Ewen Barry and Sandy Rimmington of the host club are the 2024 Fireball Munster Champions after a six-race regatta held at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club (MBSC) in Cork Harbour.

A bumper 24-boat fleet contested the light to medium wind championships that is an early season boost for the class that staged the class world championship on Lough Derg in 2022.

Munster Fireball Champions 2024 - Ewen Barry and Sandy Rimmington of Monkstown Bay Sailing Club

Overnight leaders in the light to medium wind event saw Nicola Ferguson and Thomas Chaix, also of the NYC, lost out to Barry and Rimmington by a single point on Sunday. 

National champions Noel Butler and Stephen Oram of the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay finish third overall.

Second overall Nicola Ferguson and Thomas Chaix at the 2024 Fireball Munster Championships Photo Bob Bateman 

There has been a resurgence of interest in the high-performance dinghy that has seen up to ten Fireballs in local competition over the winter in Cork Harbour.

2024 Fireball Munster Championship Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman

(with thanks to photo boat driver Alex Barry for his assistance)

The National Yacht Club's Nicola Ferguson and Thomas Chaix are leading a record fleet of 23 Fireball dinghies gathered in Cork Harbour for the  2024 Munster Championships this weekend.

Monkstown Bay Sailing Club (MBSC) is hosting the championships after a resurgence of interest in the dinghy that has seen up to ten Fireballs in local competition over the winter.

Lying second (but on the same points as the leaders) is the host club's Ewen Barry and Sandy Rimmington on nine points, with more locals, Adrian Lee and Ossian Geraghty, in third on ten.

Racing continues with another three races in Monkstown Bay or in the Lower Harbour on Sunday.

Fireball sailors Tom Gillard of England and Andy Thompson of East Antrim Boat Club in Northern Ireland have been crowned World Champions at the 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong, Australia.

The duo sailed a near-perfect regatta, rarely falling outside the top three and winning with a race to spare.

The achievement is a remarkable result and a record for an Irish sailor, as the Antrim man has noe acheived three world dinghy titles. As Afloat reported previously, Thompson won his world title in 2002 when sailing to GP14 victory with the late Richard Estaugh.  He claimed his Fireball gold medal on Lough Derg in 2022 and retained it this week in Geelong.

Gillard said he was proud of the achievement, especially given the fact the British container didn't arrive on time.

Tom Gillard of England (left) and Andy Thompson of East Antrim Boat Club in Northern Ireland celebrate ashore after their fireball Worlds victory in Geelong, Australia Photos: Alex Dare, Down Under Sail and below by Frank Miller

“In the build-up to the event, we knew that we weren't going to have our boat, so we had to spend a lot of time working on the boat we borrowed,” he said.

“At pre-worlds we basically did one race a day, found out what was wrong with it, came back in, mended it and made sure it was good for the World Championships.”

His crew, Andy Thompson, said the regatta win was a special one for the pair, considering they had not planned to attend the event initially.

“We shouldn't really be here to be honest because we weren’t in the container to start off with, so we’re really lucky to be here."

Second overall at the 2024 Fireball Worlds, DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend Photo: Alex Dare, Down Under Sail

Gillard thanked the Australian Fireball Association and the committee members, who worked hard to ensure those left without a boat from overseas were able to sail borrowed Australian boats to get them through the regatta.

In second place was fellow British sailors DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend, who also sailed an extremely consistent regatta, but ended up just short of the regatta leaders in most races.

Third place, and first Australians at the 2024 Fireball Worlds were Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien Photo: Alex Dare, Down Under Sail

Third place, and first Australians, were local heroes Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien who hail from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club and had a really good start to their event to set up a successful result.

The Irish Fireball crews in Geelong: Frank Miller and Ed Butler of the DMYC and Adrian Lee and Ossian Geraghty of SYC

The event was incredibly well run by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club with ten races across a mix of conditions that threw up a few challenges for the race committee.

Fireball duo Tom Gillard from Sheffield and Andy Thompson from East Antrim Boat Club in Northern Ireland will take a seven-point lead into the final two races of the 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong tomorrow as they look to be crowned world champions for another time.

The pair have so far sailed a near flawless regatta with an 18th in Race 3, the only result outside the top four.

Sitting in second overall with an outside chance of claiming the title on the last day are Britons DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend on Mondo, who are now dropping a 13th from today.

With a pair of good results tomorrow, the Mondo team could use a sixth as their second discard, shaving some solid points off their scorecard.

In third overall after an 8,1 scorecard today is Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien on Black Pearl, who turned a poor position into a Race 8 win in an extremely shifty final work, keeping them in the hunt.

