#fireball – The Fireball fleet in Pattaya enjoyed another perfect day in paradise for day 3 of the World Championships being hosted by the Royal Varuna Yacht Club.
15 knots of breeze @210 degrees and a 3 knot tide running across the course – a tactician's paradise!
The Australian contingent led around the first weather mark in the form of Ben Schulz and Doug Sheppard who came in from the left with better pressure. They were followed by the British "Bs" – Birrell & Brearey and their compatriots Batchelor & Pascoe. Only a couple of boat lengths separated the leaders. The order remained the same for the triangle-sausage-triangle course and as if tied together by string, at each rounding mark only about six boat-lengths separated first and third.
Allison & Blenkle lost a rudder forcing their retirement while Jaline Thompson-Kambas & Cameron Philcox (AUS 15011) broke a main halyard and Kevin Luff (AUS 14265) went swimming (again)!
The second race of the day was sailed in "an uncharacteristically mature firm and unstable tropical breeze" which topped out at 20 knots in the gusts. The fleet was split equally left and right before Batchelor & Pascoe gained a significant lift in the last 200m of the beat to round in first place followed by Schulz & Sheppard and Gordon & Fletcher who had come in from the right hand side.
Schulz and Sheppard took over the lead but surrendered it again to Batchelor & Pascoe on the run. There appears to be a trend in this regard with the Aussies faster upwind and the Brits having the upper hand offwind. A peeling gasket slowed Schulz & Sheppard and saw them limp home in 3rd place behind Batchelor & Pascoe and Gordon & Fletcher.

Fireball Worlds, Pattaya, Thailand. (Provisional) R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Tot
1 Christian Birrell & Sam Brearey GBR 15107 1 1 dsq 1 2 4 9.0
2 Nathan Batchelor & Sam Pascoe GBR 15087 2 2 3 3 3 1 11.0
3 Ben Schulz & Doug Sheppard AUS 15062 4 4 4 2 1 3 14.0
4 Heather MacFarlane & Chris Payne AUS 15048 3 6 1 4 5 6 19.0
5 Thomas Gordon & Jack Fletcher AUS 15071 5 3 5 8 4 2 19.0

With the first discard kicking in, only five points cover the top three boats and with four races to sail after tomorrow's lay-day, there is everything to play for.

Fireball Worlds, Pattaya, Thailand –   Days 1 & 2 report from Cormac Bradley. After two days of racing the leader board has a familiar ring to it – a British crew is sitting on top of the pile, though there is a health warning with this report – the results (as they stand) are subject to "Team B" – Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey (GBR 15107) have an enviable count of three race wins but at this early stage of the event, pre-discard, they are back in 6th with a DSQ. Their contemporaries, from a British perspective, Nathan Batchelor & Sam Pascoe, are thus flying the flag with a 2, 2, 3, 3, score-line to sit four points ahead of the Australians Heather McFarlane & Chris Payne (AUS 15048) and Ben Schulz & Doug Sheppard (AUS 15062). Aussie combinations close out the top five as the leader-board currently stands with Allison & Blenkle (AUS 15032) and Gordon & Fletcher (AUS 15071) in 4th

Day 1 of the Worlds saw wind strengths of the order of 8 – 12 knots, but enough to allow the pumping flag to be flown. This seemingly took its toll on a lot of the crews but this correspondent can't imagine that Sam Brearey was afflicted given all the gym photos he was posting to Facebook in advance of the event. Birrell and Brearey took both races to register the perfect score for the day.

Yet again the left side was the way to go but the tide was having a greater influence than before which meant that some thought had to be applied! Team Batchelor/Pascoe sailed well to score two second places an create a breathing space ahead of three Aussies combinations who are separated place as they are also carrying and 5th respectively – Gordon, Schulz and McFarlane – in that order.

Day 2 saw ten knots of breeze and glorious sunshine! However, the wind was shifty with 15 degree shits at the bottom of the course and 20 degree shifts at the top. Some of the bigger crews – Messrs Egli and Nouel (Canada and French) found these conditions testing! The windward legs saw the fleet sailing against an adverse tide resulting in lots of effort being expended to keep the boats moving. Birrell & Brearey led the fleet around the first mark and took off down the reach chased by Batchelor, McFarlane, Schulz, Allison, Gordon and Jospe. These positions held until the B-Boys decided they would indulge in some match-racing tactics with Batchelor and Pascoe. After a few dozen tacks the door was opened for McFarlane & Payne who took over the lead. The B-Boys got over-enthusiastic in their attempts to recover the lead, were penalised and then had doubt cast on the legitimacy of their turns which led to a disqualification. Allison and Blenkle passed out Birrell & Brearey as did Batchelor and Pascoe. These two swapped places twice before the Aussies crossed And as for McFarlane & Payne, nobody gave them any trouble so they took a well-deserved first! One in the eye for excessive youthful exuberance!

Race 2 saw the wind get up to 14 knots – a welcome prospect for the "bigger" French and Canadian crews. However, it seems the energy they had expended in the first race saw them less enthused by the better offering of Race 2. Tide kept the fleet honest allowing for a clean start. Schulz and Sheppard went left where the tide was weaker making the conditions less lumpy. They led around the first top mark followed by Birrell & Brearey. The remainder of the fleet rounded within a couple of boat-lengths of each other and with a revised course configuration of sausage-triangle-sausage the fleet split in two. The principal beneficiary of the gybe set was Gordon and Fletcher. On the next beat some of the front-runners fell back allowing the "usual suspects" to take over at the front of the fleet. Schulz and Sheppard had yet another gear failure – spinnaker sheet (again) which dropped them to third while Allison/Blenkle had to drop their spinnaker to make the gybe mark. No doubt with the "bit between his teeth" Schulz got back to second and Allison/Blenkle also staged a Birrell & Brearey held onto their lead with Schulz & Sheppard second and Batchelor & Pascoe third.

Recovery in the surf conditions was aided by the RVYC boat boys which prevented further draining of energy levels and prompting an adjournment to the RVYC verandah for some recovering beverages.

Fireball Worlds: Day 2, RVYC, Pattaya, Thailand. (R1 R2 R3 R4 Tot)

1 Nathan Batchelor & Sam Pascoe GBR 15087 2 2 3 3 10.0

2 Heather McFarlane & Chris Payne AUS 15048 3 6 1 4 14.0

3 Ben Schulz & Doug Sheppard AUS 15062 4 4 4 2 14.0

4 Greg Allison & Allen Blenkle AUS 15032 7 5 2 5 19.0

5 Thomas Gordon & Jack Fletcher AUS 15071 5 3 5 8 21.0

#fireball – Today's (Day 2) participants in the Fireball Pre-Worlds being hosted by the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in Pattaya, Thailand had a glorious day on the water with sunshine and 10 knots of breeze writes Cormac Bradley.

The tide made life challenging but kept the racing tight through the fleet. Today the left hand side paid from the start of both races. The vastly experienced Heather McFarlane and Chris Payne led the fleet around the first weather mark of the day followed closely by Nathan Batchelor and Sam Pascoe who had the bunch behind them.

On the second lap, Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey moved through to second place but then had to go backwards through the fleet as a second pumping infringement was recorded by the on-the-water jury. They did recover to third, just ahead of Ben Schulz and Doug Sheppard. The Swiss combination of Christina Haerdi-Landerer and Cedric Landerer closed out the top five. In the second race, over-standing the first weather mark was the subtle tactic but this time the combination of Batchelor & Pascoe took the fleet round the mark, followed by McFarlane and Payne. Ben Schulz will have been frustrated at having to give both of them room at the mark to round third. Birrell & Brearey moved into third by going high around the top mark and another change at the gybe mark saw Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher (AUS 15071) take fourth place.

Birrell and Brearey ducked out early and headed for shore, leaving Batchelor and Pascoe to have a comfortable win, followed home by McFarlane & Payne, Gordon and Fletcher, Schulz and Sheppard with the Canadians Jospe and Egli closing out the top five.

2014 Fireball Pre-Worlds:RVYC, Pattaya, Thailand. R1 R2 R3 R4 Pts.

1 Heather McFarlane & Chris Payne AUS 15048 2 1 1 2 6.0

2 Ben Schulz & Doug Sheppard AUS 15061 6 3 4 4 17.0

3 Veronica and Ben Falat GBR 15092 4 2 11 6 23.0

4 Nathan Batchelor & Sam Pascoe GBR 15087 1 dns 2 1 26.0

5 Joe Jospe & Tom Egli CAN 15024 10 5 8 5 28.0

#fireball – A modest fleet of Fireball got the 2014 Fireball Pre-Worlds under way today at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Pattaya, Thailand. A skipper's briefing at 10:30 local time initiated the day's activities with a first race scheduled for 13:00.

Ben Schulz reports that conditions were very tricky today with the breeze starting in the NW but scheduled to swing to the SW at some stage but little in the way of accurate predictions as to when this would happen. The fleet launched in approximately 8 knots of breeze, a short chop and a strong ebbing tide.

When proceedings did get underway, after a short postponement, the left side appeared to be the better side until about halfway up the course when the pressure dropped and those on the opposite side of the course moved ahead. However, the wind re-established itself on the left hand side allowing the fleet to re-converge.

"Right-siders" Nathan Batchelor and Sam Pascoe (GBR 15087) led at the first mark and were followed by the "more senior (not veteran)" combination of Heather McFarlane & Chris Payne (Aus 15048) who came in from the left. These two held their positions for the remainder of the race.

Veronica and Ben Falat (GBR 15092) were third but fell behind to Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey (GBR 15107) who had made their way through the fleet by some very clever shift selection. Greg Allinson & Allen Blenkle (AUS 15032) closed out the top five in Race 1.

The second race was delayed waiting for the SW breeze to establish itself which gave Mike Rogers (AUS) a difficult time as Race Officer. Six General Recalls and four line changes later the fleet managed to get away.

This time the right hand side paid and the Swiss combination of Christina Haerdi-Landerer & Cedric Landerer (SUI 14859) came out on top at the first mark followed by McFarlane and Payne and the Falats. The Aussies won a tight struggle at the front of the fleet to take the win followed home by the Falats and the combination of Ben Schulz and Doug Sheppard (AUS 15062). The Swiss pair held onto a top five place by taking fourth, with FI Commodore Joe Jospe and Technical Officer FI Tom Egli (CAN 15024) closing out the top five.

This left the overall situation as this;

2014 Fireball Pre-Worlds, RVYC, Pattaya, Thailand R1 R2 Pts

1 Heather McFarlane & Chris Payne AUS 15048 2 1 3

2 Veronica & Ben Falat GBR 15092 4 2 6

3 Ben Schulz & Doug Sheppard AUS 15062 6 3 9

4 Joe Jospe & Tom Egli CAN 15024 10 5 15

5 Bryan & William Sargeant GBR 14887 8 7 15

Tonight's post-mortem will probably dwell on the 40º windshift to the left in the second lap of the first race that prompted a change of course and a number of positional changes in the middle of the fleet. However, the consensus is that Mike Rogers is to be applauded for his efforts to keep the racing fair.

Heather McFarlane was seen to be enjoying the fruits of her first day's efforts with a celebratory drink, while the Falats must also be pleased with their first day's work. Ben Schulz will also be very pleased with a third spot on the log consiuidering he and his crew raced for the first time together today.

Comments from the fleet:

Ben Schulz (AUS 15062): Not a bad day! Looked good in the first one but got dumped in the second to finish 6th. Light and shifty in the first race but better in the second! Forecast for tomorrow is better.

Chris Payne (AUS 15048): Thinking it is best to peak too early than not to peak at all :-).

Cormac Bradley

(From Ben Schulz and comments from Facebook.)

#fireball – The penultimate Sunday of the DMYC Frostbite Series, 16th March, saw another two races sailed in a brisk Westerly which gave all the crews a good work out. The turnout may have been influenced by the fact that it is a three day weekend here in Ireland, today being St Patrick's Day - a Bank Holiday & public holiday. 9 and 7 boats contested a 4-lap and a 3-lap race respectively.

Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007) worked the left hand side of the course and were rewarded by rounding first followed closely by the Rumball brothers, Kenneth & Alexander (15058) and Noel Butler and Conor Kinsella (15061). Team Rumball nudged ahead on the spinnaker leg only to take an early bath before they got to Mark 2. That gave Smyth & Bradley the lead back again though due to their immediate proximity Messrs Butler & Kinsella might contest that claim.

The early section of the leg from Mk 2 to Mk 3 was complicated by the gantry for the HSS with the leading two boats sailing towards it on starboard with Butler outside Smyth, who felt obliged to gybe away following a hail from Butler. A discussion later with Butler suggested that wasn't what he was asking for!

By Mk 3 Butler & Kinsella were just ahead and went on to lead the rest of the race, extending their lead as the race evolved.
The pressure on Smyth & Bradley in 2nd came from Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (14706) with the former appearing to be faster upwind while the latter closed the gap offwind.

The wind stayed steady direction wise but was squally leading to some of the top spinaker leg being two-sailed rather than three-sailed as the race progressed.

Team Rumball charged back into the reckoning, appearing on Smyth's transom after Mk 1 for the last time. They took second place as the lap progressed and Smyth was also put under pressure by Court until a capsize under spinnaker put an end to his podium challenge.

Race 11: Butler & Kinsella (15061), DMYC, Rumball & Rumball (15058), INSC, Smyth & Bradley (15007), Coal Harbour, Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney (14790), HYC & Eamonn Bourke & Robert Slater (14817), HYC.

In the interlude before Race 12 of the series the wind got up in strength but dropped off again as the start sequence was initiated. All seven Fireballs were stacked at the committee boat end of the line in a very competitive start. At the top end of the beat, at Mk 1, the rounding order was Butler, Rumball and Smyth with Frank Miller and Ed (14713) in fourth.
The course symmetry had been tweaked so the duality of approach after Mark 2 was reduced. The first three boats weren't really challenged but the group behind were having their own challenge - Messrs Miller, Malcolm (14790) and Bourke (14817) enjoyed a full race in every sense of the word.

Race 12: Butler & Kinsella, Rumball & Rumball, Smyth & Bradley, Miller & Ed (14713), DMYC, Bourke & Slater (14817), HYC.

The only Mug for the day went to Cariosa Power and Peter Doherty (14854) in the first race.

With 12 races now completed and three discards coming into play, the overall position is as follows;

1. Kenneth Rumball & David Moran/Alexander Rumball, INSC, 11pts.

2. Noel Butler & Stephen Oram/Conor Kinsella, DMYC, 17pts.

3. Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney, HYC, 39pts.

4. Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley,
Coal Harbour, 52pts.

5. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey, DMYC, 54pts.

Sunday 23rd is the last Sunday of the Series and the prizegiving wil be after racing in the DMYC or if racing is cancelled, at 15:00 in the clubhouse..

#fireball –The Irish Fireball Fleet mustered 13 boats for the Frostbite racing in Dun Laoghaire Harbour yesterday, Sunday 9th March writes Cormac Bradley. They were rewarded with a day of weather that was contrary to the BBC Weather forecast on Saturday night which suggested we would be sailing in rain. The afternoon stayed dry, we had good winds and the Race Management Team set a great trapezoidal course that was about as big as you can get inside the harbour.

With the Committee Boat anchored off the West Pier, the weather mark was to the East of the HSS terminal and about 50m off the East Pier. Mark 2 was inside the end of the East Pier while Mark 3 was just off the end of the West Pier and Mark 4 split the distance between the Committee Boat and the West Pier wall. Two races were set of 4 and 3-laps duration respectively.

This correspondent took an early swim on the way out to the race course, courtesy of a windward roll and it alerted us to the fact that while the air temperature was pleasant, the water temperature still has a long way to go to be comfortable.

In the first race the two boats at the pin end were too early and had to come back, but one of those persisted with the left side of the course to emerge in the top four at the first weather mark. Frank Miller and Grattan Donnelly (14713) also worked the left hand side but from a more central position on the start line. Off the start line the fleet was split eight to five with the smaller group taking a hitch to the right initially. Conor Clancy & Paul Devlin (14807) were one of the five and the right side worked for them as they rounded the weather mark second, behind the perennial pacesetters in this Series, Messrs Rumball & Moran (15058) who I think were in the group of eight who worked the middle and left of the course. Thus, the rounding sequence at Mark 1 was Rumball & Moran, Clancy & Devlin, Miller & Donnelly, Smyth & Bradley (15007) who had worked the left hand side from the pin. Thereafter there was a short gap before the vanguard of the fleet rounded with Noel Butler & Frank Cleere (15061) and Mick Creighton & Glenn Fisher (14740) leading the charge.

On face value this was a most unusual position for Butler, made even more unusual by the fact that he was late for the start. Afterwards it turned out that getting to the start at all was quite an achievement! Noel's crew, Stephen Oram, normally has the boat rigged by the time Noel comes ashore from racing big boats on Sunday morning. Yesterday he came ashore to a text message that Stephen was unwell as Noel didn't have his phone with him in the morning. Scrambling for a crew at 13:30 for a 14:09 start he was able to get Frank who had sailed with him in the morning but hadn't got a wet suit, a drysuit, a trapeze belt or a buoyancy aid. The latter two were quickly acquired and wearing only the gear he had from big boat racing, they made the Fireball start. It then turned out that he hadn't sailed a symmetric spinnaker boat before.

Rumball & Clancy pulled away from the other two boats and on the second lap of the course, Butler and Cleere leap-frogged Smyth & Bradley to go into fourth before they also passed Miller and Donnelly. Miller and Smyth then enjoyed a two-horse-two-lap race in very close company where ultimately the penultimate spinnaker hoist gave Smyth enough of an edge to get ahead of Miller and hold out to fourth place with Miller in fifth. As the race progressed the temptation to go hard left receded with most boats taking a short hitch to the right from Mark 4 before indulging in a long starboard tack trip up the middle of the course. The breeze got up for the last two laps to provide full trapezing conditions upwind. A tactical decision was required at Mark 2, gybe immediately or sail on towards the mouth of the harbour before gybing back again. Increasingly it became a 50:50 call with no obvious advantage appearing to accrue either way.

The second race was reduced to 3 laps and between the races the wind strength fluctuated before settling down to give the crews another workout. The start was very competitive with the fleet bunched towards the committee boat end. The "same suspects" were to the fore at the first weather mark – Rumball, Clancy, Miller, Smyth, Butler, Creighton but they were joined by Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney (14790) and instead of there being a gap in the rounding sequence the boats were much closer. Rumball, Clancy and Malcolm again got away leaving Miller, Butler & Smyth racing against each other but also keeping an eye on Creighton who was "lurking with intent". Smyth was managing to stay ahead of the other two but a fluffed spinnaker drop on Mark 4 the first time allowed Miller to close onto Smyth's transom, with Butler only a short distance behind. Miller rounded the weather mark for the 2nd time ahead, but a quicker hoist by Bradley (aided by the spinnaker pole having being swopped to windward on the boom) and a slightly slower hoist by Donnelly allowed Smyth to poke his bow in front. However, an RS in the wrong place at Mark 2, blocking an early gybe by Smyth, allowed both Miller and Butler to get ahead by taking the early gybe option.

On the last lap, Miller conceded 4th to Butler, who despite his "apprentice crew" was still sailing very fast upwind and doing the same off wind.

I don't think that Rumball & Moran were ever out of the lead during the two races while Clancy & Devlin also enjoyed a good day on the water with two second places. Work commitments have kept Clancy off the water in recent weeks so he has dropped down the overall pecking order.

Alistair Court (14706) also blooded a new crew yesterday, his middle daughter, Catherine.

  The day's Frostbite Mugs went to Mick Creighton and Glenn Miller for the first race and Louise McKenna and Hermine O'Keeffe (14691) for the second race. Creighton had indicated that the sight of the sun had persuaded him to go racing.........he got an additional reward!

#fireball – The prayers of the Irish Fireball fleet for some relief from the recent weather (of too strong winds) were answered this past Sunday, 2nd March, when 9 Fireballs were able to get out on the water for two races in the DMYC Frostbite Series writes Cormac Bradley.

This correspondent was absent on family duty so this report is taken from a Facebook posting by Frank Miller (14713) and a review of the results on the DMYC website and is consequently short on the blow by blow account of the racing! The XCWeather website had been suggesting towards the end of the preceding week that the wind would be around the late teens in knots terms with gusts getting into the mid-twenties with a significant wind direction change between 12:00 and 15:00 – as much as 90º if my recall is correct.

Frank Miller seems to have confirmed this phenomenon as he wrote " Kenny Rumball and David Moran(15058) reigned supreme albeit with a bit of a challenge from Neil Colin and Margaret Casey (14775) who paid attention to the correct WindGuru forecast and went right to get the 90º shift".

Apparently the wind died off for one round creating a "snakes and ladders" scenario on the trapezoid course and thereafter the angles and pressures changed constantly creating lots of place changing at the back. Miller & Donnelly sailed well enough in the first race to claim the Mug but were dependent on a "cheeky inside gybe rounding" that might not have survived a protest if push had come to shove.

The wind increased significantly for the second race prompting capsizes before the start and with rescue resources under pressure the race was reduced to a single lap in semi-survival conditions. An unusual sight for the day was seeing Messrs Butler & Oram (15061) capsized in the immediate vicinity of a mark providing an additional challenge to boats sailing by the lee to get around said mark. Breeze, as predicted by XCWeather was NOT in short supply at that stage of the afternoon!

#fireball – The combination of "N over A" was flying over the DMYC Clubhouse again yesterday, Sunday 23rd February, signalling that racing for the day had fallen victim to the weather. While conditions were mild, the forecast was for F4 - 6, rising to F8 later in the afternoon.

In contrast to previous Sundays when racing was cancelled but training sessions under other organisations continued, yesterday there was no sailing activity at all in Dun Laoghaire's harbour except for the hardy INSS Squib sailing adventure

#fireball – A modest turnout of eight Fireballs was served a double header of two races yesterday in Dun Laoghaire though only seven actually raced. Considering the recent weather – howling gales and driving rain – the conditions were almost benign – trapezing conditions with some harder squalls scudding across the water. Wind direction was 150 - 160º. A bit of drizzle descended on the fleet during the afternoon.

In the first race the way to go was left which was the side favoured by Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007) and they were rewarded by crossing the Butler-Rumball tag team two thirds of the way up the first beat on the way to a weather mark that was to the east of the HSS gantry. Smyth/Bradley rounded first followed by Noel Butler & Conor Kinsella (15061) and the Rumball brothers Kenny & Alexander (15058). Behind them young Ed Coyne, up from Youghal again, was driving Neil Colin's boat (14775) with Margaret Casey on the wire, with Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney (14790), Eamonn Bourke & Robert Slater (14817) and Cariosa Power & Ed (14854) closing out the sequence.

Smyth & Bradley held off Butler & Kinsella for the first lap of the trapezoid but tacking immediately at Mk 4 and sailing a short distance upwind on starboard tack, the latter pair were able to take the lead within 100m of rounding the leeward mark. Team Rumball and Smyth worked the right-hand-side of the course while Malcolm/Diviney went hard left. At the 2nd windward mark with Butler/Kinsella enjoying a lead of about 50m these three converged with Malcolm coming up the port layline and the other two on the starboard layline. Malcolm's tack to round the mark led to avoiding action being taken by the other two and a minor contact between Smyth & Rumball. Rumball called for turns which were duly taken allowing him to overtake the two boats and go into second. Malcolm's penalty was completed marginally before Smyth's allowing him to take 3rd place, a position they retained to the finish. Smyth/Bradley took fourth place and the Frostbite Mug for the race.

