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Smith and Mildred win Fireball Inlands

by Tim Saunders on 16 Oct 2008
Fireball Inland Championship 2008 Fireball Association http://www.fireballsailing.org.uk

Bright sunshine a friendly welcome coupled with 8-10 knots of breeze greeted the 70 competitors who made the trip to Pitsford Reservoir for the Fireball Inland Championships at Northampton Sailing Club. Current National Champions Dave Wade and Ben McGrane were absent at the Endeavour Trophy at Dave's home club. Who would take this years title?

Race 1 got away on time with Matt Findlay and Richard Anderton fighting hard to keep in front of Andy Smith and Jonny Mildred who held off club mates Kevin Hope and James Cooper and Martin Lewis and Richard Byne. There was much place changing throughout the rest of the fleet all weekend with the racing being very tight.

After lunch race 2 got away at the second attempt, this time it was Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff who got away and they built a big lead. Hope and Cooper took second ahead of Smith/Mildred with Richard Estaugh and Sam Thompson 3rd.

The wind had dropped for the final race of the day and the race officer clearly was far to excited about the prospect of England vs Kazakhstan and hoisted the black flag. This time Russ and Ali Cormack lead from the windward mark and held this to the finish. Mee/Wagstaff holding off Estaugh/Thompson. Smith/Mildred moved through to fourth by the end of the race just ahead of Hope/Cooper.

The fleet retired to the bar and enjoyed mountains of excellent food and beverages. Morning brought fog and not a drop of wind. with only small improvement during the morning racing was abandoned meaning Andy Smith and Jonny Mildred added a second Inlands title to their collection winning by 1 point from Hope/Cooper.

Four different British teams now hold the World, European, National and Inland titles. The final Fireball event of the season is on the 1/2 November at Draycote Water with a very big turnout expected at this popular open meeting.

Pinnell and Bax Fireball Inland Championship 2008
Rank SailNo Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R3 Total Nett
1st 14895 Andy Smith Jonny Mildred Notts County SC 2.0 3.0 4.0 9.0 9.0
2nd 14950 Kevin Hope James Cooper Notts County SC 3.0 2.0 5.0 10.0 10.0
3rd 14994 Matt Mee Richard Wagstaff Hollingworth Lake SC 9.0 1.0 2.0 12.0 12.0
4th 14226 Martin Lewis Richard Byne Draycote Water SC 4.0 5.0 10.0 19.0 19.0
5th 14948 Richard Estaugh Sam Thompson Chase 14.0 4.0 3.0 21.0 21.0
6th 14805 Mark Maskell Jon Warkins Brightlingsea 5.0 6.0 15.0 26.0 26.0
7th 14899 Matt Findlay Richard Anderton Weston SC 1.0 21.0 6.0 28.0 28.0
8th 14920 Vince Horey Sam Brearey King George SC 11.0 11.0 7.0 29.0 29.0
9th 14820 Andrew Pearce Gary Henwood-Fox Portishead Yacht & Sailing Club 13.0 8.0 9.0 30.0 30.0
10th 15004 Peter Gray Simon Forbes Staunton Harold 10.0 7.0 16.0 33.0 33.0
11th 14954 Becky Priest Tim Saunders Staunton Harold 15.0 12.0 8.0 35.0 35.0
12th 14980 Tom Foskett Tim Needham Staunton Harold 6.0 10.0 20.0 36.0 36.0
13th 14837 Russ Cormack Ali Cormack Budworth 20.0 16.0 1.0 37.0 37.0
14th 14941 Denon Scott Andy Scott Chew Valley Lake SC 16.0 9.0 12.0 37.0 37.0
15th 14966 Grahame Newton Mark Stevens Staunton Harold 8.0 18.0 13.0 39.0 39.0
16th 14993 David Hall Paul Constable Thorpe Bay YC 7.0 20.0 14.0 41.0 41.0
17th 14370 Daren Fasey Colin Davis Staunton Harold 17.0 14.0 11.0 42.0 42.0
18th 14967 Tom Castle Anthony York Northampton 21.0 15.0 18.0 54.0 54.0
19th 14909 Ian Priest Mike Stoddart South Cerney 19.0 22.0 19.0 60.0 60.0
20th 15002 S J Kelsall Tom Williamson Staunton Harold 12.0 27.0 28.0 67.0 67.0
21st 14977 Philip Popple Gavin Tilson Shoreham 18.0 13.0 36.0 DNC 67.0 67.0
22nd 14889 Ralph Singleton Maria Foster Chew Valley Lake SC 22.0 19.0 26.0 67.0 67.0
23rd 14976 Ross Kearney Stuart Kearney Northampton 26.0 17.0 25.0 68.0 68.0
24th 14935 Andy Foskett Lesley Foskett Staunton Harold 23.0 24.0 23.0 70.0 70.0
25th 14973 Terry Fombes Richard Pepperdine Staunton Harold 28.0 23.0 22.0 73.0 73.0
26th 14564 Jonathan Cooper Cheryl Jessop Ardleigh SC 29.0 28.0 17.0 74.0 74.0
27th 13951 Peter Slack Hanio Ograzinski Staunton Harold 27.0 25.0 27.0 79.0 79.0
28th 14876 Chris Walker Daniel Walker Staunton Harold 25.0 26.0 29.0 80.0 80.0
29th 14779 Tim Hand John Hobson Notts County SC 24.0 36.0 BFD 21.0 81.0 81.0
30th 14266 Bob Tudawood Debbie Tudawood Notts County SC 30.0 29.0 24.0 83.0 83.0
31st 14628 Maria Richards John Platt BSC/Hill Head 31.0 30.0 31.0 92.0 92.0
32nd 14995 Steve Greenhalgh Heidi Cokayne Staunton Harold 32.0 31.0 32.0 95.0 95.0
33rd 14108 Richard Stone Ollie Stone Staunton Harold 33.0 33.0 34.0 100.0 100.0
34th 14999 D Festing K Festing Shoreham 36.0 DNF 32.0 33.0 101.0 101.0
35th 14621 Jeremy Hurst Andrew Hurst Parkstone 36.0 DNC 36.0 DNC 30.0 102.0 102.0

 

 


1st Silver Fleet Daren Fasey and Colin Davis
1st Bronze Fleet Jonathon Cooper and Cheryl Jessop
1st Youth Tom Castle
1st Lady Helm Becky Priest
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