The 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong Photo: Alex Dare, Down Under Sail

Garner said it was a challenging day and that it had set up an exciting battle for the final day.

“In the first race we got caught out a couple of times being a little too confident with what might happen up the track, so then we decided our plan was just sail the higher number and sail towards pressure,” he said.

“We'll have a crack, I think what's fantastic for the regatta and for the class is that it's wide open going into tomorrow, there's a few boats that can still win.

“They're not our conditions (tomorrow) but neither was today and we still came out with a good result so we'll just see what happens.”

There are some great battles being set up for the final day to make up the remainder of the top 10 with a number of teams having great regattas so far and looking for a good final result.

Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins in Riptide are sitting fourth and could sneak onto the podium with a good final day, while David Hall and Paul Constable on Sunsets, Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher on Cletus, and Ben Knoop and James Belton on Fierce Creature are all in a close fight for the last spot in the top five.

Sophie Jackson, who is sailing with Josh Galland on Zig Zag and currently sits 11th overall, said the racing in this regatta had been incredibly tight.

“I think with the lighter breeze the fleet was a lot more condensed and boats that are sometimes further back made their way up to the front, so there was a lot of congestion coming in around the marks and the fleet was a lot denser,” she said.

“Fireballs sail very similarly to the 470, so it's a really great boat to cross-train in and get that extra racing practice.”

The final day tomorrow is expected to be tricky, which sets up massive opportunities for teams looking to move up the standings, and big risks for those that need to defend their spot.

The fifth and sixth championship races of the 2024 Fireball Worlds were held on what was supposed to be a lay day, in switchy and gusty southerly winds. The conditions were challenging, with big shifts, big gusts, and some of the headers up to 40 degrees at one point. Even so, the British team of Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson (from East Antrim Boat Club) had another tidy day, scoring 2,1 and putting them four points clear with one discard in play.

Currently tied for second place overall are the local Royal Geelong Yacht Club sailors Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien on Black Pearl, and the British team of DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend on Mondo. Garner and O’Brien’s 5,4 scorecard was enough to keep them in the mix, but Edwards and Townend’s 1,2 made it a top day for the British teams and further reinforced their consistency and experience in the class. 

DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend on Mondo are in the mix after six races sailed at the Fireball Worlds in Geelong, Australia Photo: Down Under Sail

The conditions were extremely challenging, and Townend mentioned that they reminded him of his sailing back home in the United Kingdom. There were even some people who capsized on them, he said. But despite the difficulties, the Mondo team managed to salvage a good result in one of the races, after rounding the windward mark in about 15th place. 

Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher sailing Cletus at the 2024 at the Fireball Worlds in Geelong, Australia Photo: Down Under Sail

Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins on Riptide had another consistent day, putting them in fourth overall heading into the final four races of the regatta. Higgins said there were a lot of shifts on the race course and that sailors “had to keep an open mind and just try to think ahead”. 

Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins sailing Riptide are currently in fourth overall  at the Fireball Worlds in Geelong, Australia Photo: Down Under Sail

With lighter and more challenging winds forecast for the next two days, consistency from here out will be key for the top two teams of Gillard/Thompson and Garner/O’Brien, who are currently discarding an 18th and 16th respectively. Meanwhile Mondo and Riptide are yet to fall outside the top six, which could play into their hands late in the regatta.

The second discard will be applied after the completion of Race 9. For up-to-date results, please see below.

The third day of the 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong, Australia, has been blown out after a lengthy wait on shore that ultimately ended with a decision to make up the races on tomorrow’s lay day.

Sailors were met with winds of more than 30 knots from the north early in the day, however there was some speculation as to whether it would ease throughout the day and potentially swing to a westerly or southerly direction.

However, it was to no avail, with Principal Race Officer Ross Wilson hoisting the AP over A late in the day and changing the sailing instructions to allow for racing on tomorrow’s lay day.

“We came down here at 10 o'clock this morning with a good northerly gusting up over 30 knots with a steady breeze around about 27 (knots),” he said.

“The breeze didn't abate whatsoever and we made an agreement that if we couldn't get any races in today there'd be two tomorrow.

“There was some real big lumps and big waves and there would have been a lot of boats bowing through that, so AP over A and now we've got the notice posted, there will be two races tomorrow, which was going to be the lay day.”

Tomorrow’s forecast looks to be sailable with 10-15 knot southerlies forecast on the Bureau of Meteorology’s MetEye.

Up-to-date results below.

The 2024 Fireball Worlds is shaping up to be one for the ages, with a mix of light and heavy conditions on the second day, and the results so far offer no clear premonitions at this early stage.

Even after four races you can throw a blanket over the top 10, with a number of top contenders all getting moments at the very front of the fleet.

