#fireball – Royal St. George Yacht Club Fireball pairing Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella continue to knock on the door of the international Fireball scene. After a hat–trick of domestic titles, the Dun Laoghaire duo won the pre-Europeans, were fourth at the Europeans in the Shetlands and have just finished fifth at the UK Nationals at Tenby Sailing Club in Pembrokeshire, only narrowly behind a number of pro–teams.
With the event already in the bag for Tom Gillard & Richard Anderton, the final day could have been an anticlimax and in terms of the podium places it probably was. However the Fireball Nationals always offers more, and with prizes to play for across the fleet there was plenty of action in the last 2 races.
Race 9 got underway on a gate start in a fresh Northerly breeze around 13 knots. Ian Dobson & Tim Linsell got off to a flyer and in lovely sunny conditions they went on to take a well deserved race win.
For the final race of the series the wind freshened just before the start and the fleet enjoyed some champagne Fireball conditions to end the week. Gillard & Anderton displayed the form they had shown throughout and won it from Dobson & Linsell, with the Irish duo Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella getting a well deserved 3rd. In the Silver fleet, Simon Lomas-Clark and Rob Daniels had an absolute flyer, carding a seventh to bring them within one point of a fleet win. Oh so close!
FInal top five, gold fleet:
1. Tom Gillard & Richard Richard Anderton
2. Ian Dobson & Tim Linsell
3. Matt Burge & Simon Wheeler
4. Dave Wade & Tim Hartley
5. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella
