Fireball Irish National Championship 2026 at Howth Yacht Club

Gold fleet podium at the Fireball Irish National Championship at Howth © Frank Miller

Ewen and Thea Barry win the Fireball Irish National Championship at Howth © Frank Miller

Ewen Barry and his daughter Thea are the new Fireball National Champions after nine races over three days at Howth Yacht Club at the weekend. The Monkstown Bay SC pair won five races, discarding a fourth and a sixth to take the title with a seven point lead. At 15 years of age Thea Barry as crew must be the youngest ever sailor to take the title. Conditions over the weekend were remarkably varied, stretching both sailors and the race committee led by NRO Neil Murphy.

Friday saw the oddest winds anyone had ever experienced with massive changes in pressure and direction making sailing and setting a course, extremely difficult. The fleet witnessed everything from calms to very sharp short gusts which arrived without warning from random directions in a moderate swell. Two races were attempted with the second abandoned when wind died completely.

Race one was won by Noel Butler & Stephen Oram who made best sense of the huge shifts and holes. One feature of that race was a big chunk of the 19 boat fleet struggling to round the leeward mark in the thinnest of airs. A protest in that race was overseen by National Judge Ed Alcock.

Saturday initially saw winds which were light and tricky and three races were sailed in these before a very decent sea breeze kicked in. Then two more races were sailed in champagne conditions with very enjoyable reaches.

The fleet had agreed to sail five races on the Saturday due to a very doubtful forecast on Sunday but when the race team went out to check racing seemed feasible in about six knots easterly so boats hurriedly launched and headed to the main sailing area off the Portmarnock coast. Thus the final three races took place in light but fairly steady winds probably averaging about 6-7 knots.

Behind the leaders there was close racing throughout the fleet especially amongst the top five boats. Ultimately Conor Twohig & Matthew Cotter prevailed over Butler & Oram taking second and third places respectively. Fourth place went to French team Yoann Fouassier & Jean Robillard sailing one of the three new Windermark designs seen at the event.

Silver fleet podium at the Fireball Irish National Championship at Howth - photo © Frank Miller

Rachel Deasy & Harry Thompson won the silver fleet easily and were sixth overall, followed by Brian Jones & TJ O'Brien and Pat McGoldrick & Paul ter Horst. The youth prize went to Jack McNaughton & Kilian Mathieu.

Possibly the loudest cheers at prize-giving were for Glen Fisher sailing with his wife Brenda and daughter Clodagh who took home the classic trophy.

Glen and Brenda Fisher win the classic trophy at the Fireball Irish National Championship at Howth - photo © Frank Miller

Overall and despite a few sailors missing due to the Round Ireland, the weekend was a huge success with warm sunshine, terrific race management and local hospitality all overseen by main event organiser Jill Sommerville.

Next event for Fireballs is the Ulsters to be held this year at Galway Bay SC over the weekend of 11th & 12th of July. A Fireball coaching weekend is scheduled at the club the previous weekend. After that event some thirteen Irish Fireballs will be packing up for the World Championship in Torbay UK later in the month with several young Fireballers leading that charge.

Youth winners, Jack McNaughton and Kilian Mathieu, at the Fireball Irish National Championship at Howth - photo © Frank Miller

Overall Results: