2024 Fireball Inland Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

2024 Fireball Inlands at Rutland © Don Munro

Rutland Sailing Club welcomed the Fireball class on the weekend of 12th and 13th October for their Inland Championship as part of a three-fleet event with the Contenders and Javelins.

The forecast was for a rotating and building breeze on the Saturday afternoon that would peak overnight and then die away steadily on the Sunday. The Race team decided to run four races on the Saturday and two on the Sunday to make the most of the available pressure; it turned out to be a great call.

With the breeze always trying to move to the right, the committee boat was generally the favoured end of the line throughout the day. With the wind turning right many competitors initially favoured the right side of the course - if only it were that simple! The pressure was quite unstable as the wind built with big lifting shifts to the left as the wind track right making for a challenging day with plenty of place changes throughout the fleet.

Race one saw Derian and Andy Scott nail the first beat and lead around the top mark, closely followed by a chasing pack that included the reigning Inland Champions of Dave Hall and Paul Constable. Hall showed his pace and by the leeward mark of the first triangle had found his way into the lead followed by the father son partnership of Graham and Will Cook.

Scott got engulfed by the chasing pack on a shifty second beat with Georgia Booth and Oliver Davenport coming through to take third.

Race two was a similar story with the Scotts again showing their pond sailing pedigree by leading at the top mark but this time finding their down-wind pace and consistency on the second beat to lead the race from start to finish, chalking up their first race win at an Inland Championships. Behind them was some close racing with overtaking opportunities galore on the shifty and gusty beats. The Cooks again found their way into second place by the finish with Martyn Lewis, fresh from a podium placing at the recent Europeans, crewed by Richard Bailey, coming through to take third.

The third race started under a 'U' flag following a general recall in a freshening breeze. Hall made no mistakes in this race, establishing a good lead and controlling the race to finish ahead of Cook and Lewis.

With the sun beginning to go down, race four started in a strong breeze that seemed to be becoming more predictable. The wind Gods however had other ideas with a big swing to the left early on in the race. This created a very one-sided race track limiting overtaking opportunities. Hall again showed his pace in the breeze, controlling the race and winning from Booth. The partnership of Oliver and Ben Rayner sailed a great race to finish third ahead of Kevin Hope and Andy Stewart. A very battle weary fleet returned to shore for some well-deserved nourishment after what had been a great day of very close racing.

Sunday dawned with the breeze holding up as forecast albeit lighter than on the Saturday and a very chilly three degrees. Thankfully it had warmed up a little for the 10am start. Again it was a choice between playing the shifts up the middle of the course or chasing the 'big lefty' up the early part of the beat. Daniel and Henry Thompson decided on the latter tactic and made it work perfectly, establishing a sizeable lead by half way up the first beat and holding on for a well-earned fifth place by the gun. By the second beat Hall was again making his way towards the front of the fleet but it was Cook that managed to wriggle into the lead by the top mark, holding on to take the win from Hall and Hope. This left the door slightly open for a challenge to Hall's lead in the series in the final race if Cook could take the bullet and Hall was outside the top four places.

The final race saw the familiar pattern of the middle vs the left, with honours fairly even by the top mark in the steadily softening breeze. Racing was very tight, with finding the pressure becoming increasingly important. By the end of the triangle Cook had taken the lead with Hall a little buried in the chasing pack. It was all to be decided on the final lap. Cook tried to cover the chasing pack led by Dave Wade and Ian Blake hard on his heels. Hope however pushed out hard left and it was the 'big lefty' that paid off with Hope finding lifting pressure to get around the top mark in the lead and 'squirt away' on the final leg. The breeze then filled from behind taking Wade through to second place with Cook finishing third. Hall had his worst result of the event finishing seventh but it was enough to retain his title of Inland Champion for a second year, with Cook one point behind in second place. A very strong final day for Hope pulled him up past Booth taking the final place on the podium.

Dave Hall and Paul Constable win the 2024 Fireball Inlands at Rutland - photo © UKFA

Graham and Will Cook finish 2nd in the 2024 Fireball Inlands at Rutland - photo © UKFA

Kev Hope and Andy Stewart finish 3rd in the 2024 Fireball Inlands at Rutland - photo © UKFA

A big shout-out for the race and shore team at Rutland to did a superb job of getting all six races completed in a narrow wind window across the weekend. Finally, a reminder that there is more great racing to be had in the Fireball fleet at the end of seasons at Draycote Water Sailing Club on the 9th and 10th November.

Overall Results: