Fireballl Munster Championship at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club

by Frank Miller 24 Jun 2025 05:43 BST 21-22 June 2025

Eighteen Fireballs gathered at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club last weekend (21/22 June) for their Munster Championship, kindly sponsored by Doyle Sails. The weather gods were kind and this was another spectacular event at MBSC with warm medium breezes on Saturday and stronger gusty conditions on Sunday.

Race officer Ciaran McSweeney and his team sent the fleet out beyond Cobh for the clearer air and less fickle tides. Four hard fought races ensued with extremely close competition throughout the fleet. Race one saw the lightest airs of the day, probably 6-9 knots, but the subsequent races saw decent breezes averaging between 10-14 knots and spiking at 19 knots. Ewen Barry sailing with his daughter Thea took the gun in race one, followed home by Daniel & Harry Thompson and Niall McGrotty & Neil Cramer.

The Thompson brothers dominated the next three races taking all three wins with impressive boat speed and handling, helped no doubt by their recent outing to the UK Nationals where they did extremely well in that highly competitive and experienced fleet. Regular podium contenders Noel Butler & Stephen Oram found themselves chasing the Thompsons with first day scores of 6, 2,2,3.

Worthy of special mention on day one were Niall McGrotty & Neil Cramer who used their experience to port start the fleet in one race and post high solid scores of 3,9,5,2 enough to put them into 3rd position overnight, just behind Butler & Oram. Snapping at their heels in the overnight position were Josh Porter & Cara McDowell, just slightly off their usual pace, and suffering a broken trapeze fitting forcing a retirement from race four.

With four races under the belt the fleet were sent home to relax and enjoy a meal and beverages at the club. No doubt the race officer Ciaran McSweeney had an eye on the Sunday forecast in squeezing in the four races on Saturday as all forecasts for Sunday were looking gusty - it was just a question of how gusty..

Sunday dawned with little wind inshore but with reports of 17 knots in the race area. The fleet were sent out on a pleasant spinnaker run with a tide under them and initially the winds were lively but not overly challenging. Race five got under way in those decent winds and with some waves but as the race continued the wind kept building and the waters became choppier. Those who headed inshore for race five saw a big gain compared to those who headed out to sea and were faced with a massive header as they tacked for the one-time lay line. There may have been other factors at play including tide but ultimately those heading inshore led from start to finish.

With the main contenders for the title being between the Thompsons and Butler & Oram there was speculation overnight about who might crew for Daniel Thompson as Harry was indisposed and had to leave on Saturday evening. In the event it was MBSC commodore Richie Harrington who donned the harness and the pair scored a 4th. While Butler & Oram took the gun in race five it was not enough.

With a building breeze and sea state the race team sent the fleet ashore. If anyone questioned that decision out on the race course all doubts were dispelled on the way in as it was a challenging sail back with increasing wind over tide, and gusts well exceeding 25 knots.

When the sums were done team Thompson with their distinguished sub took the overall, discarding their race five score, and beat Butler & Oram by 5 points to 8 once discards were computed. Josh Porter & Cara McDowell found their mojo in the last race to take second and elevate themselves to third overall. The silver fleet prize went to locals Paul Cotter & Brendan Dwyer. So ended another great event at Monkstown Bay SC where the Fireball fleet continues to grow and grow.

Events on the immediate horizon include a major coaching session at the DMYC with Adam Bowers and Cara McDowell on the weekend of 5th & 6th of July, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta the following weekend, the Nationals in Tralee Bay SC Fenit on 8th, 9th & 10th August, preceded by a one day coaching session with Thomas Chaix, the Worlds on Lake Garda with at least seven Irish teams travelling, and the Ulsters at Mullaghmore SC on 20th & 21st September.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Fleet	Club	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	Daniel Thompson	Harry Thompson	Gold	RStGYC	15114	2	1	1	1	‑4	5
2nd	Noel Butler	Stephen Oram	Gold	NYC	15061	‑6	2	2	3	1	8
3rd	Josh Porter	Cara McDowell	Gold	NSC/MYC	15022	8	3	3	(RET)	2	16
4th	Niall Mc Grotty	Neil Cramer	Gold	SSC	14938	3	9	5	2	(RET)	19
5th	Alan Blay	Hugh McNally	Gold	HYC/SDC	14641	‑13	4	4	8	3	19
6th	Frank Miller	Ed Butler	Gold	DMYC/RSTGYC	14915	4	7	6	4	‑8	21
7th	Paul Cotter	Brendan Dwyer	Silver	MBSC	14695	7	5	8	6	(RET)	26
8th	Conor Twohig	Matthew Cotter	Gold	HYC	14904	12	6	(OCS)	5	5	28
9th	Jack McNaughton	Olin Bateman	Gold	DMYC/MBSC	15156	5	‑11	10	10	9	34
10th	Brian jones	Barry O'Connor	Silver	MBSC	14770	‑15	10	7	12	6	35
11th	Adrian lee	Edmund hynes	Gold	MBSC	15017	10	8	9	9	(RET)	36
12th	Jack McDowell	Hugo Micka	Silver	MYC	14740	11	12	(OCS)	7	7	37
13th	Ewen Barry	Thea Barry	Gold	MBSC	14990	1	(RET)	11	11	DNC	43
14th	William O'Brien	Brian Dineen	Silver	MBSC	14600	‑17	15	14	13	10	52
15th	Richie Harrington	Sandy O’Brien	Gold	MBSC	14870	9	13	12	(RET)	DNC	54
16th	Bella Waterman	Sean O'Herlihy	Silver	RCYC/ISKC/MBSC	14629	14	18	13	(OCS)	11	56
17th	Jack Horgan	Tony Geraghty	Silver	MBSC	14755	18	17	(RET)	14	DNC	69
18th	Owen Sinnott	Grattan Donnelly	Gold	DMYC	14865	16	14	(RET)	DNC	RET	70
19th	Harry Mac Mullen	Graham Mac Mullen	Silver	SYC	14623	19	16	(RET)	RET	DNC	75