#fireball – The 44th hosting of the Frostbites by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club was brought to a close yesterday with the prize-giving for the Series taking place in the clubhouse.

Racing had been programmed for the day, but an adverse forecast, which manifested itself with a very windy seascape saw the racing cancelled by Facebook notification late in the morning and N over A flying from the clubhouse flagpole.
DMYC Commodore, Kevin Burke, opened proceedings by recording a vote of thanks on behalf of DMYC and the competitors to Olivier Proveur for the successful completion of another Series and for the time and effort he puts in to organising the Series.

Kevin also advised the audience gathered in the clubhouse that DMYC is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and indicated that there will be a variety of celebrations throughout the year. Additionally, on the weekend of 27/28 June, the club will host a celebratory regatta in tandem with Dublin Bay Sailing Club who manage the racing on Dublin Bay over the summer months. In his closing remarks, Kevin drew attention to the range in age of the Frostbite participants – from Olivier's 12-year old son, Oisin, to Louis Smyth in the Fireballs.

Olivier took over the microphone from Kevin and said how pleasing it was to see the Frostbite fleet grow again this year. Involved since 2000, when he took over from Valerie Kinnear, Olivier advised that this year the Frostbites had an entry of 103 boats in total. This year a number of changes had been implemented resulting in four separate starts. He suggested that the weather had not been as kind to them as in recent years with only 18 races completed – not 18 Sundays. Series 1 had only five races, from the first Sunday of November to the last Sunday before Christmas. He also asked the competitors to acknowledge the volunteer core of the Frostbites and proceeded to list 18 people ranging from the Race Officer, Kevin Cullen, through timekeepers, recorders, mark-layers and rescue personnel. Two people were given special mention – Dave Coleman (Fireballs) who hadn't missed a single Sunday of the Series as a rib driver and Bob Hobby who, in addition to mark-laying duties posted photographs of each Sunday's proceedings to Facebook. Photographs from the Frostbites have been viewed by 3,460 people. The closing thanks went to DMYC's boatman Richard who prepares all the equipment for each Sunday's racing and Fiona and Carlos in the clubhouse who look after everyone post-racing with soup and a bar service.

The prize-giving then took place with two sets of prizes for each class – Series 2 and the overall Series. For the Fireballs Series 2 was another close run affair for the first two boats overall. As the individual reports for the races have advised, the distance between Messrs Butler and Rumball was never very much apart from one exception that comes to mind. They seemed to be in a constant state of watching out for the other boat!

DMYC Frostbites: Series 2; 13 Races sailed, 3 Discards.
1 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 National Yacht Club &
DMYC. 15
2 Kenneth Rumball & Brian Byrne 15058 Irish National Sailing Club 17
3 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club 45
4 Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly 14713 Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club 47
5 Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe 14691 Royal St. George Yacht Club 52

In terms of the overall Frostbite title, the gap between the first two boats was a bit more pronounced, courtesy of a perfect Series 1 for Rumball & Byrne that saw them undefeated over the five-race series. And this performance is what probably set them up for the overall title.

DMYC Frostbites; Overall; 18 Races sailed, 5 Discards.
1 Kenneth Rumball & Brian Byrne 15058 INSC 17
2 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC/DMYC 23
3 Conor & James Clancy 15113 RStGYC 58
4 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC 61
5 Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly 14713 DMYC 62

The 1-2-3 overall received plaques which made reference to the 50th anniversary of the DMYC.

On completion of the prize-giving, Pat Shannon and Jonathan O'Rourke of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club give a very short presentation on DBSC's plans for the summer's racing – new classes/starts, new courses, more midweek races and a plan for 18 nights of Tuesday racing and 20 Saturdays of afternoon racing. There is an undertaking to provide more races with quicker turnaround times between races. Entry fees for the DBSC have been reduced and online entry will now be accessible. DBSC gets underway on 23rd April 2015.

For the Fireball fleet, there is now a break from the on-the-water activities. A class rule change allows for the removal of 3kg of lead weight corrector form the boats and this has resulted in the Irish Class setting up a "weighing day" for the fleet on 18th April. The consequence of this activity is that boats will have to be stored under dry conditions in advance of the weigh-in. A separate notification has gone out from the committee in this regard. Immediately after this session, we have a UK Fireballer undertaking a coaching session, the following weekend, April 25/26th.

Summer regattas are scheduled for May (Skerries), June (Cushendall), July (Dunmore East), September (Lough Ree) and October (Dun Laoghaire). Interspersed with these Class events there is the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta (9 – 12 July) and the Fireball Worlds (15 – 30 August, Pwllheli, Wales, with an International Week beforehand). Fireballers should also be aware of a Dinghy Week type event in Cork from 21 – 23 August.

#fireball - The second last Sunday of the 2014/15 Frostbite Series saw a modest turnout of 5 Fireballs who were treated to two races in sunshine conditions, good breeze and an air temperature that rose as the afternoon went on, breaking in to double figures (12.5˚) by 16:30 as the fleet made its way homewards. At the start of the afternoon the wind direction was 148˚ with a base wind strength of 9.6 knots and a gust of 14.5 knots recorded. By 16:30, the wind direction had gone to 304˚, with a wind strength of 4.1 knots and a gust of 9.4 knots.

The Fireballs were given a separate weather mark which was located to the east of the HSS gantry, a No. 2 which was located close to the weather station on the East Pier, a No.3 that was in line with the harbour mouth and a No. 4 that was just inshore from the Block House on the West Pier.

Of the five Fireballs starting, 4 were at the committee boat end on starboard with Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (14713) at the pin end on port. Miller and three of the others worked the right hand side of the bottom of the course while Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) went the opposite direction, appeared to get a significant lift when they tacked onto port and led at the weather mark for their reward. Behind them the running order was Butler & Oram (15061), Miller & Donnelly, Kenneth Rumball & Ed Butler (15058) and Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691).

1 – 2 looked to be a broad spinnaker leg and Rumball overtook Miller on this leg. Ahead, Butler closed on Colin and the first two went past Mark 2 without gybing, leaving it to 10 – 12 boats lengths past the mark. Before they got to mark 3 Butler has assumed the lead.

On the second beat the lead two went right initially before Colin broke left again. Butler stayed on, possibly deciding, even at this early stage, to keep company with Rumball. By the second weather mark, Butler had extended his lead over Colin and Rumball was still back in 3rd. For the off wind legs of lap 2 these places stayed as was with leg 3 – 4 starting off as a tight spinnaker reach but broadening as the leg wore on. Rumball started to close in on Colin at this stage.

On the third beat the lead two kept each other company again but Rumball did his own thing, getting close enough to Colin to require the latter to hail starboard as they crossed tacks towards the end of the beat. Rumball obliged with a tack but was able to get clear of Colin to tack again and round behind Butler in second place. That was the last of the "skirmishes" in this race, with the finishing order being Butler, Rumball and Colin.

For the second race of the day, the course was "flipped" with marks now being rounded to starboard. The separate weather mark was taken out of the water and the old No.2 was lifted and moved into the body of the harbour to become the new weather mark. The new No.2 was dropped just to the west of the HSS gantry, No. 3 stayed as was and No. 4 was modified to reflect the revised configuration.

Watching the PY start, two Finns conveniently went separate ways up the beat before the Fireballs were called to order. The Finn working the RHS looked to be very comfortable relative to his contemporary on the opposite side of the harbour, but amazingly they rounded transom to bow with the "RHS-er" only just ahead.

All the Fireballs assembled at the pin end, reading, from right to left, as they set off on starboard tack, the order was Miller, Colin, Rumball, Butler, McKenna. McKenna was the first to bail right, followed slightly later by Miller who, coming from a slightly leeward position, ended up dipping both Butler and Rumball. McKenna was then able to hail Miller as the five stayed in a close group up the beat. Colin was first to show, crossing the other four on starboard, with Rumball ahead of Butler as the three sailed up the starboard lay-line.

Colin's spinnaker hoist saw him fall off to leeward slightly which opened the door for Rumball to go through his weather and take a minimal lead at Mark 2. Further back, Miller was playing dodgems with someone as he took a double pirouette in the vicinity of Mark 2. The gybes that might have taken place at Mk. 2 were delayed and the leg from 3 to 4 was now a very tight reach.

On the next beat, Rumball and Colin sailed to the harbour wall before Rumball abandoned that course to come back into the middle of the harbour – possibly to keep an eye on Butler. Despite his 720˚ penalty turn Miller was able to close the gap on McKenna sufficiently to have to dip her when the met two-thirds of the way up the beat.

The order at the weather mark was Rumball, Colin, Butler, Miller, McKenna with the latter two in very close company. At Mark 2, Rumball gybed, whereas the next two sailed on. Rumball then gybed to shadow them. Butler stalled but recovered to put pressure on Colin, closing to within touching distance of Colin's transom at Mark 3. McKenna had by this stage got ahead of Miller. By Mark 4, Butler was able to round in second place and both he and Colin sailed to the harbour wall. McKenna and Miller tack earlier than the boats they were chasing and when they approached the latter stages of the beat, McKenna was able to force Colin into a tack as they took their positions "stage left" on the starboard layline.

