Balmy March Conditions for Irish Fireballers
11 March 2012
For the Irish Fireballers
sailing in Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club's Frostbite Series, the
morning of Sunday 11th March might as just as easily
have been Sunday 10th June such was the weather - clear
blue skies, temperatures to 14 degrees and a very light breeze.
This correspondent was able to finish off washing the car in shirt
sleeves such was the balminess of the day.
However, as the afternoon
approached the blue skies gave way to grey clouds and the
temperature, while still pleasant for March, dropped off, to the
extent that my stroll to the harbour to view the racing was
undertaken with a hat and gloves.
Fourteen Fireballs took to the
water in very genteel conditions, though the consensus in the bar
of the DMYC afterwards, where we watched the 2nd half of
France versus England from Paris - "Allez les Blancs" - was that
the breeze was very twitchy and that it was quite
cool.
The shiftiness of the breeze
was certainly confirmed for me as an observer on the shore when not
only the beats but the two reaches seemed to promote lots of place
changing. I watched the middle two laps of the 4-lap race and could
see that the decision on the beat was whether to take a hitch to
the left at the leeward mark and then sail up to the weather mark
on port, or sail up to the weather mark immediately, leaving the
starboard hitch to the end of the leg. In the two beats I watched
both approaches paid for different individuals on successive
betas.
The first reach looked very
tight and I was amazed to see Kenny Rumball & Dave Moran
mis-judged the tightness of the leg to lose the lead (at that
stage) to Neil Spain & Hugh Butler when the latter pair sailed
over the top of them. Tightly sheeted spinnakers were the order of
the day for the entire fleet on that first reach.
The second reach saw the fleet
fan out across the course, quite a feat considering the shortness
of the leg, but it was apparent that there were different streams
of breeze across the course. Mick Creighton, sailing with Ciaran
Hickey gybed immediately and pursued a course down the middle of
the course. Out the other side, Butler & Oram, Rumball &
Moran and Colin & Casey sailed past the gybe mark to chase wind
on the outside of the course.
Creighton/Hickey certainly
closed the gap on the leading boats with this manoeuvre and the
lead changed hands with Rumball/Moran losing out to Spain/Butler.
Amazingly though, on the very next beat, a decision to take a hitch
to the left saw Spain/Butler give the lead back again to
Rumball/Moran which they held to ultimately take the
race.
By their standards, Butler/Oram
had a bad day at the office, which started with the start signal.
With a committee boat bias, the fleet had assembled ………at the
committee boat and they found themselves shut out. They spent the
afternoon sniping at the boats in front of them (while I was
watching) fluctuating between 2nd and 4th, while
ultimately securing 3rd. Performance of the day must go
to Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keefe who took a very creditable
4th on the water followed home by Neil Colin &
Margaret Casey.
The score sheet reflected that
two boats had a head-start on the rest of the fleet so there were
only twelve finishers and the post mortem in the bar suggested that
one other boat should be considering whether they had adhered to
all the rules on their way round the
course.
The day's mugs went to Sligo
Yacht Club's Peter Armstrong (15060) sailing with a newcomer to
Fireballs, Oscar McCullough, for whom today was his second sail in
a Fireball.
|
Dun
Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club Frostbites; Series 2; 11th
March 2012
|
|
1
|
Kenny Rumball & David Moran
|
15058
|
Irish
National Sailing Club
|
|
2
|
Neil Spain & Hugh Butler
|
14807
|
Royal St.
George Yacht Club
|
|
3
|
Noel Butler & Stephen Oram
|
15061
|
National
Yacht Club/DMYC
|
|
4
|
Louise McKenna & Hermine
O'Keefe
|
14691
|
Royal St.
George Yacht Club
|
|
5
|
Neil Colin & Margaret Casey
|
14775
|
Dun
Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club
|
In Series 2, the competition
between 1st and 2nd overall remains a 1pt
challenge between Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) and Kenny
Rumball & Dave Moran (15058). A similar 1pt gap exists between
3rd and 4th overall where the challengers for
the third podium place are Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775)
and John Chambers/Neil Spain & Hugh Butler (14807).
5th overall are Alistair Court and Gordon Syme who are
only 3pts adrift of 4th overall.
Today saw the first posting of
the combined Series 1 and 2 scores and here again the margin
between 1st and 2nd is down to a single
point. 3rd, 4th and 5th overall
are secure relative to each other and at this late stage in the
competition, with only two races left, the only question to be
resolved is; Who will be the 2011/12 Frostbite
Champions?
|
Dun
Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club Frostbites; Series 2
Overall
|
|
1
|
Noel Butler & Stephen Oram
|
15061
|
9pts
|
|
2
|
Kenny Rumball & Dave Moran
|
15058
|
10pts
|
|
3
|
Neil Colin & Margaret Casey
|
14775
|
31pts
|
|
4
|
John Chambers/Neil Spain &
Hugh Butler
|
14807
|
32pts
|
|
5
|
Alistair Court & Gordon Syme
|
14706
|
35pts
|
|
Dun
Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club
Frostbites
Series 1
& 2 Combined.
|
|
1
|
Noel Butler & Stephen Oram
|
15061
|
17pts
|
|
2
|
Kenny Rumball & Dave Moran
|
15058
|
18pts
|
|
3
|
John Chambers/Neil Spain &
Hugh Butler
|
14807
|
50pts
|
|
4
|
Neil Colin & Margaret Casey
|
14775
|
62pts
|
|
5
|
Alistair Court & Gordon Syme
|
14706
|
66pts
|
Despite next Sunday being the
day after St Patrick's Day, with all the potential consequences of
recognizing our national heritage and the post mortem of England
versus Ireland from Twickenham, there will be a Frostbite race, the
penultimate of the Series.
