Noel Butler & Stephen Oram were the clear winners of the Fireball Ulster Championship, held in Connacht over the weekend last at Galway Bay SC. The class and club were blessed with a spectacular weekend of blistering sunshine and temperatures of 28 degrees accompanied by decent breezes. Race officer Margot Cronin set the preferred Olympic Triangle courses out in the bay with races averaging about 45 minutes. On the Saturday the first two starts had a strong pin end bias prompting Frank Miller & Ed Butler Snr to take that lead to head in good pressure to the left side of the course where they found a header to take them into the lead, relinquished ultimately to Butler & Oram in both races. Race three saw a less stable wind with many shifts and light patches and was won by the Thompson brothers Daniel & Harry with Butler & Oram second. Race four was somewhat similar but with more predictable shifts, won by David Evans & William Draper. Butler & Oram took another second place putting them firmly into pole position on points as the fleet headed back to base to enjoy the best of the heatwave. Once ashore almost everyone immediately jumped off the slipway to cool off after a hot day’s sailing. When showered and cooled off the fleet mostly ate al fresco at the club, enjoying the remarkable conditions.
With four races under the belt Sunday dawned with a decent breeze at the slipway and two more races on the agenda. Out in the race area the wind was somewhat lighter, probably eight to twelve knots, but fairly steady. The final two races were also won by Butler & Oram consolidating their dominance of the event. Immediately behind them there was really sharp competition between youth team Evans & Draper, Conor Twohig & Matthew Cotter and the Thompsons. Ultimately Evans & Draper prevailed to take second overall with a one-point lead over Twohig & Cotter. And at just one more point behind the Thompsons came in fourth. Solid sailing saw Jack McNaughton & Kilian Mathieu take fifth. Top silver winners were the local team (and event organiser) Alan Henry with Alan Stamp. They were followed in Silver by Cariosa Power & Marie Barry, and Rachel Deasy & Daithi Murphy. It is worth noting again the steady rise of young sailors within the class, many featuring now amongst the prize-winners and pushing the more mature sailors to the pin of their collars!
Asked afterwards about the key to their success at the event Butler commented “Key on the tricky first day was trying to identify the bigger shifts and staying on the lifted tack while avoiding areas of less pressure. Equally important was course management, e.g. staying away from laylines and identifying if the run was a straight or gybe set, which varied significantly, based on the shifts. Day 2 was more steady/stable so the it was more about prioritizing clear air and sailing fast!” At the prize-giving Butler thanked the race officer, her team, and all the volunteers at the club who made the event such a great success. He dedicated the win to the late Fireballer Ian O’Gorman who died very recently.
A mere race account doesn’t do justice to this event. Despite a somewhat smaller turnout of fourteen boats (caused by the clash with Cork Week) it was one of the best events in recent years. The club hospitality and volunteerism were remarkable, with camping on site, coffee and scones before racing, excellent race management and very helpful slipway volunteers to move trolleys. The latter was a model of efficiency and that safe management allowed the fleet to launch and recover without incident despite a major swimming event off the same slipways. And if ever a weekend’s sailing was to have a Shangri-La quality, well that was provided by the astonishing weather and the dolphins in the bay which broke the surface beside boats frequently during the racing.
Next up for Irish Fireballs is the World Championship next door in Torbay, preceded by the UK Nationals. A record number of Irish Fireballs, some thirteen boats, are heading to the worlds, most of them at the Ulsters this last weekend. Further along in the calendar is the rescheduled Munster Championship at Monkstown Bay SC on the 5th & 6th September and the Open Championship at Blessington SC on the 19th & 20th September.