South Australian Fireball Championship
by Joel Coultas 10 Mar 2016 05:43 GMT
10 March 2016
15071 ‘Cletus' Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher during the South Australian Fireball Championship © Robin Inns
The 2015/16 South Australian International Fireball State Championships consisted of 10 heats over a mix of country and metropolitan venues across the state.
12 boats challenged for the title including current national champions Pete Inns/Joel Coultas, past National Champions John Heywood/Brett Littledike and Youth/Female National Champion Jalina Thompson-Kambas.
Racing on the water was very tight and fast - typical of the international one design fireball class which allows the rig to be adjusted for different crew combinations, offering a level playing field regardless of crew size.
Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher sailed consistently throughout the series and with good results comfortably secured 3rd position overall.
Despite the closeness of the competition it seemed the experienced crews of Heywood/Littledike and Inns/Coultas somehow always managed to sneak through to the top 2 positions of the leaderboard.
Going into the final race Heywood/Littledike and Inns/Coultas were tied on points meaning that whoever beat the other in the last race would be crowned the champion and take home the chocolates. Heywood/Littledike nailed the first beat in the last race, and despite Inns/Coultas closing in fast, were able to hold off a late challenge and claim their 2nd state championship title in the same boat John built and won in 2003/04, a testament to robustness of the class design.
Overall Results: (top three)
1st14786, Renegade, John Heywood/Brett Littledike (4),(4),1,1,1,2,2,1,2,1, 11pts
2nd 15026, Black Pearl, Pete Inns/Joel Coultas 1,(DNS), (DNS), 2,2,1,1,2,1,2, 12pts
3rd 15071, Cletus, Tom Gordon/Jack Fletcher 2,1,(3),(4),3,3,3,3,3,3, 21pts