Gear guide from the Fireball Worlds
by Cormac Bradley on 21 Apr 2014
Fireball Worlds Fireball International
Fireball Worlds - Pattaya, Thailand, The table below sets out the various combinations of hulls, sails and fittings, together with crew weights of the top six boats in the recently concluded Fireball Worlds in Thailand.
It is a table that details very few surprises except maybe the use of Irwin sails by Heather MacFarlane and Chris Payne – my recall of the race reports is that they flew a set of Irwin Dacron sails for part of the week.
In terms of all up crew weight is it significant how little variation there is in the six combinations, with the exception of Heather MacFarlane and Chris Payne at the light end and Ben Schulz and Doug Sheppard at the other end of the scale. The average 'all-up' weight of the crew is 146.83 kgs which means that three of the crews were 'on the money' weight wise and the range across the top six was only 30kg. This may have course have been a deliberate ploy as the regatta wasn’t expected to have consistently heavy winds, but it is an indication of how a range of weights can be successful in the top echelons of a Worlds fleet.
Hull choice is consistent but really this isn’t a surprise, nor is the choice of masts. It is however interesting to note the number of combinations who are using North Sails
For the crew writing this short piece to go with this table of data, collated by Chris Payne, there is a salutary lesson…………I am carrying too much weight, and given that our domestic season is imminent, the inference is rather obvious!
| Fireball Worlds – RVYC, Pattaya, Thailand, 2014 |
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Skipper Weight (kg) |
Crew Weight (kg) |
Total Crew Weight (kg) |
Hull |
Mast |
Main |
Jib |
Spinnaker |
Centreboard |
Rudder |
Boom |
Pole |
Fit-out |
| 1st |
Christian Birrell (65) |
Sam Brearey (81) |
146 |
Winder |
Super Spar M7+ |
North T10 |
North |
North DS5 |
Winder |
Winder |
Superspar |
Super Spar |
Birrell/Brearey using Allen Fittings and English Braids Ropes |
| 2nd |
Nathan Batchelor (68) |
Sam Pascoe (82) |
150 |
Winder |
Super Spar M7+ |
North T10 |
North |
North DS5 |
Winder |
Winder |
Superspar |
Selden |
Batchelor fit out with Allan fittings |
| 3rd |
Ben Schulz (78) |
Doug Sheppard (85) |
163 |
Winder |
Super Spar M7+ |
North T10 |
Pinnel & Bax |
North DS5 |
Winder |
Hazelgrove Fixed Rudder |
Selden |
Goldspar |
P&B |
| 4th |
Tom Gordon (68) |
Jack Fletcher (78) |
146 |
Winder |
Super Spar M7+ |
Pinnel & Bax |
Pinnel & Bax |
Pinnel & Bax |
Winder |
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Selden |
Goldspar |
P&B |
| 5th |
Heather Macfarlane (54) |
Chris Payne (76) |
130 |
Winder |
Selden Cumulus |
Irwin Sails / Pinnel & Bax |
Irwin Sails |
Pinnel & Bax/Irwin Sails |
Winder |
Winder |
Selden |
Selden |
Winder |
| 6th |
Greg Allison (66) |
Allen Blenkle (80) |
146 |
Winder |
Selden Alto |
Clifton/Pinnel & Bax |
Clifton |
Clifton |
Winder |
Winder-fixed |
Selden |
Selden |
P&B |
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