Homecoming Scotland Fireball Europeans at Lerwick - Day 4

by Cormac Bradley 31 Jul 2014 18:16 BST 27 July - 1 August 2014

Thursday's racing at the Homecoming Scotland 2014 European Championships didn't happen as Bruce Leask, Principle Race officer was beaten by the elements and was thus unable to get a race in.

The fleet set out for the race course shortly after 12 noon for a scheduled 13:00 start, to the backdrop of a third cruise liner in Lerwick Harbour in as many days. With a forecast of dropping wind strength as the day wore on, the omens were not good. The presence of the second largest floating crane in the world would have influenced where the race course could be set but initially this enormous piece of engineering excellence didn't influence where we might be sailing.

However, the wind refused to co-operate and despite the persistent attention of the Race Team, they flew racing's equivalent of the white flag, "N over A" shortly after 15:00. A long sail home was shortened by the mark boats offering multiple tows to the competitors.

Tonight we have the UK Fireball Association "setting out their stall" for the 2015 Worlds in Pwllheli, Wales.

Tomorrow, Friday, is the last day of the regatta and there must be the prospect of an earlier start to the day to try and recover at least one of today's lost races.

For the present though, the scoreboard stays the same, which means that Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff (GBR 15093) lead by two points from Tom Gillard and Richard Anderton (GBR 15081).

Results after Day 4:

Pos	Helm & Crew	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Matt Burge & Richard Wagstaff	GBR 15093	5	1	1	2	1	2	7
2	Tom Gillard & Richard Anderton	GBR 15081	4	2	2	1	3	1	9
3	David Wade & Tim Hartley	GBR 15113	2	4	4	4	2	3	15
4	Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella	IRL1 5114	1	6	6	3	4	5	19
5	Jaroslav Verner & Jakub Napravnik	CZE 15110	3	3	3	5	6	6	20
6	Alex Taylor & Geoff Edwards	GBR 15046	6	5	7	7	27	4	29
7	Jiri Paruzek & Jabuk Kosvica	CZE 14551	8	7	5	6	5	14	31
8	Scott Nicolson & Roger Goudie	SHE 14513	15	8	10	8	7	8	41
9	Frank Miller & Ismail Inan	IRL 14713	13	10	11	12	10	9	52
10	Will'm Mouatt & Neil Fraser	SHE 14402	27	11	8	9	9	16	53