For those who were unable to make the first Flying Fifteen "away" regatta since the summer season of 2019, you missed glorious sunshine, great hospitality, fickle winds, and challenging tides! The venue was Portaferry on the northern shores of the narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough and the event attracted a 14-boat fleet, made up principally of Strangford clubs, Strangford Lough Yacht Club, Strangford Sailing Club, Killyleagh Yacht Club and Portaferry Sailing Club. There was one Belfast Lough boat and two from southern Ireland, from Dun Laoghaire and Dunmore East respectively.

The races area was towards the Killyleagh side of the Lough and Race Officer John McAlea did very well to get all five races in. Conditions on Saturday were light, probably of the order of 5-7 knots, and in those conditions, tide was always going to be a significant factor.

Race wins were shared between three boats on Saturday: Brian Willis and John McPeake (4074) in Race 1, Shane McCarthy & Jeremy Rodgers (4018) in Race 2 and Alan McLernon & Crew (3782) in Race 3. The third race win was quite something at face value as the FF was using the sail number IRL1974. However, by the close of business on the Saturday, as ever, consistency allowed the cream to rise to the top. McCarthy & Rodgers (4018) had posted a 5,1,2 race score to leave them with a 4-point cushion on the second boat. At this stage, they were the only boat with a single figure points total. Stewart Harrison & Conor (3892) sat in second place overnight with a 3,5,7 and two boats were tied in 3rd, Alan McLernon, and Brian Willis (17pts).

Most boats had at least one good race, but such was the vagaries of the racing that a good result in one race was not an indicator of form in the next. Consider some of the scorecards that were on display on Saturday night – 12, 4, 3 from McCleary & Dougan (4037), 2,10,10 from Roger Chamberlain (3962) and 9, 2, 9 from Mulligan & Bradley (4081). Still, the sun had shone all day and we were all back ashore in time to see the majority of the SA V the Lions. Portaferry Sailing Club fed everyone as part of the entry fee and the post-mortems and other assessments of "Life, the Universe, and Everything" went long into the evening.

If Saturday was light, then Sunday gave the appearance of being better – at least looking at the water surface on the way out to the start. It would be a different matter on the racecourse! RO McAlea had obviously been doing some beseeching to have wind because promptly at 11:00 he started the sequence for Race 4. In Race 4 McCleary played the Pied Piper and took a number of boats with him to the right-hand side of the course. Two of these, McCleary himself and Charlie Boland & Rob McConnell (3883) bailed out early and went left to try and reconnect with the fleet. That left Mulligan & Bradley ploughing a lonely furrow on the right and it got lonelier as they never re-engaged with the rest of the fleet.

Stewart & Connor led for most of the race but were challenged by McCarthy at various stages. Their upwind speed invariably got them out of trouble when the downwind legs didn't quite work out. Behind these two, McLernon, Chamberlain and Willis were having a good race. McCleary finished 9th while Boland got up to 7th.

Harrison's win had opened Pandora's Box in terms of the destiny of the title. Effectively, if Harrison won again and McCarthy was worse than 5th, Harrison could take the title. McAlea responded to the movement of the wind by moving the weather mark leftwards from his committee boat position. Remember that in the previous race, going right was the death-knell for this correspondent.

A pin-end port tack start by Mulligan caught the fleet on the hop but came to a quick halt by starboard tacked boats coming out of the middle of the line. An individual recall was sounded; and one boat was seen to go back – Boland & McConnell. The boats that worked the left-hand side found that they were being hammered by those who had gone right, the complete opposite of the previous race. Harrison led at the first weather mark with McCarthy buried in the peloton, in 9th place. McCleary, who had struggled in the previous race, now found himself as the fox to Harrison's hare and McLernon was also watching the hare very closely. McCarthy's frustrations must also have boiled over when his spinnaker drop on the middle leeward mark (laps of three) resulted in Rodgers standing on the foredeck flicking a spinnaker halyard to free the jib.

While there was some movement in the fleet, the light winds and the tendency to work a single side of the beat meant that the pecking order didn't change dramatically. And thus, though he recovered to 6th place McCarthy & Rodgers lost the title to Stewart & Connor by virtue of the latter pair winning the last race. And for all the endeavour of the port tack start, Mulligan and Bradley went over the finish line to silence – ruled as an OCS! The post-race discussion with the RO was polite and brief – he had photographic evidence!!

Flying Fifteen Northern Championships Portaferry Sailing Club, Strangford Lough

So, a very good weekend for Stewart Harrison and his crew Conor, who flew in from Scotland to sail the event. Commiserations to Shane McCarthy & Jeremy Rodgers who also sailed a very consistent regatta.

Congratulations also to Niall Bradshaw who won the bronze division.

Speakers at the prize-giving were Shane McCarthy, John McAlea from PSC and Class President Hammy Baker. All three thanked everyone for attending and made particular reference to the volunteers who had given up their weekend in order that we all could sail. A small token of appreciation from the fleet was presented to John McAlea as RO and the gentleman who had offered the use of his boat for the Committee Boat on the Friday night. Shane reminded the audience that the National Championships are due to be sailed out of Whiterock in late August before he bade everyone "Safe Home".

14 Flying Fifteens enjoyed glorious sunshine and light winds just inside the narrows of Strangford Lough for their Northern Championships on Day 1.

Race Officer John McAlea had his hands full with fickle winds and a strong tide but still managed to get three races in.

Local, Shane McCarthy, put his knowledge to good use by posting a 5, 1, 2 to take a comfortable lead into Sunday.

Four points cover second to sixth and will be subject to a protest hearing.

Regrettably, the regatta is conspicuous by the lack of visitors from the major FF centre of Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

They have a solitary rep in Ben Mulligan while Dunmore East's Charlie Boland and Rob McConnell have also made the trip.

The Strangford clubs are well represented.

Download the results sheet below. 

Tomorrow's forecast is for a repeat of today.

Shane McCarthy & Chris Doorly (4085) dominated the latter 60% of the DBSC Flying FifteensThursday race last night in what were the best summer conditions we have had thus far. For each of the last three days, grey skies in the morning have given way to glorious sunshine by late morning and yesterday was no exception. By race start time, we had a good sea breeze, nothing too strenuous, and an ebbing tide across the course.

The Race Team led by Suzanne McGarry gave the 14-boat fleet GW4 as their course for the night – Bulloch, Island, Pier, Island, Pier, Finish.

The philosophy of the fleet to the first beat to Bulloch seemed to be divided, for the first time, with a split between offshore and inshore. Both groups would have the benefit of the ebbing tide, but the differential would be which would get the better wind. By Bulloch, the question wasn't answered because Tom Murphy & Karel (4057) stormed in from the left-hand side of the beat (offshore) to take the lead, followed by McCarthy & Doorly, who had been in the group pioneering the inshore route to the first mark. Also well placed at this stage were Ken Dumpleton & Joe (3955), Neil Colin & Bernard (4028), Alistair Court & Conor O'Leary (3753), Adrian Cooper (3198), Niall & Mrs Colman (4008) and David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068). In fact, from this correspondent's perspective, just about everybody was well-placed.

The leg to Island was a two-sailer but not everyone managed to compensate for the tide, and the race leader may have been one of them because his lead was eaten into by McCarthy, who sailed a much lower line to the mark.

The leg from Island to Pier split views on how to fight the tide as the fleet went westwards towards Pier and for the second time of the evening the view was split! By the time we were halfway down the leg, the spread across the course was of the order of 6 -700 meters from Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews (3938) inshore to Neil Colin & Bernard (4028) offshore. Offshore and middle to right seemed to work best.

On this leg, McCarthy & Doorly took the lead. This correspondent and Ben Mulligan (4081) staged a minor recovery on the spinnaker leg and soon found themselves in the relatively close company of the Colmans (4008), Mulvin & Beirne (4068), Peter Murphy & Ciara (3774) and Frank Miller & Ed Butler (3845) – this was starting to look better. While McCarthy managed to pull out some distance from the chasing pack, the balance of the fleet seemed to close in – we were getting closer to Murphy (T) and Dumpleton.

There was further convergence at Pier and some very loose definitions of where three boat-lengths from the mark was, the perennial argument, and this correspondent saw the good downwind work evaporate when a gap that would allow a carriage and four to be driven through appear that everyone in close proximity availed of. We didn't create the gap ourselves but paid for it is very expensive terms. Back to the drawing board!!

