Fireball Pre Worlds - Day 4 - Thailand

Day 4 2008 Fireball International Pre-Worlds – Thailand

The fourth day of sailing for the pre worlds was another beautiful day sailed in 13-10 knot for the first race, and down to 7 knots in the second.

Again the tide was running against the wind in the first race, which caused 4 general recalls and eight boats were sent home before the start. Robin Inns/Joel Coultas(AUS) were first to the first mark just ahead of the Tom Jeffcote /Mark Hogan(GBR). These two had a great tussle as the two National Champions of their respective countries, with the Australian getting the win. Richard Estaugh/ Rob Gardener(GBR) hung in behind them to finish third. Overnight leader David Wade/Ben McGrane (GBR) had their worst race of the series and finished in 18^th. This meant the final points were very close between, Wade/McGrane, Matt Mee/Richard Wagstaff(GBR), R.Inns/Coultas and Tomas Musil/Jan Stantejsky(CZE).

The final race started with a black flag on the first start with the tide turning during the race. Peter Inns/Chris Went(AUS) got around the first mark just ahead of Heather Macfarlane/Chris Payne(AUS) with Greg Allison/Richard Watson (AUS) just behind, showing that the Australians can still perform in the light conditions. The race became a very close between P.Inns/Went, Macfarlane/Payne, Musil/Stantejsky, and John Heywood/Brett LittleDyke (AUS) with the four boats finishing overlapped with Macfarlane/Payne just ahead of Musil/Stantejsky. With Wade/McGrane in 5^th, Mee/Wagstaff in 9^th and R.Inns/Coultas back in sixteenth, Musil/Stantejsky won the regatta.

It was good to see the new boat builder, Xtreme Sailing Products, based in Singapore win their first regatta with the newly launched boat.

Now all the sailors are looking forward to the actual World Championship starting on the 16^th March.