DAY 4: An early halt to Fireball International Week was called when Mother Nature was unable to provide enough wind power to let the fleet go afloat. In essence we had a tide of maybe four knots going one way and wind of two knots going the other. Friday morning had dawned bright and sunny with only a few wisps of cloud. At 10:00 a postponement was signaled as there was so little wind in parts of the race area it was mirror-like. The experience this past week has been that the wind in Sligo seems to declare its hand at around 11am. Yesterday at 11am there was no wind – thus in that respect it was to be consistent because by 12 noon the signal to close the regatta was given and thoughts then turned to measurement and preparation of boats for scrutiny.

The regatta measuring team were assembled and a further ten boats were measured in for the regatta in a two hour period. As this scribe was part of that team, this report was postponed!

Thus the podium had a distinctly international appeal to it: In first place were Ben Schulz and Phillip Bowley (AUS 15062) who counted four race wins and a second place for their regatta total. In second place were Andy & Derian Scott (GBR 14941) with a 1,2,2,3,3 score line to trail the Aussies by 5pts. In third place, from Canada, were Joe Jospe and Tom Egli (CAN 15024) with a score line of 2,2,4,4,5.

Thereafter there were four Irish boats led home by Noel Butler and Stephen Oram (IRL 15061), Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella (IRL 14820), Graeme Grant & Hugh Butler (IRL 14807) and Frank Miller and Susie Mulligan (IRL 14713).

A variety of wind conditions had been enjoyed by the fleet over the week with Thursday's racing being the most physically challenging.

The later arrivals in Sligo must have been disappointed at not getting out on the water yesterday but "that's the way the cookie crumbles!"

The assembled fleet was then treated in the evening to a spit roast and a variety of traditional musical groups as part of the coincident Sea Shanty Festival, hosted by the Irish Fireball Class Association as part of the regatta social programme. Next week will see presentations by the Australians for the Mandurah Worlds in December/January and the Italians for the 2012 Europeans. The evening was a great opportunity for friends to catch up as Fireballers from the Shetland Islands, the Czech Republic, France and Germany and the UK arrived at this west coast location on the edge of Europe – Cead Mille Failte (Gaelic for a hundred thousand welcomes)!

DAILY REPORT: Day 3 saw the race team take the International Week Fireball fleet outside Sligo's famous lighthouse and into the Atlantic proper. The result was lumpy seas that make the upwind legs awkward and hard work for crew and helm alike. The records will show that the wind strength varied during the day from 9 to 14 knots but it felt a lot stronger than that.

The Canadians, Jospe & Egli rounded the first weather mark of the day in first place and seemed to enjoy a growing lead as the race wore on, however, at the end the rampant Aussies stole the show again with another win. It seems that on the third beat the Canadian went right, the Aussies went left and left paid. GBR's Alex Taylor and Richard Anderton (15031) joined the fleet this morning and were rewarded with a third place in this race. Derian and Andy Scott were to sail their discard in this race - a 4th – while behind them, another addition to the fleet Ireland's Kenny Rumball and Seamus Moore took 5th, ahead of McCartin/Kinsella and Butler/Oram, the latter combination having spinnaker problems on the downwind leg of the sausage. Elsewhere in the fleet the rivalry between the Ryders, David & Michelle, and Frank Miller/Susie Mulligan went the way of the British couple who scored a 10th to Miller's 18th.Tipton and King (CAN 14907) also had a better race scoring a 9th.

Fortunately the rain showers that had battered the fleet on the way out to the race area at the start of the day were not repeated and the sun decided to shine a bit of the fleet which now boasted 21 boats.

Team Scott led the fleet round the first weather mark in the company of the Aussies, Taylor & Anderton and team Canada. However, on the second reach of the first triangle, Taylor/Anderton took over the lead and proceeded to build a big distance between themselves and the rest of the fleet. Schulz/Bowley took 2nd place, followed by Derian/Andy, Jospe/Egli, Butler/Oram & McCartin/Kinsella. Miller/Mulligan beat the Ryders by a place to leave the pair tied on 45 points each after discard which kicked in on completion of the second race.

