Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691) led last night's Tuesday race (21/05) in the DBSC Series for Fireballs. The best turnout for the series so far, eight boats, contested what started off as a tense race with everyone in close…

You might imagine that an event with over forty knots of wind recorded on the racecourse and with only nine Fireballs entered would be a disaster writes Frank Miller. In fact you would be wrong. The Irish Fireball Open event…

Who would be a forecaster? XC Weather was suggesting that at 19:00 it would be blowing 2 knots from the south, gusting to four knots. We could expect some light rain writes Cormac Bradley In reality it was blowing quite…

The Flying Fifteen fleet provided the Race Committee, high tide was at 16:00 and the XCWeather forecast had got it right with predictions of SSE wind when the Fireball fleet initiated their 2013 DBSC Tuesday Night Dinghy Series. Defending Tuesday…

Why does the Irish Fireball fleet persist in inviting Adam Bowers to a coaching session at the start of every domestic season writes Cormac Bradley? To answer that question, I will begin at the conclusion of his end of session…

#fireball – The advent of the Irish Fireball sailing season is usually heralded with the arrival on these shores of Adam Bowers to provide us with a coaching weekend for the forth-coming season writes Cormac Bradley. 2013 will see us…

#fireball – The 42nd Frostbite Series promoted, managed and hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, came to a disappointing close yesterday when high winds made racing impossible writes Afloat's Fireball Correspondent Cormac Bradley. While we have not had the…

#fireball – The decision to race the Frostbites on St. Patrick's Day, 17th March, neither attracted a big fleet nor nice weather. The smallest Fireball fleet of the entire series, 9 boats, was greeted by damp grey, flat conditions and…

#fireball – On Saturday Dublin Bay was a sheet of glass! Very early Sunday morning saw a repeat condition which prompted this correspondent to think we would have a second Sunday cancelled due to a lack of wind writes Cormac…

#frostbites – Saturday afternoon's wintry showers, which significantly reduced visibility in Dun Laoghaire harbour, gave way to sunshine and blue skies on Sunday morning writes Cormac Bradley. Unfortunately, from a racing perspective, the disappeared snow took the wind with it…

#fireball – Blustery conditions in Dun Laoghaire harbour yesterday made the day's Frostbite race more challenging than might normally be the case, for in addition to trying to work out the right way round the course, the wind conditions meant…

#fireball – The gales of the last two Frostbite Sundays disappeared towards the end of last week which meant that racing was a distinct possibility as the weekend arrived. And so it turned out that 11 Fireballs were able to…

#fireball – A second Sunday in succession of the Frostbite Series was lost to high winds yesterday when an adverse forecast and blustery conditions made racing a victim of the weather. Having enjoyed Sunday racing every weekend since the end…

#fireball – Thirteen Fireballs braved the waters of Dun Laoghaire harbour yesterday on what must have been the coldest day of the series thus far. The Wicklow hills, viewed from the harbour were covered in a thick blanket of snow,…

#fireball – On Friday afternoon, a visit to the XCWeather website suggested that the Frostbite Series on the following Sunday would enjoy 10 knot westerlies in Dun Laoghaire harbour in temperatures of about 3º writes Cormac Bradley. At 13:45 on…

#fireball – Twelve Fireballs initiated the second half of the 42nd Frostbite Series hosted and organised by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club yesterday, 6th January 2013 writes Cormac Bradley. Sailed under grey skies that eventually gave way to some weak…