Pre Worlds Day 1 - the official story...

Day 1 2008 Fireball International Pre-Worlds – Thailand

After much preparation and hard work finally the first day of racing came with the 70 boats taking to the water in a beautiful 12 knots, ideal conditions for the lively Fireball class.

Even though this was only the pre worlds, and effectively a practise regatta for the worlds themselves, the racing was still intense. The first race took 4 general recalls before the fleet finally started cleanly under a black flag.

Peter Inns/Chris Went (AUS 14812) were first to the first mark, making the most of the shifts. Second around the top mark was Greg and Jeff Schulz (AUS 14571) with Vince Horey/Andy Thompson 3^rd (GBR 14920) quickly got passed the Schulz’s and the two front boats eased out to a good lead. The wind died to about 8 knots and the adverse current built so the race was shortened to the top mark with Emma Perkins/Jason Heritage (AUS 14603) taking 3^rd.

The second race started in about 10 knots with a strong incoming tide, which held the boats back from the start line. Richard Mason/Simon Hextall (GBR 14969) made the most of the tide and port tacked the start crossing the whole fleet.

Peter Gray/Simon Forbes (GBR 14873) led to the first mark from Mason/Hextall and Mee/Wagstaff.

Peter Gray/Simon Forbes (GBR14873) went on to win with Matt Mee/Richard Wagstaff(GBR 14919) climbing to second followed by Robin Inns/Joel Coultas (AUS 14782).

Overall the results are quite mixed, but Matt Mee and Richard Wagstaff are looking very comfortable overall. Team GBR seem to have the upper hand in the conditions with 4 boats in the top ten, but there is plenty of pressure so far from the Swiss, Czechs and Australian teams.

The current World Champion Richard Estaugh/Rob Gardener (GBR 14948) didn’t make it onto the water today, but the 2006 World Champions Erich and Reudi Moser (SUI 14799) struggled to a 20^th in the first race and a 7^th in the second, just one point behind the Australian Champions Inns/Coultas. Current British national champion Tom Jeffcoate/Mark Hogan (GBR 14949) had a bad day in the office today with a 26^th and a 30^th