#fireball – While there can be no doubting that the UK is the spiritual home of the Fireball Class, the reality is that as an international class there is a multi-national facet to the character of the class and that manifests itself even more when the Worlds are hosted in the UK writes Cormac Bradley. Thus, while this past week has been a UKFA Nationals, it has also served as a Pre-Worlds/International Week before the World Championships, sponsored by GUL commencing tomorrow, Sunday. Consequently there are other nationalities competing at the event as a prelude to the Worlds.
Representatives from fleets in Ireland, France, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Belgium and South Africa have contested the UK Nationals and while the organisers would have liked to see more nations here and more numbers from those who are, those that are here add an added dimension to the event both on and off the water.
For most, the quest for success this past week is tempered with getting their boats sorted for the main business of next week so there are scores on their cards that mightn't otherwise be there, but just to give you a feel of where they featured this article is dedicated to them.
Tom Gillard and Richard Anderton (GBR 15127) wrapped up the business of securing the UK title yesterday with another two wins on the water to register a nett score of 7pts for the regatta. Yesterday we saw the strongest breeze of the event with the last reach of the last triangle of the regatta sailed in two-sail mode for even some of the top guys. That doesn't appear to have upset the march of the winners to the title.
In second place were the defending World Champions from Thailand 2014, Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey (GBR15107) who scored a 3 and retired form the last race. This left them with a nett score of 12pts.
The overnight occupants of third and fourth swopped places as a consequence of yesterday's proceedings leaving James Peters & Fynn Sterritt (GBR 15129) in 3rd after a 6, 2 compared to Ian Dobson & Ben Ainsworth's (GBR 15089) 13, 10. This gave third overall to the former pairing with a nett of 27pts to the latter's score of 30pts.
The top five was closed out by another British combination – Jonny McGovern & Max Todd (GBR 15094) with a nett score of 42pts.
The first visitors were the French pairing of Remy Theuillier & Mathieu Corruble (FRA14917)in sixth place with 50pts followed by the Irish pair of Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella (IRL 15114) in 10th place on a score of 55pts.
UKFA NATIONALS, PWLLHELI, NORTH WALES
TOP FIVE OVERALL & FIRST VISITORS BY NCA. R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Nett
1 Tom Gillard & Richard Anderton GBR 15127 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 7pts
2 Christian Birrell & Sam Brearey GBR15107 1 1 2 3 2 3 61 12pts
3 James Peters & Fynn Sterritt GBR15129 26 4 9 2 4 6 2 27pts
4 Ian Dobson & Ben Ainsworth GBR 15089 2 3 6 4 5 13 10 30pts
5 Jonny McGovern & Max Todd GBR 15094 9 8 8 8 8 2 8 42pts
6 Remy Theuillier & Mathieu Curruble FRA 14917 12 5 61 9 16 5 3 50pts
10 Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella IRL 15114 19 9 4 7 12 17 6 55pts
18 Jaroslav Verner & Pavel Winkler CZE 15110 11 20 16 19 17 18 13 94pts
22 Christine & Cedric Landerer SUI 14859 21 30 18 11 32 29 24 133pts
29 Ben Schulz & Doug Shepherd AUS 15062 22 14 20 61 61 11 61 189pts
30 Robert Levy & Jonathan Driver CAN 15043 27 27 25 23 27 61 61 190pts
40 Roel & Sam Peerlinck BEL 14445 46 41 40 38 33 34 25 211pts
41 Anthony Parker & Ferdinand Holm RSA 14904 51 48 61 41 25 33 16 214pts
For the balance of the Irish representatives, the conditions were challenging, especially given our numbers this current season. Racing in a sixty boat fleet presents challenges we haven't seen since our last venture to an international regatta.
39 Chris Thorne & Cormac Bradley GBR 14950 43 31 33 34 30 37 61 208pts
43 Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe IRL 14691 32 42 35 33 44 45 29 215pts
48 Frank Miller & Margaret Casey IRL 14713 48 46 43 43 37 36 61 314pts
As this report is being written another suite of visitors has arrived at Pwllheli to boost numbers even further from the 60 boats that contested the Nationals. The Irish will swell their numbers at the regatta with another five boats, but the vast majority of boats arriving or en route will be British to swell the fleet to 106 boats.
In previous reports I referred to the International Race Officer as Peter Caxton – my apologies to Peter, it should be Peter Saxton. He ran seven very good races even though the fleet must have tried his patience. The last race of the series got away at the 6th attempt. However, his course setting was very impressive, his turn-around of races was appropriate and he did as much as he could to get racing in given the weather conditions we have had this week. Yesterday in particular was very difficult with fluctuating wind strength and fluctuating visibility. Next week there will be more of a challenge with a 106-boat start-line.