The consensus of the fleet was that it had been a very hard day at the office – hardly surprising as we were taking on the Atlantic proper. Today we had rain out on the course a first for this regatta and as per usual the wind had the final throw of the dice as it came ashore.

Today there was the additional attraction of sailing with dolphins and a member of the international jury delayed his return to shore in order to watch them frolic in the water.

Team P&B have now arrived in Sligo as have others who are racing next week – the dinghy park is growing that bit more crowded!

Overall	Helm	Crew	Sail No
1	Ben Schulz	Phillip Bowley	AUS 15062
2	Derian Scott	Andy Scott	GBR 14941
3	Joe Jospe	Tom Egli	CAN 15024
4	Noel Butler	Stephen Oram	IRL 15061
5	Barry McCartin	Conor Kinsella	IRL 14820
6	Graeme Grant	Hugh Butler	IRL 14807
7	Frank Miller	Susie Mulligan	IRL 14713
8	David Ryder	Michelle Ryder	GBR 14755
9	Cearbhaill Daly	Martina Michels	IRL 14877
10	Jonathan Evans	Aidan Caulfield	IRL 14748
11	Louis Smyth	Cormac Bradley	IRL 15007
12	Guy Tipton	Matt King	CAN 14907
13	Alex Taylor	Richard Anderton	GBR 15031
14	Louise McKenna	Hermine O'Keeffe	IRL 14691
15	Ben Scallan	David Fitzgerald	IRL 14754
16	Kenny Rumball	Seamus Moore	IRL 15058
17	Patrick Hughes	Aine O'Gara	AUS 14706
18	Ben Malone	Matthew Bennion	IRL14939
19	Maja Suter	Francois Schlucter	SUI 14921
20	David Coleman	Glen Fisher	IRL 14623
21	Beth Armstrong	Peter Armstrong	IRL 15060

Fireball pre-worlds Day Two: The committee boat recorded winds for most of the day around the 18/19 knot mark from the SE. However, on the way out to the start it was blowing in excess of 20 knots and during the racing gusts of around 22 knots were recorded. The SE is an offshore direction so the seas were reasonably flat.

Another two excellent races were set by the Race Management team with screaming reaches – some two-sailed – and a more acceptable length to the windward leg. Yesterday morning's first race had seen very long beats but the RC took the appropriate actions to restore proper order both yesterday afternoon and today.

The first start today saw a leading candidate for victory capsized to tweak his rig, some others lost a minute in the countdown which led to a rather untidy start for some. However, the same group who had enjoyed early success on the water yesterday were to the fore again – the Scotts, Butler/Oram, Jospe/Egli, Grant/Butler, joined by Miller/Mulligan. Schulz/Bowley came from behind after tweaking their rig to join the fun and games at the front of the fleet.

Sailing fast and low, the Aussies gradually hauled in the others, who to that stage had been led around by Butler/Oram. Andy & Derian Scott sailed another stormer to show off the fact that height and weight are not the only way to sail Fireballs in a breeze.

Behind these three came Grant/Butler, Jospe/Egli and Smyth/Bradley.

Race 4 of the regatta was held in similar conditions with the Scotts and Smyth/Bradley going hard left to the fleet's various degrees of right. The left paid with Scotts rounding the first weather mark in first, followed by Smyth/Bradley. The Aussies broke through halfway down the first reach to take second initially and Butler/Oram closed the gap to third at the leeward mark. Up the next beat, Butler/Oram got away and Grant/Butler, Jospe/Egli and McCartin/Kinsella closed by the 2nd weather mark. McCartin/Kinsella got through but a split between either side of the course, left versus right, kept Smyth/Bradley in 5th at the 3rd weather mark. Ahead of this group, Schulz/Bowley had gone into first, followed by the Scotts and Butler/Oram.

No sooner had the fleet got ashore than the wind started to build. Sligo this evening is wet and wild, but a great day's racing has been had by all.

