Gul UK Fireball National Championships at Royal Torbay Yacht Club

Gul UK Fireball National Championships at Royal Torbay Yacht Club - Day 1

by Georgia Booth & Dave Hall 26 May 2019 01:09 PDT 25-28 May 2019

Gul Fireball Nationals at Torbay day 1 © Jean Border / www.borderphotos2010.com

The 2019 Fireball Championship is taking place over 4 days using the late May bank holiday. A healthy entry of 44 boats have turned up including many past World, European and National champions it is going to be a very competitive series.

The fleet was greeted by a lovely day in the English riviera, not quite with the wind that was forecast but the race team was hopeful to get the 2 planned races sailed.

The fleet launched on time and headed out to the race course on time for the first start, some found this process trickier than others as sailing ability out on the course clearly doesn't translate into launching ability as previous world champions struggled.

Race 1

5-7 knots, warm and sunny! The wind started in the SE and slowly tracked right throughout the race.

Gul Fireball Nationals at Torbay day 1 - photo © Jean Border / www.borderphotos2010.com

Ben Rhodes and Ian Martin rounded the top mark first followed by Ian Dobson and Richard Wagstaff then Christian Birrell. The wind dropped off during the second beat, filling in slightly on the left. The eventual race winner Dobson and Wagstaff after taking Ian & Richard at the last mark.

Race committee took a few attempts to get the second race in including an abandonment half way up the first beat as the wind continued to track right. Settling in the West the wind built to 15knots albeit somewhat shifty

Race 2

Started finally in a good 15 knots steady breeze, Matt Burge David Schieber rounded top mark first with the fleet close behind. Wind then slowly dropped off for the second beat to 10 knots with much place changing. Race winner Burgee and Schieber.

Gul Fireball Nationals at Torbay day 1 - photo © Jean Border / www.borderphotos2010.com

Overall a tricky, fun day to kick off the Nationals!

Results after Day 1:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Fleet	R1	R2	Pts
1	15161	Ian Dobson	Richard Wagstaff	Gold	1	3	4
2	15123	Matt Burge	Dan Schieber	Gold	4	1	5
3	15144	Christian Birrell	Vyv Townend	Gold	3	2	5
4	15124	Pete Kyne	Tom Kyne	Gold	8	5	13
5	15122	Ian martin	Ben rhodes	Gold	2	13	15
6	15120	Vince. Horey	Andrew Thompson	Gold	6	9	15
7	15143	David wade	Richard Pepperdine	Gold	7	8	15
8	15162	Isaac Marsh	Oliver Davenport	Gold	9	7	16
9	15147	Paul Cullen	Simon Forbes	Gold	5	15	20
10	15073	Sam Mettam	Tim Saunders	Gold	17	4	21
11	15130	David Winder	Ben Rayner	Gold	18	6	24
12	14928	Anthony Willcocks	James Willcocks	Gold	11	14	25
13	15155	Dave Hall	Paul Consatble	Gold	10	16	26
14	15133	Kevin Hope	Russell Thorne	Gold	12	17	29
15	14941	Derian Scott	Andy Scott	Gold	14	18	32
16	14870	Pete Gray	Simon Foskett	Gold	23	11	34
17	15145	Steve Goacher	Tom Goacher	Silver	25	12	37
18	15114	John Hayes	Joel James	Gold	13	24	37
19	15150	Angus Hemmings	Caroline Stockman	Gold	19	21	40
20	15151	Martyn Lewis	Richard Byne	Gold	31	10	41
21	15148	Jack Grogan	William Sargeant	Silver	22	19	41
22	15097	Roger Etherington	pannell	Bronze	16	28	44
23	15157	Keith Walker	Nick Rees	Silver	21	23	44
24	15086	Allan Tyler	Christina Tyler	Silver	20	27	47
25	15099	Simon Kings	Jono Loe	Silver	29	20	49
26	14940	Georgia Booth	Sam Platt	Silver	26	25	51
27	15160	Pete Badham	Steve Digby	Bronze	15	40	55
28	15045	Christine Slater	Graham Slater	Silver	24	32	56
29	14950	Chris Thorne	Lawrence Creaser	Silver	36	22	58
30	13944	Dan Johnson	Ben Latham	Silver	32	26	58
31	14662	Anthony Procter	Alan Goule	Bronze	27	31	58
32	14991	Andy Robinson	Tim Morgan	Bronze	30	30	60
33	14889	Barry Smith	Rick Spring	Silver	28	33	61
34	14600	Ben Altman	Robin Simpson	Bronze	35	29	64
35	14994	Damian Abbatt	Quentin Hayes	Bronze	34	34	68
36	14789	Hannah Finlay	Gordon Finlay	Bronze	33	39	72
37	14964	David Mason	Chris Oglethorpe	Bronze	39	35	74
38	15075	Andy Willcocks	Andrea Willcocks	Silver	38	36	74
39	15127	Jeremy Atkins	Richard Botting	Silver	37	38	75
40	14592	Charlie Sansom	Chris Jenkins	Bronze	41	37	78
41	15121	Bryan Thompson	Simon Benson	Bronze	40	41	81
42	14622	Jane Collison	Patrick Collison	Bronze	42	42	84