#fireballsailing – Despite a Sea Area forecast on Saturday night that suggested sailing would not be an option on Sunday, nine Fireballs took to the start line for the first Frostbite race of the 2014/15 Series. My on the water reporter, Neil Colin (IRL 14775) advises that the combination of the southerly wind direction and a low tide meant that Dun Laoghaire harbour was sheltered from most of the wind, but experienced "mega-shifts".

Earlier in the day the Flying Fifteen experiences and reports from the Turkey Shoot for bigger boats along with the sight of the big red chopper and lifeboat activity suggested there was greater wind offshore.

It seemed like almost all the 75+ entries to date were there to take advantage of the exceptionally mild weather, with boats everywhere!

The standard frostbite square was used, with the committee boat just inside the harbour mouth and the weather mark close to the marina breakwater, to maximise the course size, and maintain some separation between boats close hauled and those downwind. The result was great variances in pressure and direction at the weather mark, tending to support those on the edges of the course, rather than those in the centre.

4 laps were sailed, with great place changing on lap one on every leg, until Kenny Rumball, crewed by Teddy Byrne (IRL 15058) and Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (IRL15061) powered through on lap 2 to make a gap, leaving Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (IRL 14775), Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (IRL 14713), Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (IRL 14691) and Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (IRL 14706) to tussle for the mid fleet slots.

This group did not see the dice between Kenny & Noel, but expect it was a two way battle, with Kenny & Teddy winning out!

New players Peter Doherty and Ciaran Fitzgerald, sailing IRL 14120, and the re-appearance of IRL 14790 (Shane McCarthy & A.N. Other) made up the fleet.

(Report by Neil Colin, modified words by Cormac Bradley.)

#dmyc – Online entry for the popular and long running DMYC dinghy frostbite series is now open. Racing in the for 2014 - 2015 series will take place each Sunday on Dublin Bay or inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour from 2nd November 2014 right through to 22nd March 2015.

First gun is at 1357 hours, and classes will include PY, Laser, RS (200 & 400), and Fireballs.

The DMYC says entries are limited to 120 maximum on a first come first served basis!

View the NOR and enter online here

#idra14 – The IDRA14 National Championships at Carlingford Lough concluded on Sunday. A good representation from Royal St. George, DMYC, Clontarf Y&BC and Sutton Dinghy Club saw eighteen crews attending. Results sheet downloadable below.

Pat O'Neill and Jim O'Hara (pictured) of Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club sailed to an almost perfect score of 6 points with 4 bullets over the 6 races on board Delos II.
Second overall were former National Champions Alan Henry and Simon Revill of Sutton Dinghy Club scoring 12 points on board "Sunshine"
In third place just one point behind were Julie Ascoop and Heather Keenan of DMYC sailing "Chaos"
In the Silver fleet former Class Commodore Stephen Harrison took line honours along with crew Stephen Johnston on board "Squalls" also sailing out of DMYC.
In the Crew's Race Calum Maher of Sutton Dinghy Club was first home. Star of the future potentially.
Race Officer Ian Sargent with support from Carlingford SC volunteers ran 7 races over 3 days in sometimes very challenging conditions.
The IDRA14 Class wishes to acknowledge the great welcome, hospitality and assistance shown to members both on and off the water by all member of Carlingford Sailing Club. Vice Commodore Erin Finnegan has invited the class to return with the event again in the future.

#dmyc – Dominic O'Keefe's Graduate, a J80 class yacht, was the IRC winner of class 2 in the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club's (DMYC) Summer Regatta on Saturday. Second was William Despard's Blakc Sheep from the National Yacht Club. The regatta attracted a strong turn out in most classes despite a clash with the 36–boat Round Ireland Race from Wicklow. 

In the dinghy classes, two more Royal Irish sailors took honours in the single–handed Laser class. Paul Keane won from Justin Maguire in a four boat fleet over two races. 

In the eight boat Ruffian class, Michael Cutliffe was the winner of a two race event from Frank Bradley's Ripples, both of the host club.

Regatta results supplied by DMYC are downloadable below as a zip file. The results can be opened with ms word, notepad or wordpad

#Laser - The final weekend of the Dun Laoghaire Laser Frostbite was a real cracker, as the high winds of the morning moderated around midday and the sun came out.

The race officer set his usual trapezoid with the windward mark just off the west pier, making for a shifty last third of the beat, and the 16 Lasers that made the start looked forward to a longer than usual five-lap race.

The pin end was marginally favoured, and the beat was a little one-sided, meaning that most boats soon tacked onto port for the long fetch across the harbour.

The fleet sailed hard up the first beat, hiking in a way that you only ever see on the last weekend of a series. At the windward mark it was Richard Harding who managed to nip round first ahead of Dwyer and a significant group containing David Cahill, Graham Elmes and Alan Hodgins. 

The first reach was tight and gusty, and the bear away at the end was dangerous. Harding led down the first run with Elmes and then Cahill threatening. At the leeward mark it was Harding from Cahill and Elmes.

The wind remained shifty and there were opportunities to make ground if you could pick the right spot to take the short hike across on starboard, but the large part of the upwind section involved thrashing though the short chop at the entrance to the harbour.

At the front Harding gradually extended from Cahill. Elmes and Hodgins had a close battle for a couple of laps with Elmes finally getting the jump on Hodgins.

From a series perspective, Harding needed to take two points from Cahill to take overall honours. But although Elmes threatened, he never quite got onto the transom of Cahill, who sailed hard to retain his second place in the final race, and win the Frostbite Series overall by one point from Harding.

At the prize giving there was general agreement that the Frostbite had been a great success. All those involved, from the race officer to the safety crews to the bar staff at the DMYC were warmly thanked for all the hard work that they had put in to making the event such a success.

#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 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

#laser – In the first of the day's two races the Laser start was rather congested at the pin end. Perhaps a few too many had watched Hugh Sheehy's OK Dinghy cross the fleet with a perfectly executed port end flyer and were tempted to try the same. However a right-hand shift mid-way up the first beat meant that Hodgins, who started safely in the middle of the line, was ahead at the first cross.

The right appeared to pay on the second half of the beat and Harding lead from Cahill at the first mark with Hodgins a close third. There were big gains and losses at the corners but Harding kept close tabs on Cahill whilst sticking to the middle of the race track to hang on for the win, with Cahill second, Hodgins third and Hudson fourth.

The second race started in similar fashion with a significant port end bias leading to some struggling to cross the line on starboard. With big shifts still dominating the middle seemed to be the safest place to be and Harding lead round the first mark again from Cahill and Hodgins. With plenty of traffic around, nerves across the fleet were frayed on the run as the wind dropped to around 5-6knts.

On the second beat, Hodgins gambled on the right hand side and started the second lap in the lead with Cahill having squeezed past Harding to remain second. As the leading two fought for clear air down the run, Harding was allowed to close up and the first three rounded the bottom mark in quick succession. All three tacked quickly and Harding led out to the left although Hodgins soon tacked right looking to repeat his gains of the previous lap. This time however the wind swung left giving Harding had a decent advantage at the final windward mark which he held to the finish with Cahill second followed by Hodgins. Malcolm (fourth) and Vedo (fifth) pushed Hudson down to 6th.

Hudson now leads the second series after six races with 22pts.

Race Report by Richard Harding

#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

#frostbites – It my have been sailing as usual in Kinsale yesterday but the Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire Harbour fell victim to adverse weather again with strong gusty winds initiating the flying of "N over A" from the yard-arm of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC). Yet again, the forecast was foul for both Saturday and Sunday with Met Eireann predicting up to Force 10 for Saturday moderating to Force 6 to 7 on Sunday. XC Weather wasn't offering anything more attractive!

What made the conditions deceptive was that it was bright with a blue sky over Dublin Bay. However, the first tell-tale sign that sailing was in jeopardy was when I came out of Foxrock Church on Sunday morning and couldn't see any keelboats out. A quick visit to the harbour revealed that the wind was whistling in the rigging – never the most comfortable sound in the dinghy park.

A quick consultation with my helm, Louis Smyth, by phone saw us agree that racing would be a marginal call and so we decided that we would exercise the option of watching rugby from Paris.

A second visit to the harbour later in the afternoon revealed the "N over A" scenario but by that stage the conditions were more favourable – so much so that training sessions for Optimists and Laser Radials were underway inside the harbour.