At this weather mark the order is now – Rumball, Butler, McKenna, Colin, Miller. But the "fat lady hasn't sung yet". The leg from 2 to 3 is now getting tricky – the wind is dying, there are flat spots on the water and there is lots of traffic, RSs with assymetric spinnakers, IDRAs with spinnakers and Lasers and negotiating these is as challenging as the actual wind conditions. Rumball enters the "cauldron" and gets stuck in the lee of other boats allowing Butler to close onto his transom. However, Rumball gets away again.

Up the last beat, these two indulge in a covering/tacking duel and while they may have been distracted by each other, the others aren't able to close significantly. But there is another logjam to be negotiated between 2 and 3 and another challenge to be addressed at Mk. 3.

At 3 for the last time, Rumball has Butler on his transom again. He has the inside berth, but with other boats around (PY Class again), the boats come out of the gybe with Butler in the windward berth and Rumball seemingly struggling for boat speed. Another wind switch sees spinnakers dropped and before they get to 4, Rumball puts in two tacks to get around. He rounds in the lead, but it is very close at the finish and it is only after the race that I can confirm that Rumball took the win!

Meanwhile McKenna and Colin play out a similar game at Mk 3, but Colin seems to do enough to get ahead. But the finishing signals for them are so close (even from where I was) that again I have to consult with Colin to find out who won between them. He can't tell me and it is only on viewing the final results that I can record that McKenna took third place.

Next Sunday, 29th March sees the final round of racing with the Frostbite Prize-giving to follow in the DMYC Clubhouse afterwards.

For the Fireballs it will pre-empt a hiatus of racing until the last weekend of April when our summer season opening training session is scheduled. Again, a well-known Fireballer with World and European titles to his name is expected to be confirmed imminently for this weekend.

#fireball – According to the weather station adjacent to the HSS Terminal, yesterday's wind for the Frostbites was very consistent writes Cormac Bradley. Just before I took up my observation position it was recording a wind direction of 106˚ and as I left, with two races completed, it was still recording a wind direction of 106˚. The strength of the wind fluctuated between 16.7 knots at 14:00 and 13.5 knots at 16:00, with gusts of 20.6 and 17.0 knots respectively. Temperature-wise there was much change, or any real warmth for that matter, at 6.7˚.

In between 14:00 and 16:00 (approximately), the six-boat fleet had two races though a number of capsizes in the second race reduced the fleet in size.

In Race 1 the fleet jostled for the pin and it looked as though Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (14713) won it only for them to go back for a second start when an individual recall was signalled. With the weather mark just off the weather station on the East Pier, the five boats that didn't go back at the start all went left, Miller, with nothing to lose, went right.

At the weather mark the rounding sequence was Kenneth Rumball & Brian Byrne (15058), Louis Smyth & Joe O'Reilly (15007), Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775), Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (14713) and Mick Creighton & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691). The weather mark appeared to be under the lee of the East Pier because the last two boats struggled to get around the mark and one of them suffered a near capsize in their effort to get on to the second leg. Rumball extended his lead between Marks 1 and 2, a nice three sail reach on full trapeze. The leg from 2 – 3 was also a nice spinnaker leg but the lead pair dropped their spinnakers for the leg from 3 to 4. Behind them Butler & Colin three-sailed the leg.

On the second beat Rumball went right then left to apply a loose cover on the next two boats, Smyth and Butler who both went left. By the 2nd weather mark, Butler had gone in to 2nd place to initiate a chase of Rumball around the balance of the 4-lap course. On the third beat the lead pair went right, whereas third and fourth, Smyth & Colin went left. By Mark 2 of this third lap Rumball had a 40 second lead on Butler and this pair was comfortable relative to the rest of the fleet.

On the final beat, Rumball went left, sailed beyond the committee boat then bore off and went through the start/finish line, possibly thinking it was a finish. As he was greeted with silence (even from my vantage point), he continued up the beat. At this stage it didn't appear to have cost him distance relative to Butler. But, by the weather mark, the distance had closed dramatically, and they rounded the last weather mark in very close company. Sailing higher than Rumball, Butler looked very close to overtaking him but after two tight gybes in very short sequence by each boat, Rumball managed to round Mark 2 still leading. Behind them, at the approach to the weather mark, Smyth & O'Reilly had an expensive capsize which saw them loose both Colin and Miller on the water.

With a short hitch to the finish, the lead pair went separate ways, Rumball going right, Butler, left. They finished in an over-lapped condition and I think that Butler got it. Butler & Oram seemed to think so as well as, quite by coincidence, they sailed past my observational perch, on shore, and we exchanged views on the finishing sequence.

Colin & Casey took third place, with Miller & Donnelly, fourth.

For the second race of the day, the weather mark was pulled into the body of the harbour, out of what seemed to me, from the opposite side of the course to be a wind shadow created by the East Pier.

With the advantage of my shore-side position I was able to watch two IDRAs in the PY start work the opposite sides of the course, with the boat that worked the right-hand side gaining a substantial lead over its opposition and mixing it with the two Finns at the weather mark.

Again, the Fireballs hovered around the pin and this time Butler & Oram claimed it. Smyth & O'Reilly were dead astern of Butler and Oram, and the boats furthest to leeward were Creighton & O'Keeffe and Colin & Casey. The fleet went left initially before Butler and Rumball peeled off right with Butler occupying the windward berth relative to Rumball. At the top mark the order was Butler, Rumball, Miller, Colin, Creighton and Smyth, the latter having another capsize which effectively put paid to his race. The lead two had their own race, but behind them, Miller, Colin and Creighton were having a separate race with the three boats in close company until a capsize at Mark 4 terminated Colin & Casey's activities for the day. This effectively killed the race for third place as Miller put distance between himself and Creighton up the next beat.

The lead two eventually got to the stage where they had the best part of the leg from 1 to 2 as their lead over the third placed boat. Butler led all the way round and while at time the two boats were close, he ultimately had the comfort of a 20-second lead at the finish.

The overall results for Series 1 and 2 have now been posted by DMYC on their website and are as follows, with four discards counting.

#dbsc – To a racing observer from the shore, the start of yesterday's Frostbite was very odd! At the scheduled start of 14:00, the first two classes the PY Class and the Lasers got away in proper order writes Cormac Bradley. Quite a bit later there was a start for the RS Classes but as soon as they appeared to go over the line they were all called back. The confusion and delay in the starting sequence meant that the Fireball fleet on the start line was doubled in size, going from three to seven boats, and the fleet got a competitive race in!
Initially the three boats in the start area were Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella (15114), Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) and Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691). Having been at a Fireball –connection house-warming the night before I thought that the others had succumbed to the hospitality of the house-warming and decided to give the racing a miss. Because it was gone 14:20 before Kenneth Rumball & Brian Byrne (15058), Louis Smyth & Joe O'Reilly (15007), Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (14713) and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) joined the other three starters. It transpired in the clubhouse afterwards that the fleet emerging from the Coal Harbour end of Dun Laoghaire harbour had been stalled by the Race Committee who were considering their options for the day.
The aborted start for the RS Classes was due, it appears, to two class flags being flown, when only one was required. The nett effect was that all seven Fireballs got a race, sharing the one start.
Having observed the previous starts from shore, I imagined that the Fireballs would be fighting for the committee boat end in order to be able to go right, to a windward mark that was just to the west of the harbour mouth. So it was rather surprising to see McCartin & Kinsella halfway down the start line coming up the beat on starboard tack. The error of that approach manifested itself early on when they went behind the transom of Colin & Casey.
The one boat that did go hard right was rewarded with third place around the weather mark – Smyth & O'Reilly having gone all the way right before they took the hitch into the mark. Rumball & Butler rounded first and second and would keep each other in close company for the balance of the race. Behind Smyth came McCartin, who powered over Smyth between Marks 1 and 2. Miller led Colin and McKenna.
What had looked like a broad reach for the PY and Laser Classes between 1 and 2 was now a tight three sail reach for the Fireballs. Rumball held the spinnaker all the way to 2, Butler did an Aussie drop with about 100m to go, McCartin sailed higher managed to bear of in the tougher gusts to hold the bag all the way to 2. Determining when to gybe after 2 was a key factor in the comfort level of the leg between 2 and 3.
On the second beat the fleet all went right to varying degrees but Rumball & Butler pulled out distance on them all to leave themselves having their own race. A cluster of Fireballs rounded after them, one of whom took a 720˚ penalty turn to leave the sequence as Colin, Miller, Smyth, McCartin and McKenna. At Mark 2 McCartin gybed immediately whereas Smyth and Miller delayed with the result that McCartin took them both. However, by the next mark, McCartin had lost his gains again as the others passed him out. His day got even worse when his spinnaker wouldn't come down at Mark 4 so he retired from the race.
On the third beat the fleet was working inside the area defined by the four marks of the course as opposed to sailing on the extremities. By this stage they were each covering the other with the comfort of knowing that the chasing pack were too far back to threaten. At the end of this third lap however, Rumball fell foul of other boats, at Mark 4 and again when he needed to avoid a capsized 29er. The nett effect was that at the fourth weather mark, Butler & Oram had assumed the lead which they held onto until the finish. Colin led the chasing pack home, followed by Miller, Smyth & McKenna.

DMYC Frostbites – Series 2 R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Tot Nett
Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC/DMYC 2 3 1 2 3 2 1 14 11
Kenneth Rumball & Brian Byrne 15058 INSC 9 1 3 3 2 4 2 24 15
Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella 15114 RStGYC 1 4 2 14 1 1 9 32 18

These provisional results (by me) are based on the idea of a single discard for Series 2.
After a balmy but very breezy Saturday here in Dun Laoghaire, the fleet enjoyed more modest temperatures of 8˚ with wind out of the NW (313˚) at 12.5 knots with a highest recorded gust of 21 knots, according to the weather station in the harbour.

