CY&BC Fireball Class - News Archive

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Clontarf 1st & 2nd at Fireball Ulster Championship 2002

Posted: 27/05/02

The dominance of the CY&BC Fireball Class was demonstrated at the Fireball Ulster Championships 2002 held last weekend in Dundalk & Carlingford Sailing Club. Congratulations to Damien Bracken/Brian O'Hara who clenched the title and also to Gilbert Louis/Ken Moriarty who came in a close second.

A hard day's racing on Saturday in blustery conditions saw after 3 races sailed, Gilbert/Ken the overnight leaders with Damien/Brian in 3rd, the Clarke Brothers in 4th and David Field/Ken Maher in 5th . Compared with the strong winds on Saturday, there was very light and flukey conditions on Sunday. The OOD only managed to get one out of the three scheduled races sailed, which saw only 5 boats finish within the time limit. At one stage the entire fleet of 24 boats bunched up at the Leeward mark with several rafts of boats calling for "Water" leading to chaotic scenes!!

Congratulations to Dundalk & Carlingford sailing club for hosting a very enjoyable and well run championship. The courses were well set up and the on-the-water lunches were excellent. In one of the most novel ideas I've seen at any Fireball event, they took some fabulous photos of the boats racing on the Saturday which they handed out to the competitors in return for a voluntary donation to the RNLI. A superb event with some fantastic results for CY&BC, well done again Damien and Brian! Next regional event the CY&BC Fireball Leinster Championship 2002....Clontarf boys (and girls) on Home Ground.

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Cheese and Wine Night a Great Success

Posted: 17/04/02

The Fireball Cheese and Wine/Party night was a terrific success. A great turnout on the night from both CY&BC fireballers and from our friends in Dun Laoghaire created a great atmosphere. We made over €300 profit on the night and our thanks to all who turned up.

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CY&BC Fireball e-mail circulation group

Posted: 10/04/02

The CY&BC Fireballs have now launched an exclusive e-mail circulation group for all CY&BC Fireballers. If you wish to join please CLICK HERE for more details.

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Fireball Leinster Championships 2002
SPONSOR REQUIRED

Posted: 09/04/02

Clontarf will again host the Fireball Leinster Championships this coming Summer (June 15th/16th). We are currently looking for an event sponsor. In return for sponsorship the sponsor will get extensive advertising on this web site as well as their name and logo being displayed on all posters, promotional material and engraved on the crystal glass prizes. If you are interested in sponsoring the event please contact Conor Clarke.

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Cheese & Wine/2002 Season Kick-Off Night

Posted: 08/04/02

In order to kick off the 2002 season, the CY&BC Fireball class are organising a start of season Party night on Saurday April 16th in the club at 20:30. Everyone is being asked to bring a bottle of wine and the cover charge of €5 will include the corkage. The CY&BC Fireballs will be providing cheese, canapés, nachos, etc. Music will be provided by DJ's Garrath and Emmett. We hope that we will have a good turnout from all Fireball sailors in order to make a great night of it.

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Frostbites Kicks Off - Just About!

Posted: 07/10/01

The annual CY&BC Frostbite series started at the weekend. There was no sign of any frost but there was plenty of wind. We have an unprecedented number of Fireballs this year thanks to the great attendance at the Speed Sails Training session last weekend.

Unfortunately the Saturday race was blown out and initially Sunday looked very dodgey with a severe squall as we prepared to launch. The race was postponed but as the squall passed the wind eased and off we went. There was some confusion on the slip as to how many boats were actually going to partake in the race and unfortunately a misunderstanding led to 6 boats being left high and dry when the starting sequence commenced. This unfortunately had the knock-on effect that boats which had already launched could see the others on the slip and therefore were nowhere near the starting area when the guns were fired.

A short course was selected by the OOD (SK: 2 - 11 - 12 - Line) to keep us close to shore in case the wind blew up severely again. The race officer decided to blow the gun after 1 lap which heralded the completion of the first race in the series. Jonathan Evans/Aiden Caulfield clenched first place, full results of the first race will be published on the site in the coming days. If you have any comments on the race please use our new message board facility [CLICK HERE]. Hopefully the weather will be more favorable next weekend and we can get down to some serious racing and practice all the tips that we learned last weekend.

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Speed Sails Training Weekend - Fantastic Success.

