Irish Fireball Nationals at Mayo Sailing Club

by Conor Byrne 30 Jul 2008 08:03 BST 25-27 July 2008

UK helms dominated the 29 boat Irish Fireball National Championships at Mayo Sailing Club, Rosmoney, over the ‘Reek Weekend’. Tom Gillard, crewed by Frances Rowan showed impressive form by winning the final three races and the event in taxing conditions, with a 6 point lead over Andy Pearse and Hugh Butler.

The three-day event was dogged by light and sometimes absent winds, only three races sailed from a schedule of nine.

With the prospect of poor sailing contitions, race officer Harry Gallagher ran four races under Croagh Patrick in Clew Bay on Friday, only for shifting winds to turn Race 1 around with a 180 degree wind change. Races 2 and 3 provided classic Westport sailing conditions with a westerly force three to four wind and large swell. Simon McGrotty and Tim Saunders were leading both races, to be beaten by Ross Kearney and David Hynes in Race 3, but McGrotty didn’t let them past in race 3 and became the only Irish helm to win a race. Kearny / Hynes later took 3rd place overall.

After many general recalls, five top-end boats were black flagged in Race 4, Gillard / Rowan proving hard to catch and taking the bullet.

Saturday and Sunday yielded one race each, in very light and shifty winds. Sunday’s race was sailed in the bay south of Collanmore Island, and was as close to snakes and ladders as sailing gets; several boats at the very top falling down to the very back as the race progressed, and several winds blowing across different parts of the windward/leeward course.

The fight for first Irish boat, and Irish National Title, was won on equal points between Noel Butler / Seamus Moore in 4th place; and Michael Murphy / Alex Voye in 5th, Butler winning the tie break on countback.

3rd placed Irish boat was also a tie-break, awarded to McGrotty / Saunders (6th) over Damien Bracken / Brian O’Hara (7th).

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Fleet	Helm & Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1st	14996	Gold	Tom Gillard & Francis Rowan	2	3	8	1	1	1	8
2nd	14790	Gold	Andy Pearce & Hugh Butler	1	29	5	2	2	4	14
3rd	14976	Gold	Ross Kearney& Dave Hynes	4	1	4	29	4	2	15
4th	14894	Gold	Noel Butler & Seamus Moore	3	5	2	5	4	12	19
5th	14908	Gold	Michael Murphy & Alex Voye	5	4	3	4	3	17	19
6th	14981	Gold	Simon McGrotty & Tim Saunders	8	2	1	29	13	3	27
7th	14904	Gold	Damien Bracken & Brian O' Hara	10	7	7	3	7	29	34
8th	14983	Gold	Conor O'Toole & Chris Clayton	7	12	14	7	6	9	41
9th	14340	Gold	Conor Byrne & Leo Bishop	11	9	11	6	12	6	43
10th	14934	Gold	Andy Boyle &Brian Flahive	9	8	9	9	11	10	45
11th	14990	Gold 2	Owen Laverty & Ed Butler	6	6	15	8	22	11	46
12th	14937	Gold	Mick Creighton & Steve Gram	14	10	6	29	16	5	51
13th	14817	Gold 2	Doire Shiels & Paul Amerlynk	12	11	17	10	14	13	60
14th	14854	Gold 2	Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley	13	13	10	13	20	14	63
15th	14938	Gold 2	Niall McGrotty & Robert Mahon	16	15	16	12	18	8	67
16th	14700	Silver	Cally Donaghy & Sarah Donaghy	17	21	12	11	10	23	71
17th	14713	Silver	Frank Miller & Marguerite O'Rourke	18	23	20	20	8	7	73
18th	14695	Gold 2	Ciaran Hickey & Grattan Donnelly	21	16	18	15	19	24	89
19th	14623	Silver	Ian O Gorman & Glen Fisher	24	19	22	19	9	25	93
20th	14916	Silver	John Dunne & Matt Barnes	15	14	25	29	17	22	93
21st	14748	Gold 2	Jon Evans & Andrew Caulfield	23	26	13	14	26	19	95
22nd	14564	Gold 2	Jonathan Cooper & Cheryl Jessop	20	18	21	16	23	20	95
23rd	14691	Gold 2	Louise McKenna & G. Denzler	22	22	24	17	15	21	97
24th	14865	Gold 2	Daire McNally & Ismail	19	23	19	29	27	16	104
25th	13878	Silver	Vivian Besbler & Jonathan Nicholson	26	24	23	18	25	29	116
26th	14655	Silver	Derval O' Carroll & Siobhan Hayes	25	25	27	29	24	18	119
27th	14595	Silver	Brian O' Neill & R. O' Neill	29	29	29	29	21	15	123
28th	14244	Silver	Owen Clarkin & John Bolger	27	26	26	21	28	26	126