Fireball Inland Championships at Draycote Water Sailing Club

by Sam Brearey 28 Oct 2010 22:06 BST 23-24 October 2010

Winners at the Fireball Inland Championships © Mike Shaw / www.fotoboat.com

Sponsored by North Sails and Pinnell and Bax

A cold weekend in October was the beginning of winter and also the Fireball Inland Championships at Draycote Water. There was a good turnout of 44 boats despite a number of notable absentees from the top of the fleet. The entry list included current European Champions Tom Gillard and Sam Brearey, Martyn Lewis (who had the stick again after his bout of crewing in the Czech Republic), the lottery funded pair of Niki Birrell and Chris Grube (twiggy) and the return of David Hall to the Fireball class. Draycote Water was well represented with 15 entries.

Saturday morning was sunny with the wind building to 12 – 15 knots of breeze from the North West – a perfect day for sailing. Reigning European Champions Gillard and Brearey continued their impressive streak winning the opening 2 races with a 3rd in the last race of the day. Lewis after a 13th in race 1 (are having to do some spins) recovered well to come 2nd in race 2 and win race 3 on his home waters. Showing it was going to be a tight tussle at the top. Throughout the fleet the racing was tight which much place changing. There was the occasional big gust which often caused some interesting mark rounding’s and the requirement to dodge the occasional capsized boat always seemingly at a mark.

Saturday evening saw the fleet enjoy some excellent grub at the club followed by some refreshments or the type that make you fall over. There was going to be a quiz but the proposed quiz master had got plastered the night before and so suitable materials for said quiz were lacking. Those who had scrounged campervan space were particularly grateful as it turned out to be quite a cold night. A few of the youngsters travelled further afield for their entertainment, no ones is quite sure where they went.

Sunday mirrored Saturday in many ways although there was a bit more sunshine. The first race of the day saw another victory for Gillard/Brearey, Dave Hall secured his second top 3 finish, followed by Lewis in 3rd. The middle race of the day was the start of the business end of the competition. It did not go well for the current leaders who got Black Flagged (not ideal). Niki Birrell secured his 1st race win, Jon Ibbotson and Andy Thompson came 2nd with Lewis in 3rd. For the final race Lewis/Byne had to put places between them and Gillard. Birrell lead round mark 1 followed by Gillard with Lewis in 5th. With positions constantly changing it was all up for grabs. In the end Gillard/Brearey did enough, winning the final race and winning the Inland National Championships with 4 race wins. Lewis/Byne finished 2nd, North sails man Tim Rush crewed by Richard Bailey in 3rd. Dave Hall/Paul Constable in 4th, with another home boat, Peter Wood completing the top 5.

Thanks to the generous support of the sponsors and the class association a wealth of prizes were handed out, weighted towards those in the bronze and silver fleets. These included a number of free and discounted entries to next years National Championships at Pentewan Sands Sailing Club. The young Portishead pair of Anthony Willcocks and James Willcocks took Silver fleet honours. The Bronze fleet was won by new class webmaster, Nick Hurst from Shoreham Sailing Club, crewed by Ben Fjaerem. Thanks go to the race officer and his team and all those at Draycote Water who made the weekend a success on and off the water. It was great to see some new faces and some old faces of which we expect to see more of in 2011.

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Gold	15041	Tom Gillard	Sam Brearey	Sheffield Vikings/Fishers Green	1	1	3	1	DSQ	1	7
2	Gold	14226	Martyn Lewis	Richard Byne	DWSC	13	2	1	3	3	4	13
3	Gold	14807	Tim Rush	Richard Bailey	RYA	3	8	6	24	5	2	24
4	Gold	13684	David Hall	Paul Constable	Thorpe Bay S.C.	6	3	5	2	DNF	9	25
5	Gold	15042	Peter Wood	Mike Cleall	DWSC	8	5	2	7	10	8	30
6	Gold	15031	Alex Taylor	Richard Anderton		2	7	12	4	7	11	31
7	Gold	15045	Jon Ibbotson	Andy Thompson		14	20	4	8	2	6	34
8	Gold	14980	Niki Birrell	Chris	L & L S.C.	19	14	9	12	1	3	39
9	Gold	14977	Philip Popple	Gavin Tillson	SSC	12	6	7	9	6	12	40
10	Gold	14954	Becky Priest	Tim Saunders	Staunton Harold S.C.	4	13	17	13	9	7	46
11	Gold	14976	Stuart Hydon	Nigel Spur	Shustoke S.C.	7	4	11	17	8	DNC	47
12	Gold	14805	Mark Maskel	Nigel Shoppard	Blackwater S.C.	15	10	8	18	4	13	50
13	Gold	14837	Russ Cormack	Ali Cormack	Budworth S.C.	16	28	13	6	14	5	54
14	Gold	14941	Derian Scott	Andy Scott	Chew Valley Lake S.C.	11	22	10	10	13	19	63
15	Silver	14600	Anthony Willcocks	James Willcocks	Portishead Y & S.C.	10	16	14	19	11	27	70
16	Gold	14778	Mike Deane	Paul Disney	DWSC	5	11	15	DSQ	19	31	81
17	Gold	14994	Peter Badham	John Rohde	DWSC	17	9	16	22	18	21	81
18	Silver	15016	Peter Slack	David Slack	DWSC/Staunton	26	12	18	28	12	18	86
19	Gold	14628	Simon Lomas Clarke	Tim Riley	Frensham Pond S.C.	9	17	DNC	5	DSQ	14	90
20	Silver	14621	Jeremy Hurst	Andrew Hurst	Parkstone Y.C.	37	25	20	20	16	15	96
21	Silver	14953	Becky Partridge	Geoff Edwards	Budworth S.C.	25	DNC	23	11	26	16	101
22	Silver	14876	Chris Walker	Dan Walker	Staunton Harold S.C.	20	18	28	25	22	17	102
23	Gold	14885	Jez White	Tom Vian	DWSC	24	15	27	31	17	24	107
24	Silver	14430	Hannah Showell	Barry Smith	Thornbury/Shustoke	18	23	22	23	21	25	107
25	Silver	14963	Mo Turner	Holly Turner	DWSC	22	21	26	15	DSQ	26	110
26	Silver	14622	Chris White	Ed Bradburn	South Staffs	21	32	21	16	DSQ	23	113
27	Silver	14682	Jonathan Carter	Gareth Wilkinson	Chelmarsh S.C.	DNC	19	19	21	DSQ	10	114
28	Silver	15002	Simon Kelsall	Tom Williamson	Staunton Harold S.C.	23	26	DNC	30	15	20	114
29	Silver	14843	Colin Snowdon	Karen Hiles	DWSC	35	24	25	26	24	28	127
30	Silver	14705	John Tenney	Quentin Hayes	DWSC	28	33	DNC	32	20	30	143
31	Silver	14326	Richard Glen	Kriss Till	DWSC	27	29	24	33	30	38	143
32	Bronze	14821	Nick Hurst	Ben Fjaerem	Shoreham S.C.	29	27	DNC	14	31	DNC	146
33	Bronze	14454	Graham Gittins	Teresa Tons	DWSC	33	DNF	DNC	34	23	22	157
34	Bronze	14716	Paul Anthony	Nick Lewis	DWSC	38	35	35	27	28	32	157
35	Bronze	15044	Ben Dingwall	Olive Dingwall	DWSC	31	36	33	29	34	33	160
36	Bronze	14556	Sam Downing	Chris Downing	Parkstone Y.C.	32	37	31	39	27	34	161
37	Bronze	14800	Eugene Jordan	Graham Collett	DWSC	34	DSQ	29	DNC	25	29	162
38	Silver	14789	Rhys Lankester	Stuart Scarffe	Bristol Corinthian Y.C.	DNC	34	30	35	29	37	165
39	Bronze	14955	Peter Clayton	Richard Clayton	Scaling Dam S.C.	DNF	31	32	38	35	35	171
40	Bronze	14579	Martin Walker	John Mills	Shoreham S.C.	39	38	34	37	32	36	177
41	Bronze	14857	Neil Smith	Martyn Greenwood	Manor Park	40	DNC	36	36	33	39	184
42	Silver	14798	Maria Richards	Graham Hoy	Blackwater S.C.	30	30	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	195
43	Bronze	14999	David Festing	Karen Festing	Shoreham S.C.	36	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	216
44	Bronze	14659	Peter Muggleton	James Ruddiman	DWSC	DNF	DNF	DNC	40	DNC	DNC	220