2015-16 South Australian Fireball Championship

9 March 2016

2015-16 Fireball South Australian Championship

The 2015/16 South Australian International Fireball State Championships consisted of 10 heats over a mix of country and metropolitan venues across the state. 

12 boats challenged for the title including current national champions Pete Inns/Joel Coultas, past National Champions John Heywood/Brett Littledike and Youth/Female National Champion Jalina Thompson-Kambas.

Racing on the water was very tight and fast - typical of the international one design fireball class which allows the rig to be adjusted for different crew combinations, offering a level playing field regardless of crew size.

Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher sailed consistently throughout the series and with good results comfortably secured 3^rd position overall.

Despite the closeness of the competition it seemed the experienced crews of Heywood/Littledike and Inns/Coultas somehow always managed to sneak through to the top 2 positions of the leaderboard.

Going into the final race Heywood/Littledike and Inns/Coultas were tied on points meaning that whoever beat the other in the last race would be crowned the champion and take home the chocolates. Heywood/Littledike nailed the first beat in the last race, and despite Inns/Coultas closing in fast, were able to hold off a late challenge and claim their 2^nd state championship title in the same boat John built and won in 2003/04, a testament to robustness of the class design.

Results (top 3)

14786 - Renegade: John Heywood/Brett Littledike (4),(4),1,1,1,2,2,1,2,1 [11]

15026 - Black Pearl: Pete Inns/Joel Coultas 1,(DNS), (DNS), 2,2,1,1,2,1,2 [12]

15071 - Cletus: Tom Gordon/Jack Fletcher 2,1,(3),(4),3,3,3,3,3,3 [21]

Joel Coultas.

Link to photos from the racing in Port Vincent

1st overall 'Renegade' John Heywood and Brett Littledike

2nd overall 'Black Pearl' Peter Inns and Joel Coultas

3rd overall 'Cletus' Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher