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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.