Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Irish Fireball Association

28th July 2009

Fireball

The Fireball is a high performance two-person sailing dinghy offering exciting sailing, intense competition and a great social life off the water. For all the latest Fireball news click here. The thrills of trapeze and spinnakers are hard to match in any type of sailboat or board and neither age nor gender determines your ability to be competitive.

Fireballers sail all year round – during the Winter at the DMYC Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire and the during Summer at many events around the country and the DBSC Tuesdays and Saturdays again in Dun Laoghaire. In addition there are active fleets in Clontarf, Killaloe and Dunmore East. If you would like to sail then get in touch with one of the following people who will help you find a spot!

Siobhan Hayes, Dun Laoghaire – tel: 087 205 8879
Hugh Johnson, Clontarf – tel: 087 659 3533
Cormac Bradley, General – tel: 086 814 3618
Owen Laverty, Dun Laoghaire – tel: 087 6107857
Richard Fox, Killaloe – tel: 087 248 4977
Brian O'Neill, Ballyhenry – tel: +44 7849 465124

Irish Fireball Association, c/o Margaret Casey, Secretary, 48 Riverside Drive, Churchtown, Dublin 14. Email: [email protected]

 

Afloat's Graham Smith wrote, in the One Design Class Review for the February/March 2009 issue:

"The Fireball has been written off so many times yet consistently defies all obituaries. In fact, it has grown slightly over the years to provide a national fleet in the region of 70 boats at 15 venues which tends to substantiate its claim of being one of the leading dinghy classes in the country.

Twenty-eight boats at the Nationals in Westport was a little down on the previous year but entries in the mid-20s for the other regional events would be considered more than satisfactory by a lot of other classes in this day and age.

Noel Butler and Seamus Moore of DMYC retained their national title in Mayo, won the Ulsters in Carlingford and also won the Traveller’s Trophy for consistency of results. Fifteenth overall in the 68-boat World Championships in Thailand was a highly creditable finish for the Dun Laoghaire duo.

Another Dun Laoghaire crew, Kenneth Rumball and Dave Moran, had a seventh overall at the Europeans in Belgium while, at home, Andy Pearce and Francis Rowan of the National YC won the Leinsters in Mullingar and the Skerries helm Simon McGrotty notched wins in the Munsters and Open Championships with two different crew. National Champions: Noel Butler and Seamus Moore, DMYC." 

 
There is a space for Irish boating clubs and racing classes to use as their own bulletin board and forum for announcements and discussion. If you want to see a dedicated forum slot for your club or class, click here

Published in Classes & Assoc

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!