Fireball Open at Brightlingsea - Horey and Gibbs win

by Tim Saunders on 16 Sep 2010 On the weekend of the 11th/12th September the Fireball fleet travelled to Brigtlingsea for their annual open meeting. With the nationals just 2 weeks before many of the crews had been mixed up due to other commitments or taking a break.

Saturday started in 22 / 28 knot South Westerly after an hour’s delay for the wind to drop. First around the top mark were Vince Horey and Iocal hero Ian Gibbs followed by Phil Popple and Gavin Tilson these two pulled away from the flight and finished in this order. Mirror national champion Chris Rust, new to Fireballs and sailing with Richard Wagstaff, finished third.

Race two was lead for two laps by Popple who was chased down and finally pasted on the downwind legs by Horey, only for Horey to wipe out down a wave and lose his crew over the side. Popple took the chance to regain the lead, Horey recovered to claim second and Rust was again third.

Sunday dawned with clear blue skies and 10 knots of breeze. Horey rounded the windward mark first and did a horizon job. Locals, Elaine and Warren Tudor were in second until the last crucial gybe when Popple slipped through to claim second with the Tudors third.

Race 4 saw Maria Richards and Richard Anderton lead round the first mark in front of Rust and Popple these places stayed the same until the second lap when Horey pulled through to second and was after Rust the two boats split gybes on the last run and it was Rust who won from Horey with Popple third.

Going into the last race, Horey had a two point lead but could be caught by Popple if f he won the race. Rust and Wagstaff still had a chance of second. Horey managed to tack on Popple on the first beat and halt his progress as Rust lead towards the first mark, but Horey just managed to squeeze round first. These two boats extended their lead until the leeward mark, when both had got a bit high due to the strong tide and involuntarily gybed whilst dropping their spinnakers.

Horey's crew was seen leaving the boat for the second time of the weekend but this time with the kite in his arms and head first. Rust went on to win the race and Horey recovered to claim second and the meeting. As always there was a warm welcome from the Brightlingsea fleet and ample food and beverages.

Merlin / Fireball Open

Fireball Open Meeting

Overall

Rank	Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Rating	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total	Nett
1st	Fireball	GII Race Team	FIREBALL	15020	King George	Vince Horey	Ian Gibbs		1.0	(2.0)	1.0	2.0	2.0	8.0	6.0
2nd	Fireball	Kevlar Footprint	FIREBALL	15036	BSC	Chris Rust	Richard Wagstaff		3.0	3.0	(8.0)	1.0	1.0	16.0	8.0
3rd	Fireball	J R Nee Too	FIREBALL	14977	Shoreham S C	Philip Popple	Gavin Tilson		2.0	1.0	2.0	(3.0)	3.0	11.0	8.0
4th	Fireball		FIREBALL	14805	Blackwater	Mark Maskell	Nigel Sheppard		4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	(5.0)	21.0	16.0
5th	Fireball	Mashed Potato	FIREBALL	14909	Aberdeen & Stonehaven	Ian Priest	Lucy Lingard		(6.0)	6.0	5.0	5.0	6.0	28.0	22.0
6th	Fireball	On A Mission	FIREBALL	14893	BSC	Elaine Tudor	Warren Tudor		(18.0 DNF)	9.0	3.0	7.0	8.0	45.0	27.0
7th	Fireball	Jamy's Flyer	FIREBALL	14982	Blackwater SC	M Scarth	Tony King		5.0	7.0	6.0	10.0	(12.0)	40.0	28.0
8th	Fireball	Somethig for the Weekend	FIREBALL	14774	BSC	Neville Herbert	Richard Etherington		7.0	(18.0 DNS)	10.0	8.0	4.0	47.0	29.0
9th	Fireball		FIREBALL	14976	Shustoke/Waldringfield	Stuart Hydon	Fiona Gray		8.0	10.0	9.0	6.0	(11.0)	44.0	33.0
10th	Fireball		FIREBALL	14860	BSC	Alan Carter	David Pannell		9.0	8.0	(14.0)	11.0	7.0	49.0	35.0
11th	Fireball		FIREBALL	15031	Blackwater SC	Marim Richards	Richard Anderton		(18.0 DNF)	5.0	7.0	18.0 DNF	10.0	58.0	40.0
12th	Fireball	Getagrip	FIREBALL	15021	BSC	Richard Mansfield	Cathy Chabo		10.0	(18.0 DNS)	12.0	9.0	9.0	58.0	40.0
13th	Fireball	Running Bear	FIREBALL	14452	Blackwater SC	Bryan Sargeant	William Sargeant		11.0	11.0	11.0	13.0	(18.0 DNS)	64.0	46.0
14th	Fireball	Over & out	FIREBALL	14634	BSC	Nigel Warren	Chris Warren		12.0	(18.0 DNS)	15.0	12.0	13.0	70.0	52.0
15th	Fireball	Silver not Grey	FIREBALL	14922	BSC	Barry Winship	Rose Winship		(18.0 DNC)	18.0 DNC	13.0	18.0 DNS	18.0 DNS	85.0	67.0
16th	Fireball	Thomas Tank	FIREBALL	14470	BSC	Ray Newman	Dawn Jasper		(18.0 DNS)	18.0 DNS	18.0 DNF	18.0 DNS	18.0 DNS	90.0	72.0
16th	Fireball	Classy Lassie	FIREBALL	14787	BSC	Peter Seaman	Peter Smurfwaite		(18.0 DNF)	18.0 DNS	18.0 DNF	18.0 OCS	18.0 DNF	90.0	72.0

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