Fireball Leinster Championship at Blessington Sailing Club

Fireball Leinster Championship at Blessington © Nancy Rooney

As we approached Blessington Lake early Saturday morning perhaps it was the traffic hold-up whilst a man and his dog slowly drove his herd of cattle across the main road to their milking parlour that was a portend for, and memory of a more leisurely pace of life that might be expected for the weekend coming.

Thirteen boats had travelled to Blessington last weekend more in hope than expectation given the forecast for very little if any wind over the two days.

Arriving at what is surely one of the most beautifully located sailing clubs in Ireland, sailors from both Fireball and Mirror classes unloaded and set-up their craft at a leisurely pace given the lack of any breeze at that stage. Briefing on schedule at the clubhouse by R.O. Richard Street was informative and brief. Once the usual course descriptions and layouts were advised, Richard then laid out is vision for how the event would unfold; "relax, take your time, we will get racing but not for a few hours yet, but rest assured there will be racing". Taking Richard at his word, sailors retired to enjoy scones and coffee (managed by BSC member Emma Lyons & Val Thorpe), on the lawn whilst the younger sailors took to the lake on various canoes and vessels to enjoy the downtime.

Fireball Leinster Championship at Blessington - photo © Nancy Rooney

Finally launching at around 4pm as the wind settled from the south, racing finally got under way in very light and shifty breezes. Event favourites Barry McCartin and Finbar Bradley took the bullet with Ed Butler & Iso Inan taking 2nd.

Race 2 commenced with an admirably rapid turnaround and the spoils went this time to Ed & Iso with Barry and Finbar in 2nd and Adrian Lee and Ossian Geraghty in 3rd. After race 2 however, all sailors were in no doubt that conditions were very tricky, and anyone could be elevated to the podium or spat out the back as the wind-gods dictated where the holes or shifts lay.

Fireball Leinster Championship at Blessington - photo © Nancy Rooney

Race 3 was called back under General Recall as the fleet, anxious to get ashore for food and to fulfil social engagements (it was past 6pm at this stage), jumped the gun enmasse. Relegated to start after the Mirror fleet, we chomped at the bit to get back onto the racecourse. Ed & Iso were unable to capitalise on the absence of Barry & Finbar, and victory went to the boat of Daniel Thompson from Wexford.

Three races completed and well past 7pm, sailors & race management retired to the clubhouse for pizzas, cooked by local sailor Sam Street whilst those with other engagements rushed off with apologies at the ready for impatient spouses & partners.

Fireball Leinster Championship at Blessington - photo © Nancy Rooney

Sunday morning witnessed not enough wind to get racing however, RO Richard Street had sold his soul to the devil the previous night and assured us there would be enough steady wind by mid-morning. 12:30 saw enough steady breeze to launch and 2 more races were achieved by the hard-working race management team to finish up just inside the 3pm deadline. Race 4 was won by Alan Blay & Hugh McNally by a massive margin which was exceptional given the close finishes in every other race over the weekend. The top 6 boats were only 5 points apart at the event's end, with Barry/Finbar being the only team to achieve 2 bullets.

Prizegiving was delayed for some time whilst results were tallied and the sailors finally for home have experienced an amazing weekend of hospitality and excellent racing which was provided by Richard and his team. Prizes were presented by commodore Colm Maguire who had also given up his entire weekend to be part of the race management team on-the-water.

Massive thanks from the class to all volunteers at Blessington who put in huge hours over the weekend given the wind conditions.

Overall Results: