Fireball Open at Staunton Harold Sailing Club

28 Fireballs enjoy exhilarating racing at the first Golden Dolphin event of the 2006 series © Mike Shaw / www.fotoboat.com

28 Fireballs enjoy exhilarating racing at the first Golden Dolphin event of the 2006 series © Mike Shaw / www.fotoboat.com

28 Fireballs enjoyed two days of exhilarating racing at the first Golden Dolphin event of the 2006 Series. A relatively warming breeze from the Southwest brought excellent fireball conditions for Saturdays first racing.

Local youngsters Tom Foskett and Tim Needham played the shifts excellently to lead at the windward mark, which they managed to hold onto until the finish despite a final charge from the occasional paring of Tim Rush and Richard Wagstaff.

Race 2 saw another home boat win, this time MadDog and Elver, after Foskett/Needham had ‘uncleating’ issues whilst leading again and capsized.

Race 3 went to Simon Maskell and Jon Watkins and with Adam Whitehouse and Ed Ayre placing 3,2,2 for the day, overnight there were still many potential winners, Sunday was set to be close with four more races scheduled.

An excellent curry on Saturday night provided competitors with much needed carbohydrate reserves, which were immediately exhausted in the first race on Sunday as a gusty force 5 came through with Rush/Wagstaff managing to make less mistakes to take victory from MadDog/Elver and Kevin Hope and Russell Thorne. Rush/Wagstaff also won the second race of the morning to lead at lunchtime.

The wind moderated slightly after lunch for race 6 with MadDog and Elver taking line honours again. On the water maths was now required by several competitors to work out what they needed in the last race as the wind dropped off quite quickly. Whitehouses tactics were clear as he blazed off into the distance followed by Hope and Thorne, leaving Rush and Wagstaff to battle with MadDog and Elver. At the final count Rush and Wagstaff claimed victory from Whitehouse/Ayre by virtue of having most firsts.

Overall Results: