Bit of Fireball action from the weekend...

[mrming]

Awesome stuff indeed. Great work from helm and crew to keep the boat on her feet in the gusts. It was quite clearly honking!

 

[marktrigg]

really enjoyed both vids ... thanks for posting

(had a cadet on the sea at eastbourne in the sixties, well pevensey bay sc really; crewed for a less-experienced school friend in his fireball too, as I'd always wanted to have a go at trapeze ... gorgeous boats; loads of fun !! )

 

[TSB240]

Great videos brings back memories of Fireball crewing on Bala many years ago. I seem to remember my helm used to sit out on top of my legs on the windiest days? Lazy B***er!

 

[rwoofer]

Managed to take a look on my PC and there is some great fun sailing there. Never realised how much a Fireball could shift (the ones at my club seem to struggle to pass me in a Phantom). Looks very wet for the the helm though!

 

[Pagetslady]

Wow wonderful sailing and great filming, I used to sail a Cadet C422 at Christchurch in the 1950 great reminder of those far off days.

 

[Iain C]

Managed to take a look on my PC and there is some great fun sailing there. Never realised how much a Fireball could shift (the ones at my club seem to struggle to pass me in a Phantom). Looks very wet for the the helm though!

I've sailed a lot of very fast boats, and whilst nothing can match the speed and power of something like a 49er or 18 upwind, in the right conditions (absolutely chanking, on a tight 2 or 3 sail reach) a Fireball is outrageously fast. They are pretty poor in light winds and short Solent chop, but on flat water (or big waves) the combination of a very flat, narrow hull aft, and a comparatively small, and very adjustable rig, means you can keep driving them really, really hard when you would probably be staying in the bar if you were sailing something more powerful.

When it's windy, they are certainly a bit of a handicap bandit! And talking of which, as there seems to be so much love for a bit of Fireball video, here's a pursuit race from a few years back. GBR14612 is my old boat (although newer than 14110, and all epoxy rather than 110's wood/Kevlar composite) and we managed to win this pursuit race by virtue of the lead boat going in the p1ss on the last leg. FFWD to about the 11:00 mark for how it ended up!

 

[rwoofer]

Makes sense as I'm in a small inland club. Curiously enough a Phantom mainsail is in effect a Fireball main, which explains why Fireballs need to be properly powered up to overtake me on the water. The Phantom is now sailed off 1002, so probably not a lot in it on PY.


Force 4 plus and the Fireball would blow me away - the vagaries of the PY system!

 

[AndrewB]

When it's windy, they are certainly a bit of a handicap bandit! And talking of which, as there seems to be so much love for a bit of Fireball video, here's a pursuit race from a few years back. GBR14612 is my old boat (although newer than 14110, and all epoxy rather than 110's wood/Kevlar composite) and we managed to win this pursuit race by virtue of the lead boat going in the p1ss on the last leg. FFWD to about the 11:00 mark for how it ended up!

Also great stuff, thanks Iain. Looks to be blowing a hoolie towards the end, congrats on the win.