Gul UK Fireball National Championships at Royal Torbay Yacht Club

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Gul UK Fireball National Championships at Royal Torbay Yacht Club - Day 2

by Nick Rees 27 May 13:35 BST 25-28 May 2019

Gul Fireball Nationals at Torbay day 2 © Tanya Hutchings

The forecasts for Day 2 of the Gul UK Fireball National Championships at Royal Torbay Yacht Club promised excellent sailing with 15 knot westerlies.

The first race started promisingly with 12-15 knots blowing steadily from a bearing of 250. However, about halfway up the first beat the wind gods started having a laugh and the wind went left and dropped, and thereafter the wind was up and down between 8 and 12 knots and coming from anywhere between 220 and 265 for the rest of the day. The resulting conditions were testing prompting continuous debates about which way to go.

Surely the westerly change was going to come sometime? However, such was not to be and those who kept probing the right hand side of the beat just in case the forecast shift came were generally disappointed and those who sailed the shifts and watched the gusts up the middle invariably came out best in the long run. The race committee did a great job in the circumstances, getting the fleet off on the second start (after the black flag went up) both times, and there was at least one course change in the first race when they tried to follow the wind after it had shifted.

The master of these conditions was Matt Burge and Dan Schieber, who sailed both excellently and consistently leading from start to finish in both races. Their two closest competitors Ian Dobson sailing with Richard Wagstaff and Christian Birrell sailing with Vyv Townend, also put the pressure on themselves by being black flagged in the second race, so cementing this as their discard until the final race of the series on Tuesday. These black flags meant that the second best set of results of the day went to Dave Hall and Paul Constable, who sailed consistently to return a 3rd and a 4th, and they are currently in a 3 way tie for 4th place with David Wade/Richard Pepperdine, and Paul Cullen/Simon Forbes.

Gul Fireball Nationals at Torbay day 2 - photo © Tanya Hutchings

The forecast for tomorrow is similar, slightly stronger and slightly north of west. The fleet is eagerly waiting to find out what the reality will be.

Results after Day 2:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Fleet	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1	15123	Matt Burge	Dan Schieber	Gold	4	1	1	1	3
2	15161	Ian Dobson	Richard Wagstaff	Gold	1	3	2	45	6
3	15144	Christian Birrell	Vyv Townend	Gold	3	2	6	45	11
4	15155	Dave Hall	Paul Consatble	Gold	10	15	3	4	17
5	15143	David wade	Richard Pepperdine	Gold	7	8	4	6	17
6	15147	Paul Cullen	Simon Forbes	Gold	5	14	7	5	17
7	15120	Vince. Horey	Andrew Thompson	Gold	6	9	9	3	18
8	15122	Ian martin	Ben rhodes	Gold	2	12	8	10	20
9	15124	Pete Kyne	Tom Kyne	Gold	8	5	11	45	24
10	15162	Isaac Marsh	Oliver Davenport	Gold	9	7	10	8	24
11	14870	Pete Gray	Simon Foskett	Gold	23	11	13	2	26
12	15133	Kevin Hope	Russell Thorne	Gold	12	16	5	45	33
13	15130	David Winder	Ben Rayner	Gold	18	6	17	12	35
14	14928	Anthony Willcocks	James Willcocks	Gold	11	13	21	14	38
15	15073	Sam Mettam	Tim Saunders	Gold	17	4	36	18	39
16	15114	John Hayes	Joel James	Gold	13	24	18	9	40
17	15151	Martyn Lewis	Richard Byne	Gold	32	10	20	16	46
18	14941	Derian Scott	Andy Scott	Gold	14	17	19	15	46
19	15148	Jack Grogan	William Sargeant	Silver	22	18	15	19	52
20	15150	Angus Hemmings	Caroline Stockman	Gold	19	20	14	21	53
21	15086	Allan Tyler	Christina Tyler	Silver	20	27	30	7	54
22	15157	Keith Walker	Nick Rees	Silver	21	23	12	22	55
23	15145	Steve Goacher	Tom Goacher	Silver	25	45	24	11	60
24	14940	Georgia Booth	Sam Platt	Silver	26	25	22	13	60
25	15099	Simon Kings	Jono Loe	Silver	30	19	16	26	61
26	13944	Dan Johnson	Ben Latham	Silver	34	26	23	20	69
27	15097	Roger Etherington	pannell	Bronze	16	28	27	28	71
28	15024	Joe Jospe	Tom Egli	Silver	33	22	35	17	72
29	15160	Pete Badham	Steve Digby	Bronze	15	41	28	33	76
30	15045	Christine Slater	Graham Slater	Silver	24	33	26	27	77
31	15156	Daniel Thompson	Harry Thompson	Silver	27	29	29	23	79
32	14950	Chris Thorne	Lawrence Creaser	Silver	38	21	25	44	84
33	14991	Andy Robinson	Tim Morgan	Bronze	31	31	31	24	86
34	14662	Anthony Procter	Alan Goule	Bronze	28	32	42	30	90
35	14889	Barry Smith	Rick Spring	Silver	29	34	37	29	92
36	15075	Andy Willcocks	Andrea Willcocks	Silver	40	37	32	25	94
37	14994	Damian Abbatt	Quentin Hayes	Bronze	36	35	33	34	102
38	14600	Ben Altman	Robin Simpson	Bronze	37	30	38	36	103
39	15127	Jeremy Atkins	Richard Botting	Silver	39	39	34	31	104
40	14592	Charlie Sansom	Chris Jenkins	Bronze	43	38	39	32	109
41	14964	David Mason	Chris Oglethorpe	Bronze	41	36	40	35	111
42	14789	Hannah Finlay	Gordon Finlay	Bronze	35	40	41	37	112
43	15121	Bryan Thompson	Simon Benson	Bronze	42	42	43	39	123
44	14622	Jane Collison	Patrick Collison	Bronze	44	43	44	38	125