#fireball – Hayling Island Sailing Club will be hosting the UK Fireball National Championship in August 2016 exactly 50 years after the club hosted the inaugural World Championship.

HISC was one of the first clubs to adopt the Fireball after its launch in 1962 and played a leading role in the early development of the class. The club is currently seeing a strong resurgence of interest in Fireballs and has achieved tremendous growth in numbers over the past twelve months. The Fireball is on a roll at the moment, with the 2015 National and World Championships at Pwllheli this August causing a surge of interest in the class which HISC looks set to continue.

The last time the Nationals were held at Hayling Island Sailing Club was in 1993 although the class was a regular visitor to HISC in the 1960s and 1970s for National, European and World events. The Fireball World

Championships which are being held in the UK this year are likely to see a large entry which will hopefully put the Fireball fleet back in the 50+ club.

The class will be visiting HISC for their Open Meeting on 16th & 17th May 2015.

#fireballsailing – While the Frostbites of 22^nd February were cancelled due to adverse wind conditions, though I spotted Shane McCarthy coming back in to the Coal Harbour through “hell’s gate” with a flogging main in his Solo, it may have afforded the Irish Fireball fleet an opportunity to contemplate summer sailing and the regattas that they will be attending writes Cormac Bradley.

As has been the practice in recent years we will have five of our own events and will be encouraging an attendance at a number of other events in a summer season that will span the period of April to October.  We will have regattas on both the north and south coasts of the island, one freshwater venue and two events where we will share the race area and club hospitality with other classes.

Communications are ongoing as to who will be providing the training in April, but the expectation is that a UK Fireballer will be the provider of this session.

Skerries, Dunmore East, Lough Derg and DMYC have all hosted us recently, but Cushendall represents a new departure. They have in recent years hosted the Flying Fifteens, but Barry McCartin, who hails from this club assures us that they are very excited at the prospect of hosting the Fireball fleet in what is one of the most dramatic backdrops to a race are anywhere on the island – the Glens of Antrim. While the club is located on the north coast, it is a relatively “short-hop” drive-wise from Belfast!

As I am sure you will all understand, sharing venues with other classes is a reality in Ireland today and thus two of our events will be in the company of other classes. We have sailed regatta venues with the Wayfarers before and they work well with us. Most of us have exposure to the Flying Fifteen fleet through Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) racing, so a big water venue like Dunmore East should not pose a problem. Going to Lough Derg with the 420s is intended to show the 420 race fleet that the Fireball can be a viable option for them when they step out of their class. Additionally, in John Leech, National Race Officer and Flag Officer of LDYC, we have an individual who has a strong connection with the 420 Class and after Lough Ree last September John was very quick to extend an invite to Lough Derg. Our last visit there was around 2009/10. 

There are no regatta events for the Fireball Class in August to facilitate participation in Fireball International’s International Week and World Championships in Pwllheli, Wales. The venue is approximately 45 minute drive from the Holyhead ferry terminal and the clubhouse and facilities are undergoing a major revamp in time for the event. My understanding is that Pwllheli is a RYA Centre of Excellence so the new facilities are in accordance with that aspiration. FI expects this to be a large-fleet event with entries from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Italy, South Africa, Switzerland and others hopefully and, of course, a substantial entry from the host nation.

For those who aren’t going to Pwllheli, there is a new event on the calendar this year, the Cork Dinghy Regatta, to be hosted by the Royal Cork Yacht Club in the second half of August. Fireballs have been invited to join, but Class and own start status will be on the basis of numbers attending.

Being an odd numbered year, the biennial, four-day Volvo Regatta returns to the waters of Dublin Bay over the first weekend of July and again Fireballs have been invited to participate. The programme is for 10 races spread over Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning and again we will need numbers if we are to have Class status and our own start. Of course this is a fiesta of racing, with every size of boat catered for, not just dinghies, with an extensive social programme spread over the four days. Fireballs have raced every edition of this regatta since it was established in 2005, so it would be a pity to drop the ball in this, the 6^th edition. 

#frostbites – Only five Fireballs sailed the single race in today's offering from the DMYC's Frostbite organisers. Messrs, McCartin, Butler, Rumball, Clancy, their respective crews and Louise McKenna and crew made up the starters writes Cormac Bradley. 

The weather station adjacent the HSS Terminal and the Windfinder App were in agreement about some of the conditions – the weather station was recording a wind direction of 172˚, a base wind strength of 10.8 knots and a recorded gust of 21.7 knots, air temperature was a balmy (for February) 8.9˚. Windfinder predicted the direction as southerly, with a wind strength that would vary from 18 – 20 knots with gusts of 22 – 26 knots between 12 noon and 15:00.

