Gul UK Fireball National Championships at Royal Torbay Yacht Club - Day 2
by Nick Rees 27 May 2019 05:35 PDT
25-28 May 2019
The forecasts for Day 2 of the Gul UK Fireball National Championships at Royal Torbay Yacht Club promised excellent sailing with 15 knot westerlies.
The first race started promisingly with 12-15 knots blowing steadily from a bearing of 250. However, about halfway up the first beat the wind gods started having a laugh and the wind went left and dropped, and thereafter the wind was up and down between 8 and 12 knots and coming from anywhere between 220 and 265 for the rest of the day. The resulting conditions were testing prompting continuous debates about which way to go.
Surely the westerly change was going to come sometime? However, such was not to be and those who kept probing the right hand side of the beat just in case the forecast shift came were generally disappointed and those who sailed the shifts and watched the gusts up the middle invariably came out best in the long run. The race committee did a great job in the circumstances, getting the fleet off on the second start (after the black flag went up) both times, and there was at least one course change in the first race when they tried to follow the wind after it had shifted.
The master of these conditions was Matt Burge and Dan Schieber, who sailed both excellently and consistently leading from start to finish in both races. Their two closest competitors Ian Dobson sailing with Richard Wagstaff and Christian Birrell sailing with Vyv Townend, also put the pressure on themselves by being black flagged in the second race, so cementing this as their discard until the final race of the series on Tuesday. These black flags meant that the second best set of results of the day went to Dave Hall and Paul Constable, who sailed consistently to return a 3rd and a 4th, and they are currently in a 3 way tie for 4th place with David Wade/Richard Pepperdine, and Paul Cullen/Simon Forbes.
The forecast for tomorrow is similar, slightly stronger and slightly north of west. The fleet is eagerly waiting to find out what the reality will be.
Results after Day 2:
Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Fleet | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
1 | 15123 | Matt Burge | Dan Schieber | Gold | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
2 | 15161 | Ian Dobson | Richard Wagstaff | Gold | 1 | 3 | 2 | 45 | 6 |
3 | 15144 | Christian Birrell | Vyv Townend | Gold | 3 | 2 | 6 | 45 | 11 |
4 | 15155 | Dave Hall | Paul Consatble | Gold | 10 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 17 |
5 | 15143 | David wade | Richard Pepperdine | Gold | 7 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 17 |
6 | 15147 | Paul Cullen | Simon Forbes | Gold | 5 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 17 |
7 | 15120 | Vince. Horey | Andrew Thompson | Gold | 6 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 18 |
8 | 15122 | Ian martin | Ben rhodes | Gold | 2 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 20 |
9 | 15124 | Pete Kyne | Tom Kyne | Gold | 8 | 5 | 11 | 45 | 24 |
10 | 15162 | Isaac Marsh | Oliver Davenport | Gold | 9 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 24 |
11 | 14870 | Pete Gray | Simon Foskett | Gold | 23 | 11 | 13 | 2 | 26 |
12 | 15133 | Kevin Hope | Russell Thorne | Gold | 12 | 16 | 5 | 45 | 33 |
13 | 15130 | David Winder | Ben Rayner | Gold | 18 | 6 | 17 | 12 | 35 |
14 | 14928 | Anthony Willcocks | James Willcocks | Gold | 11 | 13 | 21 | 14 | 38 |
15 | 15073 | Sam Mettam | Tim Saunders | Gold | 17 | 4 | 36 | 18 | 39 |
16 | 15114 | John Hayes | Joel James | Gold | 13 | 24 | 18 | 9 | 40 |
17 | 15151 | Martyn Lewis | Richard Byne | Gold | 32 | 10 | 20 | 16 | 46 |
18 | 14941 | Derian Scott | Andy Scott | Gold | 14 | 17 | 19 | 15 | 46 |
19 | 15148 | Jack Grogan | William Sargeant | Silver | 22 | 18 | 15 | 19 | 52 |
20 | 15150 | Angus Hemmings | Caroline Stockman | Gold | 19 | 20 | 14 | 21 | 53 |
21 | 15086 | Allan Tyler | Christina Tyler | Silver | 20 | 27 | 30 | 7 | 54 |
22 | 15157 | Keith Walker | Nick Rees | Silver | 21 | 23 | 12 | 22 | 55 |
23 | 15145 | Steve Goacher | Tom Goacher | Silver | 25 | 45 | 24 | 11 | 60 |
24 | 14940 | Georgia Booth | Sam Platt | Silver | 26 | 25 | 22 | 13 | 60 |
25 | 15099 | Simon Kings | Jono Loe | Silver | 30 | 19 | 16 | 26 | 61 |
26 | 13944 | Dan Johnson | Ben Latham | Silver | 34 | 26 | 23 | 20 | 69 |
27 | 15097 | Roger Etherington | pannell | Bronze | 16 | 28 | 27 | 28 | 71 |
28 | 15024 | Joe Jospe | Tom Egli | Silver | 33 | 22 | 35 | 17 | 72 |
29 | 15160 | Pete Badham | Steve Digby | Bronze | 15 | 41 | 28 | 33 | 76 |
30 | 15045 | Christine Slater | Graham Slater | Silver | 24 | 33 | 26 | 27 | 77 |
31 | 15156 | Daniel Thompson | Harry Thompson | Silver | 27 | 29 | 29 | 23 | 79 |
32 | 14950 | Chris Thorne | Lawrence Creaser | Silver | 38 | 21 | 25 | 44 | 84 |
33 | 14991 | Andy Robinson | Tim Morgan | Bronze | 31 | 31 | 31 | 24 | 86 |
34 | 14662 | Anthony Procter | Alan Goule | Bronze | 28 | 32 | 42 | 30 | 90 |
35 | 14889 | Barry Smith | Rick Spring | Silver | 29 | 34 | 37 | 29 | 92 |
36 | 15075 | Andy Willcocks | Andrea Willcocks | Silver | 40 | 37 | 32 | 25 | 94 |
37 | 14994 | Damian Abbatt | Quentin Hayes | Bronze | 36 | 35 | 33 | 34 | 102 |
38 | 14600 | Ben Altman | Robin Simpson | Bronze | 37 | 30 | 38 | 36 | 103 |
39 | 15127 | Jeremy Atkins | Richard Botting | Silver | 39 | 39 | 34 | 31 | 104 |
40 | 14592 | Charlie Sansom | Chris Jenkins | Bronze | 43 | 38 | 39 | 32 | 109 |
41 | 14964 | David Mason | Chris Oglethorpe | Bronze | 41 | 36 | 40 | 35 | 111 |
42 | 14789 | Hannah Finlay | Gordon Finlay | Bronze | 35 | 40 | 41 | 37 | 112 |
43 | 15121 | Bryan Thompson | Simon Benson | Bronze | 42 | 42 | 43 | 39 | 123 |
44 | 14622 | Jane Collison | Patrick Collison | Bronze | 44 | 43 | 44 | 38 | 125 |