2021 Gul Fireball Inland Championship at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

2021 Gul Fireball Inlands at Chew Valley Lake © Jon Cawthorne

19 brave Fireballs descended upon Chew Valley Sailing Club despite the rain showers and breezy forecast for the 2021 Gul Fireball Inland National Championship. Following the necessary bacon sandwiches and homemade scotch eggs, the fleet launched into 15-20 knots, with a few punchy gusts thrown in for good measure.

Race 1, triangle-sausage - Breeze on, racing got underway at the second time of asking. The racing was close, with plenty of place swapping. Following 3 fast laps race 1 was won on the water by Simon Forbes and Paul Cullen (better known as Spanner), with DJ Edwards/Vyv Townsend and Dave Hall/Paul Constable not far behind. But DJ/Vyv and Dave/Paul joined the OCS club with a few others, giving 2nd place to the last minute pairing of David Sayce and Ben Raynor and 3rd to Christine Slater and Jo Line.

Race 2, triangle-sausage – The race was dominated by Spanner and Simon, who decided to put on a show for the spectating 420 parents, leading from start to finish (Simon is adamant he recorded 20+ knots on his Garmin!). Close racing unfolded behind, with DJ/Vyv 2nd, Dave/Paul 3rd and Chris Gill and Adam Broughton in 4th.

Anthony and James Willcocks during the 2021 Gul Fireball Inlands at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Jon Cawthorne

Race 3, windward-leeward - The 3rd and final race for Saturday afternoon proved a close one with Derian and Andy Scott joining the mix, showing it’s not all about reaching downwind. Following some concentration issues, DJ/Vyv had a rare capsize on a gybe. Not to be out done, Dave/Paul decided to capsize on the following lap. It looked like Spanner/Simon and Derian/Andy were in the clear, but the split leeward gate proved a tough decision for some, and DJ/Vyv and Dave/Paul soon found themselves back in the race. Dave and Paul took line honours.

Saturday night provided excellent food at the club for dinner, birthday celebrations and a civilised curry supper in the village for those with hobbit-like eating tendencies.

Sunday was a completely different day, on the shore anyway, with clear skies and a shift in the wind direction. With the club now nicely in the lee, the spectators moved outside into the sun to get a better view of the action for 3 triangle-sausage races.

Race 4 - Spanner and Simon started strong again, leading for the majority of the race despite some extremely tight reaches and strong defensive sailing from DJ/Vyv. DJ/Vyv finished second, and Dave/Paul fought through the fleet to take 3rd.

Paul Cullen & Simon Forbes win the 2021 Gul Fireball Inlands at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Jon Cawthorne

Race 5 - Race 5 was another close one right down to the finish line where DJ/Vyv took 1st, Spanner/Simon 2nd, and Dave/Paul finishing in 3rd.

Race 6 - The final race of the weekend got underway with the Irish boys (Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella) joining the fight. Rounding the windward mark in first, they proved that a long trip from Ireland, via Nottingham (to pick up their new boat) hadn’t been for nothing. The breeze felt like it was building again, or were the crews just getting tired? Lots of place swapping happened throughout, with the lead changing hands on a regular basis between the top 4. In the end Dave/Paul won the race, too far ahead for Spanner/Simon to catch, despite a valiant effort on the last run, going from 4th to 2nd. DJ/Vyv took 3rd, with Barry/Conor in 4th.

An excellent weekend's racing for all, but Spanner and Simon got their hands on the silverware in the end.

Paul Cullen & Simon Forbes win the 2021 Gul Fireball Inlands at Chew Valley Lake - photo © Andy Scott

The Silver and Bronze fleets were also strongly contested, with Alex Piggot and Andy Stewart taking the silver fleet in 7th (did Christine and Jo have too much birthday Fireball whiskey on Saturday night?) and Kath and Thomas Broatch taking the bronze fleet in 10th.

We are again hugely grateful to Gul for their continued sponsorship of the fleet, providing vouchers for the top 3 in the gold, silver and bronze fleets and merit awards, as well as spot prizes of 2 Evorobes. UK Global also provided a spot prize of a money-off annual boat Insurance voucher.

The final event of the season is a Gul Golden Dolphin event next weekend at Draycote Water (13/14 November).

Overall Results: