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Blustery Day on the Water in Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
Sunday’s Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire Harbour were a test for organisers and competitors alike. The forecast suggested a North Easterly breeze, produced on the day, though it was from an ENE direction. Wind strength had been predicted in the high teens, gusting into the low twenties, and that, too, manifested itself. However, there was a wider range of wind speeds recorded, from a low of 14 knots to a base wind of 18/19 knots with gusts comfortably into the twenties. Indeed, Frostbites Co-ordinator Neil Colin recorded a gust of 31 knots on a handheld device at the end of the western breakwater.
Possibly because of the weather, numbers were low on the day with the PY fleet mustering ten boats for Race 1, the ILCA 7s had a bumper turn-out of eleven boats and the ILCA 6s had fourteen giving a fleet turnout of 35 boats. This would compare with 40+ boat in recent weeks and fleets of 60+ boats in the 2022/23 season.
"Frostbites Co-ordinator Neil Colin recorded a gust of 31 knots"
Brendan Duffy of the DMYC Ruffian fleet was the Race Officer with this correspondent laying the weather mark which was located just inside the end of the East Pier. In this location there were some “cats’ paws” racing across the water – a combination of the wind direction and the wind coming through the harbour mouth. The top reach of the Olympic course set for both races would see the fleet sail east to west across the harbour mouth and this made for a very fast passage to the gybe mark set in the approximate location of the INSS’ green platform. The leeward mark was off the marina wall and it would see some additional action during the afternoon.
For the first race, the majority view as to sail up the left hand-side of the beat on starboard tack before putting in a tack to come into the mark on port. All three fleets pursued this approach and it resulted in a tight pack of PY boats and subsequently ILCA 7s approaching the mark. In the PY fleet Pat McGoldrick and Paul ter Horst (14790) led the charge from Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15156) with Michael Keegan and helm (14676) also well placed. My recall is that Noel Butler in the Aero was also well up the fleet on the water.
Sanity seemed to be the order of the day for the two reaches with no spinnakers flying on either leg which may have helped the handicap stakes for the slightly slower boats (on the water). By the second windward mark Court & Syme had taken the lead though the other two aforementioned Fireball combinations were still in touch. The Fireball was first home but on corrected time concede the win to Butler’s Aero. The top five on corrected time were evenly spread with two Aeros, two Fireballs and the RS200 of Jamie and Katie Tingle with the sequence being Butler, Court, Roy van Maanen, McGoldrick and Tingle.
The ILCA 7s were evenly more tightly bunched as they approached the weather mark with Conor Byrne being the “rabbit” to everyone else’s hounds. However, getting around the mark got more complicated as the second (or third placed) boat capsized bringing at least one other boat with him. Byrne won the race with the pecking order behind him being; Theo Lyttle, Chris Arrowsmith, Gavan Murphy and John Marmelstein.
The ILCA 6s had some air and water between them at the first weather mark, but again, given the conditions, it was competitive at the front. I don’t have the details for this race as I was now engaged in rescue duties (Aero with a broken main halyard, capsized Fireball) and indeed my observation obligation was ultimately usurped by rescue undertakings. In R1 for the ILCA 6s the finishing order was Owen Laverty, Hugh Delap, Conor Clancy, Darren Griffin and Hugh Cahill.
The first race was of less that 20 minutes duration and there was quite a few dropouts for the second race – PY (4 boats), ILCA 7s (1) and ILCA 6s (6).
Another three lap Olympic course was set and I have no observations of the race at all, other than to say that the wind had risen from the first race and some experienced competitors were finding the challenge a bit too robust. However, those who did manage to get their way around the course were delighted that racing had continued.
Race 2 – Finishers (1 – 5).
PY – Noel Butler (Aero), Roy van Maanen (Aero), Alastair Court & Gordon Syme, Jamie & Katie Tingle and Pierre & Remy Long (IDRA).
ILCA 7s – Conor Byrne, Niall Cowman, Gavan Murphy, Theo Lyttle and Roy McKay.
