#FIREBALL – New Irish Fireball Class Chairman, Neil Colin (14775), was Master of Ceremonies when the Irish Fireball fleet celebrated the (regatta) season just concluded with its prize-giving dinner hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club on Friday evening 25th November.

In addition to awarding medals for the season long Travellers' Trophy, the occasion sees the Class award its own prizes to recognize excellence and contribution to the class.

An attendance of approximately 50 people was bolstered when some of the past members of the class joined us. Martin and Matt Treadwell had an extended period of success in the Irish Fireball fleet but terminated their participation in the fleet around 2002. Frank Cassidy, with wife Gemma doesn't get to sail his Fireball regularly these days, as sailing other boats gets in the way, but both were there. Another past Fireballer, whose nickname is Shergar – suggesting he was fast on the water – added to the numbers of ex-Fireballers who joined the current fleet for the celebration.

The prizes were awarded after dinner;

Travellers' Trophy

Silver Fleet.
3rd: Cariosa Power & Marie Barry, DMYC, IRL 14854.
2nd: Ben Malone & Matthew Bennion, Skerries Sailing Club, IRL 14939.
1st: Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire, DMYC, IRL 14865.

Gold Fleet

3rd: Kenny Rumball & Seamus Moore, Irish National Sailing School, IRL 15058.
2nd: Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella, Cushendall SBC & UCDSC, IRL 14820.
1st: Noel Butler & Stephen Oram, National Yacht Club, IRL 15061.

Class Awards

Ladies Helm.
1st placed Lady Helm in Travellers' Trophy.
Diane Kissane, Howth Yacht Club, IRL 14939, 11th Overall.

Asterix Trophy

(For a significant/outstanding contribution to the Class.)
Louis Smyth:- for his contribution to the Sligo Worlds, including; liaison with Fireball International, the Irish Class Association and Sligo Yacht Club, collecting, hosting and transporting visitors to Ireland for the planning and regatta phases of the event and collecting boats from the UK for international competitors.

India Trophy

(Most Improved)
Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella, IRL 14820:- For finishing 2nd overall in the season-long Travellers' Trophy.
Captain's Prize.
(Awarded at the discretion of the Dun Laoghaire Class Captain.)
This year's award was made by Owen Laverty who has just stood down as DL Class Captain.
Cormac Bradley:- Owen made the award in recognition of Cormac's contribution to the Irish Fireball Class, highlighting his efforts to organize events over the years, his reporting of Fireball events and the manner in which he carried out these activities – without complaint!

The Liam Bradley Trophy

(This is a new trophy, donated by Immediate Past Chairman, Cormac Bradley, in honour of his late father.)
Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella:- Awarded in recognition of the fact that they are a new combination in Fireballs who have enjoyed spectacular success in a very short period (finishing 2nd overall in the Travellers' Trophy). Cormac alluded to the fact that they sailed four of the five regattas, sailed consistently (finished in the top 3 in the four events), in an accomplished manner without protests and in a style that made it entertaining and challenging to race against them. Cormac emphasized the need to recognize new talent coming into the fleet as this would be the future life-blood of the class.

Noel Butler & Stephen Oram - Travellers' Trophy winners

Conor Kinsella receives The Liam Bradley Trophy on behalf of himself and Barry McCartin

Neil Colin (Class Chairman) presents the Lady Helm Trophy to Diane Kissane

Photos by Patrick Kiersey

#FIREBALL – Rounds 3 & 4 of the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club's Frostbite Series were sailed in frost-free conditions yesterday, Sunday 20th November, with a distinctly mild aspect to the start of the afternoon before it started to get grey and dark. Indeed, the weather was so benign that the fleet was able to sail outside Dun Laoghaire's harbour and had two back-to-back races.

A new innovation for this year's races, the setting of a separate weather mark for the Fireballs, was put into place for the fourteen Fireballs that contested the first race of the day and the thirteen boats who sailed the second race.

Both races were sailed in light winds which made for challenging conditions and some boats found windless "holes" from which they struggled to escape – makes one empathise with the Volvo Ocean competitors who have an ocean wide windless zone to negotiate en route to Cape Town. Observing from shore, this correspondent noted that the weather station on the east pier had recorded a maximum gust of 5kts up to the start of the second race. Exciting stuff!!

Messrs Butler and Oram (15061) won both races on the water, the first giving them their 2011/12 Frostbite Mug. They spent the afternoon exchanging places with Graeme Grant & Hugh Butler with Kenneth Rumball and David Moran never too far away.

Rumball/Moran took 2nd place on the water in the day's first race and followed it up with a 3rd in the 2nd race of the day. However, as Butler/Oram and Grant/Butler who finished 1st and 2nd respectively already had Frostbite Mugs, Rumball/Moran took the prize for the fourth race of the series.

In overall terms however, Andrew Boyle/Barry Hurley/Brian Flahive lead the series with a 20pt total. Yesterday they scored a 4th and a 6th to add to the 2 x 5th of Rounds 1 & 2. Butler/Oram and Louise McKenna/Hermine O'Keefe are tied for 2nd overall, 3pts adrift of the leaders, while Grant/Butler and Rumball/Moran close out the top five.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall	Sail No	Race 1	Race 2	Total Pts
1. Louis Smyth/Cormac Bradley/Joe O’Reilly	15007	2	3	5
2. Louise Mc Kenna & Hermine O’Keefe	14691	3	7	10
2. Andy Boyle/Barry Hurley/Brian Flahive	14934	5	5	10
4. Alastair Court & Gordon Syme	14706	7	4	11
5. Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney	14790	6	6	12

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

#FIREBALL – Experienced Dun Laoghaire helmsman Neil Colin from the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club has succeeded Cormac Bradley as Irish Fireball dinghy Class Chairman. Bradley stays on as Irish liaison with Fireball International and Press Officer.

 

The domestic regatta season of the Irish Fireball Class closed in Dunmore East as it had opened in Carlingford in May, with a single day of racing. Race Officer Harry Gallagher had indicated as early as Friday morning that there was a distinct possibility that sailing would not be possible on Sunday and consequently took the decision to sail four races on Saturday.

Arriving at the club in time for the Class AGM, the consensus was that an excellent day’s racing had been had by the 18-boat fleet, with four good races completed in excellent conditions and very tight racings.

This is manifested by the overall results which show that the winners had a 1pt margin over second place and second place had a similar 1pt margin over third.

Race wins were shared by Kenny Rumball & Teddy Byrne and Noel Butler & Stephen Oram, but Messrs McCartin & Kinsella, the 2011 National Champions, were obviously snapping at everyone’s heels with a 3, 2,2,2 series of results.

Rumball & Butler took alternate race wins with Butler getting the first one. A 1,3,1,3 scorecard at the close of Saturday saw Butler/Oram at the top of the standings with McCartin/Kinsella and Rumball/Byrne tied second overall a point astern. The pecking order thereafter was Clancy/Rowan, Boyle/Flahive, Smyth/O’Reilly, Murphy/Voye. But with a seven point gap between tied second and fourth, in reality the regatta would come down to the tope three on Sunday.

My information is that RO Harry Gallagher’s initial assessment of conditions on Sunday morning, observed from a rib on the race course, was that racing could proceed. However, by the time the committee boat got onto station the conditions had deteriorated and the few combinations who had gone out were happy to retire to the shore where boats were packed up early in driving rain and cold conditions.

With the single discard coming into play the order at the top of the fleet was changed in that Rumball/Byrne were able to get rid of a 5th, whereas Butler/Oram were only able to shed a 3rd, giving the former the title by a single point margin.

Thus the five regattas of the year have each been won by a different combination.

Butler/Oram took 2nd overall, with McCartin/Kinsella 3rd overall.

In the Silver Fleet, Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney saw a four point margin over the next Silver Fleet boat on Saturday night shrink to a 1pt margin in the overall standings, but this was enough to win this division and claim 10th overall. Second in the Silver Fleet was Cariosa Power & Marie Barry, followed by Ben Malone & Matthew Bennion.

This regatta also concludes the season-long Travellers’ Trophy which sees Noel Butler & Stephen Oram double their margin over Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella to two points at the tope of the log. Kenny Rumball & Seamus Moore/Teddy Byrne go into third overall, followed by Clancy/Rowan, Boyle/Flahive, Smyth/O’Reilly/Bradley, Bracken/O’Hara, Miller/Donnelly, McGrotty/Grimes & Colin/Casey. Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire win the Silver Fleet, evidence of even further progress after attending the training sessions last season. Second and third in the Silver Fleet go to Ben Malone & Matthew Bennion and Cariosa Power & Marie Barry respectively.  

