#FIREBALL – The Irish Fireball frostbite season got underway in unseasonable blue skies and sunshine conditions on Sunday 6^th November, when 11 Fireballs in a 40+ fleet got the series underway writes our Fireball Correspondent.  Arriving at Dun Laoghaire harbour, conditions were not conducive to racing, the waters of the harbour and beyond being mirror-like. Race Officer Stuart Kinnear persevered with the idea that a race was possible and was rewarded when enough breeze came through to get a race of two laps of a triangle away.

Hugh Butler crewing for Graeme Grant on their way to winning the Fireball Class in last Sunday's DMYC Frostbite race in Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Bob Hobby

As the new Class Chairman, Neil Colin, with crew Margaret Casey, adopted the same style that will be required onshore – leading from the front. They started about midway down the line and found themselves in the middle of the course as a consequence. On the right-hand side Louis Smyth and Cormac Bradley found stronger breeze but weren’t able to quite close on Colin/Casey and were additionally distracted by Louise McKenna and Hermine O’Keefe who had gone right as well and then went back to the middle.

Colin/Casey rounded first followed by McKenna/O’Keefe, Smyth/Bradley and the established combination of Kenneth Rumball & Dave Moran.  The downwind legs were quite genteel but competitive all the same. Smyth/Bradley got through McKenna/O’Keefe despite the close presence of Rumball/Moran.

2^nd beat and Colin/Casey went more middle than left while Smyth/Bradley again hit the right. This closed the gap but not quite enough to see a change of lead. However, it was enough to stay ahead of McKenna/O’Keefe at the weather mark but a split of downwind courses saw the girls get ahead until gybes onto the opposite tacks saw Smyth/Bradley get back into second. This close attention to what was going on behind them left Colin/Casey to extend their lead to the leeward mark and a safe win.

With a DMYC Frostbite mug up for grabs every Sunday of the series, Colin/Casey were able to relax with their hands on the 2011/12 edition.

The Frostbite is a popular series with a single race on a Sunday afternoon meaning that the day isn’t completely taken up. Husband and wife, Frank and Gemma Cassidy made their Frostbite debut, while Alastair Court and Gordon Syme, whom we haven’t seen all season, though their boat was in Sligo, also made their first appearance of the season. Mick Creighton blooded a new crew, while two other crews, Dave Coleman and Grattan Donnelly, teamed up to sail Blind Squirrel, 14713.

Welcome visitors were Luke Malcolm and Shane Diviney from Howth and Peter Armstrong and Matt Mayron, sailing under the burgee of Sligo Yacht Club.

Round 2 saw a complete contrast in the pre-race weather from the previous Sunday. At 11:30 it was blowing 25 knots, by 12:45 the wind was down to a Force 2. The race eventually was sailed in a F3 which moved around a bit but was mostly in the northern sector of the compass card. Graeme Grant and Hugh Butler led the fleet this week around five laps of another triangular course, doing enough to stay ahead of the bunch. They were chased by Noel Butler and Stephen Oram and Louis Smyth, sailing with Joe O’Reilly for Round 2. These two spent the race exchanging places while some of the others to feature at different stages were Alastair Court and Gordon Syme and Mick Creighton & Paul McDermott. The trio of Barry Hurley, Andy Boyle and Brian Flahive has shown the greatest consistency with two 5^th places! These three also count double-handed Fastnet races in their list of activities for the 2011 sailing season.

Thus, with two rounds down the overall standings are as follows;

Series 1 of the Frostbites runs through to the Sunday before Christmas (18^th Dec), with series 2 starting Sunday 8^th January 2012.

#DUN LAOGHAIRE – An artist's impression of a regenerated Dun Laoghaire harbour showing two new harbour marinas, berthing for tall ships, a dramatic canopy building on the Carlisle pier plus extensive development of the waterfront in front of the yacht clubs is on display at the town's East pier.

The artist's impression showing the new waterfront at Dun Laoghaire Harbour

The poster forms part of the notice of the adoption of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour masterplan under an EU Directive.

"The Masterplan will position Dun Laoghaire Harbour as a marine, leisure and tourism destination of international calibre", said Gerry Dunne, Chief Executive Officer, Dun Laoghaire Harbour Board.

