'm sure none of the Fireballers did!

The first start for the nine Fireballs was aborted - to the relief of Teddy Byrne & Conor Kinsella (14934) and Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney (14790) as they had the door of opportunity at the committee boat end of the line firmly shut in their respective faces by the rest of the fleet. For this start a slightly oversized blanket could have covered the fleet as they fought to be at the committee boat end. A significant shift of the limit mark for the second start saw a much more even spread of boats along the line with Malcolm/Diviney securing the committee boat end and Byrne/Kinsella down towards the pin.

Eight of the nine boats went substantially left, but Malcolm/Diviney took a hitch to the right immediately after the start and another one halfway up the beat. This left them in pole position on the right-hand side of the course in the approach to the first weather mark, but by their own admission, after the race, they overstood to allow Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) to lead round the mark, followed closely by Malcolm/Diviney and Kenneth Rumball and David Moran (15058). These three had a gap on the balance of the fleet who rounded in the following order – Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691), Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire (14865), Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (14713), Teddy Byrne & Conor Kinsella, Conor Clancy & Paul Devlin (14807) and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775).

By Mark 2, Rumball & Moran had taken the lead, which they would not subsequently relinquish, and Malcolm/Diviney had passed Butler/Oram. The legs from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 allowed spinnakers to be flown but the leading three boats dropped their spinnakers early on the leg from 3 to 4.

Those who took a short hitch at Mark 4 to stay on the right hand side of the "beat" scored best on the second lap. Rumball and Malcolm adopted this tactic and it paid dividends for them. Butler had lost distance to them both by the time he arrived at mark 1 for the second time but all three sailed the same course to Mark 2. Further back, Colin & Casey gybed immediately on rounding Mark 1 in an attempt to catch up with the boats that had got ahead of them. The lead three boats were comfortable in their positions, but behind them McKenna, Clancy, Byrne, Miller and Colin were having their own race within the race.

Rumball/Moran grew their lead even further on the remainder of the second lap and the subsequent laps to record a winning margin of over 6 minutes. Malcolm & Diviney also managed to break away from the chasing pack until the last lap when their lead over the remainder of the fleet all but disappeared between Marks 2 and 3 for the last time. McKenna/O'Keeffe also occupied third place for a while but ultimately Butler/Oram passed them out to close to within a few boat-lengths of Malcolm/Diviney at Mark 3 for the last time. Clancy/Devlin extracted themselves from the "van" to close on these two as well.

At Mark 4 for the last time, with only the short hitch to the finish left, Butler/Oram looked as though they had done enough to pass Malcolm/Diviney, but the latter pair just managed to hold onto 2nd place by staying to windward of Butler/Oram. Clancy/Devlin did exactly the same thing to Butler/Oram and then to Malcolm/Diviney. The short hitch to the finish was now a lot freer and two of the three boats flew spinnakers! Not Clancy/Devlin who ghosted past the other two boats to snatch 2nd place ahead of Malcolm/Diviney and Butler/Oram. The former combination must have been enormously frustrated to see what had been such a healthy lead over the third place boat(s) disappear over the three legs of the fourth lap, but that frustration would have been tempered by winning the day's Frostbite Mugs in the Fireball Class.

As an indication of the competitiveness of this year's Frostbites, it is interesting to note that Noel Butler and Stephen Oram have yet to pick up a set of mugs and we are now into December. Noel acknowledged as much in the post-mortem in the DMYC afterwards saying that it is encouraging to see where the competition is at this year.

(This prompts a correction to last week's report which awarded the Mugs to Messrs Butler & Oram. The report should have read that the Round 4 Mugs went to Conor Clancy and Paul Devlin.)

With only two Sundays left in Series 1, there is still going to be a number of combinations trying to secure the daily prize before the Christmas break!

#fireball – The Irish Fireball Class gathered in the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire last Friday, 22 nd November, to celebrate the season just past and recognize those people who had excelled on the water or made significant contributions to the Class during the past season writes Cormac Bradley.

Forty to fifty people were in attendance with a mix of the younger members of the fleet, some who are not so young and some who are no longer active but are still part of the Irish Fireball family. The hospitality of the National Yacht Club was of its usual high standard with a function room to ourselves and our own bar. An excellent buffet meal was served with desserts and tea/coffee served individually.

Five Fireball organized regattas are sailed during the Irish summer season and these five events are used to provide a season long competition for the entire fleet with points for overall places at each of the individual regattas counting towards the overall season long competition – The Travellers Trophy. The fleet is split into Gold and Silver sub-fleets. Additionally, the prize-giving is the occasion when five other awards are made – the India Trophy for the Most Improved, the Asterix Trophy for making a Significant Contribution, the Lady Helm's Trophy, the Captain's Prize and the Liam Bradley Memorial Trophy. 

Newly elected Class Chairman, Ms. Marie Barry presented an overview of the season, recounting tales of tents being erected in howling winds and driving rain (Friday night at CLYC), of attempts to put up tents being abandoned in favour of sleeping in the bar (LRYC), of 40-knot gusts flattening the fleet and leaving a regatta with just one race (Killaloe), of an exceptionally enjoyable Nationals in Skerries, of the very enjoyable Europeans and Worlds regatta in Slovenia and having the biggest turnout for the last regatta of the season, the Leinsters, hosted in mid-October by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club.

Marie also acknowledged that we had new National Champions in the form of Kenny Rumball and David Moran who had won the title on countback from Noel Butler and Stephen Oram in Skerries. It was also acknowledged that while the fleet was smaller than in previous years, the level of competition was still very high, particularly at the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regattas (9 boats) and the Nationals (15 boats).

Medals in the Gold and Silver fleets were awarded to the first, second and third placed helms and crews in accordance with the results table above.

Left to right: Hermine O'Keeffe, Marie Barry & Louise McKenna. Louise won the Lady Helm Trophy for the 2013 season.

Louise McKenna presents the Captain's Prize to Cormac Bradley.

 Jon Evans (Sligo Yacht Club) picks up the Gold medals for first in the Silver fleet from Class Chair, Marie Barry.

National Champions, David Moran (L) and Kenny Rumball (R), pick up the Silver Medals for the Gold fleet from Marie Barry.

 Travellers' Trophy winners (Gold fleet) Noel Butler (L) and Stephen Oram (R) pick up their overall trophy from Marie Barry.

Photos courtesy of Frank Miller

Class Awards.

The India Trophy.
Awarded by the committee, this trophy recognizes the individual who has made the most progress in the season just completed. This year's winner upgraded his boat during the close season and teamed up with a new crew for the 2013 season. As a combination, Gavin Doyle and Dave Sweeney sailed all five events of the Travellers' Trophy, finishing second in Killaloe where there were only three finishers and discarding an 11 th at the Munster Championships in Lough Ree Yacht Club (Athlone). This allowed them to finish 4 th overall in the Travellers' and earned Gavin Doyle the India Trophy.

The Asterix Trophy.
Again awarded at the discretion and discussion of the committee, the Asterix Trophy is awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the Class. This year's recipient has just stood down as Class Chairman after a two-year stint but during his two years in office he has also been very involved in his own club, DMYC, provided training to the Fireball Silver Fleet and gave of his time and effort to the ISAF Youth Worlds hosted in Dublin Bay and other international events that came this way.
This year the Asterix Trophy was awarded to Neil Colin.

Lady Helm's Trophy.
This trophy is awarded to the leading lady helm in the Travellers' Trophy competition at the end of the season. Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keefe also sailed all five regattas of the summer season and while they weren't a finisher in Killaloe, they did start the single race that constituted that regatta. They finished seventh in the Travellers' Trophy. Additionally, Louise & Hermine were very competitive in the Tuesday night racing under the auspices of Dublin Bay Sailing Club and showed a very clean transom to the rest of the Fireball fleet on more than one occasion.
This year's Lady Helm's Trophy goes to Louise McKenna.

Captain's Prize.
The "Captain" in the title of this trophy is the Dun Laoghaire Class Captain and this award may be made at the sole discretion of the person who occupies this office. He or she may, of course, consult with the committee. The 2013 Dun Laoghaire Class Captain was Louise McKenna and in that capacity she awarded the trophy to Cormac Bradley for his reporting of all things Fireball (from an Irish perspective) to the websites Afloat.ie, Yachts & Yachting, our own Fireball Ireland website (courtesy of Stephen Oram) and the Fireball International website.

