Mee and Wagstaff lead Fireball Worlds - day 4

by Media on 21 Mar 2008 Even the locals are saying 'its not normally like this' as we have the 4th day of racing with perfect conditions. The concern is that there is only one day to go and none of us are looking forward to leaving this fantastic spot at Royal Varuna Yacht Club.

The first race of the day started on the first attempt, with the tide pushing the fleet back. The over night leaders Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff (GBR) again showed why they are the boat to beat, by getting around the first mark first,
closely followed by Nathan Stockley and Sam Muirhead(AUS) and David Wade and Ben McGrane (GBR).

Mee/Wagstaff stayed low on the reaches to get a gap over the others and was able to stay in the lead until the finish. Greg Allison/Richard Watson(AUS) got into third on the second beat, and 2006 World Champions, Eric Moser/Ruedi Moser(SUI) sailed past Wade/McGrane on the beat to the finish.

As per the norm, the second race had a little more wind, and again the fleet got away first start. This time Stockley/Muirhead led around the top mark from Mee/Wagstaff, showing that these two young guns have a little more speed that the rest. Wade/McGrane were third around the mark. The racing was very close between all the front runners, but the placing’s didn’t change to the finish.

Tomas Musil/Jan Stantejsky (CZE) and Heather Macfarlane/Chris Payne(AUS) both had minor gear failure and were unable to finish the race.

With one more day of racing to go, the top three are clear ahead and only 4 points separate the top 2. Mee/Wagstaff are still in the prime position and one more solid race should could seal it. Some of the Europeans are finally coming
to grips with sailing their boats in the conditions and starting to push the Australians out of the top 10. Three of the top 5 are still from the land 'down under'.

