The Carbonology Firefly Nationals 2011 are currently underway at Felixstowe Ferry SC. On day one, the husband and wife team of Ben and Jenny Vines, who are winners of the last championships, led in the rankings.
Perfect sailing conditions rewarded the 53 boats who made the trip the east coast for the first day of the 65th Championships. The class traditionally uses a gate start on day one, and sail a long Olympic course. An offshore breeze with shifts up to 30 degrees kept the race committee busy and after the fleet had rounded the gybe mark they set to work moving the windward mark to the left to compensate.
By the second lap the tide had started to pull the anchor mark across the breeze, leaving competitors exposed to the humiliating spectacle of attaching themselves to the anchor chain by the rudder while the fleet sailed by. Rule 31.1 boys!
On the sausage leg, big gusts led to a few swims down the fleet while the top boats had to use their brains to stay in the lead. As the breeze died the last beat became highly tactical. Big gains (or losses) were determined by the puffs of breeze rolling off the shoreline, and several boats entertained the committee boat by finishing of a lobster pot rather than the cylindrical buoy that they had set!
Firefly Nationals Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club Points 1 Overall
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Sailed:1, Discards:0, To count:1, Entries:53, Scoring system:Appendix A
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|
Rank
|
Boat
|
SailNo
|
Club
|
HelmName
|
CrewName
|
Points 1
Sunday
|
Total
|
Nett
|
Notes
|
|
1st
|
Fetherlite
|
2144
|
Imperial Poona YC
|
Vines
|
Vines
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
2nd
|
Kong
|
2659
|
Restronguet SC
|
Lumby
|
Evans
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
|
3rd
|
Fourwood Thinking
|
3023
|
Hamble River SC
|
Smith
|
Witherby
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
|
4th
|
Bloodhound
|
2594
|
Itchenor SC
|
Yeoman
|
Ormsby
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
|
5th
|
Fursty Ferret
|
3850
|
Keyhaven
|
Hudson
|
Bowden
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
|
6th
|
Grendel
|
2803
|
Imperial Poona YC
|
Smith
|
Smith
|
6.0
|
6.0
|
6.0
|
|
7th
|
Flo
|
32
|
West Kirby SC
|
Johnson
|
Steele
|
7.0
|
7.0
|
7.0
|
|
8th
|
Atomic
|
69
|
Royal Thames YC
|
Archer
|
Verrier-Jones
|
8.0
|
8.0
|
8.0
|
|
9th
|
Horror
|
3119
|
Wessex Exiles
|
Morris
|
Findlay
|
9.0
|
9.0
|
9.0
|
|
10th
|
Lynestra
|
2539
|
Llangorse SC
|
Davison
|
Bretherton
|
10.0
|
10.0
|
10.0
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Firefly Sailing website
by Chris Guy
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http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=86329
8:04 PM Sun 24 Jul 2011 GMT
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