Liam Bradley Memorial Trophy.
Donated by Cormac Bradley, in memory of his father, this trophy is awarded at Cormac's discretion. This year the trophy went to Kenneth Rumball and in awarding the trophy reference was made to Kenny's contribution to the fleet by way of affording opportunities to the fleet to contest international regattas with his multi-stacker trailer which brought six boats to Bracciano (Italy) and back for the 2012 Europeans and repeated the feat with delivery and return of six boats to Slovenia for the 2013 Europeans and Worlds Regatta. This in a year when Kenny also won the 2013 Nationals after a number of years of trying and getting very close. It as noted that while many people race Fireballs in discretionary time, Kenny gave up time from his business to trek across Europe and back so that the rest of us could contest international regattas.

#fireball – As previously reported on this website, the Irish Fireball Class is hosting an Open Day this Saturday, 30th November, to provide people who are interested an opportunity to see what makes Fireball sailing so exciting!

The intention is to run two sessions from the Irish National Sailing School in the western corner of Dun Laoghaire harbour, starting at 11:00 and 13:30 respectively. We will begin with an explanation and tour of the boat on shore and will support that with video footage of Fireballs in action. The intention then will be to get attendees out on the water for a session afloat in the company of experienced Fireballers. Hot showers and a debrief will be available in the INSS after the session on the water.

The Irish Fireball Class runs a five-regatta summer season of racing and supports the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club's Frostbite Series over the winter Sundays from early November through to the end of March. This means that if you have the time and appetite you can race a Fireball all year round. In addition to our domestic activities we have, in recent years, been active on the international front with 6 boats in Slovenia in September past for the Europeans and Worlds, 6 boats in Bracciano, Italy for the 2012 Europeans, hosted the Fireball Worlds in 2011 in Sligo, had 5/6 boats in Barbados for the Worlds in 2010 and a boat in the Czech Republic for the 2010 Europeans. In 2013, an Irish boat contested the UK Nationals and three Irish boats contested the UK Inland Championships.

Looking to the future, the 2014 Worlds are in Thailand in March, while the 2014 Europeans are much closer to home, with the Shetlands hosting this regatta in late July. The UK Nationals, which is always a big fleet affair, is being hosted in Wales in 2014, a short hop from the ferry port of Holyhead, with Dun Laoghaire being the port of departure for Holyhead!

In 2015, the Fireball Worlds come to Wales, which is bound to generate a huge fleet and this will be sailed as part of a two-week festival of Fireball sailing. In 2016, the Class will travel to the east coast of South Africa and Mossel Bay for the Worlds.

So, in addition to being an exciting boat to race, we are a class that offers opportunities to travel to great locations for international events.

Saturday's Open Day could open a doorway to all these events, if you have the appetite!

RSVP: [email protected]
Mobile: (On the day) 086 190 8463

#fireball – Yesterday’s Fireball Frostbite race produced a fleet that had all the appearance of being adversely influenced by the Ireland – New Zealand rugby fixture taking place a short distance away with kick-off very close to the scheduled start of Frostbite racing writes Cormac Bradley.

How the Irish Rugby Football Union could negotiate a fixture with the No.1 rugby side in the World without reference to the Frostbite organizers I don’t know!! Eight Fireballs contested yesterday’s race and seven of those were fighting to be the boat closest to the committee boat at the start. The exception to that skirmish was Messrs Butler & Kinsella (14990) who would have been pleased to have had the pin to themselves, even though they were distinctly late for the start. Neil Colin and Margaret Casey (14775) won the battle to be on the starboard end of the line and then proceeded to the LHS of the beat initially. Kenneth Rumball & David Moran (15058) took the first hitch to the RHS but they didn’t go all the way. That tactic was reserved for Alistair Court and Gordon Syme (14706). Messrs Clancy & Devlin (14807) and Butler & Oram (15061) approached the first weather mark of the 4-lap, trapezoid course along the port layline, but the latter combination seemed to have gone that bit further left and were not enjoying the same breeze as Messrs Clancy & Devlin. That allowed Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (14691) to get into second place at the weather mark, and the rounding sequence was as follows:- Clancy & Devlin, McKenna & O’Keeffe, Butler & Oram, Rumball & Moran, Court & Syme, Colin & Casey, Butler & Kinsella and Cariosa Power & Brenda McGuire (14865).

The race was sailed in less than 4 knots of wind throughout although the weather station on the east pier was recording occasional gusts in excess of 6 knots. Directionally, the wind was quite stable starting with a bearing of 315º and ending up at 289º. Key decision points were at Mark 2 where the fleet had the choice to gybe immediately or sail further to the right and outside the course before gybing back to come into Mark 3. At Mark 4 the choice was weather to sail to the starboard side of the beat or tack immediately to go to the port-hand side. Clancy and Devlin led from start to finish and although they would have been wary of the positions of Messrs Butler (N) and Rumball for the first rendition of Mark 2 to 3, where the latter two boats closed on them, by the time he got to Mark 4 he had opened up a short distance on the chasing two! Thereafter, they sailed away from the fleet, extending their lead significantly, particularly on the upwind legs. It was the short of day that staying in wind was more important than being on the right side of the course – though those two tactical challenges are intertwined. By the finish Clancy & Devlin had a lead in excess of the bottom leg of the trapezoid. Butler & Oram went into 2nd place by getting water on McKenna & O’Keeffe at Mark 4 and Rumball & Moran were only just behind these two.

The leg from 2 to 3 still offered the protagonists a choice of spinnaker approach, stay right after two and gybe further down the leg, or gybe immediately to go left and gybe again to come back into Mark 3. In the second and third laps, this choice was of more significance for Colin, Court, McKenna and Butler (E) as the “action” in the latter stages of the races was concentrated among these four. On the second lap between 1 and 2, Colin had a late hoist of spinnaker but still managed to catch and then pass Court who had all three sails operating. On the second and third laps between 2 and 3, these four took different approaches to the leg and at one stage Court who had gone into fourth at the Mark 1 for the third time, looked as though he might this slot and two more when his decision to come left on the downwind spinnaker leg left him looking decidedly “pear-shaped”. He did however, recover but the 3-boat limit at Mark 3 was an aide to his cause in regaining his spot in the pecking order! The rest of the Frostbiters were docked their fourth lap when the Committee Boat signaled a shortened course for them, however, the Fireballs went the “whole hog”. The front three boats were very secure in their respective positions, Clancy and Devlin had done a horizon job, Butler and Oram were comfortable relative to Rumball and Moran. The next four boats stayed in close company around the final lap with none of them overly secure relative to the other three. However, at the finish their finishing order was McKenna & O’Keeffe, Court & Syme, Colin & Casey and Butler (E) and Kinsella, with Power and McGuire closing it out.

Frostbite Series 2013/14: Series 1, Round 4; 24th November. 1 Conor Clancy & Paul Devlin 14807 RStGYC 2 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 DMYC 3 Kenneth Rumball & David Moran 15058 INSC 4 Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keefe 14691 RStGYC 5 Alistair Court & Gordon Syme 14706

DMYC Frostbite Series 2013/14: Series 1, Overall (assumes no discards). 1 Kenneth Rumball & Alexander Rumball & David Moran 15058 INSC 11pts 2 Noel Butler & Joe O’Reilly & Stephen Oram 15061 DMYC 12pts 3 Conor Clancy, Paul Devlin & Owen Laverty 14807 RStGYC 13pts 4 Alistair Court & Gordon Syme 14706 DMYC 23pts 5 Ed Butler & Conor Kinsella 14990 NYC 25pts By this correspondent’s reckoning, the day’s Frostbite Mugs went to Noel Butler & Stephen Oram.

Next Saturday (30th Nov.) sees the Irish Fireball Class host an open day for those who want to sample the excitement of this wonderful boat. We have two sessions with a start time of 11:00 and 13:30 respectively, based at the premises of the Irish National Sailing School in Dun Laoghaire harbour. To those who read this article, but who are not currently Fireball sailors, please come and join us!