Tied at the top

Breeze kicks in after two light days at the Fireball Nationals in Weymouth

Despite a few boats launching for the second scheduled day of racing of the Fireball Nationals, the fleet was almost immediately called back to shore as the early morning wind rapidly dissipated. After a long wait on shore racing was abandoned for the day. Later the fleet enjoyed a great BBQ and drinks at the Cove Inn. At the AGM a vote taken to sail on Wednesday's scheduled layday.

Finally Big Breeze arrived in Weymouth after two days of very little wind. After a short delay the fleet launched. Following the inevitable pushing of the line by a bunch of boats, the Black flag on Sorebones was given an airing. The fleet were away in around 25 knots from the northwest. With four races to be sailed in Portland Harbour to make up for lost races on Sunday and Monday, it was a busy day on the water. Despite leading round the windward mark in two races of the four, Matt Findlay and Richard Anderton only managed to consolidate this into a top 3 position in the first race. They currently lie 5th overall. While DJ Edwards and Simon Potts scored four top five places, Andy Smith and Jonny Mildred were two points better off at the end of play with nine points compared to DJ's 13.

At the finish of the day it was Tom Foskett and Tim Needham and Current National Champions Dave Wade and Ben McGrane who topped the leaderboard with two victories each.

Listening to Adam Bowers' video debrief highlighted some of the reasons why these 2 boats were leading overnight. When racing resumes tomorrow - if it's not too windy - the rest of the fleet hope to be hot on their tails with much improved leeward mark roundings and hopefully a little less overstanding and a bit more conversation!

Results:

Pos	Boat	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot	Net
1		Tom Forskett	Tim Needham	-3	1	2	1	7	4
2	P&B/Selden	Dave Wade	Ben McGrane	1	-3	1	2	7	4
3	Gul	Andy Smith	Jonny Mildred	-6	2	4	3	15	9
4		David Edwards	Simon Potts	-5	4	3	4	16	11
5	Still Miseraball	Matt Findlay	Richard Anderton	2	-7	5	6	20	13
6	Lickn' on both sides	Matt Burge	Richard Wagstaff	4	6	9	-14	33	19
7	Rockers Revenge	Martyn Lewis	Richard Byne	11	-12	6	5	34	22
8	Stiflers Mom (MILF)	Vince Horey	James Hunt	-13	5	8	10	36	23
9	JRNeeToo	Philip Popple	Gavin Tilson	8	8	-10	8	34	24
10	The ew Boseys	Becky Priest	Tim Saunders	12	9	-13	7	41	28
11	Gill	Tom Jeffcoate	Mark Hogan	-15	10	7	11	43	28
12		Ross Kearney	Dave Hynes	7	-14	14	9	44	30
13		Tim Rush	Russell Thorne	9	13	12	-15	49	34
14	Three	John Curzon	Peter Elver	10	11	17	-19	57	38
15	Southpaws	Dderian Scott	Andy Scott	16	-17	11	12	56	39
16	The Pink Panther	Tom Offer	Matthew Alvarado	-64	15	15	13	107	43
17		Andy Pearce	Garry Henwood-fox	14	16	16	-17	63	46
18	New horizon	Joe Jospe	Tom Egil	-23	18	18	16	75	52
19	Jammy's Flyer	Martin Scarth	Tony King	17	-22	21	21	81	59
20	White Arrow	Jeremy Beling	Paul Robbins	18	21	-27	22	88	61
21	All Balls and No Fire	Terry Forbes	Richrd Pepperdine	21	19	-25	23	88	63
22		Simon Lomas-clarke	John Piatt	20	23	22	-64	129	65
23		Russ Cormack	Ali Cormack	25	-29	23	24	101	72
24		Alan Carter	David Pannell	24	24	24	-28	100	72
25	Flying Pigs	Rhys Lankester	Chris Bishop	26	28	26	-64	144	80
26		Debi Gibson	Stuart Hopson	28	-31	28	30	117	86
27	Kittiwake	Paul Howey	Douglas Lang	27	32	-39	31	129	90
28	Brassy Lassie	Sam Downing	Alex Downing	30	25	-37	37	129	92
29		Peter Clayton	Richard Clayton	-64	26	34	35	159	95
30	Windyanna Jones	Colin Snowdon	Karen Hiles	32	27	36	-64	159	95
31	Sidewinder	Tony Godwin	Tim Mcevoy	36	30	-40	29	135	95
32	Badass	Pete Bradham	John Rhode	-64	64	20	18	166	102
33		Jez White	David Turner	-64	64	19	20	167	103
34	Mashed Potato	Ian Priest	Mike Stoddart	19	20	-64	64	167	103
35		Barbara Newson	Guy Newson	33	-64	35	36	168	104
36	Willitipit	John Tenney	Alex Fillmore	-64	64	30	27	185	121
37	Got the Sheets	Eugene Jordan	Graham Collett	-64	64	33	26	187	123
38	Betty	Rob Shorrocks	Tim Riley	-64	64	38	25	191	127
39	Second Wind	Bob Tuckwood	Debbie Tuckwood	-64	64	31	32	191	127
40	Mc Cloud Nine	Nick Mcleod	Matt Rawson	31	34	-64	64	193	129
41	Fun Boat 3	Steven Crossley	Paul Bolton	-64	33	32	64	193	129
42	Beyond Belief	Peter Verver	Chris Downing	-64	64	29	40	197	133
43	Black Fantin	John Manson	Ivan Fraser	22	-64	64	64	214	150
44	Comfortably Numb	Rupert Smith	Chris Turner	29	-64	64	64	221	157
45	Windplayer	Ian Savell	Dawn Savell	-64	64	64	33	225	161
46	Indefiaball	Jeremy Hurst	Andrew Hurst	-64	64	64	34	226	162
47	Blew Genes	Maria Richards	Graham Hoy	34	-64	64	64	226	162
48	Ddraig Goch	Michael Sutcliffe	Lucy Lingard	35	-64	64	64	227	163
49	The Bow Street Runner	David Festing	Karen Festing	-64	64	64	38	230	166
50	Jango Fett	Barry Smith	Christopher Smith	-64	64	64	39	231	167
51		Martin Walker	Suzy Capey	-64	64	64	41	233	169
52	Sunk to the Nuts	Steve Patten	Brian Aldgate	-64	64	64	64	256	192
53	Over & Out	Nigel Warren	Gillian Warren	-64	64	64	64	256	192
54	Blind Squirrel	Frank Miller	Marguerite O'rourke	-64	64	64	64	256	192
55	Jumping Jack Flash	Ashley Benn	Henry Benn	-64	64	64	64	256	192
56	No Fear	Greham Gittins	Teresa Tonks	-64	64	64	64	256	192
57	New Horizon	Malcolm Lord	Juie Orr	-64	64	64	64	256	192
58	Chop Chop	Stewart Scarff	Lesley Scarff	-64	64	64	64	256	192
59	Greg Hares	Ian Elkington	Nicky Elkington	-64	64	64	64	256	192
60	Retrosendence	Lionel Turner	Samantha Bunn	-64	64	64	64	256	192
61	The Mutts Nutts	Alex Knight	Mike Robbins	-64	64	64	64	256	192
62	Sharky	Veronica Falat	Ben Falat	-64	64	64	64	256	192
63	Alastair Fry	Alistair Fry	Shane MacCarthy	-64	64	64	64	256	192

Sponsored by Alverbank Sails, Harken, Pinnell and Bax, North Sails, Selden, Speed Sails, Winder Boats and the Dorset Brewing Company.