2008 World Championship Gear Guide
With the highly successful 2008 World Championship over, it is time to review some of the gear used by the top salors.
21 year old Matt Mee was sailing a standard hull from Winder Boats with Pinnell and Bax sails on a Selden Cumulus rig, setup by Richard Wagstaff (the crew) from Winder Boats'.
David Wade/Ben McGrane were sailing a very similar setup, put together by David who works for Pinnell & Bax. The other 21 year olds in the top 3, Nathan Stockley and Sam Muirhead,
were sailing a 10 year old boat from Young Marine with a standard John Clifton Sails setup on a SuperSpar M7+.
Pinnell & Bax dominated the selection of sails in the top 10, but there were 5 different boat builders from 4 different countries, including Singapore.
This shows the strenght of the class's one design rules. It was also great to see a full range of ages of competitors from 20 to 70 sailing the fireball, and a with a strong mix of women throughout the fleet.
Gear used by the top 10:
| Pos | Helm | Crew | Helm Weight (kg) | Crew Weight (kg) | Hull | Mast | Sails | Foils |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Mee | Richard Wagstaff | 64 | 80 | Winder | Selden - Cumulus | Pinnell & Bax | Winder |
| 2 | David Wade | Ben McGrane | 69 | 80 | Winder | Selden - Cumulus | Pinnell & Bax | Winder |
| 3 | Nathan Stockley | Sam Muirhead | 67 | 84 | YMS | Superspar - M7+ | Clifton Sails | YMS |
| 4 | Greg Allison | Richard Watson | 65 | 80 | AFM/Kelly Marine | Selden - Cumulus | Clifton/Pinnell & Bax(Mainsail) | YMS |
| 5 | Tomas Musil | Jan Stantejsky | 68 | 80 | Xtreme Sailing Products | Superspar - M7+ | Pinnell & Bax | Xtreme Sailing Products |
| 6 | Heather Macfarlane | Chris Payne | 57 | 77 | AFM/Kelly Marine | Goldspar | Irwin Sails/North(Spinnaker) | YMS/Kelly Marine(rudder) |
| 7 | Richard Estaugh | Rob Gardener | 74 | 80 | Winder | Superspar - M7+ | Speed Sails | Winder |
| 8 | Eric Moser | Ruedi Moser | 74 | 76 | Duvoisin | Selden - Cumulus | Pinnell & Bax/Speed Sails(Spinnaker) | Duvoisin/Winder(rudder) |
| 9 | Vince Horey | Andrew Thompson | 68 | 82 | Winder | Selden - Cumulus | Pinnell & Bax | Winder |
| 10 | Richard Mason | Simon Hextall | 78 | 79 | Winder | Selden - Cumulus | Pinnell & Bax | Winder |
Up coming events for Fireball International include the 2008 European Championship, to be held in Nieuwpoort - Belgium from the 6th to the 11th July 2008 and the 2009 Worlds will be held in August in La Rochelle - France.
Check out the details at www.fireball-international.com
