Sailmakers prepare for battle...

...in Fireball Europeans arena, starting Mon 16 July, Lake Bracciano, Italy

This year the Fireball Europeans and World Championships are both being held on Lake Bracciano, 10km from Rome from 16-27 July. The number of entries currently stands at 94 boats, with the race management team still holding every hope that there may be 100 entries for the first day of racing.

The Fireball is particularly popular among the UK sailmakers, with the top spots at these championships likely to be filled by Dave Wade, Ian Pinnell, Vince Hoary, Stevie Morrison, and Richard Estaugh. All these sailors have successes in the Fireball class at international level. The forecast conditions for the two events is for light winds, and for this reason there have been a few crew changes. In particular Richard Wagstaff, Morrison's crew last season, will now be sailing with Dave Wade. Morrison has opted for a lighter crew, Liam Murrey, in an attempt to gain a small speed advantage.

Pinnell is likely to be the favourite, a previous Fireball European and World champion, however Wade, Pinnell's work colleague - second at the last European Championships, is likely to give Pinnell a run for this money.

Morrison, defending European Champion, has been racing the Fireball for a few years now. Although still relatively new to the boat when compared to the likes of Pinnell and Wade, he is certainly capable of winning the event. The past twelve months have seen Morrison and Wade sharing first and second in many of the national and international events. Morrison also won the Dutch Eurocup event last year. "He's normally better on the sea,"says Wade of Morrison ."He's definitely in with a chance of winning though."

Wade, second to Morrison at both the Europeans and Eurocup last year, has sailed a particularly successful year having already won the Scottish and Irish nationals. Although he has trailed Morrison at the most recent major international events, he will definitely be in a strong position to challenge for overall victory.

Estaugh, although an extremely talented sailor, has not been racing the Fireball to the same extent as the other main contenders. The Europeans will also be the first time his Fireball has been sailed. Although Estaugh has a good chance of being in the top three for the Europeans, it would be no surprise to see Estaugh slightly down in the Europeans and on top in the Worlds.

Most of the main challengers for these events are British, however the Swiss born Moser brothers are likely to be among the top finishers at both events. The brothers, like Pinnell and Morrison, have won the Europeans before. After some time sailing separately they are again paired up to try and win back their title. Marcus Hoffstetter, also from Switzerland, is perhaps the quickest in the very light stuff along with Adrian Huber. They both sail with very small women crews so they should be on the pace.

Finally, although the Italians do not often feature on the podium in the Fireball, none of the top Italian sailors lack boat speed. With local knowledge an advantage we could see several Italians in the top 10 this year.