#FIREBALL – Top Irish dinghy sailing class, the Fireballs have announced the 2012 Irish Fireball Nationals will be hosted by Howth Yacht Club over the last Friday and Saturday of June and the first Sunday of July – 29th, 30th June & 1st July.
This 3-day event will see nine (9) races being sailed under the race management of one of Ireland's leading clubs which has a very impressive recent record of hosting international events:- the Etchells Worlds in 2010 and the J24 Europeans in 2011, together with a host of regional and national events encompassing dinghies and keelboats.
In 2012, in addition to the Fireball Nationals at the end of June Howth will also run the BMW sponsored Irish Cruiser Racing Association Nationals over three days at the end of May. These are just two of some seventeen regional or National events that they will host in 2012.
Situated on the northern perimeter of Dublin Bay, but "round the corner" from Dublin Bay, racing for the Nationals will be on a sea-course where there is very little interference from commercial traffic. The club boasts a sizeable marina, a substantial clubhouse that has its own restaurant and bar and a marina/sailing office that has full-time staff. It enjoys easy access from Dublin Airport and the ferry terminals (10 miles) and in 2010 hosted an exceptionally well run Leinster (regional) Championships for the Irish Fireball fleet.
Its race management team boasts one International Race Officer and several National Race Officers, one of whom is expected to do the "Fireball gig".
The timing of the event has been changed twice to accommodate various Fireball fixtures in the Irish/UK/European Fireball scene, namely the Fireball Europeans in Rome in July (21 – 27th), the 50th UK Nationals (11-17th August) and a number of domestic events in Ireland.
In 2011, we canvassed for commitment to this event from the UK Fireball fleet and got some encouraging responses – one of the main attractions being the concept of multiple races on each day – as opposed to the current UK model of a race a day.
The website for online entries has already gone live, so this article is a very early invitation to come and join us for what we expect to be a very well run event.
Enter the event here
