Waiting for the wind

Jonathan Bale reports from day two and three of the Fireball World Championship

After the excitement of a stiff force five breeze on Sunday, it was back to waiting for sea breezes to fill in on Monday morning. It was not until early afternoon that the wind filled in and allowed Race Officer Mike Pearson to set a fair course.

With the Fireball fleet now getting to grips with the idea of line starts with 176 boats on the line once again they managed to get off first time.

The four boats of Tim Rush and Fred Sotteau, DJ Edwards and Dan Newman, Chips Howarth and Vyv Townend and the South African pairing of Justin Clark and David Aymes made the best starts and lead most of the way up the first beat. Justin and David were eventually forced to tack off to the right as they got squeezed by the other boats.

At the Windward mark the Czeck boat of Tomas Musil and Jan Stantejsky tried to sneak in from the port lay line but ended up having to duck the leading group of boats.

Having been forced right it was Justin and David who were on the inside of the lift and lead around the windward mark. Positions remained the same down both reaches. However on the second beat Justin and David were forced to do a 720 penalty turn for illegal body movements. With DJ and Chips keeping close cover on each other Tim Rush and David Aymes were left free to head across to the right and take the lead.

On the final beat DJ and Chips were still keeping close cover on each other this time allowing Guy Tipton & Chris Tattersall to sneak into second place. On the finish line DJ and Dan tried to sneak through on Port just in front of Chips and Vyv, but he did not quite make it allowing Chips and Vyv to take third while DJ and Dan did a 720.

Note just as this report is being finished racing for Day three has been abandoned for the day as the sea breeze failed to materialise.

Results:

Pos	Sail Number	Country	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	Tot
1	14879	CZE	Tomas Musil	Jan Stantejsky	3	3	11	17
2	14830	GBR	Chips Howarth	Vyv Townend	1	17	3	21
3	14895	GBR	Andy Smith	Jonny Mildred	13	1	7	21
4	14614	GBR	Guy Tipton	Chriss Tattersall	6	19	2	27
5	14908	GBR	David Edwards	Dan Newman	25	2	4	31
6	14820	GBR	Andy Pearce	Adam Broughton	16	18	6	40
7	14870	GBR	Vince Horey	Gavin Tillson	11	16	17	44
8	14904	GBR	Richard Estaugh	Rob Gardner	24	4	18	46
9	14834	GBR	Shane MacCarthy	Andy Thompson	5	15	26	46
10	14791	GBR	Angus Hemmings	Steve Chesney	20	14	12	46
11	14400	FRA	Ludovic Alleaume	Etienne Perdon	26	11	13	50
12	14880	GBR	David Wade	Richard Wagstaff	32	5	14	51
13	14829	SHE	Brydon Leask	Ewan Stirling	19	8	30	57
14	14899	GBR	Sam Mettam	Richard Anderton	2	26	31	59
15	14552	CZE	Martin Kubovy	Roman Rocek	21	28	15	64
16	14887	GBR	Steve Goacher	Tim Edlund	22	9	37	68
17	14863	SUI	Frédéric Duvoisin	Laurent Grob	33	6	32	71
18	14652	GBR	Martin Cooney	David Cooney	29	35	10	74
19	13945	GBR	Malcolm Davies	Ian Cadwallader	4	52	23	79
20	14897	SUI	Kurt Venhoda	Sonja Zaugg	27	23	29	79
21	14892	GBR	Penny Gibbs	Ian Gibbs	42	7	35	84
22	14821	GBR	Chris Gill	Jonathan Bale	10	32	42	84
23	14864	GBR	John Curzon	Pete Elver	8	55	28	91
24	14786	AUS	John Heywood	Brett Littledike	28	27	36	91
25	14682	GBR	Donald Smith	Matthew Richardson	14	12	71	97
26	14836	FRA	Tim Rush	Fred Sotteau	52	46	1	99
27	14837	GBR	Russ Cormack	Ali McLeod	57	36	8	101
28	14867	GBR	Veronica Falat	Ben Falat	31	24	48	103
29	14857	GBR	Becky Priest	Tim Saunders	35	25	43	103
30	14875	GBR	Jenny Thompson	Nick Thompson	41	44	20	105
31	14703	FRA	Franck Juin		9	13	84	106
32	14839	GBR	Kevin Hope	Russell Thorne	7	57	44	108
33	14827	CZE	Petr Koran	Pavel Winkler	44	10	55	109
34	14780	GBR	Alex Piggott	John Rowell	46	29	34	109
35	14901	GBR	Tristan Jacques	Keith Bundy	45	56	9	110
36	14853	GBR	Derian Chandler	Olly Goldsmith	23	42	52	117
37	14801	GBR	Ben Baxter	Alyson Bowring	34	41	47	122
38	14898	GBR	Paul Cullen	Jonathon Ching	12	88	25	125
39	14782	AUS	Robin Inns	Phillip Bowley	15	53	57	125
40	14903	GBR	Adam Whitehouse	Mike Woodward	37	30	62	129