The grey skies above Sligo this morning will not deter the Fireballs who will start this year's International Week preamble to the Class World Championship hosted by Sligo Yacht Club at Rosses Point writes our Fireball Correspondent.
In a sad note for the SYC community, Ann Henry, wife of Gus and mother to current Commodore Niall, passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning - a stalwart and rock in the establishment and development of this west coast club. However, in a measure of the contribution the Henry family have made here, both Gus and Niall were present for last night's official opening ceremony.
Pipes and drums from the 26th Infantry Battalion opened proceedings while the flags of the competing countries fluttered in the breeze. Regatta Chairman Brendan Healy welcomed the visitors and members to the Club and introduced the various speakers, Niall Henry, Club Commodore, Niamh McCutcheon, President ISA (National Sailing Authority), Francois Schlucter, Fireball International Commodore and John McClune of Bord Failte who declared the regatta open.
Due thanks were paid to the people who have put in the hours to get the regatta organised and to the sponsors who have made it possible - Dubarry (title sponsors), Marlin Waters, Bord Failte, ISA, Interreg and others.
Once the speeches were over the competitors and officials alike renewed old or made new acquaintances with participants from Australia, Canada, Switzerland, UK and Ireland. The balance of the 9 countries entered for the Worlds will make their way here during the week.
Today will see a small fleet take to the water but the three latest boats in the fleet 15061, 15062 and 15063 are here and ready for action.

Monday's Fireball World Sailing Championships got a publicity lift last night when the 58–dinghy sailing event bound for Rosses Point in Sligo made the RTE News bulletin. (See clip below). It's an interesting piece about how a local sailing family, the Armstrong's, have built a home-made boat especially for the event.

The spread of countries heading for the northwest covers Ireland, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Shetland Islands, France, Czech Republic, Canada and Germany, with the continents being Europe, Australia and North America.

The home contingent boasts 28 boats, followed by GBR with 17 boats, France and Switzerland have three entries each, Canada and the Czech Republic 2, with Australia, the Shetlands and Germany each having one. However, there is a late attempt to get a second Australian entry to the event and in fact with entries being open right up to the eve of the regatta, there is always the prospect that more boats may still declare.

 

In a fine turnout for the Laser class, the Royal St. George's Sean Craig outwitted club mate Theo Lyttle for line honours tonight in the Laser dinghy class on Dublin Bay.

Tonight was the last race in the first series of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club season.

The 13-boat Laser fleet – that race as part of the PY class – was double that of any other fleet tonight as 10–12 knot westerlies provided perfect dinghy sailing for the 30 dinghies competing. DBSC set triangular courses for all five classes.

It was ideal world championship practise for the six Fireballs now only ten days away from the world championships in Sligo. Continuing a theme Noel Butler and Steven Oram were winners again on Dublin Bay. Second was Winder (E.Butler/O.Laverty) and third Blind Squirrel (Frank Miller) of the DMYC.

In the PY race, Lyttle closed on Craig at the top of the second beat but downwind Craig extended again to take a comfortable margin by the line. Third was Paul Keane.

There is more good news for the Olympic single-hander in Dublin with reports that numbers for club racing are likely to increase as the DBSC Summer season progresses.

So far 21 Lasers are entered in total in a PY fleet of 28 boats.

The sailors involved in the rebirth of the Laser as a club boat include former Laser national class champion Chris Arrowsmith and tonight's race winner, the SB3 and Flying fifteen ace, Sean Craig. Former 420 champ Theo Lyttle is a regular as well as Gary O'Hare.

Full DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 31 MAY 2011 results are below:                                                                                                      
BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 2. Attitude (D.Owens/T.Milner)                                                          
BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 2. Attitude (D.Owens/T.Milner)                                                          
CRUISERS 2 - 1. Cor Baby (Keith Kiernan et al), 2. Free Spirit (John O'Reilly), 3. Graduate (D O'Keeffe)                                              
CRUISERS 3 - 1. Chouskikou (R.Sheehan/R.Hickey), 2. Grasshopper 2 (K & J Glynn), 3. Pamafe (Michael Costello)                                         

CRUISERS 4 - 1. Maranda (Myles Kelly)                                                                                                                 