ILCA 6s – Hugh Delap, Conor Clancy, Darren Griffin, Hugh Cahill, Michael Norman.
In overall terms, for Series 2, the 1-5 in each class are as follows;
PY – Butler(7), Court & Syme (27), van Maanen (32), Sarah Dwyer (Aero) (32) and Pierre & Remy Long (IDRA) (34).
ILCA 7s – Byrne (8), Lyttle (14), Gary O’Hare (21), Murphy (29) and Marmelstein (30).
ILCA 6s – Griffin (13), Clancy (17), Delap (21), Shirley Gilmore (43) and Norman (43).
Fleet of 43 Boats Turnout for DMYC Viking Marine-Sponsored Frostbite Race
Races 13 & 14 of the Viking Marine-sponsored Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire Harbour saw a change of Race Officer, with DMYC Commodore Ian Cutliffe taking over the reins of race management from Cormac Bradley, who had the day off.
A fleet of 43 boats enjoyed two Olympic courses of three and four laps respectively, and with the wind in the West, post-race comment was that there were big shifts on the water and at the start of the second
race a major shift.
As this correspondent was off the water, I can only report the results and make comment on the finishing order of the PY fleet where the quest for a combined win on the water and a win on elapsed time is a recurrent theme between the Fireballs and Aeros.
Seventeen boats contested Race 1 which had a “run-time” of nearly twenty-eight minutes. First over the line was the Fireball combination of Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15156) leading home a quartet of
Fireballs in the form of Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016), Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly (14865), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14998) and Paul ter Horst & crew (14790) all of whom finished ahead of the first Aero. Noel Butler, in turn led the Aeros home with a near two-minute margin on the next Aero, Damien Dion, with Roy van Maanen, Stephen Oram and Paul Phelan the next in line. The IDRA 14 of the Long family finished 4:32 down on Court & Syme. On corrected time however, the podium places were shared, in order, by Butler, Long and Court.
The same number of boats started the second race and again a quintet of five Fireballs occupied the first five finishing places on the water, spanning 4:39. The last of these beat Butler on the line by a second.
Yet again, however, Butler did enough to take the win on elapsed time over Court & Syme, with Sarah Dwyer (Aero), the Longs, and Paul Phelan (Aero) taking the remaining top five places.
In overall terms three Aeros are top of the log – Butler (6pts), Dwyer (26pts), Oram (28pts) with the Longs (33pts) and Court & Syme (40pts) closing out the top five.
The ILCA 7s had another high percentage turnout for both their races – 10 boats from a possible 13! Conor Byrne took the day’s honours with two wins, while Theo Lyttle and Brian O’Hare shared the balance of the podium places, Lyttle scoring 3,2 and O’Hare 2,3. In Race 1 fourth and fifth went to Niall Cowman and Chris Arrowsmith while in Race 2, Arrowsmith jumped to fourth with John Marmelstein
taking fifth.
Lyttle leads the overall standings on twelve points, three ahead of O’Hare who has a five-point cushion on O’Byrne. Gavan Murphy and John Marmelstein, with scores in the thirties, close out the top five.
Darren Griffin took the day’s honours in the ILCA 6s with two bullets. Hugh Delap would have been second overall on the day with a 2,4 with Justin Geoghegan pipping Judy O’Beirne for the last podium place for the day with a 5,3, compared to Judy’s 4,5. Shirley Gilmore and Conor Clancy also had top-five finishes but only in one race each, a third in Race 1 and a second in Race 2, respectively.
In overall terms, Griffin leads the fleet on ten points, followed by Clancy (16pts), Delap (23pts), Gilmore (31pts) and Michael Norman (43pts).
Frostbite Mugs were awarded for the previous Sunday – Hugh Cahill and Michael Norman (ILCA6s) - and if memory serves (because I don’t have Neil Colin’s notes to hand), Mugs for the day’s racing went to Damien Dion (Aero, R1), Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly (FB, R2), Brian O’Hare (ILCA 7, R1), Niall Cowman (ILCA 7, R2), Judy O’Beirne (ILCA 6, R1) and Justin Geoghegan (ILCA 6, R2).
Butler's RS Aero Wins in First Race of 2024 Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
Series 2 of the Viking Marine sponsored Frostbites, hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, was sailed under glorious conditions for January – 6-8 knots of a breeze that stayed pretty stable throughout the afternoon and air temperatures that peaked at 10° but dropped rapidly once the sun went behind low clouds in the south, to the extent that the committee boat recorded 6.5°at the end of the racing as the last boat finished.
All week, the forecast was for light winds from the East, but at the DMYC, the wind indicators on the boats on the hard were showing a wind direction from the West. Out in the main part of the harbour, this was confirmed with a wind direction that fluctuated modestly around the 280°mark all afternoon. And wind strength was also better than expected at almost double what was forecast.
The fleet size was modest at 40 boats total with the ILCA7s having the biggest percentage turnout of any fleet, 10 boats from 13 entries. However, the biggest fleet of boats was in the PY Class with sixteen entries with the ILCA 6s close behind with fourteen.
The plan was to sail two races but a slow exit from her berth at the Carlisle Pier by the Irish Navy vessel lost us nearly 25 minutes at the start of the afternoon and so the decision was taken on the water to have a longer single race – 4 laps of an Olympic course. The weather mark was close to the INSS’ green raft, the gybe mark between the entrance to the marina and the HySpeed ferry berth and the leeward mark just off the obelisk n the upper deck of the East Pier.
All three fleets got away at the first time of asking and while the wind dropped to a low of approx. 6.5 knots, there was enough breeze to keep everyone moving well.
The PY fleet was dominated at the front by a group of Fireballs, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14998), Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (15016), Alastair Court & Gordon Syme (15167), and Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (14854), with Pat McGoldrick & Paul ter Horst (14790) and Owen Sinnott & Grattan Donnelly (14865) not far behind them. Not having their best day was Frank Miller & Neil Cramer (14990). Could this be the day when the RS Aero’s stranglehold on the podium places could be broken? Having a better day on the water were the GP14 pairing of Ciara Mulvey & Peter Murphy (11111). However, with the exception of Noel Butler (3289) the Aeros sailed in close company for the majority of the race, maybe just far enough behind the leaders to give the rest of the PY fleet a chance to occupy the podium, with Butler breaking away from his classmates as the race progressed.
Power, McKenna and Colin each held the PY lead on the water with Court recovering places as the race progressed. Colin & Casey yoyo-ed a little but when the crunch came, they played a new game. Rounding the last windward mark off the lead they gybed immediately to sail towards the harbour mouth on port tack before gybing back again to sneak around the last leeward mark in first place with Court and McKenna tight on their transom. Colin eked out a short distance from the chasing pair, enough to apply a covering tack when the boats tacked onto starboard to make their way to the finish. Colin & Casey won on the water by 13 seconds from McKenna & O’Keeffe with Court & Syme a second back from McKenna. Butler (Aero) came home 4:48 behind the first Fireball but took the win on handicap by a margin of 2:56 relative to Colin and to add insult to injury three other Aeros and the IDRA of Pierre & Paul Long finished ahead of Colin. He even lost the Frostbite Mug to Sarah Dwyer (4th) by 1:22.
The ten ILCA 7s got off the start line in a tight bunch and sailed the balance of the race in that style until quite late on. There was a tight finish for the class with boats approaching the line from opposite ends. John Marmelstein (219147) just took the win from Conor Byrne (181204) and Theo Lyttle (211129) third.
The winner in the ILCA 6s said that she had really enjoyed her day on the water – the combination of sunshine, easy winds and a race where she could concentrate on tactics rather than keeping the boat flat were the perfect recipe for a Sunday in January. Shirley Gilmore (216328) enjoyed the lead for the duration of the race but admitted to being hard pushed by the chasing pack of Daniel O’Connor (211260), Conor Clancy (213048) and Hugh Delap (211171). Fifth place was taken by Michael Norman (219126).
Post race a number of people expressed the view that it had been a most enjoyable afternoon on the water.
While Series 2 was opened to new entries (who hadn’t sailed Series 1), the uptake has been such that there are still places available for this latter Series.
Viking Marine DMYC Dinghy Frostbites Series 2; Race 1
PY Fleet
Place, Elapsed Time, Corrected Time
1 Noel Butler (Aero) 53:42 48:36
2. Roy van Maanen (Aero) 55:10 49:55
3. Pierre & Paul Long (IDRA) 56:13 49:58
4. Sarah Dwyer (Aero) 55:14 49:59
5. Stephen Oram (Aero) 54:16 51:03
6. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (FB) 48:54 51:22
ILCA 7s
1. John Marmelstein (219147)
2. Conor Byrne (181204)
3. Theo Lyttle (211129)
ILCA 6s
1. Shirley Gilmore (216328)
2. Daniel O’Connor (211260)
3. Conor Clancy (213048)
4. Hugh Delap (211171)
5. Michael Norman (219126)
Pre-Christmas Viking Marine Frostbites Concludes with Two Races at Dun Laoghaire Harbour
Series 1 of the DMYC’s Viking Marine-sponsored Frostbites concluded on Sunday in variable wind conditions that saw as much as 16 knots on the course at times, and boats stalled due to a lack of wind at other times. However, the latter condition generally didn’t last very long, and two brisk races were sailed to give the fleet an eight-race series with a single discard. What had looked like a quiet end to the series from a forecast point of view early in the week changed dramatically by Friday/Saturday when the Principal Organiser and Race Officer, Neil Colin and Cormac Bradley, respectively, exchanged WhatsApp messages, wondering whether we would get racing in at all.
An early arrival at the Dun Laoghaire waterfront allowed Bradley to see the big boats comfortably sailing the closing stages of their “Turkey Shoot” regatta under full rig and the three Flying Fifteens, ashore after a coaching session advised that while they had varied conditions in terms of wind strength and direction outside, before being towed back to harbour due to a lack of wind, conditions inside were definitely sailable.
At the DMYC, the decision was taken to have two brisk races to get the fleet in early for the end-of-series prize-giving.
With an “average” wind direction of 190°, but with a burgee flicking left and right, the committee boat set up just inside the end of the west pier to give the fleet a beat across the shorter dimension of the outer harbour, with the weather mark in transit with the seasonal ice-rink set up inside the old ferry complex, a gybe mark in the middle of the harbour and a leeward mark close to the end of the west pier.
A line just short of 115m was laid with, in the RO’s view, an element of bias towards the pin to try and keep the fleet away from the committee boat………except the wind didn’t always co-operate! The first race was set as a 3-lap Olympic course, with three triangles et for the second.
Ten ILCA7s came out to play on the last day, their best turnout of the series and Theo Lyttle positioned himself at the front of the fleet for everyone else to have a swipe at. They were unsuccessful and he led the fleet home in Race 1 of the Day with Niall Cowman and Conor Byrne taking the other podium places. In Race 2 Lyttle was off the pace and when cajoled from the committee boat admitted that he was feeling the strain. Still, he managed a fifth place with the podium places going to Conor Byrne, Gavan Murphy and Chris Arrowsmith. Chris’ performance in this race would see him get a Frostbite Mug for the day.
Eighteen ILCA6s were anxious to get going and as the countdown to the start progressed the RO knew that the majority of the fleet were behind him, meaning that the start was going to be congested. At 30 seconds the near end of the line was almost empty, at 15 seconds there were bows starting to appear and at the gun the pin disappeared from view. General Recall!
