Fireball Thomas Castle Aviation Heritage Memorial Trophy Spring Championship at Draycote Water SC

Exciting times in the Fireball dinghy class following the successful launch of the new design at the dinghy show in March. A world championship in Garda, Italy in 2025, followed by a home Worlds in Torquay in 2026, has created a real buzz in the class. An entry list of 36 boats, with a blend of experienced veterans and more youth boats than I have seen at an event for many years, backs up that assertion.

Another positive was the Friday Spring training with Adam Bowers. Despite the absence of any breeze, nine crews listened intently to brilliant classroom sessions and some really helpful land drills.

Fireball Spring Championship at Draycote Water - photo © Malcolm Lewin / www.malcolmlewinphotography.zenfolio.com

Saturday dawned with a haze of lake flies above the rigging fleet, with many concerned there may be a delay. The wind did show up as forecast, 6 knots gusting to 12, and the racing started promptly as per the NOR.

With their new mast thrown into the boat the day before, Paul Cullen and Simon Forbes took the lead on the first downwind leg after rounding just behind DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend. The conditions were pretty challenging; however, some gusts nearly got us to 20 units (thanks AB), but there were some pretty dire lulls and 30-degree wind shifts. Paul and Simon showed a sign of things to come by holding their lead until the finish, followed home by DJ and Vyv, and then Tom Gillard and Shandy, who had to do some work to get through to the podium.

Fireball Spring Championship at Draycote Water - photo © Malcolm Lewin / www.malcolmlewinphotography.zenfolio.com

Race 2 was more of the same, ups and downs in breeze, but one consistent was the lead of the race established by Peter Gray and Richard Pepperdine, who rounded the windward mark clear and left everyone behind for a very impressive win. This will have everyone working out how to fit in-board raking ready for the nationals at Looe in May. Second was Gilly and Shandy, who had to work past Spanner and Simon, who eventually took third, with DJ and Vyv in fifth, a result they would have to count.

In race 3, DJ and Vyv navigated the holes in the breeze to come through for their first win from start to finish and the overnight lead. In second place were Pete and Rich, and Tom and Shandy again in third.

Fireball Spring Championship at Draycote Water - photo © Malcolm Lewin / www.malcolmlewinphotography.zenfolio.com

Originally, the breeze looked like it was up a notch on Sunday, but by the time the first gun sounded, we were back to more of the same from the day before, albeit from a different direction and quite a bit colder (thermo spray tops on).

Picking up where they finished the day before, DJ and Vyv led from mark one and kept it all the way until the end of the race and were now looking pretty solid for the championship... Or were they?

Fireball Spring Championship at Draycote Water - photo © Malcolm Lewin / www.malcolmlewinphotography.zenfolio.com

In race 5, a huge shift one minute after the start saw many of the top contenders massively down the order by the first mark. Paul and Simon were showing some impressive boat speed and didn't get caught out and again took an early lead in the third, closed it out, and sat one point behind DJ and Vyv going into the final race. Second was Dave Wade and Ian Blake, who pushed hard for the win down the final leg, and in third was the dinghy show centrepiece crewed by Dave Hall and Rachael Gray for their best result of the weekend.

The final race then was looking like an epic decider with four boats in contention, but the wind had other ideas. The committee boat did their best to set a course, but when the gun finally sounded for the 5 minute, a huge shift to the right saw a further postponement and then ultimately cut off racing with DJ and Vyv sitting one point ahead of Paul and Simon, with Tom and Shandy a close third.

Fireball Spring Championship at Draycote Water - photo © Malcolm Lewin / www.malcolmlewinphotography.zenfolio.com

So, a fantastic start to the season despite the conditions, and with an early nationals this year on the 24th of May in Looe.

Thomas Castle Aviation Heritage Memorial Trophy Spring Championship Winners:

1st Place - 15144 DJ Edwards and Vyv Townend
2nd Place - 15147 Paul Cullen and Simon Forbes
3rd Place - 15122 Tom Gillard and Shandy
1st Silver 14754 Simon Evans and Matt Sharman

Top lady - 14837 Ali Cormack
Grand master- 15091 Graham Cook
Master - 15144 DJ Edwards
Youth - 15102 Ian Blake
Endeavour - 14876 Jason Cahill and Kerry Webb

DJ Edwards & Vyv Townend win the Fireball Spring Championship at Draycote Water - photo © Adam Whitehouse

Overall Results: