GJW Direct Firefly Nationals at Pwllheli Sailing Club - Day 6

by Caroline Edwards 31 Aug 2012 20:47 BST 25-31 August 2012

In a light wind clincher, today's racing decided the final rankings in the GJW Direct Firefly National Championships.

After racing was postponed yesterday due to yet another gale, two races were scheduled today. Race 8 in the series and race 3. Races 6 and 7 (the Avon Bailer and the Stern Light trophies) were not completed. (On the results below the races are shown consecutively rather than the order in which they were sailed!)

The first race got underway in the lightest wind of the week, around 5-8 knots from the North. Blowing off the shore meant that shifts were coming thick and fast with patches of breeze filling in off either side. Stu and Jane Hudson went into the day with a huge lead, counting only firsts and seconds and they were determined to win the week in style. They started the first race by completing a 720 degree penalty and after playing the shifts nicely managed to salvage a reasonable position at the windward mark, but still in the early teens. Series runner-up at this point Rob and Mel Sherrington in 'Iris' led the race with Andy Pinkham and Emma Best close behind. Andy Shaw and Pippa Horne were also experiencing a return to form after a strong start to the week. Both Andys were sailing boats belonging to team racing fleets. Andy Shaw's biggest win to date has been in the X Boat fleet where he won last year's 100th Cowes week, and he won the BUSA team racing champs earlier in the year, proving both that fleet racing prowess is crucial on the team racing circuit, and that you can turn up and do well sailing a team racing boat!

Closing in fast from behind was both Hudson, tearing through the fleet with customary pace, and Paul and Laura Kameen. Both these boats overhauled the leaders with Stuart and Jane winning the race and the series, and PK and Laura bagging a second ahead of Rob and Mel to make the final race crucial in determining second overall.

Three boats were now within 2 points for second overall, the Kameens, the Sherringtons, and Andy Cornah and Katie Fairclough. Andy and Katie are famous for their team racing achievements with numerous Wilson Trophies under their belts. Although they finished 8th in the penultimate race, their series average had been spectacular with nothing else worse than 6th. If they did well in the last race they could potentially leapfrog both the other boats in the series.

So after a delay while the wind shifted round to the west, and 3 agonising general recalls the fleet finally got underway cleanly under a black flag. After a great start and a tidy race Ben Lumby and Liz Evans from Restronguet won the final race. Ben and Liz are often tipped as potential Champions, and they will surely remember the last race which they won with one of the biggest leads of the week. The rest of the fleet had been mixed up with some shifts and holes up the first beat and both ends of the line being fairly crowded.

National Champions the Hudsons found themselves buried mid-fleet leaving several boats to fight it out for second. Andy Cornah managed a great second place, but Paul and Laura were probably aware that they needed to stay within two points of the pair to keep their position. They chased them round finishing third overall in the last race to give them second in the series. The biggest disappointment of the day went to Rob and Mel Sherrington, who had been in second overall since they were able to discard a 14th place on day three. They were not able to get any closer to the front than 11th and without the ability to discard the result found themselves in fourth overall behind Cornah and Fairclough. Rob and Mel will hopefully be back at Torquay next year chasing their elusive first Firefly Nationals win.

Further down the fleet the International Paints Trophy for the silver fleet was decided after Jamie Marston and Alex Colquit got a 19th and a 24th. They win the silver fleet in the same style as Stu Hudson won the overall series, with a 720 penalty on the last beat. Firefly racing is as close as it can be with boat on boat action throughout the fleet even after hours of racing!

A full summary will follow after the dust has settled but for now the class would like to say a massive thank you to Pwllheli sailing club for a great week, and to our sponsors GJW Direct, Ronstan, Sailtek, hikingbench.com, Windvane and Marlow Ropes for making the journey worthwhile.

An enormous haul of prizes including sailing kit, fittings, sails, windvane burgees, towing accessories and much more will be distributed amoung the fleet.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Firefly nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R8	Pts
1st	Fursty Ferret	3850	Hudson	Hudson	Keyhaven YC	1	2	-12	1	1	1	6
2nd	Biscuit Buffalo	2018	Kameen	Kameen	West Kirby SC and Bosham SC	3	-11	4	3	4	2	16
3rd	Desperado	888	Cornah	Fairclough	West Kirby SC	4	6	2	5	3	-8	20
4th	Iris	3617	Sherrington	Sherrington	Keyhaven YC	-14	5	11	2	2	3	23
5th	Slack ma Girdle	2594	Shaw	Horne	Itchenor	2	3	8	-10	8	7	28
6th	Tictac	3746	Vincent	Vincent	Stokes Bay	5	1	13	-16	7	13	39
7th	Mojo	3608	Shepherd	Lombard	West Kirby SC	7	9	6	11	-14	9	42
8th	Kong	2659	Lumby	Evans	Restronguet SC	6	4	1	12	-24	22	45
9th	Skirmish	3615	McEwen	McEwen/Sutcliffe	Tamesis Club	-15	15	3	15	10	6	49
10th	Arctic Tern	3892	Henderson	Henderson	Salcombe YC	(DSQ)	10	20	4	12	10	56
11th	Cumulus	1867	Greaves	Edwards	Rickmansworth SC	-20	19	15	7	6	11	58
12th	Growler	3747	Chisholm	Bradford	RNSA	13	7	5	-27	20	14	59
13th	Ma Hon	3741	Dixon	Hamer	West Kirby SC	10	17	10	6	17	-31	60
14th	Lynestra	3318	Davison	Bretherton	Llangorse SC	8	12	16	9	15	-24	60
15th	Mutsy	3690	Davey	Bradford	Royal Harwich Yacht Club	9	-25	17	8	5	23	62
16th	Gigi	2319	Henderson	Counsell	SYC CUCrC	11	8	9	(DNF)	9	29	66
17th	Chalk and Talk	1808	Pinkham	Best	Itchenor SC SCYC	-25	16	23	17	13	5	74
18th	Scruffy	2246	Thresher	Radford	West Oxfordshire SC	12	-26	14	20	19	16	81
19th	Tigger	3414	Barker	Goff	RAF Sailing Association	18	14	-27	18	22	12	84
20th	Doris	3671	Mainwaring	Lamb	Red Wharf Bay	22	18	21	14	(DNF)	15	90
21st	Mensonge	3095	Guy	Dixon	Castaways	23	13	26	21	16	(OCS)	99
22nd	Genesis	3841	Shepherd	Lombard	West Kirby SC	16	21	19	(DNC)	DNF	4	102
23rd	Just Laundered	2619	Cross	Marston	West Kirby SC	21	36	7	31	(DNC)	18	113
24th	YouYou	2471	Marston	Colquit	West Kirby Sailing Club	27	-29	24	23	21	19	114
25th	Serious Repair	3	Lonsdale	Herridge	West Oxfordshire SC	29	23	28	13	23	-30	116
26th	Trinket	3033	Clayton	Crawshaw	Royal Harwich Yacht Club	17	30	32	24	(DNF)	17	120
27th	Sound Chief	3809	Matthews	Bramley	West Kirby SC	31	33	18	(DNC)	18	20	120
28th	Lollypop	3113	Arnold	Palmer	Royal Thames YC	19	24	25	26	(DNF)	26	120
29th	Top Dolly	3616	Bickford	Hooper	Upper Thames SC	34	20	(DNC)	19	11	DNC	133
30th	Willow	3739	Boreham	Crebbin	RYA	26	27	30	-34	29	25	137
31st	Silver Dragon	2725	Bell	Bell	Emberton Park SC	32	31	22	33	(DNC)	28	146
32nd	Chi Chi	2587	Whitefoot	Stewart	Hickling Broad SC	-33	28	33	25	28	32	146
33rd	Bumble	2223	Meakins	Lister	Hamle River SC	28	22	(DNC)	22	26	DNC	147
34th	Rat Bag	3098	Clayton	Cox	Royal Harwich Yacht Club	24	35	29	(DNC)	27	35	150
35th	Flying Tern	2542	Richardson	Richardson	Ardleigh SC	30	37	(RAF)	37	34	21	159
36th	Tinkerbell	2065	Thompson	Williams	Royal Harwich Yacht Club	37	34	-38	29	25	37	162
37th	Tankyosoo	3009	Lonsdale	Radford	West Oxfordshire SC	36	32	35	32	(DNC)	27	162
38th	Jolly Roger	2714	Burrows	Thresher	West Oxfordshire SC	35	-42	31	39	30	34	169
39th	Black Pearl	3730	Stokes	Saracco-Jones	Loughborough Uni, Pwllheli Sailing Club	-39	38	36	28	32	38	172
40th	Pandemonic	1522	Green	Grist	Bournemouth University SC	-43	39	40	30	31	40	180
41st	Tornado	3539	Hughes	Riggs	West Kirby SC	38	-40	37	36	33	36	180
42nd	Smarty	3802	Dawkes	Pavey	Durham University	-42	41	39	35	DNF	39	196
43rd	Maccatoo	3957	McGregor	Thurley	West Oxfordshire SC	40	(DNC)	34	DNF	DNC	33	199
44th	Smurf	8608	Owen	Norman	West Kirby SC	-44	43	41	40	35	43	202
45th	Sail on Wild Side	3649	Polford	Polford	West Kirby SC	-45	44	43	38	DNF	42	209
46th	The Sh####r	3512	Ogilvie	Watts	Gurnard Sailing Club	41	DNF	42	(DNC)	DNC	41	219
47th	Amadis	2762	Austin	Baxter	RNSA	DNF	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	244
48th	Smartie	3787	Morris	Assinder	Spinnaker	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	245