Fireball North American Championships at Pointe Claire Yacht Club - Overall

Ian Dobson and Richard Wagstaff win the Fireball North American Championships © Derian Scott

Day 3, race 4, and the wind and sunshine both showed up. Out on the race course the wind was 14 knots gusting 18, and shifting enough to cause the Race Officer to postpone one start, recall the second, re-lay the course and try again!

We all got away under the black flag. We fought the usual shifts up the beat and Martin Kubovy and Roman Rocek (CZE) rounded first with Frank Miller and Ed Butler (IRL) on their tails in 2nd. Up went the kites and the fleet went powering down the reach towards the leeward mark!

The boats that rounded later spotted that the gybe mark was high, and two sailed down taking chunks out of the early bunch. Frank and Ed dropped into the 20s but had a storming 2nd beat and got back to 2nd which they held to the finish. Dobbo and Waggers spotted the gybe mark position first, dropped their kite and took the lead, which they held to the finish.

The wind had increased a bit for race 5 with even crazier shifts! After a huge left shift before the start, Dobbo and Waggers port tacked the fleet but boats heading further left gained and Isaac and Ollie were looking to leading round the windward mark. However, another roll of the dice bumped Dobbo and Waggers up into that 1st rounding position, which they held to the finish with Claude and Ruedi finishing 2nd and Isaac and Ollie in 3rd.

Race 6 wasn't held so the North American Championships has finished with Dobson and Wagstaff taking the title, Claude and Ruedi 2nd and Joe and Tom 3rd.

Tomorrow is a day off sailing, allowing Fireball sailors from all over the world to explore Montreal. The World Championship begins on Sunday. The forecast is currently looking light, but experience from this week shows that doesn't mean we will get light winds!

Overall Results: