Fireball Munster Championships

Record turn out for Irish event held at Killaloe

A record fleet of 41 boats turned out for the final Irish Fireball championship of the season hosted by University of Limerick Sailing Club in Killaloe. The event was a perfect end to an active summer season for the ever popular Fireball fleet. Debuts where made for two of the newest boats in the fleet. Andy Boyle and Brian Byrne debuted 14936 while Skerries father and son team of Simon and Niall McGrotty showed of 14938. Both teams demonstrating good potential over the weekend.

Saturday dawned with 10knots of breeze and good conditions on the racecourse. An Olympic course was set and race one got underway. This race saw the helmsman’s nominated Noel Butler and Seamus Moore take the gun followed home by Damian Bracken and Brian O’Hara. The newly formed partnership of Conor Byrne and Leo Bishop showed good form to finish in 3rd position, closely followed by another new partnership of Conor Clancy and Francis Rowan. Race 2 saw Clancy/Rowan show a masterful display of sailing to finish 1st followed closely by Butler/Moore. An impressive sail by the “Ed Butler’s” saw them finish 3rd.

All was to change in the lunch break between race 2 and 3. The wind died to about 5 knots that proved for some interesting sailing in the newly set out windward leeward course. Race 3 was to be won by light wind experts Neil Colin and Margaret Casey closely followed by Andy Boyle and Brian Byrne, proving that the new boat had been a good investment. More consistent racing was seen by Clancy/Rowan and Byrne/Bishop. So the final race of the day started and it was Richard Fox and Edward Lowe who lead to the Windward Mark, closely followed by Byrne/Bishop. It was Byrne and Bishop who took the bullet followed by Richard and Edward.

So as the fleet headed to shore it was Clancy and Rowan who lead the standings followed by Byrne/ Bishop with Bracken/O’Hara third. With 4 raced complete only 2 remained, and the fleet retired to the Kincora hotel for a lively AGM. Thanks was noted to Stephen Oram for his work as webmaster, Mick Murphy as he steps down as Treasurer and the whole committee who has improved the fleet over the last 4 years. A big thanks to Will Moody who has left Ireland for South Africa and would no doubt be delighted with the large turn out for the championship.

Sunday saw a decrease in the wind, but there was enough to get the fleet moving! Just! Race 5 of the day saw Colin/Casey show a masterful display of sailing to record their second victory of the weekend. They were followed closely by Clancy/Rowan and Creighton/Oram who were having a quite regatta up to now. This result saw Clancy/Rowan take the silverware with a race to spare. But in true competitive style the guys raced the last race and finished 1st to stamp their authority on the fleet, for this weekend at least. In race 6 The Butlers came 2nd followed by Bracken/O’Hara.

And so in the Gold 1 fleet it was the story of the Conors. Conor Clancy/Rowan taking 1st, Conor Byrne/Bishop in 2nd and Bracken/O’Hara in 3rd. A really good result for the fireball fleet as the top two boats are new partnerships. This is a great sign of things to come in the fleet.

Equally promising is the Gold 2 fleet. The runaway winner of this was the Butlers, Ed and Ed jnr. Who finished 4th overall and won Gold 2 by an impressive 15 points from the McGrotty’s, another father son team who finished the overall competition in 10th position. Even better as the McGrotty’s are the 2nd boat in the Skerries Fireball fleet, with Seamus Moore’s IRL 14939 which is to be collected in 2 weeks time. 3rd in the Gold 2 fleet was Brian Flahive and Siobhan Hayes.

In the Silver Fleet, Alison Coleman and Alex Voye won the title for Waterford Harbour SC, closely followed by Cariosa Power and Marie Barry. 3rd place in the fleet went to Damien Malone and Niall Mc Court.

So ended the Irish Fireball season for 2006. A special thanks to UL sailing club and Jim Ryan for all the work in ensuring this was the biggest fireball event in recent history. UL proving again that they hold a wonderful event. The next excursion for the Fireballs is the DMYC Frostbite series which kicks off at the start of November. Entry will be up in the next two weeks. So watch this space.