For only the fifth time since 1992, a non-British combination have won the Fireball Worlds. With a nine-race programme concluded on Lake Garda today (Friday), the Swiss combination of Yves Mermod and Maja Siegenthaler (14961) have won the Fireball Worlds by a three-point margin in a 136-boat entry. With three race wins, three second places, a fifth and a DNC they beat the early leaders of the regatta, DJ Edwards  and Vyv Townend ((15144) who counted a score of three race wins, a second, two thirds, two fourths and a seventh. In third place, and double defending World Champions (Lough Derg, Ireland in 2022 and Geelong, Australia in 2024) Tom Gillard and Andy Thompson (15122) had a solitary race win, two seconds, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh, a thirteenth and two fifteenth places, to trail the runners up by 21 points. Other race wins went to David Wade and Iain Blake (15175) and Peter Gray and Richard Pepperdine (15118). Wade & Blake finished fifth overall, while Gray & Pepperdine finished sixth.

With the exception of the DNC in Race 4, the Swiss counted results in the top five of every race, while Edwards & Townend kept their scores in the range first to seventh. In a fleet of this size that is some consistency.

For the ten-boat Irish team, there was success as well with Daniel & Harry Thompson (Wexford Harbour and Royal St George) (15114) finishing 19^th overall and winning the U25’s World Championship. Conor Twohig & Matthew Cotter finished 23^rd overall with Josh Porter & Cara McDowel (15022)l and Ed Butler & Iso Inan (14969) finishing 41^st and 42^nd respectively.

The early part of the week was hard work and when the lay day came the suggestion ws that everyone was ready for it. The second half of the regatta may have been a bit easier on the bodies.

Many people would have fancied Gillard & Thompson to add another title to their CVs, but a 7, 15, 15, 13 sequence of finishes in the first four races left them with an uphill struggle. In contrast, Edwards & Townend scored 1,1,3,1, across the same four races while the Swiss had 2,3,2,DNC (137).

It is a measure of the challenge in sailing in a fleet of this size, where an 800m start line was required, that well known crews that would be familiar to the Irish fleet had difficult weeks. Heather Macfarlane & Chris Payne (15152), who were on the podium in Lough Derg, finished in 37^th, with a fourth in their first race and a ninth in Race 8, but other results in the forties, fifties, sixties and a 120^th.

Derian and Andy Scott (14941) finished 25^th without a top ten race finish but places in the low teens (1), twenties (4), thirties (2), fifties (1) and eighties (1). Ben Schulz, teamed up with Tom Gillard’s non-Fireball crew (who has enjoyed multiple National Championship wins in the UK this summer) and finished 18^th, with three results in the low teens, three results in the twenties, two results in the thirties and a DNC (137).

David Hall, who was the prime mover behind the new Fireball model, sailed with long-term crew Paul Constable (15172) and finished 12^th with three top ten finishes, a mid-teens result, two results in the twenties, one in the thirties and one in the forties and a result in the nineties.

In a 136-boat fleet these are impressive numbers but it just shows how difficult big fleet racing can be!

Fireball Worlds 2025, Lake Garda, August 22 – 30th. Top Ten Overall
1st	Yves Mermod & Maja Siegenthaler	SUI 14961	12pts
2nd	DJ Edwards & Vyv Townend	GBR 15144	15pts
3rd	Tom Gillard & Andy Thompson	GBR 15122	36pts
4th	Brendan Garner & Ben O’Brien	AUS 15026	54pts
5th	David Wade & Iain Blake	GBR 15175	67pts
6th	Peter Gray & Richard Pepperdine	GBR 15118	69pts
7th	Jiri Paruzek & Jakub Kosvica	CZE 15141	88pts
8th	Georgia Booth & Oliver Davenport	GBR 14940	91pts
9th	Graham Cook & William Cook	GBR 15091	94pts.
10th	Paola Brescia & Vulcanile Filippo	ITA 15162	109pts

 

In the early part of the week, the GBR boats were dominating the top ten, but as the final results, above, show, they ultimately had to share it with a number of other nationalities.

Within the overall regatta, the entrants were divided up into different categories based on age, gender, family crews, lady helms, etc and it is in one of these that the Irish Team came away with a victory. Scoring a fourth place in Race 3, where I believe they may have port-tacked the entire fleet, and with the exception of a 79^th in Race 7, Daniel & Harry Thompson kept the balance of their individual race results under 32^nd place to make them the U25 World Champions.

Overall	Under-25s World Championships.
19th	Daniel & Harry Thompson	IRL 151114	139pts
46th	Finlay Lomas Clarke & Tristan	GBR 14742	259pts
48th	Imogen Wade & Fred Langhorne	GBR 15102	270pts

 

Overall	Over 125 Years (Combined crew age) World Championships.
12th	David Hall & Paul Constable	GBR 15172	114pts
16th	Claude Mermod & Ruedi Moser	SUI 14799	120pts
31st	Ivo Vadura & Marek Bachtik	SVK 14827	204pts

 

The first mixed crew was Georgia Booth & Oliver Davenport in 8^th place with Georgia also the first female helm. Derian Scott was the second female helm (and second mixed crew with Andy) with Jalina Pivetta crewed by Nathan Stockley (Aus 15153) the third female helm in 28^th place.

2025 Fireball Worlds, Lake Garda, August 22nd – 30th Irish placings.
19th	Daniel & Harry Thompson
23rd	Conor Twohig & Matthew Cotter
41st	Josh Porter & Cara McDowell
42nd	Ed (Og) Butler & Iso Inan
54th	Chris Bateman & Lucy Loughton
69th	Alan Blay & Hugh McNally
75th	Adrian Lee & Edmund Hynes
85th	Ewen Barry & Thea Barry
86th	Frank Miller & Ed Butler
115th	Bella Clarke Waterman & Sean O’Herlihy

 

A very good friend of mine, Jean Jacques Provoyeur, from my days in South Africa, sailed the Lake Garda event, 41 years after finishing second at the San Franciso Worlds of 1984, finishing 83^rd. On learning that the 2026 Worlds are to be sailed in the UK, in Torbay on the south coast, stated that he is determined to be there, despite finding Lake Garda a tough physical challenge.

Closer to home, the Irish fleet will have a chance to take a crack at our World U25 Champions when the domestic season resumes with the Ulster Championships at Mullaghmore on the weekend of September 20 & 21^st.