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!

#frostbite – Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire (14865) were the very popular winners of the Mugs in the Fireball Class on the third day of the 2013/14 Frostbite Series sailed in slightly soggy and difficult conditions in Dublin Bay yesterday writes Cormac Bradley. The two ladies were delighted to have picked up their Mugs before the end of November with a second place on the water behind Ed Butler & Conor Kinsella (14990).

Both the Race Committee and the competitors had a difficult time on the water. We were able to go outside the harbour again thanks to favourable conditions – a modest breeze from the SE quarter but with an ebbing tide. The sea condition was slightly lumpy with a wind against tide situation.

The Race Committee had set themselves up slightly to the east of the harbour mouth with a trapezoid course that was set into Scotsman's Bay. However, just before the scheduled "kick-off" they put up a postponement flag – a good call as the wind initially evaporated and then came in from the opposite direction before reverting to a direction similar to where it had started. The tell-tale signs of a fickle wind were manifested when a Laser training session further east in Scotsman's Bay saw Lasers sailing away from us in healthy winds and further offshore Oppies doing the same thing.

The subsequent course had a slight soldier's course about the upwind leg. The fourteen Fireballs on the water all tried to hog the committee boat end of the first start that was then signaled as a General Recall. Most unusually, but understandably, Race Officer Stuart Kinnear subjected them to a black flag start for the second attempt which saw them get away cleanly.

The assessment afterwards in the DMYC was that the aforementioned ladies had the perfect start, one that even Adam Bowers with his emphasis on "Wumpeta" would have been proud of! They stayed on the left hand side of the course making one short hitch rightwards on their way to 2nd place at the weather mark. Messrs Butler & Kinsella led the fleet round and the sequence after the two ladies was Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (14713), making their Frostbite debut, Conor Clancy, sailing with Owen Laverty (14807), Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061), Kenny Rumball & David Moran (15058), Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (14706), Mick Creighton & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775), Andy Boyle & Teddy Byrne (14934), Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007), Luke Malcolm (14790).

Unlike last week when only two of the three subsequent legs of the trapezoid accommodated a spinnaker leg, this week legs 2, 3 and 4 of the trapezoid were three-sailers, but the last leg was very tight and no-one sailed the coloured sail all the way.

The second and third beats of the race offered a limited amount of choice, take the hitch right at the start of the leg, or tack immediately and take the hitch later on. Speaking to the ladies afterwards they did the latter on the second beat and the former on the third beat. The limited choices upwind meant that there was no real change in the running order of the fleet. The offwind legs offered the option to do things differently with some boats gybing at Mark 1 to get a different line into Mark 2 and some boats sailing well beyond Mark 2 to provide a different angle into Mark 3. Some did make gains, the rest of us were just grasping at straws!! Mary and Brenda however sailed an exceptionally good race to not only hold onto their second place but to extend their lead over Miller & Donnelly, who will also be pleased with their third place.

2013/14 Frostbite Series; Series 1, Day 3. (17th November)
1 Ed Butler (Jnr) & Conor Kinsella 14990 National Yacht Club
2 Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire 14865 Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club
3 Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly 14713 Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club
4 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club
5 Conor Clancy & Owen Laverty 14807 Royal St. George Yacht Club.

Fourteen of the fifteen Fireballs registered for the Frostbites were on the water yesterday a 93% turnout. We had two boats "debuts" Miller & Donnelly (14713) and Glenn Fisher and Dave Coleman (14740) and two individual debuts, Owen Laverty (14807) and Mick Creighton (14691).

After three races the overall situation is as follows;

2013/14 Frostbite Series: Series 1 Overall – After 3 races.
1 Kenneth Rumball & Alexander Rumball & David Moran 15058 INSS 8pts
2 Noel Butler & Joe O'Reilly & Stephen Oram 15061 DMYC 10pts
3 Conor Clancy & Jim Devlin & Owen Laverty 14807 RStGYC 12pts
4 = Ed Butler & Conor Kinsella 14990 NYC 18pts
4 = Alistair Court & Gordon Syme 14706 DMYC 18pts

The Irish Fireball fleet gets together for their seasonal dinner and Class Prize-giving on Friday next (22nd) in the National Yacht Club. At this gathering the Travellers' Trophy winners will be recognized as well as the individual award winners – Most Improved (India Trophy), Significant Contribution (Asterix Trophy), Captain's Prize, Liam Bradley Memorial Trophy and Best Lady.

On the following Saturday (30th), the Fireball Class will have an Open Day based at the Irish National Sailing School in Dun Laoghaire to promote the Class to newcomers or those who want to take their racing in a different direction.

The Irish Fireball Class is hosting an Open Day on November 30th to try and recruit new members to the Class. 

The plan is to show the boat set up, have video footage of Fireballs in all their glory and get newcomers out on the water to sample one of the fastest dinghies on the Irish sailing scene.

Timings for Saturday 30th November are below at the Irish National Sailing School venue on the West Pier in Dun Laoghaire

Two sessions @ 11:00 and 13:30.

11:00 – 11:15 Meet & Greet & video footage
11:15 – 12:15 On the water
12:15 – 13:00 Back to INSS, hot showers, debrief.

13:30 – 15:30 Repeat the timetable above.

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

If you are a sailor bring your own gear, we will provide trapeze belts!

#fireball – Twelve Fireballs, up 50% from last week's entry, were part of a record 78-boat fleet for the 2nd round of the 2013/14 Frostbite Series in Dun Laoghaire. An e-mailed survey during the week canvassed opinion from the entrants on possible changes to the format of the racing and two changes were implemented yesterday – the RS fleet had their own start and we had a four-lap trapezoid course – trapezoid in shape only rather than in terms of mark-roundings.

With the National Team Racing Championships taking place inside the harbour, the "Frostbiters" were sent outside but the weather and sea conditions were favourable with a modest breeze blowing from an easterly direction and a flooding tide, with high water due at approximately 17:00.

#fireball – With the RS fleet getting their own start, the Fireballs made up the 4th and last start of the day and they were given a separate weather mark. Another fleet was also given a separate weather mark but only one of their number read the sailing instructions!

An assortment of approaches was taken to the first beat in the Fireball class with most of the fleet congregated at the committee boat end of the line. This, presumably, was to facilitate an early tack to go inshore and certainly that appeared to be the way that paid.......though not for everyone! Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) were first to go inshore and they took a second bite of that side of the course about halfway up the beat. It didn't help and they spent the rest of the race trying to catch up. Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) stayed on the left hand side of the beat and that left them in a most unusual position at the first weather mark – behind five of six other boats! The leading boats on the first beat were Conor Clancy (14807) and Ed Butler (Jnr) and Conor Kinsella (14990) who also hadn't read the sailing instructions and initially went for the wrong weather mark. This allowed Kenneth Rumball & David Moran (15058) and Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007) to get into the frame and after a few hails of starboard and some close crossing, the pecking order at the first weather mark was Butler & Kinsella, Rumball & Moran, Smyth & Bradley, Clancy, Andy Boyle & Teddy Byrne (14934), Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (14706) and Butler & Oram.

The second and third legs of the trapezoid were spinnaker legs and initially the front three got away from the chasing pack. The short fourth leg of the trapezoid was a two-sailer and only Rumball/Moran took a hitch to windward at the turning mark. Butler/Kinsella & Smyth/Bradley continued inshore. Clancy sailed that bit higher than Smyth and not only closed the gap on Smyth, but provided himself with a platform to pass Smyth further up the beat. Boyle/Byrne also closed on Smyth but by the second weather mark Smyth had limited his losses to one boat. At the head of the fleet Rumball was sticking very close to Ed Butler and followed him closely around the course. These two had a gap on Clancy who in turn was comfortable relative to Smyth.

Up the third beat, Butler & Oram, who had persisted with their offshore philosophy on the beats, dramatically closed the gap on Smyth and Boyle, with all three rounding the third weather mark in close company. Smyth held them off to Mark 2, thanks in part to an RS400 who arrived at the mark with the three Fireballs, behind Smyth but simultaneously with Boyle & Butler. The RS pushed Butler wide allowing both Smyth and Boyle to stay ahead onto the third leg.

Up the fourth beat, Butler & Oram went offshore again, though they fell behind Court & Syme at Mark 4, and this time took both Boyle and Smyth. Court & Syme also went offshore and they went ahead of Smyth in the early stages of the approach to the 4th weather mark. Smyth tacked just inside and ahead of them at the final stages of the approach to round behind Boyle who had been taken by Butler. Butler & Kinsella were still leading but were unable to shake Rumball & Moran or indeed gain any distance on their pursuers. So, of course, the inevitable happened! In the dying stages of the race they were overtaken by the latter pair to finish in 2nd place. However, as Rumball & Rumball had picked up the Frostbite mugs on the previous Sunday, Butler & Kinsella won them today

Today’s debutants included Andy Boyle and Teddy Byrne from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Andy has just returned from Malta where he was on a 2^nd in Class entry in the Rolex Middle Sea Race. Also making their winter debut were Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (Royal St. George Yacht Club) (14691), Eamonn Bourke & Robert Slater (14817) from Howth Yacht Club and the Mug winners, Ed Butler (Jnr) & Conor Kinsella.