Irish Fireball End of Season Championship at Howth Yacht Club

 

Noel Butler & Mark Greer have won the Fireball End of Season Championship at Howth Yacht Club over the weekend (25 & 26 October). The National Yacht Club pair prevailed over locals Conor Twohig & Matthew Cotter at the event planned for Saturday and Sunday of the Bank Holiday Weekend.

The weather gods prevented play on Saturday. When teams arrived a cold northerly wind was already whistling through the rigging of keelboats at the club. Sailors were kept ashore for a short postponement while the race team went out to check conditions. For a while it looked sailable but no sooner had a weather mark been laid than gusts of around thirty knots kicked in and racing was cancelled for the day.

Sunday saw the winds shift westerly and conditions were far more manageable, albeit with a significant escalation expected from lunchtime onwards with the Arome weather model in particular showing some very strong gusts. As it turned out the offshore wind of around 15 knots was shifty but gusts were mostly moderate. The fleet which made it out was a modest one compared to the entry of thirteen boats, with a range of issues from injuries (two bike accidents), to the weather, to domestic affairs reducing the field.

The race courses were expertly set by PRO Ronan MacDonnell, mentored by Neil Murphy, giving sailors a shortish first beat with a tightish first reach and a long second reach where carrying the kite was always a viable option. In race one Butler & Greer made the most of the three sail reaches with some place changing downwind and good mark roundings they emerged on top having given up the lead a couple of times earlier in the race. David Evans & William Draper broke their main halyard at the last leeward mark, dropping them from 3rd to 7th - costly in a series which would have no discard, as only 3 races were scheduled for Sunday.

In race two Twohig & Cotter hit the weather mark and took a penalty. This allowed Evans & Draper to take the lead which they didn't give up despite Butler & Greer closing the gap significantly. The breeze had increased from race one and all three boats elected not to fly the spinnaker on the top reach. Evans and Draper did carry the kite on the the 2nd reach of the last lap but Butler & Greer made the tactical decision to cover 3rd place Twohig & Cotter rather than chase first as a 3rd race looked unlikely. By the end of race two it was clear that the wind was upping a notch having reached 26 knots and given the forecast the race team sent the fleet ashore to no complaints.

The silver fleet was won by Rachel Deasy & Daithi Murphy, a deserving reward for travelling from home club Tralee Bay SC. Second silver prize went to Pat McGoldrick & Paul ter Horst of DMYC. At the prize-giving much praise went to the entire HYC team, in particular the race management and the well exercised safety team for running this extra Fireball event in the face of an adverse forecast.

Next up for Fireballers are the various Frostbite series - plenty of thrills and spills are anticipated at HYC, DMYC and Monkstown Bay SC over the winter months with the DMYC series kicking off next Sunday 2nd November and continuing until late March.

Overall Results:

Pos Sail No Helm Crew Club Division R1 R2 Pts

1st 15061 Noel Butler Mark Greer National YC Gold 1 2 3

2nd 14904 Conor Twohig Matthew Cotter Howth YC Gold 2 3 5

3rd 15093 David Evans William Draper Sligo YC Gold 7 1 8

4th 14915 Frank Miller Marta Anzillotti Zamorano Dun Laoghaire MYC Gold 3 5 8

5th 146 Jonathan Evans Aidan Caulfield Sligo YC Gold 4 4 8

6th 15060 Rachel Deasy Daithi O'Murchadha Tralee Bay SC Silver 6 7 13

7th 14816 Sam Street Ollie Lod Blessington SC Gold 5 DNF 20

8th 14790 Pat McGoldrick Paul ter Horst Dun Laoghaire MYC Silver DNF 6 21

9th 15017 Adrian Lee Edmund Hynes Monkstown Bay SC Gold DNC DNC 30

9th 14683 Colm Breen Cormac Power Breen Dun Laoghaire MYC Silver DNF DNC 30

9th 15114 Daniel Thompson Harry Thompson RStGYC / WHBTC Gold DNC DNC 30

9th 15156 Jack McNaughton Peter McMullan Dun Laoghaire MYC / Bray SC Gold DNC DNC 30

9th 14938 Niall McGrotty Neil Cramer Skerries SC Gold DNC DNC 30

9th 14849 Fiachra Farrelly Jamie Malcolm Howth YC Gold DNC DNC 30