The wind had eased marginally for the second race and this time the tag team wasn't interrupted by boats getting in between them. Until the last lap of the 3-lap course, on the spinnaker leg between Marks 2 and 3, a slightly oversized blanket could have covered Messrs Butler/Kinsella and Rumball²! In truth, one gets the impression that they would be just as happy being last and 2nd last just so long as the boat closest to them was the other half of the tag team. The reality of course is something else – not only do they have the ability to match race each other round the course, in doing so they sail away from the rest of us, nine times out of ten!!

And so it was that Team Rumball, despite the close attentions of Butler and Kinsella led the second race around the first weather mark. They (the two boats) worked the middle and right of the course while Malcolm & Diviney went left again. Smyth/Bradley also went left with the result that these four boats went round in reasonably tight formation. However, in contrast to the first race where the first four boats got away, in this race the fleet stayed quite tight throughout. Eamonn Bourke and Robert Slater (14817) were sniping at the transom of Smyth & Bradley and they led them round the last weather mark, but the latter pair passed them out again on the spinnaker legs.

Up front Team Rumball led the entire race but their shadow was never more than a couple of boat-lengths away until the last spinnaker leg between Marks 2 and 3. Clearly determined to try something different, Butler & Kinsella gybed immediately at Mk 2 while the Rumballs stayed on. The gamble didn't pay off because by the time Butler/Kinsella gybed back again to come into Mk 3, Team Rumball were gone – opening up a healthy lead – in shadow measurements – to win comfortably. Behind Butler/Kinsella came Malcolm/Diviney and Smyth/Bradley with Bourke & Slater taking fifth place and the day's second Frostbite Mug.

Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club – 2013/14 Frostbites, Series 2, 16 February. Race 1 Race 2
Kenneth Rumball & Alexander Rumball 15058 Irish National
Sailing School 2 1
Noel Butler & Conor Kinsella 15061 Dun Laoghaire
Motor Yacht Club 1 2
Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney 14790 Howth Yacht Club 3 3
Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley 15007 Coal Harbour 4 4
Eamonn Bourke & Robert Slater 14817 Howth Yacht Club 5 5

Series Convener, Olivier Proveur was able to tell the day's prize-giving that there are now 102 boats entered in the Series, one of the latest being Shane McCarthy, of Fireball and GP 14 accomplishments, who has entered the first Solo to take part in the series. The biggest day turnout to date has been 79 boats, just before Christmas.

With 6 races now completed a single discard comes into play, giving an overall results table as follows;

Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club – 2013/14 Frostbites, Series 2; Overall (with 1 discard).
1 Kenneth Rumball & Alexander Rumball/David Moran Irish National
Sailing School 15058 7pts
2 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram/Conor Kinsella Dun Laoghaire
Motor Yacht Club 15061 8pts
3 Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney Howth Yacht Club 14790 26pts
4 Neil Colin/Ed Coyne & Margaret Casey Dun Laoghaire
Motor Yacht Club 14775 28pts
5 Conor Clancy & James Clancy Royal St. George
Yacht Club 14807 29pts

#fireball – Despite some of the most adverse weather forecasts I have heard for quite a while during Saturday, the Frostbites were sailed yesterday in almost balmy (for February) conditions, with sunshine, and a temperature of around 7 - 8º. The projected gale to strong gale to storm force (Beaufort 10) winds seemed to have evaporated!

The severe gales forecast for Sunday did not materialize and we were left with squally but very manageable conditions. As to be expected the rugby match taking place a few miles away took its toll on numbers but the DMYC offered to put up a recording of the game on their big screen to accommodate the racers.

Young Edward Coyne obviously had faith in the weather being favourable! He travelled up from Youghal with his mother to make not just his Frostbite debut but his Fireball Race debut, crewing for Alistair Court (14706) and was rewarded for his endeavours when they took the Frostbite Mug for the 2nd race of the day! Edward was one of the people who took part in our Open day on November 30th.

Two races were sailed yesterday and provided two formats for the fleet! Noel Butler and Kenny Rumball, crewed by Conor Kinsella and David Moran respectively matched-raced each other around both race courses to eventually share the spoils for the day, each having a win and a second place. Noel and Conor (15061) took the first race of the day, Kenny and David (15058) the second one. These two combinations only engaged with the fleet at the start lines and at the first weather marks, for the remainder of the races they were in their own world, quite separate from the rest of us.

Ten Fireballs started the first race and in the squally conditions it was quite difficult to work out which way to go. With the weather mark almost directly underneath the gantry for the HSS, in the wind shadow of the weather shore, the trapezing conditions of the bottom ⅔ of the beat were turned into a roll-tacking challenge to get to the mark. The trapezoid course could alternatively be described as a) a very shallow trapezoid or b) a four cornered triangle as Mark 2 was almost directly in transit between Marks 1 and 3. A slow start to the first spinnaker leg, under the lee of the gantry gave way to a much more exciting leg when the true wind was encountered.

In the first race, behind the lead two boats, the action was initially between Court/Coyne, Mick Creighton & Grattan Donnelly (14713), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) and Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007). As a late starter Team Clancy had to work their way up from the back of the fleet, but by the time the race ended they had got to third place. Creighton/Donnelly were having spinnaker problems from an early stage and retired, possibly prompted by the additional prospect of live TV rugby. Court & Coyne also dropped out of this group in the 2nd half of the 4-lap course to give a finishing order of;

1. Noel Butler & Conor Kinsella 15061 DMYC.
2. Kenny Rumball & David Moran 15058 INSC
3. Conor & James Clancy 14807 RStGYC
4. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC
5. Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley 15007 Coal Harbour.

This gave Colin & Casey the first Frostbite Mug of the day!
The wind eased again for the second race, prompting this correspondent and his helm to go to light settings. Again there was a diversity of thought as to which side of the beat to work, the course having been unchanged form the first race. Butler and Rumball favoured the left hand side which is the direction most of the fleet took initially. However, the vagaries of the wind created an interesting situation at the top mark with Butler, Rumball, Smyth, Clancy and Colin all rounding almost bow to transom. They were quickly followed by Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691) and the aforementioned Court & Coyne (14706). Rumball and Butler sped off to resume their match-racing from the first session. Team Clancy also got away from the bunch to effectively sail a comfortable race, distance-wise at least, never threatened from behind but never really closing on the lead pair.

Colin and Casey stayed ahead of the next three boats leaving Court, Smyth & McKenna fighting it out for the next place. Up the 2nd beat, Smyth went right initially having rounded behind the other two at Mark 4. This ultimately allowed him to get ahead of McKenna and close on Court but not enough to take Court on. In the fading breeze, the lighter crews were able to accelerate quicker than Smyth/Bradley when the gusts came through which meant that the latter combination had to work that bit harder to stay in touch.........which is exactly what Louise and Hermine were doing.

Up the last beat, Smyth & Bradley went left but again couldn't break the lead that Court & Coyne had over them. McKenna & O'Keeffe were also staying close. Court & Coyne held their lead over Smyth & Bradley to take the second Frostbite Mug of the day, with McKenna & O'Keeffe finishing behind them in turn.

1. Kenny Rumball & David Moran 15058 INSC
2. Noel Butler & Conor Kinsella 15061 DMYC
3. Conor & James Clancy 14807 RStGYC
4. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC
5. Alistair Court & Edward Coyne 14706 DMYC.

Frostbites 2013 – 2014, Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club – Series 2 Overall
1 Kenny Rumball & David Moran 15058 INSC 6pts
2 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram/Conor Kinsella 15061 DMYC 9pts
3 Conor & James Clancy 14807 RStGYC 12pts
4 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC 23pts
5 Alistair Court & Gordon Syme/Edward Coyne 14706 DMYC 39pts