Fireball - Results after 8 races

1 GBR 14919 MATT MEE RICHARD WAGSTAFF 1 2 (5) 3 1 1 1 2 16 5 11
2 AUS 14587 NATHAN STOCKLEY SAM MUIRHEAD 2 3 (12) 2 3 2 2 1 27 12 15
3 GBR 14976 DAVID WADE BEN McGRANE 6 1 (16) 1 4 3 5 3 39 16 23
4 AUS 14971 GREG ALLISON RICHARD WATSON 5 4 (10) 5 10 10 3 6 53 10 43
5 AUS 14943 HEATHER McFARLANE CHRIS PAYNE 8 8 2 8 13 8 9 (69F) 125 69 56
6 SUI 14799 ERICH MOSER RUEDI MOSER 10 (19) 7 16 11 11 4 4 82 19 63
7 GBR 14920 VINCE HOREY ANDREW THOMPSON 20 6 6 7 12 (69F) 6 7 133 69 64
8 GBR 14948 RICHARD ESTAUGH ROB GARDENER 3 18 9 14 5 5 12 (19) 85 19 66
9 GBR 14969 RICHARD MASON SIMON HEXTALL 11 10 (20) 6 8 7 15 10 87 20 67
10 AUS 14812 PETER INNS CHRIS WENT 7 (22) 1 11 6 17 11 18 93 22 71
11 AUS 14786 JOHN HEYWOOD BRETT LITTLEDIKE 9 5 17 17 2 18 (23) 5 96 23 73
12 AUS 14850 BEN SCHULZ BEN NEAYLON 14 13 (18) 9 14 6 8 16 98 18 80
13 AUS 14782 ROBIN INNS JOEL COULTAS (69B) 7 4 10 7 9 32 12 150 69 81
14 AUS 14936 IAN RAVENSCROFT PAUL GRANT 12 17 13 19 9 13 (20) 15 118 20 98
15 GBR 14887 STEVE GOACHER TIM EDLUND 32 15 8 13 15 (34) 10 13 140 34 106
16 CZE 14879 TOMAS MUSIL JAN STANTEJSKY 4 9 11 4 (69F) 4 7 69F 177 69 108
17 GBR 14950 KEVIN HOPE RUSSELL THORNE (25) 12 22 15 16 21 14 8 133 25 108
18 GBR 14964 DAVID GILES DAVID MASON 13 11 (27) 22 19 19 19 11 141 27 114
19 IRL 14894 NOEL BUTLER SEAMUS MOORE 15 14 15 12 (69B) 12 18 35 190 69 121
20 SUI 14897 KURT VENHODA SONJA ZAUGG 22 25 14 (29) 23 23 17 17 170 29 141
21 GBR 14973 PETER GRAY SIMON FORBES 21 28 24 (34) 18 14 22 22 183 34 149
22 GBR 14949 TOM JEFFCOATE MARK HOGAN (69B) 16 3 23 69B 16 16 9 221 69 152
23 AUS 14722 RICHARD McCULLOCH GLENN STUART 29 38 33 18 25 20 (69F) 20 252 69 183
24 AUS 14603 EMMA PERKINS JASON HERITAGE 23 49 (69F) 25 21 22 13 31 253 69 184
25 CAN 14828 ROBERT THOMPSON GARETH OWEN (34) 20 30 24 28 30 29 25 220 34 186
26 THA 11 SUTEE POONPAT VORAVIT VORASAEN (31) 27 21 30 24 26 30 28 217 31 186
27 AUS 14571 GREG SCHULZ JEFF SCHULZ 16 29 (39) 20 29 32 34 27 226 39 187
28 CAN 14968 JOE JOSPIE TOM EGLI 28 35 (38) 26 22 27 27 24 227 38 189
29 JPN 14902 HIROSHI KATO SADAHIRO KUMAGAI (55) 31 26 33 26 24 36 26 257 55 202
30 CAN 14680 JAMES COX SIMON PEARSON 30 39 29 28 31 25 (61) 21 264 61 203
31 CAN 14768 ROB LEVY STEPHEN WALDIE 19 32 37 38 17 (69C) 37 29 278 69 209
32 USA 14927 DEBBIE KIRKBY NED GOSS 33 26 23 35 20 37 (46) 36 256 46 210
33 SUI 14724 ADRIAN HUBER BRIGITTE MAUCHLE 18 21 19 41 (69C) 69C 33 34 304 69 235
34 AUS 14745 JAMES SZPUNAR PHILLIP BOWLEY 39 30 31 27 34 29 (50) 49 289 50 239
35 CAN 7597 NOAH PURVES - SMITH MICHAEL LIETCH 41 33 34 (48) 30 38 31 32 287 48 239
36 GBR 14755 CHRIS DANDO MICHELLE RYDER 24 37 28 (51) 46 28 35 43 292 51 241
37 AUS 14530 TONY SCHNAARS JOHN WEIGAND 26 34 51 (53) 35 35 28 33 295 53 242
38 JPN 14808 TAICHI IMURA MASARU OGAWA 27 24 36 (69F) 38 53 21 45 313 69 244
39 GBR 14791 PHILIP POPPLE STEVE CHESNEY 17 23 (69Q) 36 69F 69C 24 14 321 69 252
40 IRL 14765 OWEN LAVERTY ED BUTLER (69B) 47 25 31 32 45 39 37 325 69 256
41 CAN 14156 FRANK CRAWFORD SEAN HOLMES SMITH 35 36 32 (49) 36 40 47 38 313 49 264
42 IRL 14840 CONOR CLANCY FRANCIS ROWAN (69B) 69F 42G 21 69B 15 26 23 333? 69 264
43 THA 14519 KITIPONG KHAMBANG PACHARAPHON O-PUN (69F) 69F 35 52 27 41 25 30 348 69 279
44 AUS 14153 TIM NINNES DANIEL McLAREN 45 46 (47) 37 45 39 41 40 340 47 293
45 CAN 14481 MADDY PURVES - SMITH GREGG FURGUSON 42 50 (53) 50 37 42 38 47 359 53 306
46 SHE 14636 JOHN MANSON IVAN FRASER 44 44 59 (60) 41 36 44 39 367 60 307
47 CAN 14835 MIKE McEVOY JEREMY KENNEDY (69B) 45 40 42 69C 31 48 41 385 69 316
48 IRL 14854 LOUIS SMYTH SUZIE MULLIGAN 53 (61) 52 45 40 44 42 42 379 61 318
49 AUS 14814 ANDREW CROSSLEY PETER CROSSLEY 50G 41 41 39 51 52 49 (69F) 392 69 323
50 SUI 14921 MAJA SUTER FRANCOIS SCHLUCHTER 39 62 54 40 33 43 (63) 59 393 63 330
51 AUS 14414 GLEN PEVERELL SARAH BIGNELL 48 (58) 44 32 56 48 51 52 389 58 331
52 JPN 14509 YUSUKE SHIMOTSUMA KOICHI TSURUMOTO 43 42 (62) 43 43 47 56 57 393 62 331
53 CAN 14727 GEOFFREY HUGGETT COLIN HUGGETT 46 52 46 44 42 49 (62) 53 394 62 332
54 CAN 11800 MARK CUMMINGS EVELYN CHISHOLM 51 51 56 54 (69B) 33 52 44 410 69 341
55 JPN 14947 YASUJI KOSAKA MINORU SHIMIZU 36 57 50 57 47 55 (59) 48 409 59 350
56 THA 470 PREECHA DANGPATUM TODSAPOL JORNJAITRONG 47 48 49 (69F) 48 50 40 69F 420 69 351
57 SUI 14961 DOMINIK MUELLER CHRISTINE MEBES 56 (69F) 57 56 39 56 45 46 424 69 355
58 IRL 14877 FRANK MILLER MARGUERITE O'ROURKE 40 43 42 47 (69B) 69B 53 69F 432 69 363
59 CAN 14480 ROY TICHKOWSKY FRANK KORTBEEK (69F) 53 43 69Q 52 51 55 50 442 69 373
60 CAN 12934 LAURA TICHKOWSKY KEN TICHKOWSKY 54 56 58 (59) 54 59 43 51 434 59 375
61 IRL 14695 CIARAN HICKEY MARY HICKEY 50 59 48 (69C) 53 54 54 58 445 69 376
62 CAN 14813 JOHN HENDERSON MARGOT HENDERSON 52 55 55 55 55 57 (58) 56 443 58 385
63 GBR 14872 BARBARA NEWSON GUY NEWSON 49 54 60 (61) 50 60 60 55 449 61 388
64 JPN 14751 YASUHITO TSUKAHARA YUICHI NAKAMURA (69C) 69C 45 69F 49 69F 57 54 481 69 412
65 IRL 1489 JOHN CHAMBERS IAN McGONIGLE 37 40 (69F) 69F 69C 69C 69C 69C 491 69 422
66 THA 12805 JENS OVERGAARD NEIL SEMPLE 57 60 61 58 (69F) 58 64 69C 496 69 427
67 THA 14444 KEVIN WHITCRAFT BIRANUBONGSE BHANUBAND (69C) 69C 69C 69C 44 46 69C 69F 504 69 435
68 NED 14069 ALBERT BADOUX ROELAND DE JONG 58 (69F) 69F 69F 69C 69F 65 69F 537 69 468

Check out full results at www.fireball-international.com