Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#fireball – After a day of glorious sunshine on Monday which was used for measuring, boat preparation and some late afternoon sailing, the assembled Fireball fleet in Pwllheli, North Wales, was in race mode yesterday, Tuesday 18th August writes Cormac Bradley.
After a 10:30 briefing by International Race Officer Peter Saxton and Jury Chairman David Batteye, 60 Fireballs were given permission to take to the water, a mixture of British, Irish, French, Swiss, Czech, Canadian, Belgian, South African and Australian crews.
The breeze was easy, the sun shone and but for a huge shift at the first start, the regatta would have started according to schedule. However, the fickle breeze, in terms of direction at least, took some time to settle before a two course race was started – sausage-triangle. Early on going right to the shore appeared to be the way to go, but as the weather mark was approached from that side of the course, it appeared that the other side had paid as well.
With the sausage-triangle configuration there is a spreader mark at the weather mark and a gate for the leeward mark. The spreader mark is a mark of the course for every lap – triangle included. The finish is a short hitch from Mark 3.
The second race saw the breeze increase but the sun continued to shine. A three lap course of triangle-sausage-triangle was set. Post the race it seemed that some combinations went down to 22'6" but not everyone did!
The courses were excellent and in the stronger breeze of the second race, the reaches were just about perfect. The seas were a bit choppy but not excessively so and at the top of the second beat, Oscar was broken out, indicating that Rule 42 was not in force and this remained so for the balance of the race.
Race winners yesterday were Christian Birrell & Sam Brearey (GBR 15107), benefitting from an error in one race when Ian Dobson & Ben Ainsworth (GBR 15089) thought they had another lap to do. However, the official regatta Notice Board recorded the fact that they had incurred a Rule 42 penalty for pumping and in terms of the protocols explained at the briefing, they will have to tread carefully from now on.
In second place are Tom Gillard and Richard Anderton (GBR 15127) counting a 3, 2 with the aforementioned Dobson and Ainsworth with a 2, 3 in third. In fourth place are Matt Burge & Richard Wagstaff (GBR 1523) with a 5, 6 with the French combination of Remy Thuillier & Mathieu Corruble (FRA 14917) closing out the top five with a 12, 5.
Of the Irish, Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella had a mediocre day by their Irish regatta standards but that is to be expected when you come to a 60-boat fleet. However, they have their first top ten finish with a 9th in the second race and a 17th in the first. By Barry's own admission getting off the start line was more challenging than they have been used to at home. They sit in
After Barry & Conor, the best placed Irish boat in Race 1 was Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keefe (IRL 14691) with a 43rd. Frank Miller & Margaret Casey were 47th and Cormac Bradley, sailing with Chris Thorne (GBR 14950) was 43rd.
In the second race, Bradley was the first of the Irish home in 32nd, swopping places with McKenna/O'Keeffe in 43rd while Frank & Margaret were 48th. An honorary Irish Fireballer from the Barbados Worlds in 2010, Hannah Showell, sailing with Jo Line (GBR 14391) scored a 49 and a 35. Damien Bracken's boat in the hands of South African pair Anthony Parker and Ferdinand Holm (IRL 14904) had a difficult day and scored 49, 51, while their compatriots David Laing & Mark Dee I(RSA 14877) were 40 & 34.
Today has dawned grey and wet with the prospect of wind – or at least that was the chat last night!