FIREBALL - 1. nn (S Oram), 2. Winder (E.Butler/O.Laverty), 3. Blind Squirrel (Frank Miller)                                                           
GLEN - 1. Glendun (B.Denham et al), 2. Glenshesk (L.Faulkner et al), 3. Glencorel (B.Waldock/K.Malcolm)                                               
IDRA 14 FOOT - 1. Dunmoanin (Frank Hamilton), 2. Doody (J.Fitzgerald/J.Byrne), 3. Squalls (Stephen Harrison)                                          

MERMAID - 1. Tiller Girl (J.O'Rourke), 2. Lively Lady (G O'Neill & M Hanney), 3. Kim (D Cassidy)                                                      
PY CLASS - 1. Sean Craig (Laser), 2. T Lyttle (Laser), 3. P Keane (Laser 1)                                                                           
RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Alias (D.Meeke/M.McCarthy), 2. Golden Girl (Michael Carrigan et al), 3. Diane ll (Bruce Carswell)                                     

SQUIB - 1. Tais (Michael O'Connell), 2. Sidewinder (D.Croke/R.Bowen)                                                                                 

 

 

 

The National Yacht Club Trapper 300, Grasshopper II, (Kevin and John Glynn) – one of two Trapper's racing on Dublin Bay this year – made light work of the scratch First 28 Chouskikou (R.Sheehan/R.Hickey) and the Sonata 28 Asterix (Counihan/Meredith/Bushell) to be first home tonight in Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Class Three Tuesday race. The breeze on Dublin Bay was 8-10 knots from the west and this – combined with an ebb tide – produced flat seas, a contrast to the comparatively big waves of the past two weeks.

On the dinghy course in Scotsman's bay Frank Miller's Fireball Blind Squirrel was first home from Marguerite O'Rourke's Samphire. Third was Neil Colin's Elevation, tonight's race being the first since the Leinster championships on Carlingford lough at the weekend. Full results for DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 10 MAY 2011 below:

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Cor Baby (Keith Kiernan et al), 2. Free Spirit (John O'Reilly)

CRUISERS 3 - 1. Grasshopper 2 (K & J Glynn), 2. Chouskikou (R.Sheehan/R.Hickey), 3. Asterix (Counihan/Meredith/Bushell)

FIREBALL - 1. Blind Squirrel (Frank Miller), 2. Samphire (Marguerite O'Rourke), 3. Elevation (N.Colin/M.Casey)

GLEN - 1. Glenshane (P Hogan), 2. Glencorel (B.Waldock/K.Malcolm)

IDRA 14 FOOT - 1. Dunmoanin (Frank Hamilton), 2. Doody (J.Fitzgerald/J.Byrne), 3. Squalls (Stephen Harrison)

MERMAID - 1. Kim (D Cassidy), 2. Sallywake (Tony O'Rourke)

PY CLASS - 1. E Ryan (RS400), 2. F.Heath (Laser 1)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Alias (D.Meeke/M.McCarthy), 2. Diane ll (Bruce Carswell), 3. Different Drummer (Catherine Hallinan)

Click for the latest Dublin Bay Sailing Club news and results

Fireball Leinster report by Cormac Bradley. In a preview of the Fireball Leinsters which opened the Irish Fireball regatta schedule for 2011this weekend just past, your correspodent speculated in another forum on how the regatta might go, suggesting that the successful combinations from our winter programme of racing, the Dun Laoghaire Frostbites, Messrs Butler & Oram and Messrs Rumball & Moore, would be the people to beat on the water. 

Well, that speculation proved to be off the mark as two new combinations took podium places leaving only one of the aforementioned combinations inside the 1-2-3!

Twenty Fireballs made it to the southern shores of Carlingford Lough on Ireland's East coast, a sea lough that straddles the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. A town with a growing reputation for entertainment and great eating venues, in medieval times it enjoyed city status, having its own garrison, castle, mint and gaol. King John's Castle dominates the harbour and with the new network of roads, access from Dublin, in particular, is very easy and quick.