The Dunmore East regatta had an international flavour with participation from Hannah Showell, from the UK sailing with Martina Michels, who flew in from Germany for the regatta, having relocated there from Ireland earlier this summer.

Regrettably, the regatta was conspicuous by the absence of representatives of the Skerries and Clontarf fleets and there was a sole representative from Killaloe.

At the AGM, the need to rebuild these fleets was identified as a challenge for the Class Association by incoming Chairman Neil Colin. The AGM also discussed the operation of the Silver Fleet where numbers have been falling in recent events despite the fact that we have seen new combinations coming into the fleet.

With the regatta season concluded the focus will now turn to the Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. These will get underway in November and run through to March.

The Irish Fireball sailing regatta season, which has seen the hosting of the World Championships in June, in Sligo, draws to a close with the Munster Championships being sailed this weekend, 24/25th, in Dunmore East in the SE corner of the country.

Waterford Harbour Sailing Club are well used to hosting our final regatta of the season as this is the third year in a row in which we have closed off the regatta season there. Consequently, it has also hosted our Class AGM which is now held on the last Saturday evening of the regatta season.

The Irish fleet have had a good season in that each of the four preceding regattas have had a different winner:- Graeme Grant & Francis Rowan in the shortened Leinsters in Carlingford Lough, Noel Butler & Stephen Oram the Open Championships as part of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Simon McGrotty & Ruairi Grimes the Ulsters in Belfast Lough and Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella the Nationals in Dun Laoghaire, hosted by DMYC.

The consequence of this spread of winners is that the Travellers' Trophy, the season long competition for the fleet, sees first second and third separated by a single point between them. Butler/Oram are atop the pile with 6pts, McCartin/Kinsella have 7pts and McGrotty/Grimes 8pts. There is then a comfortable gap of five points to fourth overall, occupied by Conor Clancy & Francis Rowan, tied with Kenny Rumball & Seamus Moore. This gave Butler/Oram the "nod" for the ISA's sailing Championship regatta!

Positions 6 – 10 sees a spread of 14pts with combinations such as Andy Boyle & Brian Flahive, Diana Kissane & Matthew Bennion separated by 3pts, Damien Bracken & Brian O'Hara tied with Kissane/Bennion in 8th, 6pts ahead of Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley who have a 5pt cushion on Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly who scored a race win in the Ulsters to strike a blow for the more senior campaigners in the fleet.

In the overall standings in the Silver fleet, Cearbhall Daly & Martina Michels are four points ahead of Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire in 13th and 14th overall respectively.

This season has also seen an influx of new young talent with Diana Kissane, in particular, giving the stalwarts a wake-up call in her debut season in the class. There are whispers that this is only a stepping stone to a 470 campaign but she has shown a significant turn of speed and was prominent in the Open Championships and the Nationals and had a good Worlds. In winning the Nationals, McCartin/Kinsella confirmed what we suspected - that they were no flash in the pan. McCartin has been successful in Toppers and also featured well in Sligo. Between these two and the Skerries combination of McGrotty/Grimes, Messrs Butler/Oram, Clancy/Rowan and Rumball/Moore have had their work cut out for them. Boyle/Flahive and Bracken/O'Hara will also want to finish out the season with a low scoring regatta.

Assuming these combinations are in Dunmore East, this is where the winners will come from.

Last year's regatta in Dunmore East saw strong winds and big seas which took its toll on the fleet with two very unfortunate accidents and boat damage. XC Weather is already suggesting that wind will be in good supply for the weekend.

The excellent news for the fleet is that Harry Gallagher will be the Race Officer for the weekend and combined with the hospitality of WHSC, this bodes well for the weekend. Harry was Race Officer for the Westport Nationals of 2008 & 9 and is the incumbent RO for the Dinghy course in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, an event that Fireball has participated in since its inception. His will be a popular appointment!

A comprehensive agenda for the AGM has been published on the website and circulated to class members. In addition to the regular features of reports and elections, there are two discussion items for the fleet to consider:- the number of regattas on the domestic circuit and the future operation of the Silver Fleet. There is a suggestion that in terms of time, travelling and cost, five regattas might not be in the best interests of the Class in the current economic climate. The suggestion of "piggy-backing" with other fleets or club events, to create two regattas for the cost of one, has been mooted. This might make hosting events more attractive to clubs where volunteers are also under increasing time constraints! With respect to the operation of the Silver fleet, we need to review how it is working with smaller numbers being allocated to the fleet on a regatta by regatta basis. Again there is a suggestion that a new model for our two-fleet regatta may be required.

All the weekend sailing news is wrapped up in a number of posts on Afloat.ie this morning:  Schull Welcomes World Team Racers,  Espey Wins Lasers, Local Sailor Takes Radials at Lough Derg Nationals,  Howth Juniors Win 19-Boat Greystones Feva Event, Royal Cork Celebrates 2011 with 'At Home' Regatta,  Supernova to the Fore in DBSC Cruiser Challenge Event,  McCartin and Kinsella are New Irish Fireball Champions, Kenefick Steers Chimp to Overall Win at Half Ton Classic Cup, Cork Week Changes Dates for 2012.

Sign up for our newletter coming later this morning!

Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella, representing Cushendall Sailing Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and UCD Sailing Club are the 2011 Irish National Fireball Champions after another commanding performance on the water. However, this time their talent wasn’t directed at getting small numbers on their score card but rather making sure that having gone into the overall lead that they didn’t lose it.

At the end of Day 2 McCartin & Kinsella were tied on 11pts with Simon McGrotty & Ruairi Grimes of Skerries Sailing Club, with the latter combination on top of the pile and they had a twelve point cushion on the next two boats who were both tied on 23pts – Mike Murphy & Alex Voye & Noel Butler & Stephen Oram.

A keen start in the Fireballs. Photo Gareth Craig. More from Gareth on the Afloat Gallery here.

The forecast, which has been the subject of much debate at this regatta (and many others no doubt) was mixed. XC Weather had been predicting 9knots with gusts of 12 – 14. The Sea Area forecast from Met Eireann had talked about Force 4 to 5, but at least they were agreed on direction – WNW! While both had the direction right, the Race Management Team of Neil Murphy, Richard Kissane, Stuart Kinnear and others had enough material to work with to set two exceptionally good Olympic courses to exploit the breeze and relatively flat waters in the inner reaches of Dublin Bay. While there was more than 9knots of the water, there wasn’t the Force 4 to 5 either, though some of the breeze brought in with the rain squalls were providing a handful and the top reach of the last triangle of the 2^nd Olympic was sailed two-sailed by most.

In Race 7 of the series, McCartin/Kinsella scored a 3 to McGrotty/Grimes’s 5^th – fifteen – love to McCartin/Kinsella. The race was won by Kenny Rumball & Seamus Moore who were not having their best regatta, followed by Clancy/Rowan. In 4^th was Butler/Oram, with Creighton/Bradley in 6^th – the stronger breeze being to the latter’s advantage.

In Race 8, McGrotty/Grimes fell back to 6^th, a position that most combinations would envy, but not helpful in the penultimate race of a series that was getting very tight at the top. McCartin/Kinsella scored a 4^th – thirty –love to the series’ leaders! Rumball/Moore won again, but their charge to the front of the fleet was going to be a case of too little, too late. Butler/Oram took 2^nd, Kissane/Bradley 3^rd, Creighton/Bradley 5^th.

The leading pack at the front of the third race, a windward/leeward was made up of the usual suspects with two notable absentees – McCartin/Kinsella & McGrotty/Grimes. The former decided that they were going to be ultraconservative and sail their opposition down the fleet to make doubly sure of their win – a bit like Nadal serving an ace on Championship Point – just to put a final “classy” nail in the coffin.

While the Championship leaders played around at the back of the fleet, scoring an 18^th and 13^th respectively, Butler/Oram, Kissane/Bradley, Clancy/Rowan, Rumball/Moore and Creighton/Bradley hared around the course. All of these got a finish, except for Rumball/Moore who were ruled OCS, thus finishing off their event in much the same way as it had started – in disappointment.

The consequence of Butler/Oram’s late charge on Day 3 is that they closed the overnight gap to a single point. Rumball/Moore’s two wins propelled them from 10^th to 7^th, Clancy/Rowan’s 2, 8, 3, saw them jump from 6^th to 4^th, while Creighton/Bradley, with a 6, 5, 4 went from 12^th to 9^th at the expense of Miller/Donnelly, Bracken/O’Hara & McGrotty/Cramer.

