One point decides Championship

The UK Fireball National Championship took place in Brightlingsea, Essex

It was an expectant fleet that convened on the Essex Coast at Brightlingsea Sailing Club for the 2007 Fireball National Championships. The forecast for the week looked good for a full championship's racing and an excellent social programme had been pulled together.  

After measurement on saturday many competitors enjoyed the first of many excellent meals courtesy of the galley staff. On Sunday morning competitors were greeted with sunshine and an offshore breeze and the fleet launched early to get the feel of the conditions. 

Race one was sailed in a shifting fresh force three to four. At the top of the first beat the leading boats came from the left hand side but after three laps Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff had pulled through to first followed by Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan in second with recent parents, the Gibbs' in third.

Race two was sailed in a steadier force three and saw Jonny McGovern and Ben McGraine lead to the wing mark. An unfortunate capsize let Vince Horey and Stuart Bithell take the lead which they held to the finish, despite Mee and Wagstaff's best efforts to draw them into a tacking duel on the last beat, which nearly proved costly as Becky Priest and Tim Saunders found extra lifting pressure on the right hand side of the course and clawed back the leaders just missing second on the line. Team Mc recovered to sixth.

For Monday's racing the sun once again greeted competitors but the offshore breeze was more shifty than on Sunday. In race three, Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan led from the windward mark and held this to the finish. Keryn and Gary Henwood-Fox rounded second and a three way battle with Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff and Becky Priest and Tim Saunders ensued, finishing Priest second Mee third and Henwood-Fox fourth. 

Race four saw more variable breeze with some big holes as a sea breeze tried to set in. The leading group of three boats (Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff, Vince Horey and Stuart Bithell and Jonny McGovern and Ben McGraine) had a 200 metre plus lead that was slowly reduced by the end of the race. Mee and Wagstaff pulled away to win from Horey and Bithell with Priest and Saunders taking third. A tight battle for fourth saw McGovern and McGraine hold out from Kevin Hope and Russell Thorne and Derian Scott and Andy Scott. After racing competitors enjoyed an Italian themed buddy night in the clubhouse.

Tuesday saw a good force three sea breeze and plenty of sun once again. The tide provided a challenge to the competitors resulting in numerous recalls in both races. Race five was sailed in a typical Brightlingsea sea breeze gently building throughout the race. The first four boats enjoyed very close racing throughout. Jonny McGovern and Ben McGraine maintained a slender lead throughout but had to maintain a tight cover on the three boats behind at all times. Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff pulled up to second on the last beat followed by Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan and then Vince Horey and Stuart Bithell. Fleet new boy Matt Findlay crewed by Richard Anderton began to show promise with a fifth place.

Race six eventually got under way after two recalls and nine competitors sent home for an early bath under the shadow of the black flag. Mee and Wagstaff lead from start to finish. McGovern and McGraine were hot on their heels at the windward mark but a poor spinnaker hoist saw them drop back to fourth. Jeffcoate and Hogan pulled up to finish second in front of local hotshots Penny Gibbs and Ian Gibbs.
 
Tuesday night saw the AGM followed by local crew Kerrie Forsters brave attempt to consume the top row of the bar for charity, which proved as interesting as the local band's efforts to remove the ear drums of sleeping locals several streets away.

Wednesday's layday saw the wind continue, providing the opportunity for spontaneous winner stays on match racing in the Brightlingsea training Topazs. With the tide high spectators were able to watch victory beclaimed by Stuart Bithell.

A brief dalliance with the sea breeze on Thursday ended as the land breeze took over requiring the course to be re-set. This steadied into a force two to three and racing got under way. Race seven saw Derian Scott and Andy Scott lead from Jonny McGovern and Ben McGraine at the first mark, both teams held these positions through to the finish. Vince Horey and Stuart Bithell climbed into third with Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan fourth. Local boats Andy Bines and Kerrie Forster pipped ‘Ozzie’ Aldridge AND Drostan O’Reilly on the line. Several of the leading boats had poor races and used up a discard.

Race eight saw Kevin Hope and Russell Thorne lead at the first mark but they dropped back to third by the finish. The race was won by Horey and Bithell with Jeffcoate and Hogan second. A close battle at the finish saw McGovern and McGraine pip Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff and Becky Priest and Tim Saunders.

The fleet launched earlier for racing on the final day but had to wait for the wind to steady and for the race team to select the best area for racing. Race nine got underway with tension high as only a few points separated the leaders. Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan took victory, placing them on the same points as leaders Mee and Wagstaff. Horey and Bithell also kept the pressure on with a second.
 
Race ten was to be the showdown. At the first windward mark it was Jeffcoate and Hogan first, Horey and Bithell second and Findlay and Anderton third. Findlay attacked hard and got to second on the first set of reaches.  Mee and Wagstaff rounded a few places back and also attacked hard on the first lap taking places before the leeward mark. Racing was tight for the next two laps with the leaders never getting clear. On the top reach of the final lap Findlay and Anderton rolled Jeffcoate and Hogan and lead round the leeward mark. By this point Mee and Wagstaff had pulled through to third and proceeded to drag race Jeffcoate and Hogan out to the left side of the course.

Findlay and Anderton held on for the win with Jeffcoate and Hogan keeping tight cover to the finish to take the title. Horey and Bithell recovered to sixth with a shredded mainsheet and took third overall. The winners celebrated with champagne, table football, beer, curry and dancing fit for a rugby scrum.

The lady helm trophy was as always, hotly contested with five Lady helms in the top 11. Becky Priest just held off Derian Scott to take the prize with a very respectable fifth overall. First lady crew was Debbie Tuckwood. The association had generously provided those U21 with free entry and there were fifteen youths sailing with more mature sailors, as well as four all U21 boats. Matt Mee was first U21 Helm and club mate Stuart Bithell took the U21 crew prize.

A huge amount of thanks go the the host club who put on a fantastic event. On the rare occasions the course was out, the marks were quickly repositioned by the race team. The shore team were always ready to collect and launch trolleys. Vast amounts of excellent food was made available to competitors at every opportunity and the bar was open whenever required. Most importantly everyone had great week's sailing.

