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