Day 1 leaders Brendan Garner and Ben O'Brien on Black Pearl, who began their regatta with two bullets yesterday, managed a second in Race 4 when the breeze was up, however the light winds in Race 3 may have shown a kink in their armour, finishing with a 16th they will hope to discard.

British hopefuls DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend on Mondo, and Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson (from East Antrim Boat Club) on North Sails Allen Bros Robline, have started to flex their muscle and show they belong at the front of the fleet.

With many overseas teams sailing borrowed boats due to logistics challenges in the lead up to the event, some teething issues have created mixed results at times.

“We've done a lot of boat work because the boat that we're sailing has never been on the water before,” Gillard said.

“(The association has) done an amazing job to all get us hire boats because our container's not here, it’s absolutely brilliant for them to sort everything out.

“(Geelong is) absolutely amazing sailing, it’s glamour, I mean the water temperature, the air temperature, it's all perfect.”

Among the top bunch are two more top South Australian teams, with Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins on Riptide sitting second overall with a consistent scorecard, and Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher on Cletus also sailing very fast after what has been quite some time out of the boat.

While Gillard and Thompson won the second race today, it was light weather specialists Jalina Thompson-Kambas and Nathan Stockley in Stay Tuned that clinched an important race win in the lighter conditions.

The former Australian Champions haven’t had the start they would have liked in the heavier winds, however with more moderate winds forecast for the next few days they could slingshot themselves right back into the mix.

Australian class veteran John Heywood, sailing at this regatta with Daniel George on Renegade, also showed his experience with an 8,2 score for the day keeping him in the hunt.

With the Australian Championships preceding the Worlds, many of the international teams have been able to use some of the days off to enjoy what Geelong and the surf coast has to offer.

“We did actually manage to have a day out in Torquay down the coastline where the surfing is, it was beautiful down there, absolutely stunning,” Gillard said.

There are two more races scheduled for tomorrow, which will be followed by a lay day where sailors can experience some more of the excellent tourism offerings available in the Greater Geelong area.

Former junior champion Chris Bateman is a top sailor who leads by example and inspiration.

Having decided that the ever-young Fireball is the answer for junior and adult dinghy sailors who don’t want to go down the cheque-book route to racing, he has beavered away re-building the formerly popular and economically attractive class both in practical restoration, and in actively sailing the boat to championship level.

The result has been a favourable and supportive response from Fireball sailors new and “old”, and a genuine re-invigoration of the class spreading outwards from Cork.

Day three of the December Fireball Frostbite League was held on Saturday, the 23rd, on Monkstown Bay in Cork Harbour in glorious winter sailing conditions.

A beautiful sunrise set the tone for the morning's racing. The bay was awash with golden light as the first of the competitors began to arrive.

The Fireball numbers in Cork alone have risen from 1 last year to 14 boats based in Cork (9 in Monkstown Bay alone) With numbers continuing to blossom, local promoter Chris Bateman says, "the Fireball is one of the fastest, cheapest and stable boats on the market currently, not to mention one of the most accommodating, enthusiastic classes in Europe". Photo: Bob Bateman

Seven Fireballs were due to arrive despite the proximity to Christmas Day. These numbers held true and in no time the Sandquay became filled with the noises of flapping sails and enthusiastic conversation.

Race officer Robbie O’Sullivan, with assistant Rory Fitzpatrick, set a triangle course with anticipation of a twenty-knot westerly wind. A slow tide was running, adding to the tactical element of the day.

The Fireballs launched in good time, some earlier than others to allow time for a dash around the bay. They provided a colourful sight for the onlookers with their bright spinnakers and shiny hulls throwing white clouds of spray.
The new fleet of Fireballs to Cork has brought in great interest to sailing and no doubt they put on a show that morning!

Ewen Barry and Sandy Rimmington competing in the Fireball Frostbite league at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman

Race one kicked off cleanly, with Ewen Barry and Sandy Rimmington taking the lead early on.

 Adrian Lee and Tiarnan Brown lead at mark one over Ewen Barry and Sandy Rimmington competing in the Fireball Frostbite league at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman

Two rounds of the triangle course created interesting tactical dilemmas, with large wind shifts and a tide increasing in strength as the morning went on. Ewen and Sandy used their fantastic heavy wind speed and took first place ahead of Adrian Lee, sailing with Glandore’s Tiarnan Brown, who finished second.

Adrian Lee and Tiarnan Brown competing in the Fireball Frostbite league at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman 

Race two began with a slightly altered course. The fleet leaders fought to the finish line with Ewen and Sandy taking first place. Adrian Lee and Tiarnan Brown followed up in second. League newcomers Lola Kohl sailing with crew James Dwyer sailed a great race and finished in third place.

Bella Waterman and Sean O’Herlihy competing in the Fireball Frostbite league at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman

The wind had dropped down for race three. A clean start, and it was Lola Kohl and James Dwyer who pulled into the lead, fending off a competitive fleet more than halfway up the course. However Ewen and Sandy sailed well, catching a wind shift which brought them back into contention. Adrian Lee and Tiarnan Brown were seen catching a fantastic gust on the left side which boosted them into second place.

Niall McAllister and Peter Hayes at speed competing in the Fireball Frostbite league at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman

At the finish line, Ewen Barry and Sandy Rimmington took first place, completing their hat trick scorecard for the day. In second place was Adrian Lee and Tiarnan Brown who had fought hard all morning. Taking third place was Lola Kohl and James Dwyer.

This concluded Saturday’s Frostbite racing, and with that, the fleet headed ashore.

The final race of the December Fireball Frostbite League is on the 26th of December as part of Monkstown Bay Sailing Club’s St Stephens Day celebrations. The First Gun will be at 2 pm.

The clubhouse will be open after racing, with Christmas-themed food and wine prepared for the competitors.

Chris Bateman and Atlee Kohl competing in the Fireball Frostbite league at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman

Pre-Christmas Blast at Monkstown Bay Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman

The recent Irish Fireball Association agm was a lively affair as the class discussed two thorny issues and reconfirmed its commitment to younger sailors.

First, the thorny stuff - there was a lively, sometimes heated discussion around the decision not to award the class a place in the Irish Sailing Champions event (formerly known as the Helmsman's). The ultimate decision was not to award the class, which features several highly competitive sailors, a position based on a notional cutoff of having a 20 boat fleet at the National Championship.

The 2023 Nationals had an 18-boat fleet. A parallel issue was the decision to use a virtual National Judge to save the cost of having a National Judge attend in person.

This was fundamentally to save costs and to keep the entry fee for the event at WHSC affordable. Class chairman Neil Cramer explained that having a National Judge attend an event outside Dublin could add approximately 500 euros to the cost of running the event when judges' expenses are factored in.

Irish Fireball Association Chairman Neil Cramer

Unfortunately, the vast majority of National Judges are based in Dublin or Cork, so travel and subsistence expenses are unavoidable for most regional clubs. Inevitably, this cost has to be passed on to competitors in the form of increased entry fees. From the perspective of the Irish Fireball Association, this is actually anti-sailing and anti-smaller clubs. A clear solution would be financial support from Irish Sailing for National Judges when smaller venues are hosting a national championship. At the AGM, the class reiterated its commitment to youth sailing and agreed to continue its strong subsidy for youth membership and youth entry fees for events.

"increased entry fees are anti-sailing and anti-smaller clubs"

The future of Fireball sailing lies with young sailors and the class will continue to invest in that future. One younger sailor at the agm argued that the class should be better at marketing itself. Chris Bateman, who is a youth development officer on the committee, said that every young sailor he introduces to the boat is amazed at its performance. As a lightweight boat (66.4kg hull) the Fireball has an impressive power to weight ratio and in terms of youth sailing it is actually lighter than a 29er. Chris pointed out that the key selling points should be that the boat is fast, fun and affordable. To prove all of these points, he is running introduction and coaching sessions at Monkstown Bay SC over the winter and into the spring. He has embarked on a mission to rescue and upgrade abandoned Fireballs around the country, building the Cork fleet from almost zero to some dozen boats.

Chris Bateman is a Cork Harbour based Fireball, skiff, catamaran and Laser sailor

The saving grace of an abandoned or neglected Fireball is the hull build quality as boats made by Winder, Duvosin and Weathermark will have a competitive lifespan of well over twenty years. Some of these boats can be picked up for a song, and with re-roping and a bit of cleaning up, they can go head to head with newer boats on any startline. The gold/silver fleet division was also debated at the agm and a draft document was agreed in principle, to be voted on and signed off after a wider poll of sailors.

The guiding principle is to ensure each division is competitive and fair while promoting the top silver sailors into the gold fleet at the end of each season. Events so far nailed down for 2024 include a Nationals at RCYC in tandem with 420s and 29ers, a Leinsters at Skerries, and a Munsters at Monkstown Bay SC. But Fireball sailing doesn't stop for winter, and competitive winter racing is ongoing in the DMYC Frostbites series and at Monkstown. 2024 promises to be another great year for the fleet, with young sailors pushing to the fore and great events at home and abroad.

Speaking of the latter, at least two Irish teams will be competing in the World Championship at Geelong in Australia in February, and there is already big interest in the European Championship on Lake Maggiore in Italy in September.