#fireball – A modest turnout of eight Fireballs was served a double header of two races yesterday in Dun Laoghaire though only seven actually raced. Considering the recent weather – howling gales and driving rain – the conditions were almost benign – trapezing conditions with some harder squalls scudding across the water. Wind direction was 150 - 160º. A bit of drizzle descended on the fleet during the afternoon.
In the first race the way to go was left which was the side favoured by Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007) and they were rewarded by crossing the Butler-Rumball tag team two thirds of the way up the first beat on the way to a weather mark that was to the east of the HSS gantry. Smyth/Bradley rounded first followed by Noel Butler & Conor Kinsella (15061) and the Rumball brothers Kenny & Alexander (15058). Behind them young Ed Coyne, up from Youghal again, was driving Neil Colin's boat (14775) with Margaret Casey on the wire, with Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney (14790), Eamonn Bourke & Robert Slater (14817) and Cariosa Power & Ed (14854) closing out the sequence.
Smyth & Bradley held off Butler & Kinsella for the first lap of the trapezoid but tacking immediately at Mk 4 and sailing a short distance upwind on starboard tack, the latter pair were able to take the lead within 100m of rounding the leeward mark. Team Rumball and Smyth worked the right-hand-side of the course while Malcolm/Diviney went hard left. At the 2nd windward mark with Butler/Kinsella enjoying a lead of about 50m these three converged with Malcolm coming up the port layline and the other two on the starboard layline. Malcolm's tack to round the mark led to avoiding action being taken by the other two and a minor contact between Smyth & Rumball. Rumball called for turns which were duly taken allowing him to overtake the two boats and go into second. Malcolm's penalty was completed marginally before Smyth's allowing him to take 3rd place, a position they retained to the finish. Smyth/Bradley took fourth place and the Frostbite Mug for the race.
The wind had eased marginally for the second race and this time the tag team wasn't interrupted by boats getting in between them. Until the last lap of the 3-lap course, on the spinnaker leg between Marks 2 and 3, a slightly oversized blanket could have covered Messrs Butler/Kinsella and Rumball²! In truth, one gets the impression that they would be just as happy being last and 2nd last just so long as the boat closest to them was the other half of the tag team. The reality of course is something else – not only do they have the ability to match race each other round the course, in doing so they sail away from the rest of us, nine times out of ten!!
And so it was that Team Rumball, despite the close attentions of Butler and Kinsella led the second race around the first weather mark. They (the two boats) worked the middle and right of the course while Malcolm & Diviney went left again. Smyth/Bradley also went left with the result that these four boats went round in reasonably tight formation. However, in contrast to the first race where the first four boats got away, in this race the fleet stayed quite tight throughout. Eamonn Bourke and Robert Slater (14817) were sniping at the transom of Smyth & Bradley and they led them round the last weather mark, but the latter pair passed them out again on the spinnaker legs.
Up front Team Rumball led the entire race but their shadow was never more than a couple of boat-lengths away until the last spinnaker leg between Marks 2 and 3. Clearly determined to try something different, Butler & Kinsella gybed immediately at Mk 2 while the Rumballs stayed on. The gamble didn't pay off because by the time Butler/Kinsella gybed back again to come into Mk 3, Team Rumball were gone – opening up a healthy lead – in shadow measurements – to win comfortably. Behind Butler/Kinsella came Malcolm/Diviney and Smyth/Bradley with Bourke & Slater taking fifth place and the day's second Frostbite Mug.
Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club – 2013/14 Frostbites, Series 2, 16 February. Race 1 Race 2
Kenneth Rumball & Alexander Rumball 15058 Irish National
Sailing School 2 1
Noel Butler & Conor Kinsella 15061 Dun Laoghaire
Motor Yacht Club 1 2
Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney 14790 Howth Yacht Club 3 3
Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley 15007 Coal Harbour 4 4
Eamonn Bourke & Robert Slater 14817 Howth Yacht Club 5 5
Series Convener, Olivier Proveur was able to tell the day's prize-giving that there are now 102 boats entered in the Series, one of the latest being Shane McCarthy, of Fireball and GP 14 accomplishments, who has entered the first Solo to take part in the series. The biggest day turnout to date has been 79 boats, just before Christmas.
With 6 races now completed a single discard comes into play, giving an overall results table as follows;
Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club – 2013/14 Frostbites, Series 2; Overall (with 1 discard).
1 Kenneth Rumball & Alexander Rumball/David Moran Irish National
Sailing School 15058 7pts
2 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram/Conor Kinsella Dun Laoghaire
Motor Yacht Club 15061 8pts
3 Luke Malcolm & Shane Diviney Howth Yacht Club 14790 26pts
4 Neil Colin/Ed Coyne & Margaret Casey Dun Laoghaire
Motor Yacht Club 14775 28pts
5 Conor Clancy & James Clancy Royal St. George
Yacht Club 14807 29pts
