The leaders remain the same following a light air race on Monday in the Fireball Worlds at Carnac. While Ian Dobson and Richard Wagstaff lead the fleet they retain just a two-point lead over second and third who are on equal nine points when the first discard kicked in.
That discard and an excellent 8th place yesterday bring the top Irish team of Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella back into the top ten. Louise McKenna and Hermine O'Keeffe also had a good race with a clean start the pair used their light weight to advantage and scored a 45th in the 101 boat fleet. The race itself got away in a light sea breeze which kicked in late in the afternoon and held out just long enough for a shortened course of a beat and a triangle.
Conditions were very light with crew sitting out to leeward at times on the beats. Both Miller/Butler and McGrotty/Cramer suffered lack of oxygen on the start line and finished well in the second half of the fleet. Today Wednesday is a lay day and sailors enjoy a well-earned rest. Winds for the remaining 2 days of the event are forecast very light and with the leaders, just two points ahead of the chasers the overall winners are far from decided.
Additional report from Fireball International:
After brilliant sailing on the first two days, finally the wind machine was turned off. The PRO showed excellent judgement to keep the fleet on shore for an extra hour, but the hint of a breeze appeared and the fleet was sent out. On arrival at the start line the wind stopped to keep the fleet under postponement. After another short delay a 5 knot wind appeared and put the race management into gear. With a slight tide against the fleet, the race got away with no general recalls. In the difficult conditions the fleet split across the whole course causing a wide separation throughout the 100+ boats. The current top 4 boats were also spread across the course with Ian Dobson/Richard Wagstaff (GBR) and current world champion Tom Gillard/ Geoff Edwards (GBR) going right while Penny Clark/ Russell Clark(GBR) and Matt Burge/ Daniel Schieber(GBR) went left. The left just paid with Matt/ Daniel just scraping around in front. Johana Napravnikova Koranova Johanka/ Jakub Napravnik(CZE) rounded second wth Fireball International Commodore Christina Haerdi/ Cedric Landerer (SUI) and Alois Verkest/ Jean Robillard (FRA) hot on their heels. Penny/ Russell were also in the top bunch with Ian/ Richard and Tom/ Geoff a little further back. Two difficult reaches saw little mixing, but allowed ex European Champion Claude Mermot/ Reudi Moser (SUI) move into the top few followed by Heather Macfarlane/ Chris Payne (AUS).
The race was shortened at the next top mark with Matt/ Daniel still maintaining their lead from Johanka/ Jakub and Alois/ Jean 3rd. Interesting to note that four female skippers from four different countries finished in the top seven, showing the diversity of the class at the top level.
The PRO again showed good judgement to not try for a 2nd race and the fleet headed for the club for an excellent social night with fantastic local crepes. The social event also included presentations for the upcoming worlds in Montreal (CAN) 2019 and Howth (IRE) 2020, and Europeans in Czech Republic in 2019. With the look of these events, followed by Worlds in Geelong, Australia in 2022, show that the future is very bright for the fireball class.
At the half way mark the leaderboard is still very close with the top 3 boats within 2 points after one drop and all still to play for.