Posted: 01/10/01

The Richard Estaugh/Steve Morrission Speed Sails training weekend has just finished and was a resounding success. There were 20 boats taking part both from CY&BC and various Dun Laoghaire Clubs. The weather on both days was heavenly, blue skies and a lovely F2-F3 on Saturday and F3-F5 on Sunday. Both mornings were spent on the water and the afternoons comprised of lectures and boat tuning sessions. The amount of information that the lads were able to impart was incredible. They spent time with everyone and Fireballers at all levels benefited from the weekend. Many thanks to Richard and Steve who generously donated their time for free, I hope it will generate some sail orders for them. They have some great offers on discounted sails and gear for the Irish Fleet at the moment so if you are considering a change - THINK SPEED! We will have some photos from the weekend on the site soon.

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Class Surveys

Posted: 18/09/01

A new survey section has been set up on the web site to gather information from fireballers on a host of issues which are of interest to Fireball sailors. We are very interested in hearing if you have any ideas for future surveys so please do not hesitate to send them on. The survey section can be accessed by CLICK HERE. Using the wonders of modern technology it should only be possible to vote once! So this should give a balanced view!

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Richard Estaugh/Steve Morrisson Open Training Weekend

Posted: 10/09/01


The CY&BC Fireball class are currently organising a training weekend on 29/30 September (Saturday/Sunday the week before the Frostbites). The session will be hosted by Richard Estaugh (Speed Sails) and Steve Morrison (current Fireball World Champion). The format will consist of on-the-water training and lectures/boat tuning on land. The format for the on-the-water training will be that the Richard/Steve will get into each participating boat and give practical one to one tuition.

Richard and Steve are offering their services completely free as long as we cover their expenses. The costs we will therefore incur will be: Flights, Dining, Rescue Boats (driver & petrol), etc. The cost to each boat will be very much dependent on the number of boats participating. Numbers will however have to be limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. We have 7 boats already confirmed from CY&BC.

Richard is offering discounted sails and sailing gear for participating boats. He is prepared to bring sails with him and tune sails on your boat if you are interested. Full details of discounts will be available next week.

High Water is at 11:00am and thus we would hope to launch early and spend the morning on the water followed by lunch in Les Amis (potentially) and back to the club for an afternoon lecture. Major pints then on Saturday night and the same formula on Sunday.

Please let me know if you are interested as soon as possible. It should be a very informative weekend from two of the best sailors in the World. Exact prices for the training weekend will be available as soon as we finalise on numbers.



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Photo Gallery

Posted: 05/09/01

A Gallery section has now been added to the web site. The photos that are currently available are a selection of shots taken at the Fireball Leinsters when they were hosted in Clontarf a couple of weeks ago, some photos of club races and the launch of Garrath and Emmet's new boat 'Liquid Asset'. If anyone has any photos relating to Fireball sailing (or drinking) in Clontarf I will be delighted to include them.

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New Boats & New Teams

Posted: 24/08/01

Damien & Brian's new Duvoison (Swiss Fireball manufacturer) arrived from England yesterday delivered by Richard Estaugh. The new boat No. 14774 will bring the number of Fireballs sailing in Clontarf to an unprecedented 12. After their 2nd place in the Leinster Championships held in Clontarf last weekend, we're expecting great things with this new craft.

Other great news is that Garrath and Emmet have teamed up and bought Damien/Brian's previous boat 14329 "Liquid Asset". We wish the lads the very best of luck in their new investment and hope that it reaps the rewards that they've certainly promised it will!!

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'Spar Vernon Avenue' & 'O'Briens Fine Wines' Sponsor Fireball Leinster Championships

Posted: 17/08/01


In a dramatic new development, Gilbert has managed to clench two terrific sponsorship deals for the Fireball Leinster Championships with ·Spar, Vernon Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3· and also ·O·Briens Fine Wines· who have 15 outlets in Leinster. Many thanks to both companies for their generous contribution to the event, it is greatly appreciated.


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Fast Series Extended.

Posted: 16/08/01

Last night the scheduled third race in the mini series designed to get boats out on the water to practice before the Leinsters next weekend was abandoned mid way due to the wind dying completely. Angus/Mary on the wall as the evening OOD·s set a nice short course, Line-2-11-12-Line, in a testing F1 which gave a lovely beat to begin with. Tom/Ken had initially rocketed off the starting line and left everyone for dust. Damien/Brian, Conor/Daragh, Brian/Tim headed out on Starboard tack with Kieran/Emmet heading off on Port. Initially it looked like Kieran/Emmet had been completely stuffed, but they found a lovely band of air out on the right and came into to first mark with terrific speed. Tom/Ken rounded No. 2 a good 10mins before Kieran/Emmet who were a further 10mins ahead of Damien/Brian & Conor/Daragh. Along the next reach to No. 11 the wind died completely and it turned into a drifter. After about half an hour of being dragged along by the incoming tide the OOD abandoned and the rescue boats towed us in. Very unfortunate for Tom/Ken who were practically guaranteed a bullet if the wind had held for a short time longer.

