# FiREBALL – As the report that precedes this one suggested, the penultimate day of the Fireball Worlds in Mandurah saw a duel in the sun and waves between the young British combination Tom Gillard and Sam Brearey and the Australians Robin Inns and Joel Coultas. The Y&Y registered report for the day advises that these two broke away from the rest of the fleet and match-raced each other around both courses today (Friday). The breeze for the day was healthy and generated big swells with both the weather mark and the gybe mark providing fun and games for all. It seems that even past champions Chips Howarth and Vyv Townend found the conditions challenging and were out-gybed by their younger rivals. The report also indicated that the time Messrs Gillard and Brearey spent in the gym, before their departure for Australia, paid dividends today.
Despite a score card for the day that reflects two wins, it seems that the lead in both races changed hands a number of times between the Aussies and the Brits. The Brits took the honours for the day but Inns and Coultas took the next best set with 2 x 2nd places.
Ben Schulz and Phillip Bowley had their best day to date scoring a 5th and a 3rd to allow themselves a spot in the overall top ten, albeit in tenth place. Martin Lewis and Richard Byne scored a fourth in the day's second race which, with a seventh in Race 7, sees them hold a 4pt advantage over Howarth & Townend and 6th place overall.
Allison/Watson had the best day of the three boats tied on 24pts behind Gillard/Brearey & Inns/Coultas. Their points tally for the day was 12pts (4th & 8th) allowing them to open a 3pt gap on Heywood/Littedike & Wade/Saxton who both scored 15pts on the day – a 6th and a 9th each – in different races.........obviously!
Fireball Worlds, Mandurah, Western Australia.
Top 10 Overall & Selected Others
Eight Races completed, Single Discard.
1 Gillard & Brearey (GBR) 1 4 2 6 1 2 1 1 12pts
2 Inns & Coultas (AUS) 5 3 1 2 8 1 2 2 16pts
3 Allison & Watson(AUS) 8 2 4 4 6 21 4 8 36pts
4 Heywood & Littledike (AUS) 7 1 3 7 17 6 6 9 39pts
5 Wade & Saxton (GBR) 3 6 11 5 5 5 9 6 39pts
6 Lewis & Byne (GBR) 12 13 9 1 4 4 7 4 41pts
7 Howarth & Townend (GBR) 6 9 12 3 2 10 3 16 45pts
8 Kubovy & Winkler (CZE) 14 7 10 9 3 3 15 10 56pts
9 Gordon & Fletcher (AUS) 2 8 13 13 7 13 10 7 60pts
10 Schulz & Bowley (AUS) 9 11 8 18 13 11 5 3 60pts
13 Goacher & Thorne (GBR) 11 16 7 65 16 7 13 13 83pts
14 Scott & Scott (GBR) 15 36 5 8 14 9 16 19 86pts
17 Jospe & Egli (CAN) 22 23 16 16 12 12 36 14 115pts
18 McFarlane & Payne (AUS) 13 15 23 12 25 17 18 18 116pts
23 Moser & Nouel (SUI/FRA0 17 20 27 22 29 15 39 31 161pts
As this report is being written, the crews in Mandurah are only 3½hrs away from the first (scheduled) start of the final day's racing. With a four-point cushion, Tom & Sam may be on the cusp of securing their first World title, but the evidence of the regatta to date is that Robin & Joel will push them all the way!
