The Irish Fireball Association summer Championship circuit blasted ahead at the weekend with some stunning sailing conditions at Mullaghmore Sailing Club. With an entry of 25 boats for this Ulster Championship momentum in the class continues to build ahead of the National Championships at RCYC next month. Saturday saw absolutely champagne conditions at Mullaghmore, strong winds of between fifteen and twenty knots North-westerly and big, big waves. Sailors from Monkstown SC put their stamp initially on the event as a bevvy of sailors from the south got away cleanly at the pin end of the line, tacked and were quickly the leading bunch. Initially this group were led by Chris Bateman & Lucy Loughton but veterans Noel Butler & Stephen Oram overtook them to take the first bullet, just ahead of Ed Og Butler and Iso Inan. Sixth in this first race were Alex Barry & Sandy Rimmington from Monkstown SC sailing Alex’s brother Ewen’s boat. This is worth mentioning because that pair obviously used race one to get used to the boat and took the gun for all the subsequent races. Race two looked like it was going to be even windier and many raked back their rigs only to find that shortly into the race the wind dropped to medium/light leaving some underpowered. While Barry & Rimmington won race two Butler Og & Inan were again 2nd and the Thompson brothers, Daniel & Harry, were 3rd. The Thompsons were found to be OCS in race one, a consequence of always pushing for the optimum start, and something which has cost them in previous events but sense prevailed at this Ulsters. For race three the breeze came right back up providing challenges upwind but fantastic conditions on the reaches. Bateman & Loughton suffered a broken pintle and were forced to retire for the day, while Frank Miller & Ed Butler broke the S hook on their kicker and, finding that a repair with spectra broke continuously under pressure, were forced to sail race three and four with no kicker, altogether a very interesting experience. The Thompsons finished 2nd in race three to Barry & Rimmington, with Butler & Oram 3rd. The breeze stayed well up for the final race of the day and again the fleet screamed around the Olympic Triangle course, and again Barry & Rimmington came out on top with Butler & Inan 2nd and the Thompsons 3rd. Back ashore the club laid on a fantastic BBQ and a terrific evening was had by all. A particular feature of this event was the hospitality of the hosts, the availability of camping beside the club, and a reasonable deal for those seeking a softer option in the nearby Pier Head Hotel.
Sunday’s forecast, or at least the one most locals believed, was for lightish winds, fading to very light. The warning gun went just after 11am and the fleet got away in semi-trapezing conditions. As the wind was now an offshore South-Westerly the beat was trickier with marginally better breeze on the left side but various wind bends as sailors approached the weather mark. Again Barry & Rimmington took the gun with the Thompsons 2nd and Butler & Oram 3rd. Og Butler & Inan were 6th in that race which they discarded. The wind had fallen very light as boats approached the finish and now as the fleet awaited race six there was less and less sign of anything approaching a reasonable breeze. The race committee were seen preparing the chequered flag so boats started to peel away for home. It seemed like the right call but a light breeze did fill when the fleet got ashore. However, after four very physical races on the Saturday there were no complaints and sailors used the opportunity to pack up a bit early for the trek home.
When the numbers were crunched Barry & Rimmington were undisputed Ulster Champions counting four wins, the Thompsons were 2nd with extremely impressive and consistent results and Og Butler & Inan third. Class veterans Butler & Oram were 4th, one point adrift. The even more veteran Niall McGrotty & Neil Cramer were 5th with a very solid scoresheet. Sixth place definitely deserves a mention – David Evans & William Draper beat Miller & Butler on equal points to take sixth place – a fantastic result for the young talented lightweight pair in the prevailing conditions.
In the silver fleet Sam Street & Tiarnan Brown were tops with Fireball newcomers Katie Tingle & Maeve Roland 2nd and Brian Jones & Barry O’Connor 3rd. A special prize went to another Fireball veteran, Keith Walker who travelled over from Hayling Island SC to helm for Michael Keegan. It’s worth mentioning the number of young sailors now enjoying Fireball racing, having found the boat affordable, high performance and above all, fun. Very many have been introduced to the class by Chris Bateman who has been running coaching sessions at Monkstown Bay SC. It is also worth mentioning that the winning boat, a Winder lovingly restored by Josh Porter, is over 25 years old, proving the point that a well-maintained boat, especially those built by Winder, Duvosin and Weathermark, remain extremely competitive throughout their long lives.
Special thanks must go to all the volunteers at Mullaghmore for hosting a decent size fleet in a relatively small club, to commodore Ciaran Walsh, to the young race officer Mark Donnelly, backed up by the extremely experienced Ossian Geraghty, and to those who proposed the venue and made it happen – Ed Og Butler and Jon Evans. One suspects that Fireballs will return to this fantastic location before too long. Next up for Fireballs is the National Championship at RCYC August 16th – 18th, in tandem with 29ers and 420s. With entries increasing this season for each event red-hot competition is expected at the Nationals 2024.