Unfortunately tonight·s race has been canceled by the club thus cutting our series short by 2 races. An examination of the fixture card however shows us that we have 3 races coming up the week after next, Mon, Tue, Wed (24th/25th/26th August). This is the week just before the Westerns in Mayo and it will give us next week to recover from the Leinsters. So it·s all still to play for. 2 races down and 3 to go, 1 discard to apply. The most coveted Fireball Hats and Mugs are not the Clarke·s yet!


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Fast Series!

Posted: 09/08/01

In order to spice things up a bit in the run up to the Leinsters (and to get rid of these bloody Fireball hats) we are organising a short series of races for Mon, Tue, Wed & Thurs (13th · 16th August). The races will be run on a handicap system so all boats will be competing on an equal basis. The results after each race will be published on the web site before 14:00 the next day. Prizes will be awarded on Thursday night after racing.

We should have a good turn out (around 8-10) because everyone is back from holidays · Dr. Harkin after his mammoth 16 week break in Donegal, Mr Field bronzed from Tenerife and bloated from a week on the beer in Baltimore, Mr Bracken from his trek around the Pyrenees, Mr. Louis from his sabbatical home in France, Brian and Tim from wherever they·ve been (certainly not out practicing in Clontarf anyway), Mr Clarke Snr from his week also in Tenerife, bronzed (well red anyway) and beautiful (yeah right!). We have good news also that John Walsh has seen the light and is returning to us for the rest of the year, hopefully he will see the light and stay on with us next year!

Hope to see you all on Monday night for racing.


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CY&BC Regatta

Posted: 23/07/01

Last weekend, Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club was the proud host of one of this year·s finest sailing events. You could tell from the quality of the event that this club has over 125 years experience in the field of race organisation, sandwich making and beer drinking.

Unfortunately there was a very poor turnout of Fireballs. Only a dismal 3 boats were out on Saturday and 4 boats on Sunday. Among our own club members there were people on holidays, competing in other class events and unable to find crews, however there was not one visiting boat from any of the Dun Laoghaire clubs despite several attempts to circulate information about the event. The timing of the regatta was unfortunate as it clashed with the Fireball Europeans/Worlds and many of our Dun Laoghaire friends are competing in Italy, we also received an apology from one of the lads who had an unfortunate run in with a Flying Fifteen and was unable to attend. It was very disappointing however that not one of the remaining balls joined us · particularly as Clontarf is hosting the Fireball Leinsters in August and considering the huge effort that has to be put in by the all the club members to make the event a success. 

As for the regatta itself, the constantly changing gentle airs of Saturday morning gave race officer, Ian Sargent, a tough job in setting a course for a race which unfortunately had to be postponed on a few occasions. Few would have minded the delays though as it gave the Balls of the Bull a chance to work on their sun tans while basking in tepid airs of Dublin Bay.

Saturday·s race was won by the Clarke·s who staged a Biblical style recovery to scrape by Tom and Jonathan in the closing stages of the race. A brass band welcomed sailors onto the hard where sandwiches and cakes were kindly provided by the club's Mammies. A Jazz band provided evening entertainment into the early hours while beer flowed at a pace only comparable to the rate of abuse being dealt between the gunwales of ·Rumble Fish· on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday provided more constant breezes and gave the Clarke·s a chance to open up a lead not seen on Irish waters since the reign of John Lavery. Second place was a hard fought battle between David and Garrath in ·Rumble Fish· and Tom and Jonathan in ·Oiseaux 2·. While the race for second place was neck and neck at the start of the last leg, Tom managed to open up a convincing lead on the final beat by playing the turning tide like a Stradivarius in a concert hall. David was left to mop up third place more like a janitor in the water closet of a rugby club.


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New Home

Posted: 20/07/01

Peter Deneham of Acid Web Solutions e-mailed me a couple of days ago and offered to host the Fireball web page in this new home http://fireball.cybc.net, the offer sounded too good to refuse so two days later here we are. The last site was not updated since May 2000 and no doubt we·ve lost most of our customer base, but it certainly served it·s purpose while it was on-line. We had several people approach the club about fireball sailing and even attracted some new members. I hope to keep this site updated with the latest news and gossip in the class but some feedback is always welcome!

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New Boat Arrives:

Posted: 28/05/2000

David Field & his cousin Jack Field arrived to the club yesterday with their new boat - 14637. They travelled over to the UK on the Irish Ferries Swift at 6am yesterday morning with CY&BC's Fireball Class Captain, Daragh Clarke. On inspection of the boat they deicded that it was what they were looking for and they made the return journey trailing the latest addition to the fleet.



More good news for CY&BC Fireball Class:

Posted: 20/05/2000

With a record number of boats now in the front of the club (and on the water for this time of year) the class has been given even more good news this week. A former CY&BC sailor David Field and his cousin Jack Field are to travel over to the UK next weekend to hopefully buy a Ball. The boat they are going over to look at is a 1997 Severn Sailboats Hull with a full racing spec. If on inspection the boat is as good as the current owner says the guys will trail it back to it's new home in Clontarf. This will bring the class up to 9 boats!

Today marked the finish of the Early Bird races (the first six races of the season) and the corrected results will be published during the week.



CY&BC in Ulster Championships

Posted: 13/05/2000

Two Clontarf Fireballs travelled to scenic Rostrevor in Northern Ireland for the Annual Ulster Championships. The weather was fantastic with blue skies and lovely a Force 2 -3. Seventeen boats entered the Championship and The Clarke Brothers in "Raging Hull" were second overall after the Saturday's 3 races. Gilbert Louis and Ken Moriarty (of GP14 fame) teamed up in Gilbert's new boat "Final Fling" which he purchased recently in the UK. They were eighth after the first day and finished sixth overall.

The Clarke bothers were unfortunately unable to compete in the Sunday's races due to the tragic and sudden death of their close friend Mick Fitzpatrick . Mick was an avid follower of the Fireball social scene and has supported many events over the years. He will be greatly missed by all his friends to whom he brought such friendship and humour.


Club Racing:

Posted: 13/05/2000

The evening races got under way this week with three Fireballs on the water already. Due to exams we are missing a few boats for these early races but we expect to be up to full strength by early June.

New Class Members:

Posted: 13/05/2000

It is with great pleasure the we welcome Kieran Harkin and Walter Walsh to the CY&BC Fireball Class. Kieran & Walter have been sailing Fireballs for many years and the boat "14378 - No Excuses" was originally John Lavery's Fireball which won the World and European Championships in 1995.

CY&BC's World Championships Entry Destroyed!

Posted: 11/02/2000

There has been a lot of activity in the CY&BC Fireball Class over the past week. Our representative in the forthcoming Fireball Worlds, Gilbert Louis, was on his way last Saturday morning to pack his boat, onto a container headed for Thailand. Towing the boat along the coast road he had just past Watermill Road when a pair of (I won't say what for legal reasons) in a Golf GTI attempted to overtake him and 'misjudged'. They careered into the back of Gilbert's Fireball causing the transom and entire aft tank to disintegrate with the impact. The central shaft of the road trailer buckled into a right angle before breaking off the tow bar. The boat was wrenched around 180º destroying the back of Gilbert's car.
It is a tremendous credit to the Fireball fleet how quickly they reacted. The Dun Laoghaire lads who were over in Dublin Port rushed to Gilbert's assistance (just in case anyone is wondering - the Clontarf boys were on the scene first but had to leave to catch a flight). Mick Connolly of CY&BC then offered his boat to Gilbert to bring to Thailand. Mick's boat was removed from it's Winter hibernation and set up for shipping.

Many thanks to Mick and everyone else who helped. As I was away for the past week I would appreciate if anyone has any additions if they would forward them.


Clarke Brothers Collect New Fireball:

Posted: 23/01/2000

The Clarke Brothers travelled to Winder Sailboats in Yorkshire on Friday last to collect their new Fireball. The boat has provisionally been named 'Raging Hull' and it is Number 14721. The boat is of Foam Sandwich construction and has been moulded in the new 'wide bow' shape. Photographs of the epic journey will be published on the site soon.

CY&BC in the Fireball Worlds, Thailand:

Posted: 01/01/2000

It is with great pleasure that we announce that Clontarf will be represented in the Fireball World Championships to be held in Thailand early this year. Our newest arrival to the fleet, Gilbert Louis will compete in the Championships with Naimh O'Rourke from Dun Laoghaire (Niamh has been poached from John Walsh an ex-CY&BC Fireballer who we'd love to see return!). Gilbert has been sailing for many years in France and has some very impressive Championship titles under his life jacket already.

We will be following Gilbert's preparation for the Championships closely and details will be published on the site as soon as they become available.