Irish Fireball End of Season Championship at Howth Yacht Club

Noel Butler & Mark Greer have won the Fireball End of Season Championship at Howth Yacht Club over the weekend (25 & 26 October). The National Yacht Club pair prevailed over locals Conor Twohig & Matthew Cotter at the event planned for Saturday and Sunday of the Bank Holiday Weekend.

The weather gods prevented play on Saturday. When teams arrived a cold northerly wind was already whistling through the rigging of keelboats at the club. Sailors were kept ashore for a short postponement while the race team went out to check conditions. For a while it looked sailable but no sooner had a weather mark been laid than gusts of around thirty knots kicked in and racing was cancelled for the day.

Rachel Deasy & Daithy Murphy during the Irish Fireball End of Season Championship at Howth - photo © Neil Murphy / HYC

Sunday saw the winds shift westerly and conditions were far more manageable, albeit with a significant escalation expected from lunchtime onwards with the Arome weather model in particular showing some very strong gusts. As it turned out the offshore wind of around 15 knots was shifty but gusts were mostly moderate. The fleet which made it out was a modest one compared to the entry of thirteen boats, with a range of issues from injuries (two bike accidents), to the weather, to domestic affairs reducing the field.

The top boats dominated proceedings, mainly by carrying spinnakers on the reaches while the less experienced combinations held back. On the beats the shifts were significant and catching those shifts while keeping the boats planing upwind in a slight chop was the winning formula.

Caught by a gust during the Irish Fireball End of Season Championship at Howth - photo © Neil Murphy / HYC

It was tight at the front with lots of place changing both upwind and downwind in both races. With lots of big shifts picking the right ones to tack on was important to make up for the distance lost in upwind planing conditions. Equally, smooth solid boat-handling was very important and all three boats at the front made their fair share of mistakes, as did the followers with a sprinkling of capsizes and some retirements over the two races.

The race courses were expertly set by PRO Ronan MacDonnell, mentored by Neil Murphy, giving sailors a shortish first beat with a tightish first reach and a long second reach where carrying the kite was always a viable option. In race one Butler & Greer made the most of the three sail reaches with some place changing downwind and good mark roundings they emerged on top having given up the lead a couple of times earlier in the race. David Evans & William Draper broke their main halyard at the last leeward mark, dropping them from 3rd to 7th - costly in a series which would have no discard, as only 3 races were scheduled for Sunday.

In race two Twohig & Cotter hit the weather mark and took a penalty. This allowed Evans & Draper to take the lead which they didn't give up despite Butler & Greer closing the gap significantly. The breeze had increased from race one and all three boats elected not to fly the spinnaker on the top reach. Evans and Draper did carry the kite on the the 2nd reach of the last lap but Butler & Greer made the tactical decision to cover 3rd place Twohig & Cotter rather than chase first as a 3rd race looked unlikely. By the end of race two it was clear that the wind was upping a notch having reached 26 knots and given the forecast the race team sent the fleet ashore to no complaints.

Irish Fireball End of Season Championship at Howth - Noel Butler & Mark Greer with Jill Sommerville event organiser - photo © Frank Miller

The silver fleet was won by Rachel Deasy & Daithi Murphy, a deserving reward for travelling from home club Tralee Bay SC. Second silver prize went to Pat McGoldrick & Paul ter Horst of DMYC. At the prize-giving much praise went to the entire HYC team, in particular the race management and the well exercised safety team for running this extra Fireball event in the face of an adverse forecast.

Next up for Fireballers are the various Frostbite series - plenty of thrills and spills are anticipated at HYC, DMYC and Monkstown Bay SC over the winter months with the DMYC series kicking off next Sunday 2nd November and continuing until late March.

Overall Results: