Fireball World Championship - Perfect postcard conditions in Pattaya!

by Cormac Bradley on 2 Apr 2014 At the Fireball World Championship, the fleet in Pattaya enjoyed another perfect day in paradise for day three. Fifteen knots of breeze @210 degrees and a three knot tide running across the course – a tactician’s paradise!

The Australian contingent led around the first weather mark in the form of Ben Schulz and Doug Sheppard who came in from the left with better pressure. They were followed by the British 'Bs' – Birrell and Brearey and their compatriots Batchelor and Pascoe. Only a couple of boat lengths separated the leaders. The order remained the same for the triangle-sausage-triangle course and as if tied together by string, at each rounding mark only about six boat-lengths separated first and third.

Allison and Blenkle lost a rudder forcing their retirement while Jaline Thompson-Kambas and Cameron Philcox (AUS 15011) broke a main halyard and Kevin Luff (AUS 14265) went swimming (again)!

The second race of the day was sailed in 'an uncharacteristically mature firm and unstable tropical breeze' which topped out at 20 knots in the gusts. The fleet was split equally left and right before Batchelor and Pascoe gained a significant lift in the last 200m of the beat to round in first place followed by Schulz and Sheppard and Gordon and Fletcher who had come in from the right hand side.

Schulz and Sheppard took over the lead but surrendered it again to Batchelor and Pascoe on the run. There appears to be a trend in this regard with the Aussies faster upwind and the Brits having the upper hand offwind. A peeling gasket slowed Schulz and Sheppard and saw them limp home in third place behind Batchelor and Pascoe and Gordon and Fletcher.

With the first discard kicking in, only five points cover the top three boats and with four races to sail after tomorrow’s lay-day, there is everything to play for.

Results After Six Races

 

1	GBR 15107	Christian Birrell, Sam Brearey	9.0	1	1	(dsq )	1	2	4
2	GBR 15087	Nathan Batchelor, Sam Pascoe	11.0	2	2	(3 )	3	3	1
3	AUS 15062	Ben Schulz, Doug Sheppard	14.0	(4 )	4	4	2	1	3
4	AUS 15048	Heather MacFarlane, Chris Payne	19.0	3	(6 )	1	4	5	6
5	AUS 15071	Thomas Gordon, Jack Fletcher	19.0	5	3	5	(8 )	4	2
6	AUS 15032	Greg Allison, Allen Blenkle	24.0	7	5	2	5	(dnf )	5
7	CAN 15024	Joe Jospe, Tom Egli	37.0	6	(11 )	6	10	7	8
8	FRA 14793	Erich Moser, Jean-Francois Nouel	38.0	8	(9 )	8	7	6	9
9	GBR 15092	Veronica Falat, Ben Falat	39.0	9	7	9	6	8	(11)
10	AUS 14814	Steve Goacher, Peter Crossley	44.0	(10 )	8	10	9	10	7
11	AUS 14812	Dick McCulloch, Glenn Stewart	51.0	12	10	7	(dnf )	9	13
12	GBR 14887	Bryan Sargeant, William Sargeant	61.0	13	12	13	13	(14 )	10
13	SUI 14859	Christina Haerdi-Landerer, Cedric Landerer	61.0	11	14	12	11	13	(15)
14	AUS 14510	Jim Hughes, Tom Hughes	64.0	15	(19 )	11	12	12	14
15	RSA 14901	David Laing, Mark Dee	65.0	14	13	(16 )	15	11	12
16	AUS 15076	Tim Ninnes, Taylor Neighbour	76.0	16	15	15	14	16	(dnf)
17	AUS 15011	Jaline Thompson-Kambas, Cameron Philcox	80.0	17	18	14	16	15	(dns)
18	SUI 14921	Maja Suter, Thomas Boehm	86.0	19	16	17	17	17	(dnf)
19	AUS 14747	Daniel Wolch, Alan Schaiars	94.0	20	20	19	18	(dns )	17
20	AUS 14265	Kevin Luff, Peta Luff	95.0	21	21	18	19	(dnf )	16
21	THA 10338	Jirawat Jodkby, Dylan Whitcraft	101.0	18	17	(dnf)	dnf	dnc	dnc

Comments (via Facebook):

Peter Crossley (AUS 14814) Great sail today. 20 knots of breeze and our best result in the Worlds – seventh in Race 2. Worked very hard for it!

Chris Payne (AUS 15048) Not a stellar day, fifth and sixth in 14 – 18 knots! Boat is going nicely but the crew made a few mistakes.