The Silver fleet, of course has a competition within the competition and on Saturday evening Ben Malone & Matthew Bennion held a 10pt advantage over Ian O’Gorman & Glen Fisher. While both had been timed out of Friday’s third race, Malone/Bennion produced a “tight” set of results of 13, 14, 16 and two 17ths to O’Gorman/Fisher’s 15, two 16ths, 17 and 23^rd.  In third was Peter Armstrong and Peter Collins of Sligo Yacht Club sailed the wooden Fireball that made its debut at the Sligo Worlds (15060).

Malone/Bennion more than doubled their lead over O’Gorman/Fisher in Sunday’s racing to score a comfortable win. Armstrong/Collins were comfortably third.

At the closing prize-giving, thanks were offered to Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club for hosting the event and in particular to Neil Colin and Margaret Casey who in addition to being members of the Fireball Class committee are members of DMYC and were principally involved in organizing the event. They also sacrificed their Saturday sailing to provide rescue cover when there was a problem with resources. Thanks were also afforded to the Race Management Team of Neil Murphy, Stuart Kinnear and Richard Kissane and to Valerie Kinnear who processed the results.

Prizes in the form of “part-vouchers” from P&B, towards a jib, and from North, towards a spinnaker, were awarded to the mid-fleet boat in the Gold and Silver fleets respectively and won by Niall McGrotty & Neil Cramer (jib) and Cearbhall Daly & Mark Browne (spinnaker).

Glass prizes from Dublin Crystal were awarded to the 1-2-3 in both the Gold and Silver fleets.

Day two report: After two days and 6 races the 26-boat Irish Fireball Nationals are set up for a very interesting last day. At the top of the scoreboard, tied on 11pts are Simon McGrotty & Ruairi Grimes and Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella. In joint third on 23pts are Mike Murphy & Alex Voye and Noel Butler & Stephen Oram. In fifth place, and first lady is Diana Kissane crewed by Finbarr Bradley with 33pts and a point astern of them are Conor Clancy & Francis Rowan.

Friday saw a day of inconsistent breeze which led to much frustration for both the the Race Management Team and the competitors. Despite an XC Weather forecast of 9knots on the web, there was nothing like that when the fleet left Dun Laoghaire harbour for an 11:55 first warning signal. Indeed many boats had to paddle their way out to the outer reaches of the harbour before any worthwhile breeze could be had. This trend was to be repeated on the race course! A windward leeward opened the proceedings for the day and was won by McCartin/Kinsella, with Murphy/Voye, McGrotty/Grimes, Smyth/O’Reilly and Butler/Oram in the top 5 places. It says much for the snakes and ladders aspect of the race that on rounding the first weather mark, Smyth/O’Reilly were probably closer to 5^th from the back.

Race 2 saw a second windward/leeward course set in what initially looked like steadier breeze. However, the wind went light again and the finishing order saw Diana Kissane & Finbarr Bradley win followed by McGrotty/Grimes, McCartin/Kinsella, Boyle/Flahive and Murphy/Voye.

Race 3 was an Olympic course and was started in what looked like the best breeze of the day. Light again but it had a healthier look about it. A tight bunch of 4 boats contested the front end of the race with Clancy/Rowan building a very significant lead which ultimately was to play havoc with the rest of the fleet. Niall McGrotty & Neil Cramer were among those to throw a 6 at the right time as they finished 2^nd, McCartin/Kinsella took third to show remarkable consistency, while McGrotty/Grimes were 4^th, with Murphy/Voye 5^th. The remainder of the fleet were “timed out” such was a) the length of Clancy/Rowan’s lead and the fickleness of the wind which saw beats become runs and vice-versa. One competitor was heard to remark that in 37 years of competitive sailing he couldn’t ever remember being timed out of a race.

There was much discontent and many long faces in the DMYC clubhouse yesterday evening and two protests were lodged with the Race Committee challenging the fairness of the racing.   We had sailed in contrasting conditions starting in sunshine but enduring torrential rain, thunder and lightning, fickle winds and varying fortunes before the day was out.

Saturday morning was in stark contrast to the day before. Overnight a W/NW had established itself and the Sea Area Forecast for the Irish Sea was for Force 4/5 winds. The Committee Boat for the Dublin Bay Cruiser Challenge had recorded gust of 32 knots on the water so the decision was taken to postpone racing for an hour.

When the fleet did go to sea many people had decided that discretion was the better part of valour and only 18 boats made their way to the start line. Having applied for relaxation of Rule 42 for this event, the wind conditions warranted the flying of the flag to signal that pumping was permitted.

Another two windward/leewards were sailed in exhilarating conditions before the Race Committee decided that the wind had abated enough to set an Olympic course. It was a good call on both counts.  Post the racing the Race Management Team were able to advise that the wind had got up to about 26 knots for short bursts but that in general the wind strength was in the high teens touching the twenties until the final triangle of the last race when the flag to stop pumping was flown (< 12 knots).

 

By that stage race wins had been shared between McGrotty/Grimes (2) and McCartin/Kinsella. Murphy/Voye also had a very good day scoring two 2nds, while Butler/Oram also had a better day with a 2^nd and two 4^th. Creighton/Bradley should have had an even better day but a crash tack on the finish of the last race saw them drop 3 places when a capsize evolved and a broken kicker fitting at the base of the mast saw them drop back in the middle race after a storming charge off the start line.

The two protests lodged with respect to the fairness of the races have been heard and were dismissed (hence this report), but a third protest has been lodged concerning an incident between two boats on the water.

Tomorrow will be interesting and XC Weather is currently (18:53 Saturday 27^th) predicting an average wind strength of 9knots WNW with gust of between 12 and 14 knots from 10:00  to 16:00 for Dun Laoghaire.

Cormac Bradley.

 

What is it? It has the potential to be more than 50% bigger that Carlingford! It could be 2.5 times bigger than Dun Laoghaire! It could even be twice as big as Belfast Lough! And it will take up 50% more time than each of the three above! What is it? The Fireball National Championship, of course!

An initial review of the commitments and promises to contest the Fireball Nationals, hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, over the weekend of 26 – 28 August, conducted last Tuesday night after DBSC racing suggests that a fleet in the mid-thirties is possible.

Of course this means that all those people who have had recent contact with Neil Colin about sailing the event will have to deliver on their promises to be there.

In a year when our sailing programme has had to accommodate a two-week Worlds in Sligo, the prospect of a 30+ fleet is very exciting.

Nine races are programmed for the 3 days and Neil Colin, who is wearing two hats – DMYC representative and Fireball Committee member – appears to have all the organisational boxes ticked. The keelboat fraternity also has an event over the same weekend in Dublin Bay – the Cruiser Challenge.

In the Gold fleet there will as always be a queue of teams looking for the podium places. The three regattas sailed thus far this season have each had different winners – Graeme Grant & Francis Rowan in Carlingford, Noel Butler & Stephen Oram in Dun Laoghaire and Simon McGrotty & Ruari Grimes in Ballyholme. However, there are other combinations who have also featured in the 1-2-3 with Barry McCartin/Conor Kinsella getting onto the podium in two of these regattas, Kenny Rumball & Seamus Moore coming good in Belfast Lough, Francis Rowan & Conor taking the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Diana Kissane taking a podium place in Dun Laoghaire as well as Andy Boyle.

In Belfast Lough Messrs Bracken & O'Hara were starting to show a return to the sort of form that made them regular occupiers of podium places in the recent past. Louis Smyth has also been showing a good turn of form as well. Frank Miller/Grattan Donnelly took a race win in Belfast Lough and have shown on Tuesday nights in DBSC racing that when they get the "bit between their teeth" they can be just as competitive as anyone.

The Silver fleet racing has also been very good this year and with new combinations coming into the Class as a consequence of the Worlds, there should be good competition in Dun Laoghaire for these combinations. The two Bens – Malone and Scallan showed their mettle in Sligo with the former also taking the Silver fleet prize in Carlingford. Cearbhall Daly & Martina Michels took over that mantle at the Dun Laoghaire event, while Hannah Showell & Margaret Casey won in Ballyholme. Marie Barry has featured strongly in this year's Silver fleet and will be breaking in a new helm for the Nationals! Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire have upped their game considerably since they embarked on the Silver Fleet training in Killaloe and Dun Laoghaire in 2010, even going so far as to upgrade their boat to make themselves even more competitive. We have also seen some new talent coming into this fleet since the Worlds – new owners of Kenny Rumball's 14962 - who have confirmed their intention to sail the Nationals.

The challenge to those we have been missing this year is to see how they match up to these new combinations. For a variety of reasons, personal and work-related a number of people have been conspicuous by their absence for the circuit this year and that is understandable. The idea behind a Dublin Bay Nationals this year was to improve the accessibility and cost of the Nationals in a year when most people were expected to spend time in Sligo.

The initial assessment of the entry last Tuesday night would appear to suggest that decision has been vindicated.