Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#dbsc – Last night's Tuesday night race in the Fireball DBSC Series was characterized by the fact that four of the five boats racing were subject to an evening of snakes and ladders, while race winners, Noel Butler and Glen…

#fireball – The Irish Fireball scene moved away from the Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon racing in Dublin Bay to the scenic venue of Carlingford Lough Yacht Club in the South-East corner of Northern Ireland. The club, which currently enjoys…

#fireball – Tonight's dinghy race under the auspices of the DBSC was held under very difficult conditions. On the way out to the starting area it wasn't at all certain that any racing would actually take place. There was no…

#fireball – Tonight's Tuesday DBSC dinghy race presented challenges for everyone, the Race Committee had very fickle winds to contend with as did the competitors. The consequence was a very small course (physically) and only two laps of the triangular…

Specialist coaching for The Irish Fireball Class Association is not covered in the Irish Sailing Association's new coaching scheme for non-Olympic classes accoording to the latest Fireball class newsletter. One of the biggest dinghy classes in the country has investigated the new…

Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691) led last night's Tuesday race (21/05) in the DBSC Series for Fireballs. The best turnout for the series so far, eight boats, contested what started off as a tense race with everyone in close…

You might imagine that an event with over forty knots of wind recorded on the racecourse and with only nine Fireballs entered would be a disaster writes Frank Miller. In fact you would be wrong. The Irish Fireball Open event…

Who would be a forecaster? XC Weather was suggesting that at 19:00 it would be blowing 2 knots from the south, gusting to four knots. We could expect some light rain writes Cormac Bradley In reality it was blowing quite…

The Flying Fifteen fleet provided the Race Committee, high tide was at 16:00 and the XCWeather forecast had got it right with predictions of SSE wind when the Fireball fleet initiated their 2013 DBSC Tuesday Night Dinghy Series. Defending Tuesday…

Why does the Irish Fireball fleet persist in inviting Adam Bowers to a coaching session at the start of every domestic season writes Cormac Bradley? To answer that question, I will begin at the conclusion of his end of session…

#fireball – The advent of the Irish Fireball sailing season is usually heralded with the arrival on these shores of Adam Bowers to provide us with a coaching weekend for the forth-coming season writes Cormac Bradley. 2013 will see us…

#fireball – The 42nd Frostbite Series promoted, managed and hosted by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, came to a disappointing close yesterday when high winds made racing impossible writes Afloat's Fireball Correspondent Cormac Bradley. While we have not had the…

#fireball – The decision to race the Frostbites on St. Patrick's Day, 17th March, neither attracted a big fleet nor nice weather. The smallest Fireball fleet of the entire series, 9 boats, was greeted by damp grey, flat conditions and…

#fireball – On Saturday Dublin Bay was a sheet of glass! Very early Sunday morning saw a repeat condition which prompted this correspondent to think we would have a second Sunday cancelled due to a lack of wind writes Cormac…

#frostbites – Saturday afternoon's wintry showers, which significantly reduced visibility in Dun Laoghaire harbour, gave way to sunshine and blue skies on Sunday morning writes Cormac Bradley. Unfortunately, from a racing perspective, the disappeared snow took the wind with it…

#fireball – Blustery conditions in Dun Laoghaire harbour yesterday made the day's Frostbite race more challenging than might normally be the case, for in addition to trying to work out the right way round the course, the wind conditions meant…