2024 Fireball Worlds at Royal Geelong Yacht Club

2024 Fireball Worlds at Royal Geelong Yacht Club - Overall

by Harry Fisher 16 Feb 2024 03:17 PST 5-16 Februay 2024

British Fireball sailors Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson have been crowned World Champions at the 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong, Australia.

The duo sailed a near perfect regatta, rarely falling outside the top three and ending up winning with a race to spare.

Gillard said he was proud of the achievement, especially given the fact the British container didn't arrive on time.

Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson - 1st - Fireball Worlds at Geelong day 6 - photo © Alex Dare, Down Under Sail

"In the build up to the event we knew that we weren't going to have our boat so we had to spend a lot of time working on the boat we borrowed," he said.

"At pre-worlds we basically did one race a day, found out what was wrong with it, came back in, mended it and made sure it was good for the World Championships."

His crew, Andy Thompson, said the regatta win was a special one for the pair considering they had not planned to attend the event initially.

"We shouldn't really be here to be honest because we weren't in the container to start off with, so we're really lucky to be here."

Gillard thanked the Australian Fireball Association and the committee members, who worked hard to ensure those left without a boat from overseas were able to sail borrowed Australian boats to get them through the regatta.

DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend - 2nd - Fireball Worlds at Geelong day 6 - photo © Alex Dare, Down Under Sail

In second place was fellow British sailors DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend, who also sailed an extremely consistent regatta, but ended up just short of the regatta leaders in most races.

Third place, and first Australians, were local heroes Brendan Garner and Ben O'Brien who hail from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club and had a really good start to their event to set up a successful result.

Brendan Garner and Ben O'Brien - 3rd - Fireball Worlds at Geelong day 6 - photo © Alex Dare, Down Under Sail

The event was incredibly well run by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club with ten races across a mix of conditions that threw up a few challenges for the race committee.

Event website: 2024.fireballworlds.com

Overall Results:

Place	Nation	Sail Num	Helm	Crew	R10	R9	R8	R7	R6	R5	R4	R3	R2	R1	Pts
1	GBR	15122	Thomas Gillard	Andy Thompson	2	3	[4]	1	1	2	1	[18]	2	3	15
2	GBR	15144	Dj Edwards	Vyv Townend	1	2	[13]	2	2	1	3	[6]	5	2	18
3	AUS	15026	Brendan Garner	Ben O'Brien	3	6	1	[8]	4	5	2	[16]	1	1	23
4	AUS	15159	Ben Schulz	Angus Higgins	5	4	[8]	4	3	3	4	5	3	[5]	31
5	GBR	15101	David Hall	Paul Constable	4	.2G	9	7	[B]	4	7	[13]	4	4	51.2
6	AUS	15071	Tom Gordon	Jack Fletcher	[18]	10	6	[23]	10	11	5	3	9	6	60
7	AUS	14786	John Heywood	Daniel George	10	1	[22]	11	[17]	6	8	2	13	13	64
8	AUS	14933	Ben Knoop	James Belton	7	[13]	[18]	10	5	9	9	12	7	7	66
9	AUS	15153	Jalina Thompson‑Kambas	Nathan Stockley	8	16	[28]	5	6	10	12	1	14	[45T]	72
10	AUS	15152	Heather Macfarlane	Chris Payne	6	5	12	3	15	12	19	8	[F]	[21]	80
11	SUI	14897	Kurt Venhoda	Sonja Zaugg	12	8	2	13	18	18	[27]	4	15	[27]	90
12	GBR	15000	Kevin Hope	William Cook	13	12	[19]	6	9	[17]	16	7	11	16	90
13	AUS	14599	Sophie Jackson	Josh Galland	[U]	7	24	16	[Q]	7	11	14	6	12	97
14	GBR	15166	Simon Kings	Jono Loe	14	11	21	12	11	20	6	[30]	[F]	9	104
15	AUS	15062	Addy Bucek	Peter James	15	24	17	19	7	16	[38]	[38]	10	8	116
16	AUS	14608	Myles Gavin	Darren Spence	23	25	5	17	13	[46]	10	10	16	[F]	119
17	FRA	14673	Claude Mermod	Esteban Hernandez	16	14	[26]	14	21	15	17	11	[36]	15	123
18	AUS	15027	Phil Peverell	Bruce Shand	9	[29]	3	[F]	24	19	18	17	28	14	132
19	AUS	14851	Mark Jarred	Glenn Stewart	[35]	21	16	27	12	13	20	[31]	8	22	139
20	CZE	14936	Petr Koran	Pavel Winkley	11	9	10	18	20	26	24	[29]	24	[26]	142
21	GBR	14808	Vincent Horey	Richard Pepperdine	[U]	20	15	24	.3G	14	14	15	[36A]	24	146.3
22	AUS	15025	Mark Matthews	Peter Sinclair	29	28	[30]	15	8	21	23	22	[37]	10	156
23	AUS	15072	Scott Lidgett	Jack Lidgett	[40]	22	7	[33]	27	25	26	24	17	18	166
24	AUS	14603	Tony Mcrae	Benjamin Doak	22	17	[34]	25	14	[38]	28	19	21	23	169
25	GBR	15048	Nicholas Rees	Eveline Schotte	30	18	11	28.5	[31]	22	[43]	9	29	29	176.5
26	AUS	14812	Peter Moor	Campbell Reid	[U]	36	39	[U]	16	8	21	21	20	17	178
27	GBR	150	Allan Tyler	Chrissie Tyler	20	23	23	9	22	32	[33]	25	[F]	30	184
28	CZE	14649	Ladislav Vomacko	Jiri Gemperle	24	19	14	22	30	[31]	29	[40]	25	28	191
29	CZE	14747	Milan Snajdr	Matej Snajdr	28	[34]	27	26	23	[30]	22	26	18	25	195
30	AUS	14414	Glenn Peverell	Bruno Lanati	17	30	[41]	30	19	23	37	[48]	23	20	199
31	AUS	15049	Nick Gunner	Simon Gunner	37	[45]	25	36	[B]	27	13	41	12	11	202
32	AUS	15136	James Hackett	Michael Parks	26	35	32	20	[F]	24	25	32	34	[F]	228
33	IRL	15017	Adrian Lee	Ossian Geraghty	[U]	31	29	39	[B]	28	15	37	22	38	239
34	CAN	14545	Richard Quinlan	Liam Quinlan	19	26	[49]	37	25	29	35	36	33	[45T]	240
35	IRL	14826	Frank Miller	Ed Butler	21	33	[47]	43T	26	[43]	30	20	35	39	247
36	AUS	14810	Benjamin Garner	Sam Williamson	25	42	20	21	32	[42]	39	33	[44]	37	249
37	AUS	14814	Susannah Gillam	Andrew Butler	31	32	[38]	28.5	34	33	36	[50]	27	31	252.5
38	FRA	14793	Jean Francois Nouel	Alexis Nouel	32	27	31	32	36	[40]	[47T]	27	32	36	253
39	AUS	14601	Rod Barker	Darrell Ralph	44	[44]	[48]	31	28	34	31	34	26	32	260
40	AUS	14971	Peter Allison	Ian Nadebaum	27	39	35	34	38	36	42	28	[42]	[42]	279
41	FRA	15081	Olivier Burgaud	Florence Devaux	[45]	37	36	41	29	37	34	39	[C]	35	288
42	AUS	14650	Don Allen	Matty Allen	34	[47]	45	38	35	35	41	[47]	40	33	301
43	SUI	15063	Mianne Erne	Clay Poulson	36	15	33	43T	[B]	44	[47T]	45	45T	44	305
44	ITA	15054	Fabio Palermi	Adriana Curcio	[46]	38	42	40	40T	39	[46]	23	38	45T	305
45	SUI	15090	Mona Venhoda	Jakub Napravnik	39	46	52T	43T	40T	[52T]	32	35	[F]	19	306
46	AUS	15154	Peter Durran	Sebastian Durran	41	[49]	40	35	33	48	40	[49]	31	43	311
47	AUS	14745	Jessica De La Perrelle	James Gaskell	38	40	37	42	37	41	[F]	[42]	41	41	317
48	AUS	14586	Jaemie Wilson	David Scammell	.4G	.4G	50	43T	39	[F]	[F]	43	30	34	327.8
49	AUS	15032	Tony Schnaars	Marc Wilson	33	[Q]	44	43T	40T	[51]	45	46	43	45T	339
50	CAN	15106	Mark Cummings	Evelyn Chisholm	43	41	43	43T	C	[F]	47T	[U]	45T	45T	365
51	AUS	11867	Kevin Luff	Nicholas Luff	49	[52]	51	43T	40T	45	47T	51	[C]	45T	371
52	AUS	10974	Peter Russell	Jen Russell	47	51	52T	43T	40T	50	47T	[53]	[C]	45T	375
53	AUS	13217	Anthony Ducat	Bryce Densley	48	50	52T	43T	40T	49	F	54	[C]	[F]	394
54	AUS	14943	Mark Teasdale	Andrew Kean	C	C	C	[C]	[C]	47	44	52	39	40	396
55	CAN	13946	Kelly Gallins	Eric Diller	42	48	46	43T	C	C	F	44	[C]	[F]	397
56	FRA	11059	Denis Hernandez	Pascale Bourel	F	53	52T	43T	C	52T	47T	55	[C]	[F]	418
57	GBR	14782	Barbara Newson	Guy Newson	C	C	C	C	C	C	C	C	[C]	[F]	464