Given the agenda for the day, the RO decided to go straight to black and three boats jumped the gun with a minute to go, earning letters on their scorecard rather than numbers – it seems that they were not “au fait” with the relationship between the dropping of the General Recall signal and the Warning signal. The remaining fifteen “6s” got away cleanly and the fleet kept reasonably tight company and found themselves mingling with the “7s” and the PY fleet. Their price for the General Recall – a two lap race rather than a three-lapper. Daniel O’Connor started the day perfectly with a race win, followed home by Conor Clancy, Ali Robinson, Brendan Hughes and Darren Griffin. Griffin then won the second race with O’Connor second followed by Owen Laverty, Brendan Hughes and Hugh Delap.
The PY fleet saw a new greyhound on the water today with National Yacht Club Coach, Thomas Chaix in an Aero leading the fleet on the water until metres from the finish. On a day when one would have thought the spinnakered boats would have an advantage on the slightly longer reaches it was surprising to see the lead that Chaix had, particularly viewed against the other Aeros. Chaix sailed from the last leeward mark to the finish on starboard tack but on a line that saw him outside the pin end for the finish. His efforts to get back across on port to set up the crossing of the finish line were then thwarted by a stream of ILCAs to the extent that Frank Miller and Caroul in the Fireball were able to steal the win on the water. The perennial struggle for the Fireballs to save their time on the water against the Aeros continued today when both Miller and Alastair Court & Gordon Syme finished ahead of Noel Butler in the Aero 6, by 33 seconds and 1 second respectively, but were relegated to third and fourth on time behind Butler and Roy van Maanen. Fifth place was taken by father and son Pierre and Paul Long in the IDRA 14.
A reasonably quick turnaround for Race 2 was undone for the PY fleet when they prompted a General Recall, triggered by Fireballs and Aeros. When they did get underway the Aero of Chaix was again prominent at the head of the fleet until a gear failure forced him to retire via a tow home to the NYC. The Fireballs of Miller and Court led the charge around the course and at the finish only three seconds separated the two boats. Butler finished 34 second behind Miller (and 31 behind Court) but romped home by 2:49 leading an Aero 1-6 finishing order of van Maanen, Stephen Oram, Damien Dion, Jeff Fahy and Stuart Harris. The IDRA took seventh ahead of the two Fireballs.
On a weekend which started with some doubts as to whether we would get any racing at all, two races were completed to close out the Series and the organisers were rewarded by a good turnout at the prize-giving in the DMYC clubhouse.
Frostbite Mugs for the day went to Frank Miller and Caroul (PY), Stephen Oram (PY) and Chris Arrowsmith (ILCA7s) and Series 1 prizes in the form of Rick Tomlinson calendars were also awarded.
DMYC Series 1 Frostbites, sponsored by Viking Marine
PY Fleet
1. Noel Butler, Aero 6;11pts
2. Pierre, Paul & Remy Long, IDRA 14; 28pts
3. Roy van Maanen, Aero 6; 35pts
4. Sarah Dwyer, Aero 6; 35pts
5. Alastair Court & Gordon Syme, Fireball; 42pts
ILCA 7s
1. Theo Lyttle; 13pts
2. Gavan Murphy; 20pts
3. Gary O’Hare; 27pts
ILCA 6s
1. Conor Clancy; 19pts
2. Darren Griffin; 34pts
3. Shirley Gilmore; 45pts
4. Daniel O’Connor; 52pts
5. Brendan Hughes; 52pts
Fireballs
1. Alastair Court & Gordon Syme, FB 15167; 11pts
2. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey, FB14998; 22pts
3. Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe; 23pts
Aeros
1. Noel Butler; 7pts
2. Sarah Dwyer; 17pts
3. Roy van Maanen; 21pts
4. Stephen Oram; 23.5pts.
Series 2 of the Frostbites opens on Sunday 7th January 2024 and Principal Organiser, Neil Colin advises that there are spaces available for Series 2, further entries can be accommodated. There will be no special “Frostbite” events over the Christmas break.
From this correspondent, HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Pete Smyth's Sunfast 3600 Searcher from the National Yacht Club was the overall handicap winner of Sunday's Leinster Boats-sponsored DMYC Kish Race on Dublin Bay.
Smyth's crew led the 36-boat fleet from Dun Laoghaire Harbour's start to finish line in the last big event of the Bay’s summer sailing programme.
Start vid below by Barry O'Neill
The race lived up to its billing regarding fleet size and the return of summer sailing conditions with a balmy 17-degree air temperature for the October 1st race and a pleasant westerly breeze of up to 15 knots and a relatively flat sea state to boot.
Smyth finished in an elapsed time of three hours, 19 minutes and 15 seconds, but won only by a margin of 46 seconds on corrected time from Frank Whelan's Archambault A31, Crazy Diamond.
In third place was one of the many one-design keelboats competing, as Keith Poole's 20-foot long, two-man Flying Fifteen, Mike Wazowski, finished in an elapsed time of 4:08:45 corrected to 3:43:53 on local handicap.
The results produced yet another overall ISORA racer as the event winner, as last year's Kish title went to a former Irish Sea Champion, Chris Power Smith's J122 Aurelia.
The successful staging of the 2023 race, under Race Officer Cormac Bradley, was a tribute to the late Ben Mulligan, who was DMYC's Kish Race organiser until 2022.
There was a strong one-design keelboat presence in the all-in fleet with seven Ruffian 23s, four Shipman 28s, four Flying Fifteens, two 31.7s and an SB20 competing in the 36-boat fleet.
DMYC Kish Race to Sail This Sunday, October 1st
After the disappointment of not getting sailing last Sunday, and with Storm Agnes passing through on Wednesday afternoon, the Weather Gods are looking more favourable for DMYC's rescheduled Kish Race on Dublin Bay on Sunday, 1st October.
The starting time is at 11.00 at the West Pier, Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The entry remains open on www.dmyc.ie.
"DMYC, along with Sponsors Leinster Boats, look forward to a full house on the water, and back for the Après Sail in the clubhouse after", Neil Colin told Afloat.
"The fleet will be passing south of a mark in the proximity of the South Burford on the outward and return legs, to comply with Dublin Port requirements", he added.
Sunday's DMYC Kish Race is Postponed One Week Due to Strong Wind Forecast
Due to a strong wind forecast, Sunday's annual DMYC Kish Race on Dublin Bay has been postponed one week until 1st October.
The Leinster Boats sponsored race is typically the last major race on the Bay's summer racing calendar.
The DMYC were reluctant to postpone, with organiser Neil Colin telling Afloat: While the traditionally referenced Apps, including Wind Guru and WindyTY, offer mixed views and suggest a moderation in the forecast, the underlying theme of blustery Southerly winds from the Atlantic depression, together with Met Eireann indicating extreme gusts, represent an unacceptable safety risk to the competitors which DMYC are unable to accept".
"We look forward to a more favourable forecast next week" he added.
'Steady Flow' of Entries for DMYC Kish Race on Dublin Bay This Sunday
Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC) on Dublin Bay has reported a steady flow of entries for this weekend's highly anticipated Kish Race.
In a recent announcement, the club has introduced a new perpetual prize for the first Under 25 Skipper in memory of Ben Mulligan, who passed away a few weeks after successfully running the 2022 edition of the race.
The race is sponsored by Dun Laoghaire yacht brokers, Leinster Boats.
The trophy is intended to honour Ben's contribution to encouraging youth and students to sail on the bay.
According to the Notice of Race, the eligibility standard for the race is set as "boats capable of sailing in open water." Weather permitting, the race may include sports boats, SB20s, and other boats, as the experience of sailing around the Kish structure in "river-like tidal conditions", is not to be missed.
The weather forecast for the race currently indicates a moderate Southerly breeze, which should make for a fast race.
This sets the stage for a reach both ways, and skippers are eagerly anticipating the challenge. The Kish Race has always been a popular event that attracts sailors from all over Dublin Bay and beyond, and this year's edition promises to be as exciting as ever.
DMYC Kish Race to Set Sail on Dublin Bay on 24th September
Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC) has published the Notice of Race for its annual Kish Race on Dublin Bay, with support from Leinster Boats yacht brokers.
The race will start from the West Pier at 11.00 am on Sunday, 24th September.
The race is sponsored by Dun Laoghaire yacht brokers, Leinster Boats.
In a change from the usual format, as agreed with Dublin Port, the fleet will pass south of the South Burford on both the outbound and inbound legs of the race.
The race is run on “Standard Echo.” We welcome the competitive racers, weekend recreation, and cruiser sailors to participate in the last major race on the Dublin Bay summer racing calendar.
Race organiser, Neil Colin noted, "Have no fear of a crowded start line as it will be approximately 500m long!"
As regular Afloat readers will recall, Chris Power Smith's well-proven J122, Aurelia, won the 2022 race in a fine turnout of 56 boats.
Last weekend saw a hybrid Fireball Open Weekend hosted by the DMYC. This year instead of a two-day racing event, the class decided to experiment with a blended event combining coaching and racing writes Frank Miller.
The coaching took place over two days under the expert eye of Thomas Chaix of Dinghy Performance.
As well as being one of the more expert dinghy coaches on the island, Thomas has first-hand experience having sailed a Fireball in the last year’s World Championship at LDYC Dromineer.
The forecast for the weekend was light, and so it proved. Saturday dawned with light northerlies, so most coaching took place inside the harbour. The particular focus was on starts and leeward mark roundings, a perennial obsession with sailors in all classes, given the potential gains available. The briefing before going afloat examined starting issues of positioning, lay lines to the two sides and "runway" positioning to determine the timing on the approach to the line. Thomas has an interesting and arguably more useful approach to the idea of transits, favouring the identification of two transits, one being a safe zone for the approach and another to identify the actual line position.
For Leeward mark rounding, Thomas impressed on the sailors the importance of a plan of approach far in advance of the mark, with zones in which to formulate a plan and others in which to execute the plan. In particular, the areas around the leeward mark were divided into pizza-type slices and the advantages and dangers of approaches into each "slice" were discussed.
On the water, the 14 Fireballs went through a series of starting drills. The shifty winds inside the harbour meant that the coach was saved the trouble of moving marks to vary the line bias. Equally, even the short practice races provided plenty of shifts and hollows to keep sailors on their toes. The leeward mark exercises were made challenging by downwind starts with sailors forced to decide early on the best approach to achieve inside berth in crowded conditions with little breeze to spare. The fleet then moved outside the harbour for short races in different conditions. While everyone hoped for a bit more breeze and a few waves, the reality around the corner in Salthill was very light winds and an adverse ebbing tide. Starts were challenging, to say the least, and one of the funniest video commentaries features the coach timing the fleet's struggle to get across the line. After a couple of entertaining races, common sense prevailed, and the fleet went back to the DMYC for showers, tea, beer and pizzas.
The plan for Sunday was a series of short races with coaching overview and advice between races, with some active advice allowed to the silver fleet during racing. Besides that on-the-water advice the huge benefit to the participants came in the form of a series of video commentaries by the coach uploaded to the Fireball WhatsApp group after sailing. The subtle movements by the top two teams in particular are worthy of careful analysis in the search for optimal sail shape and speed. All-in-all, this was an extremely successful weekend and sailors at all levels drew considerable benefit from the event. Special mention must go to Team Cork, where Chris Bateman is spearheading a Fireball revival and introducing a new young generation to the delights of the boat. In recognition of his work, the class has relocated the class loan boat to the other capital for at least a year.
The class welcomes new sailors, young and not so young and continues its drive to mobilise dormant boats into active new hands. With a busy season ahead, the next class event is the Ulster Championships at Newtownards on May 27th & 28th.
See the race report for the Fireball Open Championship by Cormac Bradley here