5th - 16th February 2024, Royal Geelong Yacht Club, Australia
Pre Worlds - AUS Nationals, 7th - 9th February: Results
Worlds: 11th - 16th February: Full results | Event page
THEY DID IT AGAIN
After a very consistent and well raced regatta Tom Gillard has added a sixth Fireball World title to his name and Andy Thompson a second.
2nd DJ Edwards / Vyv Townend (GBR)
3rd Brendan Garner / Ben O'Brian (AUS)
Disaster for participants from Europe: The GBR and the CZE containers did not arrive in Australia on time due to the crisis in the Red Sea. The container ships had to take the detour around Africa. The containers got stuck in Singapore and definitely late for the Worlds they were sent back home. 18 teams (GBR, IRL, CZE) were affected. Only the container from Switzerland with FRA and SUI boats made it in time to Geelong. Fireball Australia made every effort to provide these teams with competitive boats and equipment. Both Gillard/Thompson (GBR) and Edwards/Townend (GBR) had to adapt to the borrowed boats. This also applies to Hall/Constable (AUS), the winners of the preceded AUS Nationals.
Thanks to this effort the World Championship nevertheless came to a good end with a worthy podium.
Reports by DOWNUNDERSAIL.COM:
Sunday February 11
Big breeze greets sailors on opening day of 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong
The opening day of the 2024 Fireball Worlds at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club gave sailors a real heart-starter, beginning with an onshore delay and ending with strong winds in two late afternoon, early evening races.
On a hot day in Geelong, sailors entered an on-shore postponement with racing delayed until 4:30pm local time while the race committee waited for the breeze to swing from north to south.
Eventually the breeze settled in the late afternoon with 20-25 knots filling in from the south for the two opening world championship races.
Local Fireball stalwarts and big breeze gurus Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien on Black Pearl kicked off their World Championship campaign in the best possible way, clinching two emphatic race wins in the breezy conditions.
It was a dream start for Garner and O’Brien, who finished seventh overall in the Australian Nationals pre-worlds regatta and only once claimed a top-five finish.
The top British teams remained in the mix in the windy conditions with Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson finishing the day in second place with a 3,2 scorecard, DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend in third with a 2,5 today, and pre-worlds regatta winners David Hall and Paul Constable sitting fifth with two fourths.
Newly-crowned Australian Champions Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins on Rip Tide ended the opening day in fourth overall with a 5,3 scorecard and remain well in the hunt having proven themselves in all breezes.
Mornington Yacht Club sailor Sophie Jackson, who also campaigns the 470 and is steering Zig Zag with Josh Galland this week, said it was a long wait for the breeze.
“We had a pretty long wait on shore today, a lot of hours, a very hot day, and then pretty late in the piece about 4:30pm, finally the southerly came in and it was absolutely honking out there,” she said.
“There's some pretty solid teams out there that know what they're doing, so it was cool to learn from them, learn a bit more about the Fireball and how to make it go in a breeze.
“All in all, a pretty awesome afternoon, the boat was going nice and quick and we’re pretty excited for the next couple days of racing.”
The event has been a long time coming for the Australian fleet and Royal Geelong Yacht Club, originally slated for 2020 however delayed twice due to COVID-19 restrictions, as well as travel and logistics challenges.
Victorian Fireball veteran Heather Macfarlane said
“We held a national championship here in 2019 and it was supposed to be the precursor for a World Championship,” she said.
“As everybody knows COVID hit and the event was put on ice until we could reschedule to another time, so the organising committee has been in operation since 2017 and now finally we can bring everything to fruition here now in February 2024.”
There are four more days of racing scheduled for this week with a 10-race series planned should the weather play the game, as well as a lay day on Wednesday to allow sailors to explore the best of what the City of Greater Geelong has to offer.
Similar forecast for tomorrow with hot weather throughout the day, however there is hope for another late sea breeze for two more championship races.
Monday February 12
Still anyone's guess after mixed second day of 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong
The 2024 Fireball Worlds is shaping up to be one for the ages with a mix of light and heavy conditions on the second day and the results so far offering no clear premonitions at this early stage.
Even after four races you can throw a blanket over the top 10, with a number of top contenders all getting moments at the very front of the fleet.
Day 1 leaders Brendan Garner and Ben O'Brien on Black Pearl, who began their regatta with two bullets yesterday, managed a second in Race 4 when the breeze was up, however the light winds in Race 3 may have shown a kink in their armour, finishing with a 16th they will hope to discard.
