Fireballs continue with fresher winds

Sailing in the European Fireball Championships was delayed but got underway on Monday. Photo: Brian Gray

European Fireball Championship organisers were hopeful of getting three races in today after calm winds sabotaged sailing yesterday.

The first of today’s races got underway at 11am with the sun shining and wind forecast to freshen as the day wore on. It was hoped the sailors would be able to recover at least one of the lost races.

Yesterday’s racing at the Homecoming Scotland 2014 European Championships was called off as principle race officer Bruce Leask was beaten by the elements and was thus unable to get a race in, Cormac Bradley reports.

The fleet set out for the race course shortly after 12pm for a scheduled 1pm start, to the backdrop of a third cruise liner in Lerwick Harbour in as many days. With a forecast of dropping wind strength as the day wore on, the omens were not good.

The presence of the second largest floating crane in the world would have influenced where the race course could be set but initially this enormous piece of engineering excellence didn’t influence where the fleet might be sailing.

However, the wind refused to co-operate and despite the persistent attention of the race team, they flew racing’s equivalent of the white flag, “N over A”, shortly after 3pm. A long sail home was shortened by the mark boats offering multiple tows to the competitors.

Yesterday’s cancellation meant the scoreboard stayed the same, which means that Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff lead by two points from Tom Gillard and Richard Anderton.

For full report’s of Monday and Tuesday’s racing, see The Shetland Times, 1st August edition.