Sixteen boats raced the 1999 Ontario Provincials, hosted at Nepean Sailing Club on July 17 and 18. A pleasant surprise was the appearance of all twelve local fireballs, supplemented by 2 boats from Southern Ontario and 2 from Montreal. It was a very nice weekend on the water, with winds ranging from about 8 knots up into the upper teens and warm (VERY warm) air. Race Committee duties were handled by the local Laser 28 fleet - Fireballs will be returning the favour for the OYSTR regatta later this summer. The RC had it fairly easy with consistent winds and a well behaved fleet that had only a few OCS boats to recall. Their biggest decision was likely the call to send us all ashore following the second race on Saturday when some very threatening clouds appeared on the horizon. This turned out to be prudent, as a thunderstorm blew through shortly after all were ashore, knocking down trees and generally messing up the city. Racing was blown off for the day when it became apparent the weather was going to remain violent.
The social side of regattas is always an important part of Fireball racing. As a guest sailer from the Albacore fleet noted, Fireballers always have such great stories to tell after coming ashore. The weekend started with a Friday night party in Phil's backyard (complete with a rigged Frosty in a kiddie-pool/beer-cooler, just to add a bit of atmosphere). Saturday night dinner at the club was catered by Antica, featuring BBQ-your-own-steak, plenty of salads, and lots of jokes about watermellons (sorry, you had to be there!). T-Shirts were provided by Dave&Mona, sold at-cost to the participants (and we still have a few left if you're dying to have one!).
By the end of Sunday's racing all were feeling at least a little bit tired (and a few years older). Mike McEvoy had a lovely swollen nose after colliding with Iain's elbow. Dave Landsberg had fallen out of his boat after breaking a hiking strap, and got run over by his own boat (breaking his rudder in the process). Hey, Ed was right - we DO have the best stories!
| Pos | Sail # | Club | Skipper | Crew | Pts | Individual Races |
| 1 | CAN11153 - Cat's Paw | PCYC | Malcolm Van Haeften | Toby Bryant | 13 | 4,(9),1,5,1,1,1 |
| 2 | CAN13167 | LRYC | Joe Jospe | Peter Kelly | 18 | 1,4,5,(6),2,4,2 |
| 3 | CAN13890 - Punk Flamingo | NSC | Mike McEvoy | Iain McEvoy | 19 | 5,(10),3,3,3,2,3 |
| 4 | CAN12939 | NSC | Dave Landsberg | Mona Barakat | 25 | 3,1,4,2,8,7,(16) |
| 5 | CAN11451 - Son of Sam | OHSC | John Bryant | Gary Bain | 30 | 6,2,6,(16),4,5,7 |
| 6 | CAN14678 - No Excuses! | NSC | Phil Locker | Antica Locker | 33 | 2,5,9,(12),5,6,6 |
| 7 | CAN1354 - Blue Rodeo | NSC | Mike Roper | Steve Anderson | 39 | 8,3,(14),9,12,3,4 |
| 8 | CAN11148 - Ain't Misbehavin | PSC | Rick Clift | Mike Vinten | 42 | 7,6,7,8,6,8,(16) |
| 9 | CAN10295 - Dad & I | NSC | Gaetan Lavoie | Guy Leblanc | 45 | (16),7,2,1,14,16,5 |
| 10 | CAN12362 - Martian Express | NSC | Ed Nicholas | Van Sheppard | 59 | 9,11,10,4,9,(16),16 |
| 11 | CAN11136 - Proteus | NSC | Allan Spurdle | Sylvie Desjardins | 62 | (12),12,11,11,11,9,8 |
| 12 | CAN12357 - Blaze | KSC | Andy Carran | Trish Carran | 66 | 11,13,12,7,7,(16),16 |
| 13 | CAN5250 - Just Blow Me | KSC | Gary Branscombe | Steve Harrington | 69 | 14,(15),15,10,10,11,9 |
| 14 | CAN11499 | NSC | Jeremy Kennedy | 76 | 10,8,(16),16,16,10,16 | |
| 15 | CAN3057 - Mistive | NSC | Steph Serre de St Jeans | Ken Kockov | 88 | 13,14,13,(16),16,16,16 |
| 16 | CAN12686 - Synergist | NSC | Ian Maclaren | Dave Maclaren | 88 | (16),16,8,16,16,16,16 |