Fireball Inland Championship at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club

Fireball Inlands at Yorkshire Dales © YDSC

Fireball Inlands at Yorkshire Dales © YDSC

Sponsored by Winder Boats and North Sails

The weekend was memorable for sure, with a generous helping of Yorkshire hospitality; throw in some wind, rain, more wind, more rain and some legends of sailing to make a very enjoyable trip up north. Racing kicked off on Saturday afternoon with a clean first start, most unusual, but very welcome none the less. The fleet split up the first beat some favouring the dam others the right hand side. There were gains and losses to be had with some variable shifts and gusts making racing very close. Offwind getting into the bands of breeze was key and offered chances of taking places all around the course. At the end of Race 1 Neil Thornton / Richard Wagstaff took line honours which was great to witness, 2nd was Kevin Hope / Russell Thorne and 3rd Keith Escritt / Richard Anderton. Two returning legends in the top 3 proves it's never too late to start up Fireballing again.

Race 2 started in a freshening breeze. At the first mark Alan Krailing and Tim Saunders had a healthy lead having chosen the dam side of the beat. The chasing pack of Gillard / Brearey, Rush / Bailey and Lewis / Byne battled it out for 2nd unable to close the gap. After a break for lunch it was back out for Race 3 & 4. An increasing breeze saw many of the teams raking the rigs back in preparation for the next session. The shifts and gusts provided some classic racing and judging the lay line of the windward mark was catching some crews out. Offwind was again the place to really make a move taking advantage of the lines of freshening breeze. Line honours for race 3 were taken by Gillard / Brearey closely followed by Lewis / Byne and Hope / Thorne.

Race 4 saw still more wind and sailors searching for max rake, amazed at how far can you could pull the kicker on! Lewis / Byne took the win followed by Gillard / Brearey and Escritt / Anderton. After day 1 Gillard / Brearey had a single point lead.

YDSC pulled out all the stops with the galley folks providing an absolutely magnificent meal for many hungry competitors. Even better was that the entry fee included the meal. Appletreewick provided the entertainment for the evening serving lashings of beer and a very enjoyable evening into the early hours followed by a walk/stagger back to the campsite. Rumours the next day of someone trying to use a local police car as a taxi seemed to indicate the level of alcohol consumed!

Sunday dawned with yes more rain and the courses set to use the entire length of the lake. The breeze was up and following a recall Race 5 saw Gillard / Brearey lead at the windward mark. Lewis / Byne came through from 6th on the first set of reaches and took 2nd place on the two sail reach back to the leeward mark. The 2nd beat saw Gillard/ Brearey leading, Lewis / Byne picked up a huge gust and caught then overtook at the beginning of the run. The gybe down the shore was interesting and Gillard / Brearey got caught out being windward boat still trying to sort the pole out. The boom hit the water and the capsize was spectacular. Lewis / Byne got the bullet followed by Escritt / Anderton.

Race 6 and the conditions were such that 10 boats ventured out for the final race. It was still all to play for. Escritt / Anderton took an early lead, followed by Rush / Bailey, Hope / Thorne and Gillard / Brearey. Lewis / Byne overstood massively, going to the wrong mark, but managed to come through to take the win and the Inland Championships. For Martyn Lewis this is his second inland title having first one back in 1993!

A big thank you to Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club and the volunteers, race committee and the rescue folks. The Fireball fleet Looks forward to returning to YDSC in 2012.

Comment of the weekend goes to Neil Thornton apparently saying to Richard, "I know what to do but can't necessarily get my body to do it, I'm trying me best you know!"

At the prize giving three lucky teams won vouchers for 50% off their entry fees to the 50th Anniversary National Championships at Penzance in 2012. Excellent prizes were also provided by Winder Boats and North Sails.

Overall Results:

1st Silver Fleet - Jeremy & Andrew Hurst
1st Bronze Fleet – Steve & Paul Jones
1st Classic Boat – Chris Mitchell & Ian Murgatroyd (and winners of the North Sails voucher)
1st Lady Helm – Derian Scott
1st Lady Crew – Lucy Lingard