Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#SAILING – The last race of the 2011 season for Irish Fireballs started under clear blue skies but with a cold aspect to the breeze which came from a westerly direction. As the afternoon progressed a distinct change in weather was evident with grey skies rolling in. It was yet another busy day on the water for the Frostbite fleet which boasts RS 400s and 200s, 420s, a 470, Mirrors, Lasers, IDRA 14s, Laser Vagos and of course the Fireballs.

There is a solid core of 12-14 Fireballs that have raced throughout this first series even though there are closer to twenty boats actually entered for the event. As advised in previous reports, the attraction of the Frostbites is that they don’t take up the entire day. All the participants keep their boats in the Dun Laoghaire Harbour complex which means that to make a 14:05 start, most crews assemble for 13:00 in order to rig and make the short sail out to the outer harbour. All four Dun Laoghaire waterfront clubs, Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club are represented on the water and for this series we have also had Sligo Yacht Club and Howth Yacht Club represented. The expectation is that we may have some participants from north of the border in Series 2 in the New Year.

Last of the three fleet starts, the Fireballs had a competitive and clean start with boats distributed along the line and the form boats stacked down towards the pin – Messrs Rumball, Butler and Boyle – with Smyth, Cassidy and Miller mixing it with them.

Rumball/Moran, Butler/Oram and Boyle/Hurley were joined in the rounding of the first weather mark by Colin/Casey with Smyth/Bradley in close company. Rumball and Butler got distracted with each other to allow Colin/Casey to lead the fleet around the first gybe mark but thereafter the pecking order became very established with Rumball/Moran leading the fleet followed by Butler/Oram and Boyle/Hurley.

However, outside these podium places there was lots going on as Miller/Donnelly, Colin/Casey, Court/Syme, Smyth/Bradley and latterly Chambers/Butler joined battle to determine the next sets of places. There isn’t a great deal to choose between these crews off the wind so going upwind is where the places are made, and yesterday the choice of which way to go up the beat was difficult. Staying right appeared to get better breeze but the starboard tack hitch into the weather mark was fraught with twitchy gusts. Going left appeared to have benefits initially but then the breeze fell off as the mark was approached.

Though not consciously racing for the day’s mugs, the early bidders for that honour were Smyth/Bradley but they were always in close company with the other claimants – Court/Syme. Mugs are won at the finish line and with Court/Syme initially putting Colin/Casey and Miller/Donnelly between themselves and Smyth/Bradley, only let Colin/Casey through to keep an insurance in place for the race trophies. Mug winners last week, Luke Malcolm and Shane Diviney (Howth), were retirees this week with a ripped main – the vagaries of racing!!

In keeping with the Sunday before Christmas, there was an element of decoration to the fleet with Santa hats on display by some crews (Boyle & Hurley in particular) but the most significant pointer to the time of year was the tinsel that flew from the top baton and end of the boom of Neil Colin and Margaret Casey.

The Series 1 prize-giving was held in the DMYC which was busy and warm as a consequence. Overall prizes were awarded to the three fleets, PY, Lasers and Fireballs with the Fireball results as follows;

Series 2 commences on Sunday 8^th January 2012.