Over the last four years the number of Fireballs on the Water in Clontarf has been a somewhat disappointing sight. When I first started sailing Fireballs in CY&BC there was consistently six to eight boats on the water for evening and weekend races. This number had dwindled to two or three in recent years. We are delighted to announce however that the end of last year things started to improve – substantially!

An advertising campaign in the Club, promoting the Fireball as ‘Extreme Sailing’ and the launch of the CY&BC Fireball 2000 web site (http://homepage.eircom.net/~cclarke) has attracted three new boats. Gilbert Louis (a former French Nationals Optimist Champion and Europe Sailor) bought ‘Smokin’ Gun’ at the end of last year, Kevin Morrissey bought ‘Rock Bottom’ and Mick Connolly’s brother Declan bought Naill Tutty’s Fireball. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new sailors to the class and of course the club. In addition to the new boats, Mary and Angus will be back from their sabbatical in Australia and of Course the regulars Mick/Adrian and Tom/Martin will also be on the water. With all the new activity in the class the Clarke brothers lost the run of themselves and bought a brand new boat form Guy Winder. The new boat (14721) has been named ‘Raging Hull’.

This brings the total number of boats to 8, all of which should be out from the very start of the season. We do however have plenty of boatyard space to fit more and we would appeal to any of the Fireballer’s who are living on the D’Northside to consider Clontarf for the coming season. Think of the advantages:

1. Just a 3 minute walk from club to slip and less than 2 minutes sail to the starting area (whole day not wasted sailing for an hour out to the starting area and an hour back to the bar)
1. Dinghy Club Races (Championship Series, Points Series (Corrected Times) & Trophy Races) More races than DBSC!!
2. Races Every Saturday
3. Weekday evening races at respectable times (FG @ 19:00 – 19:30) refer also to point 1
4. Fantastic Social Scene
5. Much cheaper to join than Dun Laoghaire Clubs
6. Home to newest fireball in the World (correct at time of going to press!!)
7. No pretentious crap just Great Fun and Serious Sailing.

If you’re interested or would like further details contact either Conor (087 236 3814) or Daragh (087 222 8006)