The Masterplan will involve investment of more than €230m, over the next 10-15 years and will result in 1000 sustainable jobs in areas such as tourism, marine service companies, select retail, and food and beverage.

The area at the East pier showing a new sea water baths scheduled to open shortly, a new marina in front of the National Yacht Club, Tall Ship berthing and a new canopy on the Carlisle Pier

An extended plaza area (above) and new waterfront buildings and a Coal harbour marina at the West Pier (below)

#DMYC FROSTBITES – The First race of the 41st Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club dinghy frostbite series got underway in light breeze inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour yesterday afternoon in brilliantly sunny conditions.
The winner of the ever popular PY fleet was harbour local Alyson Rumball sailing an RS 200. The Laser class winner was Peter Craig with new Fireball class boss Neil Colin with Margaret Casey crewing the winners of the high performance Fireball fleet. More racing next Sunday.

Barry Hurley and Brian Flahive roll tack their Fireball during yesterday's opening race of the 41st annual Dun Laoghaire Motior Yacht Club Frostbite Challenge. Photo: Bob Hobby

#MODEL YACHTS – Dun Laoghaire's Winter Model Yacht RC Laser sailing programme got off to an enthusiastic if somewhat wet start on the Bank Holiday Monday. The impromptu gathering was intended to dust off the cobwebs but instead proved a test of the waterproofing of all the equipment because of the very heavy rain.

Nonetheless 7 boats turned up, including some new ones and the usual faces were seen at the front of the fleet in the trying conditions with the new boys coming to grips with getting the best out of their boats.

With over 20 boat owners in Dun Laoghaire and 3 new owners this year, there is renewed enthusiasm evident so come along and enjoy the fun. Organisers say you do not have to be a member of the Nationall Yacht Club to participate.

The class now has excellent marks, an automatic tannoy starting system and access to a super mark laying and rescue boat.

From next week on the RC Laser class shall be meeting every Sunday in the National with racing planned to commence at 2pm with at least 10 races being organised. Racing will be in front of the Club or from the East Pier near the Bandstand.

A new recording system for results and a league system will be running which will be divided between the period up to Christmas and January/February in 2012.

New to the market in Dun Laoghaire is a two-bed apartment in a luxury development of 100 homes overlooking the waterfront marina.

As The Sunday Business Post reports, Number 99 at Harbour View boasts spectaulcar views of Dublin Bay from Clontarf to Howth from its eight-metre balcony.

The fourth-floor apartment extends to circa 102 sqm and has had no previous tenants. 

Accommodation comprises an entrance hall in pale hardwood, a large light-filled living/dining area with a corner aspect, a fully fitted kitchen area with breakfast counter, a bathroom, storage room, two bedrooms (one ensuite) and a study that could be used as a third bedroom. 

An underground parking space is also included in the sale.

Harbour View is located on Crofton Road beside the DART station, with the yacht clubs and the town centre itself right at your doorstep. 

99 Harbour View has an asking price of €575,000. For more details contact estate agents Sherry FitzGerald at 01 284 4422.

Dun Laoghaire's planned new diaspora centre will rival the likes of Sydney Opera House, according to the semi-state body behind the proposal.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company estimates the cost of the project at €50 million. Most of this will come from EU and State funding, but some €15 million in donations will be required for the scheme to go ahead.

It's expected that this money will come from corporate donors and private investors, both at home and among the diaspora.

Discussions have also begun with a view to twinning the centre with the Ellis Island memorial in New York.

The diaspora centre would directly provide 200 jobs in Dun Laoghaire, which hopes to begin welcoming the latest breed of cruise liners to the harbour next year.

Dun Laoghaire's superb coastal marina based in the suburbs of Dublin has 820 berths and first opened in 2001. There is plenty to do in Dun Laoghaire with an excellent range of restaurants and bars and not too far to venture into Dublin City.

The management and customer service offered by Dun Laoghaire is excellent with all staff being well trained and very knowledgeable. All facilities are supported at the marina or by neighbouring businesses.

Part of Dun Laoghaire's 820-berth marina, the biggest in Ireland

"The entire team at Dun Laoghaire Marina endeavour at all times to be welcoming and genuinely useful to berth holders and visiting crews." Says Paal Janson CMM, Dun Laoghaire's General Manager. "We take immense pride in our Marina and the service we provide to our customers and this is reflected in the positive comments and feedback we receive throughout the year".

