Golden Dolphin

The Fireball fleet traveled to Staunton Harold SC for the first Golden Dolphin event of the season

28 Fireballs enjoyed two days of exhilarating racing at the first Golden Dolphin event of the 2006 Series. A relatively warming breeze from the Southwest brought excellent fireball conditions for Saturdays first racing.

Local youngsters Tom Foskett and Tim Needham played the shifts excellently to lead at the windward mark, which they managed to hold onto until the finish despite a final charge from the occasional paring of Tim Rush and Richard Wagstaff.

Race two saw another home boat win, this time MadDog and Elver, after Foskett and Needham had ‘uncleating’ issues whilst leading again and capsized.

Race three went to Simon Maskell and Jon Watkins and with Adam Whitehouse and Ed Ayre placing 3,2,2 for the day, overnight there were still many potential winners.

Sunday was set to be close with four more races scheduled. An excellent curry on Saturday night provided competitors with much needed carbohydrate reserves, which were immediately exhausted in the first race on Sunday as a gusty force five came through.

The first race of the day saw Rush and Wagstaff managing to make less mistakes to take victory from MadDog and Elver and Kevin Hope and Russell Thorne. Rush and Wagstaff also won the second race of the morning to lead at lunchtime.

The wind moderated slightly after lunch for race six with MadDog and Elver taking line honours again. On the water maths was now required by several competitors to work out what they needed in the last race as the wind dropped off quite quickly. Whitehouses tactics were clear as he blazed off into the distance followed by Hope and Thorne, leaving Rush and Wagstaff to battle with MadDog and Elver. At the final count Rush and Wagstaff claimed victory from Whitehouse and Ayre by virtue of having most firsts.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot
1	Tim Rush	Richard Wagstaff	2	8	4	1	1	2	5	10
2	Adam Whitehouse	Ed Ayre	3	2	2	6	2	4	1	10
3	MadDog	Pete Elver	7	1	3	2	5	1	4	11
4	Kevin Hope	Russel Thorne	5	10	5	3	4	3	2	17
5	Simon Maskell	Jon Watkins	10	3	1	8	3	7	6	20
6	Tom Foskett	Tim Needham	1	4	6	7	DNF	5	10	23
7	Becky Priest	Tim Saunders	6	7	7	5	6	6	7	30
8	Grahame Newton	Nick Thompson	8	6	DNF	11	12	10	3	38
9	Daren Fasey	Colin Davis	4	5	12	10	DNC	9	12	40
10	Mike Rayner	Ben Rayner	9	19	8	15	9	11	8	45
11	Andy Foskett	Howard Jones	14	13	10	9	8	12	13	52
12	Phil Popple	Pete Slack	11	9	14	12	7	DNC	DNC	53
13	Terry Forbes	Simon Forbes	12	12	13	DNC	10	DNC	14	61
14	Mike Whitehouse	Karen Whitehouse	DNF	14	11	DNC	13	15	11	64
15	Peter Wood	James Wood	13	15	15	14	11	DNC	DNC	68
16	Matt Mee	Graham Nelson	DNC	DNC	DNC	4	DNF	8	9	69
17	Simon Kelsall	Rob Watson	16	20	20	13	14	16	16	75
18	Ian Priest	John Saunders	15	16	18	DNC	DNC	14	15	78
19	Ian Kelly	K Bundy	OCS	11	9	DNC	DNC	OCS	OCS	86
20	Chris Walker	Aileen Barnett	DNF	DNF	26	16	DNF	13	18	92
21	Jeremy Hurst	Abigail Hurst	21	21	19	DNC	DNC	DNC	17	107
22	Keryn Henwood-Fox	Gary Henwood-Fox	17	17	17	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	109
23	Ali Mcleod	Russ Cormack	22	18	16	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	114
24	John Oates	Richard Pepperdine	OCS	22	22	DNC	15	DNC	DNC	116
25	Steve Greenhalgh	Heidi Cokayne	18	24	24	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	124
26	Nick Hurst	Caroline Still	20	23	23	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	124
27	Neal Gibson	David Graham	19	25	25	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	127
28	Steve Popple	Daniel Walker	OCS	OCS	21	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	135