With the Worlds in Ireland only weeks away, the fleet has seen an injection of new young talent with relatively young boats and the purchase of two new boats over the winter months. Of the twenty boats assembled, the oldest was 14623 and the youngest 15061.

Four races were sailed on Saturday in a SSE wind of anything up to about 10-12 knots and moderate chop in a session that saw the fleet launch at around 11:15 and get back ashore by 18:30. Race Officer James Byrne of the home club, Carlingford Sailing Club, had his work cut out for him but with on-the-water liaison from the Class, he was able to tweak his courses to provide the competition and challenge that these events demand. Despite some people saying that the venue always produces "flukey" winds, we were blessed with relatively consistent winds in a venue where tide considerations are also significant.

Normal business seemed to have been resumed in the first race when Noel Butler & Stephen Oram took the winning gun followed home by the new combination of Graeme Grant & Francis Rowan and Kenny Rumball & Seamus Moore. The winning margin was comfortable which was consistent with the recent Tuesday night racing in Dublin Bay. Rowan has the reputation for settling in with a new partner quickly so the 2nd place of Grant/Rowan wasn't particularly unusual. A possible mis-calculation of the tide effect made for a very long beat so RO Byrne shortened to two laps.

Race 2 saw these three in the top slots again but with a different finishing order; Grant/Rowan, Rumball/Moore and Butler/Oram. The racing was tighter and the distance between the boats on the water was significantly down. The racing in the top half of the fleet was very tight with no great distance between 1-2-3 and 6-7-8 as the author of this report can testify. There was a sense that in 6th place one wasn't too far away from the action at the very front of the fleet. Simo McGrotty/Ruairi Grimes scored a 4th in Race 2, followed home by Gavin Doyle/Richard Frank and the author, crewing for Louis Smyth.

Butler/Oram took their second win in Race 3, with newcomers Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella in 2nd and Andy Boyle/Brian Flahive in 3rd. These latter two combinations had a mixed bag of results in the first two races but these results would initiate a move for both of them up the overall pecking order. Grant/Rowan & Rumball/Moore were 4th & 5th to make sure that nobody was breaking away completely from the fleet.

Others were not finding the conditions quite to their liking! Neil Colin and Margaret Casey were marginally off the pace and it was proving to be a day when marginal could be costly. Ditto Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly and to a lesser extent Damien Bracken & Brian O'Hara out of Clontarf!

Race 4 saw Grant/Rowan win again followed home by McCartin/Kinsella, Butler/Oram, McGrotty/Grimes and Boyle/Flahive. Rumball/Moore had their worst result of the day with a 6th. Mick creighton & Joe O'Reilly had a consistent day counting 2 x 7th, an 8th and a 9th to stay inside the top ten overall.

6 boats were contesting the Silver fleet and they too had good racing in each race. Newcomers Ben Malone & Matthew Bennion were doing enough to keep the more experienced Ian O'Gorman and Glen Tislen at bay while O'Gorman/Tislen were keeping ahead of Jonathan Nicholoson and Vivian Bessler.

As soon as he got off the water, O'Gorman retired to the galley where he had assembled a team to provide the Saturday evening dinner. A superb spread was offered to the competitors and many a post-mortem occupied the fleet until the bar shut up shop sometime after midnight.

While Saturday had been grey and misty, the wind had allowed four races to be sailed and that proved to be a wise decision as the forecast for Sunday was not quite so favourable! The wind swung further into the south and built as the morning went on. As the fleet prepared to go afloat, white horses were populating the waters of the Lough in what was an offshore breeze relative to the club. The RO and his team hared off northwards into the broader part of the Lough in the hope of finding more stable winds and initially the conditions looked good, but challenging. The stalwarts went out for the scheduled 12:30 start but there was reticence among the majority of the fleet. By the time the lead boats had made the start area, the wind and seas had increased significantly and the decision to abandon racing was taken. Those who had ventured out confirmed it was the right decision.

Pos	Helm & Crew	Sail No.	Club	Results	Total Pts
1	Graeme Grant & Francis Rowan	IRL 14807	Royal St. George	2, 1, 4, 1	4
2	Noel Butler & Stephen Oram	IRL 15061		1, 3, 1, 3	5
3	Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella	IRL 14820	Cushendall	5, 10, 2, 2	9
4	Kenny Rumball & Seamus Moore	IRL 15058	INSC	3, 2, 5, 6	10
5	Simon McGrotty & Ruairi Grimes	IRL 14981	Skerries	6, 4, 6, 4	14
	Silver Fleet.
15	Ben Malone & Matthew Bennion	IRL 14939	Skerries & DIT	15, 16, 13, 14	42
16	Ian O’Gorman & Glen Tislen	IRL 14623	Carlingford SC	17, 14, 15, 16	45
17	Jonathan Nicholson & Vivian Bessler	IRL 14781	Royal St. George	18, 20, 17, 12	47

Thus the standing order from the previous day's exertions proved to be the final positioning.

Next month's Fireball World Championships at Sligo Yacht Club has announced Irish boating shoe manufacturer Dubarry as title sponsor. The event is expected to attract up to 100 boats from 13 countries. Dun Laoghaire's Noel Butler is expected to lead the home fleet but already new boats are on the scene and doing well at the Fireball stronghold on Dublin Bay. The international jury has been named for the two week event as: Krystyna Lastowska  International race officer from Poland, Pam Johnson International Measurer from Great Britain, Tim Went from Australia, Brendan Brogan from Ireland, Keld Stentoft from Denmark, Francois Schluchter from Switzerland, Johan Devocht from Belgium. Click for the latest Fireball news.

More on the Fireball class on the forum here.

A turnout of two dozen marked a successful start to the 2011 Dublin Port sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) dinghy season tonight.

Making its debut for the first time under the club burgee was an International Moth dinghy. The ultra fast hull was airborne at just eight knots of breeze, making even the trapezing Fireballs look slow. But despite the pace the new fangled dinghy did not feature in the overall Portsmouth Yardstick (PY)  results. See below.

A healthy turnout of six 'balls, urged on by the fact that the class World Championships is in Sligo in 46 days time, got some trapezing gusts and some planing waves downwind in a north-easterly breeze of 6-8 knots. S. Oram took the winning gun from Louis Smyth sailing Licence to Thrill.

Single handed Lasers boasted twice the Fireball turnout to be the biggest class racing in Scotsman's bay tonight. It's a show of strength from a class surely worthy of its own start if this kind of turnout can be maintained.

Sean Craig won the Laser race from Peter Craig but the overall PY result went to E. Ryan's RS400.

Two Dublin Bay Mermaids and disappointingly, a single IDRA 14, No.124, Squalls also competed.

DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 26 APRIL 2011

FIREBALL - 1. nn (S Oram), 2. Licence to Thrill (Louis Smyth), 3. Incubus (C Power/M Barry)

MERMAID - 1. Lively Lady (G O'Neill & M Hanney), 2. Jill (P.Smith/P.Mangan)

PY CLASS - 1. E Ryan (RS400), 2. Sean Craig (Laser), 3. Peter Craig (Laser)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 2. Magic (D.O'Sullivan/D.Espey)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Magic (D.O'Sullivan/D.Espey), 2. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Cor Baby (Keith Kiernan et al), 2. Red Rhum (J Nicholson), 3. Free Spirit (John O'Reilly)

CRUISERS 3 - 1. Grasshopper 2 (K & J Glynn), 2. Pamafe (Michael Costello), 3. Papytoo (M.Walsh/F.Guilfoyle)

CRUISERS 4 - 1. Maranda (Myles Kelly), 2. Ghrazel (Charles Pearson), 3. Artemis (J.Giles)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Diane ll (Bruce Carswell), 2. Icicle (C & J Murray), 3. Alias (D.Meeke/M.McCarthy)

SIGMA 33 - 1. Rupert (R.Lovegrove/P.Varian), 2. Pippa lV (G.Kinsman/K.Blake/M.O'Brien)

SQUIB - 1. Tais (Michael O'Connell), 2. Periguin (N.Coakley/J.Redahan)

More DBSC News here.