The gusts were certainly there giving the fleet some interesting spinnaker legs, particularly on the top and bottom legs of the trapezoid course which was set in the middle and western half of Dun Laoghaire harbour – a weather mark just of the end of the HSS Ferry Gantry, No. 2 just inside the end of the East Pier, No. 3 in the middle of the harbour mouth and No. 4 off what I would refer to as the "blockhouse" on the West Pier.

"Cats paws" of harder wind were blowing across the course all afternoon and these provided some fun on the off-wind legs.

The fight at the start was to secure the slot beside the committee boat – four boats went for this as Louise was slightly delayed on her way out to the start. Ultimately, it was won by Rumball and Byrne (15058), but not before McCartin and Kinsella came in too early (from my position) and had to "bale out". The previous starts (PY Class, Lasers, RS 200 & 400s) suggested that the way to go was left, but McCartin & Kinsella, taking an early hitch to the right, subsequently crossed the other three on starboard tack and never looked back, leading from this initial crossing all the way to the finish. Butler & Oram (15061), Clancy & Clancy (15113) and Rumball & Byrne (15058) were in close company, until Rumball/Byrne capsized in a tack and fell out the back of the train. This "snookered" their race for though they got close enough to Clancy/Clancy to have the latter watching them carefully, they never recovered, place-wise, from their swim.

After the first weather mark there were no place changes but the relative fortunes of the boats did seem to change. At the end of the first lap McCartin & Kinsella looked very comfortable. Butler & Oram tried different things to close the gap but at each subsequent weather mark, bar the last, McCartin's lead was between 20 and 30 seconds. Only on the last beat was there a sense that Butler & Oram had dramatically closed on the leaders but at this stage McCartin & Kinsella were keeping a loose cover on them anyway. And Butler & Oram got caught up in traffic at this last weather mark to allow McCartin & Kinsella away again.

Earlier in the race it had seemed that Butler & Oram were resigned to not catching the leaders (and I realise how disrespectful that might seem) but one almost got the sense that they were covering the rest of the fleet, rather than trying to catch McCartin.

Though the weather station was recording a wind direction of 174˚, as I left my observation position, a two-degree variation from when I arrived, on the water the vagaries of the wind translated to tight reaches becoming broader reaches on the top leg of the trapezoid and decisions about two sailing or three sailing the bottom leg of the trapezoid.

*Assumes that a single discard is in play!

Today's race was Race 6 in Series 2 and the above table is my interpretation of where the leaders sit relative to each other.

#dmycfrostbites – In the presence of an unusual large high pressure over Ireland, the Fireball frostbites were greeted by a lovely 10-15kt breeze from the west, cool as it was, the warmth of the sunshine kept sailors moving for races 11 and 12 of the DMYC Frostbite series. The race committee laid a Trapezoid course inside the Harbour walls with a windward mark laid well away from the West Pier giving clear breeze all the way from the start line to the mark. With a congested start line due to a highly favoured committee boat all boats got away cleanly. Initially most of the fleet kept on starboard tack out toward the middle of the harbour, Noel Butler and Stephen Oram 15061 peeled off first to the right hand side with Kenneth Rumball and Ed Butler following suit leaving the Clancy brothers 15113 to head out to the left of the beat.

At the top mark the Clancy brothers came out on top followed by Rumball/Butler... The two boats played cat and mouse with Rumball/Butler overtaking on the next beat and holding on to their lead to take the win. A bit further back there was great racing throughout the fleet. Alistair Court and crew Gordon snapped at the leaders heels and narrowly missed third place in not one but both races. Neil Colin/Margaret Casey diced with Frank Miller/James Murphy and Louis Smyth/Glenn Fischer. Colin's light air credentials paid dividends in race one when he went hard right against many odds and came out ahead. Most of the fleet favoured working their way towards the left hand layline where a tad more pressure and a lift to the windward mark delivered rewards. Further back Mary Chambers and Brenda McGuire tussled with Louise McKenna sailing with Edward Coyne. The latter, and his family, deserves a medal for his epic journey from Youghal to make the start, with dense fog for most of the journey adding a distinct frisson of uncertainty all the way to Dun Laoghaire.

With the days getting longer, there was time for a second race, in very welcome increased pressure with full trapezing on the beats. A congested committee boat end saw Rumball/Butler and Butler/Oram getting away cleanly with a disagreement between the Clancy brothers and Colin/Casey at the committee boat. Rumball/Butler managed to tack clear of Butler/Oram to round the weather mark first and hold the lead to the finish of the three lap course. Not a huge amount of change further back though Miller/Murphy and Smyth/Fischer managed to squeeze ahead of Colin/Casey with Court/Syne having to settle again for a leather medal 4th.

In summary this was the kind of sailing day to gladden the heart, especially for February and the prospect of longer days ahead should surely entice out any remaining stragglers.

#fireball – Nine Fireballs enjoyed two races yesterday in Dun Laoghaire Harbour in deceptive conditions. It was a blue sky day but the air temperature was down to just less than 5˚ and with a cold breeze blowing the chill factor would have dropped that further writes Cormac Bradley.

The weather station adjacent to my vantage point recorded a base wind strength of just over 10 knots but the highest gust of the day was 18.2 knots, air temperature was 4.7˚ and wind was recorded at 316 - 320˚ - WNW.

Again the course was a trapezoid, with a weather mark close to the starter's hut on the west pier and Marks 2 and 3 sitting either side of the HSS gantry, so much so that the gantry had to be negotiated, i.e. you couldn't sail a straight line between the two marks. Mark 4 was towards the weather station on the east pier.

The fleet hogged the committee boat end on the first start, all on starboard tack, but the peel-off to the right-hand side was initiated quite early by Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691), followed by Louis Smyth & Glen Fisher (15007). In contrast, Frank Miller & Joe O'Reilly (14713) worked the LHS and it paid dividends as they rounded the weather mark in first place. However, close on their tales were the Clancy brothers Conor and James (15113). A flawless hoist by the brothers saw them surge into the lead, a position they never relinquished! In contrast Miller & 'Reilly went swimming and the complicated capsize, with spinnaker, took them out of the race altogether. The leg from 1 to 2 was quite tight and successfully negotiating this leg was key to race success. Behind the first two Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061), Kenneth Rumball & Brian Byrne (15058), Alistair Court & Gordon Syme (14706) and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) were in close company.

The leg from 2 to 3 required two gybes, either immediately at the mark, or delayed when sailing past the gantry for the HSS was impossible. The bottom reach was already quite tight and as the afternoon progressed, it would get even tighter wit even the top boats reduced to sailing it with two sails.

For the second beat the fleet went right with Team Clancy in a very comfortable position. At the 2nd weather mark the order was Clancy, Butler, Court, Rumball, Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella (15114), Smyth, McKenna & Colin.

For the third beat the fleet worked the middle and left of the course with McCartin and Court out on the LHS. As Miller had proven on the first beat, this was advantageous and McCartin rounded the last weather mark in 4th, behind Clancy, Butler & Rumball. 1 to 2 was now becoming a judgement call – spinnaker or not and Court in particular sailed the leg conservatively at no cost to his place in the pecking order. His 5th place earned him the Frostbite Mugs.

For the second race the committee boat was again the favoured end but this time there was a more distinct split in the fleet with four boats going right at the first available opportunity. McKenna, Miller, McCartin, Smyth & Butler worked the left hand side of the course and this paid dividends for McCartin and Butler who rounded the top mark in first and second. Again, the hoist was critical and Butler & Oram won this manoeuvre, but McCartin & Kinsella, sailing that bit higher, powered over the top of them to take the lead. Rumball & Byrne rounded ahead of Team Clancy, followed by Colin & Casey, McKenna & O'Keeffe, Smyth & Fisher, Court & Syme and Miller & O'Reilly.

Almost all the Fireballs gybed immediately at Mark 2 before a second gybe was required to get back to Mark 3 where a third gybe was required. For the first lap the top boats flew spinnakers along the bottom of the course but Aussie drops were being utilised before mark 4 was reached.

For the second beat the top three went right but Clancy worked some shifts to round the second weather mark in third place ahead of Rumball. This gave a revised order of McCartin, Butler, Clancy, Rumball, Colin, Smyth, Miller and McKenna. After a capsize on 2- 3 on the previous lap, Court & Syme retired. The legs from 1- 2 and from 2- 3 were manageable but care had to be exercised, particularly when gusts came in over the backs of the crews on 1 – 2. Leg 2 - 3 was all about timing the gybe correctly and 3 – 4 was now a high wire two sail reach.

On what was to be the last beat, McCartin and Clancy worked the left hand side while Butler and Rumball worked the middle and right. A combination of good boat speed and a more favourable angle to the weather mark on the port layline meant that McCartin was able to hold onto his lead. Clancy slotted into fourth behind the other two, with Butler ahead of Rumball. However, before the finish, Rumball would pass out Butler.

Colin & Casey were holding off Smyth & Fisher who by virtue of this 6th place were in line to take the second set of Frostbite Mugs and so it evolved.

After 5 races, assuming no discards, my assessment of the overall situation is as follows;

On reviewing the official posted results, it seems that Messrs McCartin & Kinsella were recorded as OCS in the day’s first race.

#fireball – The Dun Laoghaire Frostbites got back on track today, Sunday 25^th January, with two races in weather conditions which were also a bonus. As far back as Thursday the suggestion was that it would be blowing hard today. The Sea Area forecast from Met Eireann last night was also suggesting it would be “draughty” and lastly, the “Windfinder” App was suggesting that there would be as much as 18 knots at 15:00, this afternoon. In the end, none of them were right as the Frostbite fleet enjoyed good but challenging wind conditions in mild temperatures just into double figures. The weather station close to my vantage point was suggesting that winds of between 4 and 6 knots were blowing with gusts that got up to 12 knots.  Directionally, there was some agreement on all the forecasts with a direction of SSW to SW being predicted and recorded.

In the first Fireball start the majority of the fleet were at the committee boat end but Neil Colin and Margaret Casey (14775) were at the opposite end and that certainly appeared to be the side that was favoured going up the beat. Those boats that hung out right were punished as they found themselves over-standing the first weather mark of the trapezoid course.

For a change, rather than attempt a blow by blow account of the race, the roundings of the weather mark on each of the four laps is recorded to give readers an idea of the “yo-yo-ing” that afflicted the fleet today.

Initially the off-wind legs of seemed to be quite simple. The top leg of the course, 1 – 2, was a tightish reach which most people three-sailed for the first couple of laps, but as the afternoon progressed this became a tighter leg and at least one Fireball sailed it as a two-sail reach and didn’t appear to lose out as a consequence. The leg from 2 – 3 was also simple enough initially, ease sheets as one rounded Mark 2 and sail to Mark 3, but on the last two laps of the trapezoid a variety of approaches were being adopted and Rumball & Byrne executed four gybes between 2 and 3 on the last lap before they went round the latter mark. The plan of attack for the beats was to stick to middle and left as going right did not pay at all. As the wind flicked one way and then another, the leg from 2 to 3 became ever more tactical and places could be snatched if you got into wind that those around didn’t have.

Frank Miller and James Murphy (14713) used this to launch a platform to attack the leaders and when the leading six boats appeared to concertina into the rounding of Mark 4 for the last time, they were able to take best advantage and pop out with a possible second place over the finish line.

As the finish was at the opposite end of the harbour to my vantage point, adjacent to the HSS gantry on the windward shore, my view of the finish was poor, but the suggestion is that the order was as follows;

For the second race of the day, the Fireball fleet all started on port tack with the pin appearing to be the favoured end. Luke Malcolm and Harry O’Reilly (14790) were furthest away from the pin. Yet again the left-hand side of the course was where everyone wanted to be. At the weather mark the initial rounding order was Clancy, McCartin, Rumball, Butler and Colin and all five boats got a tight 3-sail reach as their reward. Again the fleet was able to ease sheets for the leg from 2 to 3 rather than gybe and as a testimony to the consistency of the breeze at this early stage the initial pecking order hadn’t changed by the time they got to Mark 3.

For the second beat the fleet went right with Rumball & McCartin keeping in very close company. Clancy was a little bit further to windward of this pair but he appeared to have lost some ground on them, meaning that despite the apparent close attention they were giving each other, he couldn’t capitalise on being the “third man”. At the second weather mark, Rumball was still in control and the leading three boats enjoyed a fast 3-sailer to Mark 2. 2 – 3 was no longer the simple leg it had been on the first lap and at the end of the leg McCartin had taken Rumball, Clancy was secure in third and Butler who though he was in fourth wasn’t anywhere near enough to get to the lead three boats. 

Up the third beat and the lead two were watching each other again……..with Clancy waiting to pounce if they made a slip up. No joy! McCartin & Kinsella rounded the last weather mark in the lead but then nearly lost it all when a gust came through as they were putting up the kite. Rumball & Byrne must have seen a “literal door open and slam shut again” as the leaders escaped a swim and got control back again. As the two boats approached Mark 2 Rumball & Byrne were going faster and words could be heard between the two boats as Mark 2 loomed in front of them.

It seemed that all was “set fair” for a simple finish. The lead three boats negotiated their way to Mark 3 and for 2/3 of the leg from 3 to 4, the order seemed to be equally settled. However, even from my observation post on the opposite side of the harbour I could see that there was fun and games going on at Mark 4 – lots of overlapping spinnakers suggested that the leaders had closed in on themselves again. Rumball & Byrne got squeezed out, capsizing in the process (I found out later – from the “horse’s mouth) to leave a finishing order of Butler & Oram, McCartin & Kinsella and Rumball & Byrne.

In my estimation – without sight of the results – Miller & Murphy will pick up the Frostbite Mugs for the first race of the day, with Colin & Casey getting them for the second.