British hopefuls DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend on Mondo, and Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson on North Sails Allen Bros Robline, have started to flex their muscle and shown they belong at the pointy end.
With many overseas teams sailing borrowed boats due to logistics challenges in the lead up to the event, some teething issues have created mixed results at times.
“We've done a lot of boat work because the boat that we're sailing has never been on the water before,” Gillard said.
“(The association has) done an amazing job to all get us hire boats because our container's not here, it’s absolutely brilliant for them to sort everything out.
“(Geelong is) absolutely amazing sailing, it’s glamour, I mean the water temperature, the air temperature, it's all perfect.”
Among the top bunch are two more top South Australian teams, with Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins on Riptide sitting second overall with a consistent scorecard, and Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher on Cletus also sailing very fast after what has been quite some time out of the boat.
While Gillard and Thompson won the second race today, it was light weather specialists Jalina Thompson-Kambas and Nathan Stockley in Stay Tuned that clinched an important race win in the lighter conditions.
The former Australian Champions haven’t had the start they would have liked in the heavier winds, however with more moderate winds forecast for the next few days they could slingshot themselves right back into the mix.
Australian class veteran John Heywood, sailing at this regatta with Daniel George on Renegade, also showed his experience with an 8,2 score for the day keeping him in the hunt.
With the Australian Championships preceding the Worlds, many of the international teams have been able to use some of the days off to enjoy what Geelong and the surf coast has to offer.
“We did actually manage to have a day out in Torquay down the coastline where the surfing is, it was beautiful down there, absolutely stunning,” Gillard said.
There are two more races scheduled for tomorrow, which will be followed by a lay day where sailors can experience some more of the excellent tourism offerings available in the Greater Geelong area.
Tuesday February 13
Third day of Fireball Worlds blown out as sailors get set to sail on lay day
The third day of the 2024 Fireball Worlds has been blown out after a lengthy wait on shore that ultimately ended with a decision to make up the races on tomorrow’s lay day.
Sailors were met with winds of more than 30 knots from the north early in the day, however there was some speculation as to whether it would ease throughout the day and potentially swing to a westerly or southerly direction.
However it was to no avail, with Principal Race Officer Ross Wilson hoisting the AP over A late in the day and changing the sailing instructions to allow for racing on tomorrow’s lay day.
“We came down here at 10 o’clock this morning with a good northerly gusting up over 30 knots with steady breeze around about 27 (knots),” he said.
“The breeze didn’t abate whatsoever and we made an agreement that if we couldn’t get any races in today there’d be two tomorrow.
“There was some real big lumps and big waves and there would have been a lot of boats bowing through that, so AP over A and now we’ve got the notice posted, there will be two races tomorrow, which was going to be the lay day.”
Tomorrow’s forecast looks to be sailable with 10-15 knot southerlies forecast on the Bureau of Meteorology’s MetEye.
Wednesday February 14
Front of the fleet takes shape as 2024 Fireball Worlds pass halfway mark
On what was supposed to be the lay day of the 2024 Fireball Worlds, the fifth and sixth championship races were held in switchy and gusty southerly winds to bring the event past the halfway mark.
The British team of Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson on North Sails Allen Bros Robline had another tidy day with a 2,1 scorecard putting them four points clear with one discard in play.
Second place overall is currently tied between local Royal Geelong Yacht Club sailors Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien on Black Pearl and the British team of DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend on Mondo.
Garner and O’Brien’s 5,4 scorecard was enough to keep them in the mix, however Edwards and Townend’s 1,2 made it a top day for the British teams and further reinforced their consistency and experience in the class.
Townend, a five-time Fireball World Champion in his own right, said the conditions were extremely challenging and reminded him of some of his sailing back home in the United Kingdom.
“Yeah it was interesting, I would say a bit like sailing on a pond in England at times, really big shifts, big gusts, some of the headers were 40 degrees at one point,” he said.
“I believe some people capsized on them actually, but yeah, pretty difficult conditions.”
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Mondo team, rounding the windward mark in about 15th in one race, which Townend said was lucky to be salvaged into a good result.
“We were about 15th at the top mark and everyone went high, so we thought we've only got one option, which is to go low,” he said.
“Everybody else above us went through a bit of a hole and we just got the most beautiful gust all the way down and luckily it was enough to get buoy room and convert a 15th into a second by the gybe mark.”
Current Australian Champions Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins on Riptide had another consistent day to put them in fourth overall heading into the final four races of the regatta.
Higgins said there were a lot of shifts on the race course and that sailors “had to keep an open mind and just try to think ahead”.
“I guess there was always shifts going around, so we always just try to do the shortest lane possible and just keep an eye out for the pressure, so just being able to deal with losing a bit to gain a bit was kind of the go,” he said.
“If you keep doing what works, it can't be bad and I'm sure tomorrow and the next couple of days looks like it's gonna be a little bit of a different forecast as well, so I think we'll just keep trying to do our best and see what comes our way.”
With lighter and more challenging winds forecast for the next two days, consistency from here out will be key for the top two teams of Gillard/Thompson and Garner/O’Brien, who are currently discarding an 18th and 16th respectively.
Meanwhile Mondo and Riptide are yet to fall outside the top six, which could play into their hands late in the regatta.
The second discard is applied after the completion of Race 9.
Thursday February 15
Gillard and Thompson on match point heading into final day of 2024 Fireball Worlds
British Fireball duo Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson will take a seven-point lead into the final two races of the 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong tomorrow, as they look to be crowned world champions for another time.
The pair have so far sailed a near flawless regatta with an 18th in Race 3 the only result outside the top four.
Sitting in second overall with an outside chance of claiming the title on the last day is fellow Britons DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend on Mondo, who are now dropping a 13th from today.
With a pair of good results tomorrow, the Mondo team could use a sixth as their second discard, shaving some solid points off their scorecard.
In third overall after an 8,1 scorecard today is Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien on Black Pearl, who turned a poor position into a Race 8 win in an extremely shifty final work, keeping them in the hunt.
Garner said it was a challenging day and that it had set up an exciting battle for the final day.
“In the first race we got caught out a couple of times being a little too confident with what might happen up the track, so then we decided our plan was just sail the higher number and sail towards pressure,” he said.
“We'll have a crack, I think what's fantastic for the regatta and for the class is that it's wide open going into tomorrow, there's a few boats that can still win.
“They're not our conditions (tomorrow) but neither was today and we still came out with a good result so we'll just see what happens.”
There are some great battles being set up for the final day to make up the remainder of the top 10 with a number of teams having great regattas so far and looking for a good final result.
Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins in Riptide are sitting fourth and could sneak onto the podium with a good final day, while David Hall and Paul Constable on Sunsets, Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher on Cletus, and Ben Knoop and James Belton on Fierce Creature are all in a close fight for the last spot in the top five.
Sophie Jackson, who is sailing with Josh Galland on Zig Zag and currently sits 11th overall, said the racing in this regatta had been incredibly tight.
“I think with the lighter breeze the fleet was a lot more condensed and boats that are sometimes further back made their way up to the front, so there was a lot of congestion coming in around the marks and the fleet was a lot denser,” she said.
“Fireballs sail very similarly to the 470, so it's a really great boat to cross-train in and get that extra racing practice.”
The final day tomorrow is expected to be tricky, which sets up massive opportunities for teams looking to move up the standings, and big risks for those that need to defend their spot.
Friday February 16
Gillard and Thompson take out the 2024 Fireball Worlds with a race to spare
British Fireball sailors Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson have been crowned World Champions at the 2024 Fireball Worlds in Geelong, Australia.
The duo sailed a near perfect regatta, rarely falling outside the top three and ending up winning with a race to spare.
Gillard said he was proud of the achievement, especially given the fact the British container didn’t arrive on time.
“In the build up to the event we knew that we weren’t going to have our boat so we had to spend a lot of time working on the boat we borrowed,” he said.
“At pre-worlds we basically did one race a day, found out what was wrong with it, came back in, mended it and made sure it was good for the World Championships.”
His crew, Andy Thompson, said the regatta win was a special one for the pair considering they had not planned to attend the event initially.
“We shouldn’t really be here to be honest because we weren’t in the container to start off with, so we’re really lucky to be here.”
Gillard thanked the Australian Fireball Association and the committee members, who worked hard to ensure those left without a boat from overseas were able to sail borrowed Australian boats to get them through the regatta.
In second place was fellow British sailors DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend, who also sailed an extremely consistent regatta, but ended up just short of the regatta leaders in most races.
Third place, and first Australians, were local heroes Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien who hail from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club and had a really good start to their event to set up a successful result.
The event was incredibly well run by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club with 10 races across a mix of conditions that threw up a few challenges for the race committee.
