Irish Fireball Nationals at Mayo Sailing Club - Preview
by Cormac Bradley 10 Jul 2008 12:17 UTC
25-27 July 2008
After a modest start to the domestic Irish Fireball regatta scene, with only 18 boats at the Leinster Championships in Mullingar in early May, the action and numbers stepped up a gear with the Fireball Ulsters or Northern Championships hosted by Carlingford Lough Yacht Club in the SE corner of N.Ireland. 26 boats enjoyed a six race programme over the weekend of 28 & 29th June.
Four different race winners made the regatta a very close affair! Noel Butler & Seamus Moore took two races and the title but were pushed all the way by Conor Clancy & Francis Rowan who also took two races but ultimately lost the title on the short hitch from the very last leeward mark of the event to the finish line, when they and Butler/Moore were separated by another boat. Seasoned campaigners Damien Bracken & Brian O'Hara claimed a single race win and third overall, while the fourth winners of a race were one of the newest combinations in the fleet (and youngest) Alistair Rumball & Dave Moran, who only a few years ago were winning bronze at the 420 Youth Europeans.
The Irsh Fireball Nationals will be sailed out of Westport on the western seaboard and hosted by Mayo Sailing Club over the last Fri/Sat/Sun of July, 25th - 27th. A nine-race is planned, subject to the unseasonable weather we all appear to be suffering from these days. Race Officer for the event is Harry Gallagher, who chairs the ISA's Race Management Group.
In recent years the podium of the Nationals has been taken over by British Fireballers with Dave Wade winning the event in 2006 and 2007. Tim Rush was second overall in 2006 and last year three other UK Fireballers made the trip to Cork and were rewarded with 2nd, 3rd and 6th overall.
Messrs Butler, Rowan, Boyd, Bracken and others will be anxious to stop that trend so for a competitve but sociable event, Westport is the place to be come the end of the month.