Next year the fleet heads southwest to Cornwall and Mounts Bay Sailing Club in mid-August.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot	Net
1st	Tom Jeffcoate	Mark Hogan	Notts County SC	2	-7	1	-8	3	2	4	2	1	2	32	17
2nd	Matt Mee	Richard Wagstaff	Hollingworth Lake SC	1	2	3	1	2	1	-13	5	-6	3	37	18
3rd	Vince Horey	Stuart Bithell	King George SC	5	1	-7	2	4	5	3	1	2	-6	36	23
4th	Jonny McGovern	Ben McGraine	Hollingworth Lake SC	7	6	-24	4	1	4	2	4	3	-8	63	31
5th	Becky Priest	Tim Saunders	Staunton Harold SC	-9	3	2	3	7	6	-12	6	4	9	61	40
6th	Derian Scott	Andy Scott	Chew Valley Lake SC	4	4	-19	6	6	7	1	12	-14	5	78	45
7th	Matt Findlay	Richard Anderton	Weston SC/Dell Quay	8	-9	6	7	5	8	-9	8	7	1	68	50
8th	Kevin Hope	Russell Thorne	Notts County SC/ Lyme Regis SC	6	8	5	5	9	(51.0 BFD)	-14	3	8	7	116	51
9th	Penny Gibbs	Ian Gibbs	Brightlingsea SC	3	5	-12	12	12	3	8	-18	11	4	88	58
10th	Veronica Falat	Ben Falat	Great Yarnouth & Gorleston SC	10	12	(51.0 DNC)	(51.0 DNC)	13	11	7	7	15	11	188	86
11th	Jemima Line	Gavin Tillson	Tipplers Cruising Club	(51.0 DNC)	(51.0 DNC)	17	10	11	14	17	11	5	15	202	100
12th	Ian Priest	Mike Stoddart	South Cerney SC/King George SC	-22	13	22	11	8	12	-31	15	9	10	153	100
13th	Martin Scarth	Nigel Sheppard	Blackwater SC	11	20	(51.0 RAF)	-21	14	9	10	16	12	13	177	105
14th	Andy Bines	Kerrie Forster	Brightlingsea SC	-20	-21	16	9	17	19	5	10	17	14	148	107
15th	Paul Aldridge	Drostan O'Reilly	Brightlingsea SC	16	15	-31	-26	23	21	6	14	16	12	180	123
16th	Simon Lomas-Clarke	John Piatt	Weston SC/Hillhead SC	17	-19	-25.5	15	19	16	11	9	19	18	168.5	124
17th	Richard Pepperdine	Simon Forbes	Staunton Harold SC	21	14	10	14	10	(51.0 BFD)	19	19	22	-23	203	129
18th	Elaine Tudor	Warren Tudor	Brightlingsea SC	15	16	15	-22	18	13	-27	13	21	22	182	133
19th	Keryn Henwood-Fox	Gary Henwood-Fox	Thornbury SC	12	23	4	17	22	(51.0 BFD)	-35	21	13	25	223	137
20th	Piers Lambert	Mark Batt	Brightlingsea SC/Harlow (Blackwater) SC	14	17	-35	-25	25	17	24	17	10	16	200	140
21st	Daniel Hare	Jamie Hare	Blackwater SC	13	10	14	32	15	(51.0 BFD)	(51.0 DSQ)	20	18	20	244	142
22nd	Alan Carter	Dave Pannell	Brightlingsea SC	25	24	11	13	20	10	20	25	-26	-28	202	148
23rd	Tim Riley	Chris Tuckett	Waveney & Oulton Broad YC	-29	22	13	23	16	18	16	22	-28	19	206	149
24th	Chris Walker	Daniel Walker	Staunton Harold SC	18	-29	9	20	-29	15	15	29	20	24	208	150
25th	Richard Mansfield	Graham Sanderson	Brightlingsea SC	19	11	-32	19	21	20	18	(51.0 DNC)	25	26	242	159
26th	Dave Islin	Tony King	Harlow (Blackwater) SC	(51.0 DNC)	27	8	16	26	24	21	-31	29	27	260	178
27th	Rhys Lankester	Jason Rickards	Bristol Corinthian YC	26	18	-34	27	24	22	25	26	-37	17	256	185
28th	Christine Slater	Graham Slater	Paignton SC	27	-32	30	(51.0 RAF)	27	23	23	24	32	21	290	207
29th	Malcolm Cross	Tony Everitt	Harlow (Blackwater) SC	23	25	29	-38	28	(51.0 BFD)	28	23	24	30	299	210
30th	Rupert Smith	Chris Turner	Newhaven & Seaford SC	24	30	25.5	28	-31	26	26	28	27	-34	279.5	214.5
31st	Bob Tuckwood	Debbie Tuckwood	Notts County SC	35	-40	33	31	32	27	33	-43	23	31	328	245
32nd	Geoff Holden	Sophie Holden	Ogston SC	(51.0 DNC)	34	20	29	-40	29	36	30	34	38.5	341.5	250.5
33rd	David Ryder	Michelle Ryder	Blackwater SC	30	35	36	24	35	31	29	-41	(51.0 DNC)	33	345	253
34th	Jon Bale	Rachel Kealing	Chew Valley Lake SC	(51.0 DNC)	31	42	40	33	(51.0 BFD)	22	27	33	29	359	257
35th	Ray Newman	Oliver Clark	Brightlingsea SC	33	33	21	-36	-43	34	32	35	35	35	337	258
36th	Barrie Winship	Rose Winship	Brightlingsea SC	28	26	18	30	30	25	(51.0 DNC)	(51.0 DNC)	51.0 DNC	51.0 DNC	361	259
37th	Neal Gibson	Tom Burrows	Sunderland YC	31	28	28	35	36	30	38	-39	(51.0 OCS)	36	352	262
38th	Neil Burton	Tom Dutton	Weston SC	39	38	-43	18	38	32	34	32	-42	32	348	263
39th	Maria Richards	Phil Stoneham	Blackwater SC	32	37	37	(51.0 RAF)	34	(51.0 BFD)	30	34	38	41	385	283
40th	Stephen Duncan	Penelope Kelly	New Haven & Seaford SC	(51.0 DNC)	(51.0 DNC)	23	34	41	37	43	36	31	38.5	385.5	283.5