To sum up, this is a well run, professional marina which does everything within its capacity to cater for its berth holders' needs.

The Yacht Harbour Association (TYHA) provides support for marinas and related business throughout the UK and internationally, services include:

The Gold Anchor Award Scheme, which has been operating for 23 years is based on the TYHA Code of Practice for the design construction and operation of marinas. Ratings range from one to five gold anchors. Any award issued is a sure sign of a credible, quality marina with the number of anchors demonstrating the facilities and standard of service available to berth holders and full compliance with statutory regulations.

Matt Davis was at the helm of the Sigma 400 'Raging Bull' that successfully defended the ISORA Title in September. Here the Skerries Sailor describes how he and his crew parepared for the defence of the coveted Wolf's Head Trophy

To retain our title as ISORA champions I knew there was going to be a lot of work involved as some of the ISORA fleet would be upgrading their boats over the winter months. I held a crew meeting early in 2011 to discuss with the crew what steps we would take and how we would go about defending our title. The meeting proved useful and we even got new crew members! The 2011 ISORA Series was to include the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race – with the new scoring and this race being rated the highest it was important to plan to do well in this race. The season started off eventful with the craning-in in Skerries - we broke one of the lower spreaders and this was one week before the first race. So within a week we had the spreader replaced and were on the start line for the first race in the ISORA calendar.

The first race was the Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead race, which was to take in the M2 buoy. The wind was east to south-east, there was a lumpy sea with light winds in Dublin Bay and at times it was difficult to keep the boat going. The crew kept a watchful eye on sail trim and we worked our way out of the bay into a more-steady breeze. The wind kept building and top out in the 30 plus knots true. For an opening race it was tough going but the Sigma 400 liked the conditions. We tacked about five miles north of the M2 buoy and held that tack all the way to the finish at Holyhead. We started the season with a win, but in the back of my mind I knew that the weather had a lot to play in our victory and it was only matter of time when Stephen Tudor would get his new J109 up to speed.

We missed the second race, to the North Arklow buoy due to a faulty starter motor. Pwllheli to Wicklow was the next race that we got to the starting line. Dave Jackson and some of the crew delivered to boat to Pwllheli. On the week leading up to the race I had been tracking the weather and Peter Ryan was promising his famous 'weather window'. On the morning of the race the wind was whistling through the rigging and I knew it was going to be tough going to Bardsley. We got a good start and were one of the first boats off the line. About 20mins into the race we noticed the fleet were all rounding a mark way inshore of us, we had to bare off and reach for the mark, we lost a good 10mins to the leading boats. As we reached the halfway point we had climbed back up the leaderboard. English Mick was charging out in front and Tsunami was in second place on the water followed by Aztec, Jedi and Sgrech. One by one we passed Sgrech, Jedi and Aztec but there was no catching English Mick or Tsunami. We finished 3rd on the water and later found out we won overall on corrected time. We were delighted as it was such a close race.

Dun Laoghaire to Dingle was the next race. There were a lot of points going for this race and we had to do well. For most of the race I knew I wouldn't know where the competition was so I had to be sure of my tactics. Dave Jackson had been looking at weather and tides while Paul Ruigrok was getting the boat through its safety check. The D2D was a cold tough race. We got second over all but won the ISORA division. This now put us in good contention to retain the series.

A good result in the Lyver race would see us cement our position on the ISORA series. It was a tough race with the wind very light not getting above 5 knots. It was too light for the Sigma to pull away from the J109 of Stephen Tudor. Stephen won the Lyver race and we had to settle for second.

The night race to North India was another light race, which saw us hugging the shoreline with depths recorded under the keel of less than a meter, to try and stay out of the stronger tides. Once again we were not successful in getting a good result; our decision to go inshore did not pay off and when we rounded the buoy we found ourselves way down the fleet trying to work our way back into the race. The next day race was around Rockabill, again another poor result, this time not the weather gods but the crew gods did not help us, as we were a few people short. It was a great race with Lively Lady winning and only 3 min between the first 5 boats!

So the last race of the season - Pwllheli to Howth, this race was shortened due to bad weather and the race was to finish in Dun Laoghaire. We got a great start and were lying in second place until about halfway when we blew out our headsail. We lost a lot of time and had to sail in the wrong direction to help get the sail down. We were now fourth on the water and chasing Tsunami, Sgrech and Jedi. We fought hard to finish second on the water and were very happy to finish 3rd on corrected time. We had successfully defended our ISORA title! To win the ISORA Wolfs Head Trophy once is great but to do it again is something very special and I am delighted to thank the hard working crew of Raging Bull for all there support: Dave Jackson, Ross McMahon, Tracey Carey, David Boyle, Paul Ruigrok, Clodagh Whelan, Ben Malone, Paddy Dillon, Derek Fitzpatrick, Gavin Laverty, Donal Ryan and Emma Wilson.

It's a credit to the crew that have fought hard to help me retain the title and to anyone out there looking to try their hand in ISORA next season all I can say is please join the fun and come sailing! It's very competitive with a real family feel to it. Barry Hurley is trying hard to get the two-handed division going so ISORA has something for everyone. I'd like to say a huge thank you to Peter Ryan for reviving ISORA and bring it back to its former glory.

The third service between Belfast-Stranraer is in the hands of rivals Stena Line which maintain the HSS Stena Voyager (1996/19,638 grt) on sailings but only to around mid-November. She will be replaced by conventional sister-ships which will be introduced on the North Channel's newest port when services switch from Stranraer to a new terminal close to Cairnryan.

Finally the fourth fast-ferry is Irish Ferries marketed 'Dublin Swift' service which runs on the Dublin-Holyhead route served by Jonathan Swift (1999/5,989 grt). The craft built by Austal in Fremantle, operates alongside the conventional cruise-ferry Ulysses.

Stena Line's decision to terminate HSS Stena Explorer sailings between Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead this day last week follows fast-ferry Stena Lynx III's end-of-season Rosslare-Fishguard sailings earlier this month.

From next year, Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead sailings are to be seasonal-only and according to Stena Line they hope to resume fast-ferry sailings in April or May though no exact date has been set. Unlike the central corridor route which was entirely dependent on HSS operations, the Rosslare-Fishguard route remains operating year-round with the conventional ferry Stena Europe.

As a result of the discontinued fast-ferries, the HSS Stena Explorer is now spending a lay-up period in the Welsh port for the winter. The smaller Stena Lynx III is also 'wintering' but in on the opposite side of the Irish Sea in Dun Laoghaire, where the vessel has done so in previous years.

The lay-up of both fast-ferries in Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead is ironic considering that neither ports' are connected by the very craft that used to share sailing rosters in recent years. In addition the wintering of these catamaran craft is the first time that this has occurred since the pioneering Stena Sea Lynx fast-ferry launched such sailings in 1993.

This first 'Lynx' provided seasonal sailings on the route with conventional car-ferry Stena Hibernia, the former St. Columba, custom-built in 1977 for Sealink /British Rail. She was given a second name under Stena ownership, the Stena Adventurer and remained on the 57 nautical-mile route until replaced in 1996 by the year-round operated HSS Stena Explorer.

Apart from cross-channel fast-ferry services, the Isle of Man is served by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. Ltd's routes linking the islands capital Douglas with Belfast, Dublin, Heysham and Liverpool (Birkenhead) in the winter. These routes include seasonal services which are operated by a combination of conventional tonnage using Ben-My-Chree and fast-ferry Manannan (1998/5,089grt), a former US Navy vessel, to read more click HERE. For sailing schedules, vessel type deployed on route and for fares click HERE.

The last Stena line ferry sailing from Dun Laoghaire featured on the RTE News headlines last night. The ferry link is stopping because of a decline in passenger numbers and the high cost of fuel, say the operators, Stena.

The report by John Kilraine, interviewed Harbour Boss Gerry Dunne who spoke about the master plan for the harbour, how the harbour company hoped that Stena could rebuild the route, the bid to attract cruise ships and the east coast port's future as a marine leisure centre.

The masterplan is to go through the planning processs piece by piece and harbour yacht clubs have concerns over aspects of the plan.

Last night's bulletin also reported the harbour company intends to open a 'sea water baths' in the harbour next year and a diaspora centre in 2013. The RTE report is here.

See also:

Plan is a Curate's Egg