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News / Fireball Fat Burner Finale

The inaugural Fireball Fat Burner winter series drew to a close on Sunday the 27th of February after 8 nail biting races with Stewart Scarff and Tyler Harmsworth only snatching overall victory from David and Michelle Ryder in the last one.  Even then with the two teams level on points the final placing was decided on count back with Scarff/Harmsworth counting 3 bullets against the Ryder's 2.  Races 6,7 and 8 were spiced up by the surprise arrival of the reigning European Champions Tom Gillard and Sam Brearey who romped home in 1st on each occasion but it wasn't enough to challenge for the series title.

In race 7 Scarff/Harmsworth launched early after the previous weekends leisurely arrival at the start line, 30 seconds after everyone else had departed.  They even had time to sail the beat and test launch the spinnaker.  All this was a total waste of time however, as the breeze had now dropped to about 7 kts which delighted the considerably more aerodynamic pairing of Mr. And Mrs. R.  The race got underway at the first attempt and Scarff/Harmsworth surprised themselves by keeping pace with Gillard/Brearey for almost two thirds of the first beat when the euro champs were forced into a tack by a starboard boat from another class which took them into a flurry of pressure whilst Scarff/Harmsworth continued into a wind hole where the only sound was Michelle's laughter as the Ryders assumed second place.  This is how it remained despite Glen Bolton and Jim Donald making an unsuccessful late charge to escape last place.

So going into the 8th and final race, the Ryders were a point up and Scarff/Harmsworth were wondering why the F4 that had been forecast had failed to appear.  Scarff/Harmsworth knew that they would need to finish in front of the Ryders to win the series but without the strength of wind suitable for the larger gentleman, a good start was going to be crucial. Their start was so good in fact that the race management wanted to see it again so they issued a general recall. And then the wind arrived with 12kts gusting 20.  The fleet got away successfully under the discipline of a black flag and after dicing with the Ryders for a lap, Scarff/Harmsworth gained good traction from the spinnaker using the power of the trapeze to full advantage.  Whilst not managing to reel in the elite Gillard/Brearey team they did manage to put some sensible distance between themselves and the Ryders at the same time as sealing victory in the series.

The last 4 weeks has been great fun with a whole soap opera of friendly Facebook banter in the intervening days.  Thanks to Datchet for letting us hijack their "Winter Warm Up" and hopefully we'll see a few more Fireballs challenging for the Fat Burner next year.

Results to follow...

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