Fireball Worlds day one

Reports from Chips Howarth and race control plus results

The Chips Report

After a nice day off on Friday (lazing by the pool and keeping out of the intense Kenyan sun), today saw the start of the World Championships proper.

There was a noticable increase in tension around the dinghy park before launching in the now standard 90 degree heat and 10-15 knots of wind.

It seems slightly fresher on the race course so we went on our medium settings with slightly more pre-bend. After a bad start in the first race we managed to play some neat shifts up the right and were leading at the windard mark. We were able to extend and on by a good margin. Huge relief in our boat!!

Penny Gibbs sailed very well, holding off Dave Wade to gain a 2nd.

A more solid start and great pace was in order for our second race, although we didn't play the shifts so well and were 3rd at the top mark. With the yellow flag flying we 'worked our nuts off' down the top reach to lead at the gybe mark. For here we managed to extend and gain another 1st from Dave Wade.

A huge relief to get Day One out of the way, but this regatta needs to be sailed like a marathon, not a sprint and there is plenty of time to cock up yet!!

Chips


Race Report

The first day of the Fireball Worlds got off to a fine start in what have become the customary 10-15 knot winds, half-metre waves and a fine bright weather with white-caps scattering the sea.

There are now 38 boats in the event with the newcomers arrived from safari or from overseas and the Mombasa Kenya entry of Andy Burnard and Shah Khan having only entered International Week. Unfortunately the Swiss boat sailed by Adrian Huber and Brigitte Mauchle had a rudder problem and retired in the first race and were not able to start the second.

In Race 1 Chips Howarth and Vyv Townend (UK) clearly showed their intention of being world champions now they already have the International Week trophy in the bag. They were in the front round the first mark and kept stretching their lead, all the way to an impressive finish.

Dave Wade and Richard Wagstaff (UK) now lie in second place overall having gained 3rd and 2nd in the first two races. Penny and Ian Gibbs (UK) had a great day out, with a 2nd place in the first race and a 5th in the second, and now lie 3rd overall

Frederic Mouches and Jean-Francois Nouel, newly arrived at Kilif, secured an overall 6th place and first place among the French boats. They had a good second race and for the first beat and reach gave Howarth and Townend something to watch out for. Swiss boat 14718 sailed by Kurt Venhoda and Sonja Zaugg were going well and were up in the front few boats all the way in the first race but had been over the start line and so ended with 39 points.

John Trundell and Peter Hime remained in top place for Kenya, gaining and 8th and a 16th and lying 11 overall at the end of the day; followed in 14th overall place by Australian Ben Schultz sailing with Kenyan Nigel Shaw. Ed Sadd, formerly resident in Kenya but now sailing under a GBR registration with crew Steve Kuhl gave his old rival John Trundell a good run in both races, coming in 10th and 9th to finish 9th overall at the end of the first day, two slots above Trundell.

		Helm	Crew	race 1	race 2	score
1	GBR	Chips Howarth	Vyv Townend	1	1	2
2	GBR	Dave Wade	Richard Wagstaff	3	2	5
3	GBR	Penny Gibbs	Ian Gibbs	2	5	7
4	GBR	Vincent Horey	Jim Turner	6	4	10
5	GBR	Angus Hemmings	Steve Chesney	5	8	13
6	FRA	Franck Juin	Bertrand Loyal	7	7	14
7	GBR	Paul Cullen	Gavin Tillson	9	6	15
8	GBR	Jeremy Davy	Norman Byrd	4	13	17
9	GBR	Edwin Sadd	Steve Kuhl	10	9	19
10	FRA	Frederic Mouches	Jean-Francois Nouel	12	10	22
11	KEN	John Trundell	Peter Hime	8	16	24
12	GBR	Andy Pearce	Rachel Keeling	15	15	30
13	GBR	Ian Harrison	David Broome	19	12	31
14	KEN	Ben Schulz	Nigel Shaw	22	11	33
15	GBR	Derian Chandler	Andy Scott	11	23	34
16	KEN	Simon Woods	Alastair Bush	16	19	35
17	GBR	Phil Popple	Doug Shore	17	20	37
17	GBR	Malcolm Davies	Fiona Jump	20	17	37
19	IRL	Philip Lawton	Markham Nolan	14	24	38
20	GBR	Elaine Tudor	Warren Tudor	13	27	40
20	KEN	Don White	Rob Allport	18	22	40
22	IRL	Shane McCarthy	Phil McCusker	OCS/39	3	42
23	GBR	Alex Bale	Jonathon Bale	23	21	44
23	KEN	Joachim Bebbington	Roger Bebbington	26	18	44
25	FRA	Pierre-Jean Gallo	Pierre-Yves Robin	21	26	47
26	SUI	Kurt Venhoda	Sonja Zaugg	OCS/39	14	53
27	KEN	Chris Shaw	Alex Hurn	30	25	55
28	IRL	Louis Smyth	Shane Mugan	27	29	56
29	KEN	Omar Mbithi	Steven Ogada	25	32	57
30	GBR	Keryn Henwood-Fox	Gary Henwood-Fox	29	31	60
31	GBR	Barrie Winship	Rose Winship	31	30	61
32	GBR	David Mason	Sam Pascoe	24	DNF/39	63
33	IRL	Francis Rowan	Ed Butler	32	33	65
34	GBR	Martin Scarth	Nigel Sheppard	28	RAF/39	67
34	KEN	Graham Bush	Harriet Bush	33	34	67
36	IRL	Corin Mackenzie	Claudette Hall	34	36	70
36	KEN	Graham Alder	Taryn Childs	35	35	70
38	SUI	Adrian Huber	Brigitte Mauchle	DNF/39	DNF/39	78

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