2021 Firebird Championship at Flushing Sailing Club

Close fleet racing throughout the weekend in the 2021 Firebird Championship at Flushing Sailing Club © www.kitesurfkit.com

Two days of racing with plenty of breeze led to five memorable races for all the participants.

Saturday proved to be a day most Race Officers may have thrown their towel in but the race team manage to achieved their three planned races to all the sailors satisfaction.

Large wind shifts, both backing and veering, lead to constant adjustment from RO Dave Owens and all of his Flushing Sailing Club race team and mark layers. Equally the competitors found they needed their wits about them to ensure they could post consistent results. Peter Stephens in Ultraviolet battled it out with James Parker in Firefly in the first two races. With the racing being so competitive minimising mistakes was key to taking line honours and each boat took shared the line honours. The final third race on Saturday proved to be a lottery with a large wind shift concentrating all the boats as they chose their gate at the end of a fast asymmetric downwind leg. Both Cornish Meadow, helmed by Steve Hutt and Jonathan Money in Orion capitalising on the new prevailing conditions to lead the fleet all the way to a closely fought finish line. Cornish Meadow took line honours showing once again how competitive all the boats are with a different winner resulting from each race.

Firefly in a downwind battle with Ultraviolet during the 2021 Firebird Championship at Flushing Sailing Club - photo © www.kitesurfkit.com

After the enjoyable traditional curry night hosted at Cafe Mylor the first four crews retired knowing the championship was open to anyone with only 4 points between them.

Sunday saw clearing skies and a building fresh to strong westerly breeze across the whole of Falmouth Bay. With a stable direction the Race team managed to lay a consistent course for both of the remaining races. All the crews enjoyed champagne sailing as they sped around the four laps of the windward leeward course. Both races saw incredibly close racing with multiple position changes through on pretty much every leg of the course. Any mistakes in boat handling or misjudged lay lines were pounced on across the fleet. Cornish Meadow despite a great start in the first race suffered gear failure. Steve Hutt and Adrian Hassan and had to post a retirement in order to engineer suitable repair to be able to compete in the final race of the series.

Ultimately Ultraviolet - Peter Stephens and Tom Laity - proved to have marginally the best upwind performance allowing them to edge both races and fend off the consistent challenge of James Parker and Danny Shenton in Firefly. Jonathan Money in Orion enjoyed a well deserved third place overall after some gutsy downwind legs pushing close to extremes at times.

Ultraviolet's Peter Stephens and Tom Laity (together with Gaye Slater, Flushing SC Commodore) retain their trophy from 2019 in the 2021 Firebird Championship at Flushing Sailing Club - photo © www.kitesurfkit.com

Once again the Firebird fleet would like to congratulate the team from Flushing Sailing Club for organising such a successful event showcasing our performance multihull class. Equally for their hospitality in laying on the prize-giving at their stunning new Club House on the Quay in Flushing. Gaye Slater the Commodore presented all the trophies for this years Championship and Peter Stephens offered his thanks to Dave Owens and his Race Team, Flushing Sailing Club for supporting the Falmouth Firebird Fleet yet again and to Cafe Mylor for laying on their infamous "Curry Night' hospitality.

Overall Results: