Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson got back on track in the defence of their title, a 2 , 1, score plus the discard put them top of the leaderboard on day 4 of the Firebal World Championship.
Gillard and Thompson take a four point lead ahead of Australia’s Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien (5, 4) who are tied on 13 pts with Dj Edwards and Vyv Townend (1, 2).
Australian Champions Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins (3, 3) had a good day, but still dropped to fourth in the face of the low scoring Brits who enjoyed the lighter, shifty conditions.
Vyv Townend commented . . . “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.”
The discard is crucial to the present leaderboard with the leaders dropping an 18 and a 16 respectively.
Lighter and more challenging winds forecast for the final two days, consistency from here will be key for the top two teams, although the series has a generous second discard after race 9.
The championship is hosted by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, Australia, from 11 to 16 February.
2024 Fireball World Championship – Leaders after 6 races ( 58 entries)
1st GBR Thomas Gillard and Andy Thompson 3 2 [18.0] 1 2 1 – – 9 pts
2nd AUS Brendan Garner and Ben O’Brien 1 1 [16.0] 2 5 4 – – 13 pts
3rd GBR Dj Edwards and Vyv Townend 2 5 [6.0] 3 1 2 – – 13 pts
4th AUS Ben Schulz and Angus Higgins [5.0] 3 5 4 3 3 – – 18 pts
5th GBR David Hall and Paul Constable 4 4 13 7 4 [58.0B] – – 32 pts
6th AUS Tom Gordon and Jack Fletcher 6 9 3 5 [11.0] 10 – – 33 pts
7th AUS Ben Knoop and James Belton 7 7 [12.0] 9 9 5 – – 37 pts
8th AUS John Heywood and Daniel George 13 13 2 8 6 [17.0] – – 42 pts
9th AUS Jalina Thompson-Kambas and Nathan Stockley [45.0T] 14 1 12 10 6 – – 43 pts
10th AUS Sophie Jackson and Josh Galland 12 6 14 11 7 [58.0B] – – 50 pts
11th GBR Kevin Hope and William Cook 16 11 7 16 [17.0] 9 – – 59 pts
12th AUS Mark Jarred and Glenn Stewart 22 8 [31.0] 20 13 12 – – 75 pts
13th AUS Heather Macfarlane and Chris Payne 21 [58.0F] 8 19 12 15 – – 75 pts
14th GBR Simon Kings and Jono Loe 9 [58.0F] 30 6 20 11 – – 76 pts
15th AUS Addy Bucek and Peter James 8 10 [38.0] 38 16 7 – – 79 pts
16th FRA Claude Mermod and Esteban Hernandez 15 [36.0] 11 17 15 21 – – 79 pts
17th SUI Kurt Venhoda and Sonja Zaugg [27.0] 15 4 27 18 18 – – 82 pts
18th AUS Peter Moor and Campbell Reid 17 20 [21.0] 21 8 16 – – 82 pts
19th AUS Mark Matthews and Peter Sinclair 10 [37.0] 22 23 21 8 – – 84 pts
20th AUS Phil Peverell and Bruce Shand 14 [28.0] 17 18 19 24 – – 92 pts