McCarthy & Doorly were now in the favourable position of being able to sail their own race, which they did – stretching to the "country mile" quoted above. Or should that be "nautical mile"? No! that would be an actual measurement!! The wind conditions seemed to favour a middle and left approach to the beat back up to Island, and this is where the majority of the fleet found itself.

At Island McCarthy, Murphy T and Dumpleton were in the podium positions, but the latter two needed to be careful of Mulvin, and Colman particularly but also Miller, Court and Mulligan who, with a good downwind leg might be able to close distance. O the second run to Pier, Court & Mulligan worked the inshore route but the width across the fleet this time round was much smaller. Court and Mulligan agreed gentleman-like to allow each other to pursue their own course when it appeared there was a divergence of thought and this left Mulligan as the most inshore boat. Mulvin, Colman and Miller were just beyond "touching distance" but not quite close enough to be overly worried about by either Court or Mulligan.

In the hitch to the finish, Colman and Miller went offshore again whereas Mulligan, having got through Court on the spinnaker leg, worked the inshore route. While he closed on them, it wasn't enough to enhance his finishing position.

The finishing order therefore was; McCarthy & Doorly (4085), Murphy (T) & Karel (4057), Dumpleton & Joe (3955), Mulvin & Beirne (4068), Mr & Mrs Colman (4008), Miller & Butler (3845).
In the overall series McCarthy (17) jumps into first with a four-point cushion on Dumpleton and Mulligan (21), with Colin (23) and Mulvin (32) closing out the top five, with a single discard applying.

Thanks to Suzanne McGarry and her team for a great night's racing.

The fleet is reminded that the Northern Championships have been confirmed for Portaferry on the weekend of 24th & 25th July.

Nineteen Flying Fifteens answered the DBSC Race Team's call for starters last night and Race Officer Susan McGarry responded by giving them one of the longest courses we have enjoyed this season so far – Battery, Bulloch, Island, Molly, Island, Molly, Harbour – Finish. For the second Thursday in a row, Harbour was a mark of the course that saw the fleet traverse the harbour's mouth in an east to west direction, which given the wind conditions and tide, might have been a bit daunting.

The web-based forecasts were suggesting 6/7 knots of breeze a few degrees either side of South and in the build-up to the starting sequence (for all the classes), the Race Team confirmed a wind direction of 165° with a promise of some strength in it.

The fleet was distributed along the line, and some might have misjudged the strength of the tide pushing them behind the line, which also meant, thankfully, that the fleet got away first time.

As to be expected, there were those who went to sea hoping for more wind but knowing there would be more tide. Others decided that inshore was best even if the SB20s who had gone inshore seemed to be struggling.

Battery was a "staging mark" so ultimately everyone had to come inshore, and it appeared that those who had chosen that course were better off. In this collection were Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774), Alistair Court & Conor O'Leary (3753), Dave Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068). Others who seemed to be well placed Ken Dumpleton & Joe (3955), Frank Miller & Ed Butler (3845), Tom Galvin (3757), Tom Murphy & Karel (4057) and Niall Meagher & Nicki Mathews (3938). This correspondent was a bit further back, having taken a short hitch to sea before going inshore.

At Bulloch and Island, the pecking order was pretty well established, Colin, Murphy, Shane McCarthy & Chris Doorly (4085), Meagher, Mulvin, Court, Tom Galvin, Tom Murphy, Mulvin, Dumpleton and Mulligan. At Island, some kept on starboard tack, notably Colin and P Murphy, but very early on the gybes were being put in by the chasing pack. However, the leg to Molly was quite sedate, and while there may have been some closing up the overall picture didn't change. Colin led round Molly followed by P Murphy with McCarthy third.

A significant part of the fleet decided that the best way to get back to Island was to go inshore, but the outcome of this tactic varied enormously for individuals. Mulligan gained hugely to get up to fifth place behind McCarthy, Colin, Murphy (P) and Meagher at Island. Behind him was Dumpleton and Mulvin. This "change of scenery" was most dramatic for the likes of Court, Galvin, Murphy (T), who saw good positions evaporate. Whether this upset was due to tide or streaky wind, I have no idea.

On the second run to Molly from Island, Colin & Murphy stayed right while the next three gybed to pursue an inshore course. Colin hung on a bit longer than Murphy and was rewarded by leading the fleet around Molly for the second time. Mulligan closed marginally on Meagher but on the next spinnaker leg to Harbour, Meagher pulled away again. Colin, Murphy, and McCarthy had a bit of a lead on 4th and 5th and Mulligan gained a bit of distance on Dumpleton (6th) and Mulvin (7th). The decision at Harbour was "Which way now"? to get to the upwind finish at the committee boat. Initially, Colin, Murphy, Meagher, and Mulligan went inshore. But Murphy and Meagher bailed early to go back offshore again. As with McCarthy, it paid off – Shane went to first place and Meagher jumped up to second, pipping Colin on the line. Murphy took fourth with Mulligan and Dumpleton coming in behind him.

A long race that ran well past 20:30, even for the leaders. Those further down the pecking order had an even slower finish in the fading breeze and found themselves paddling part of the way home.

In the overall Series, Colin leads by a point from Mulligan, who has two points on McCarthy, who has a two-point cushion on Dumpleton who doubles this cushion on Meagher.

Misty thriller on Dublin Bay!
"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun,
Conspiring with him how to load and bless, with fruit
The vines that round the thatched eaves run."
From: John Keats "Ode to Autumn"

One would not imagine that a reference to mist, and persistent mist at that, was not what Keats had in mind for a July evening. But this is what a bumper fleet of eighteen Flying Fifteens found on Dublin Bay last night.

While it was quite pleasant onshore, though not as nice as the evening before, in the area of last night's DBSC start, there was a distinctly cooler atmosphere on the water caused in the most part by a very substantial bank of mist that had been hovering offshore all day. The "Windy" app was projecting 7 knots of breeze from 129°, but there was more than that at the start, and the tide had already turned across the race area.

DBSC Race Officer Jack Roy and his team set a sterling course, with one of the longest beats we have had for a long time – Bulloch, Island, Harbour, Island, Harbour, Finish, with Harbour – Island a long upwind trek, but rewarded by a long spinnaker leg in the reverse direction.

The enthusiastic fleet necessitated the flying of a General Recall for the first start, but the RO reminded the fleet that the ebbing tide had to be compensated for and advised that the second start would be under a "U" flag. The post-race results show that 4 boats transgressed the "U" flag warning.

The fleet was evenly distributed along the line for the second start with a clutch of boats vying for the pin. Included in this group were McCarthy & Doorly (4085), Colin & Casey (4028), Mulligan & Bradley (4081) and possibly Mulvin & Beirne (4068). Closer to the committee boat, one might have found the Colmans, Mr & Mrs (4008) and Tom Murphy & Karel (4057). Some of the pin end group persisted in going to sea, but others bailed out early heading inshore. It was a case of balancing tide and wind strength. Mulligan went right, shore-wards, a little later than some of the others and found himself working the middle and right of the first beat to Bulloch. In close proximity were Colin & Casey, Green (4026) and Mulvin & Beirne.
As the fleet converged on Bulloch, it appears that those who has worked the right-hand side of the beat were well placed, and Mulligan too was where he would have wanted to be! At the mark, Mulligan led by a "short head", followed by Green, Colin & Casey and Mulvin & Beirne. The leg to Island was a two-sailer and Mulligan managed to eke out a short lead on Green who in turn was being pressed by Colin and Mulvin.

The run to Harbour brought out a consultation on the bearings as at this stage the fleet were on the fringes of the bank of mist and Harbour was a long way Westwards. On the run to the west, Colin & Casey worked the left-hand side of the course while Green were outside Mulligan & Bradley. Just behind these three was Mulvin & Beirne. At this stage, McCarthy & Doorly were further back in the peloton. Green & Mulligan were in close company, and their respective paths to Harbour crossed every now and again before Green decided to take the left-hand line being pioneered by Colin. Mulligan went a bit further right and put in a late gybe to round Harbour in the lead followed by Green and Colin. At this stage, there was no question of spotting Island and even the committee boat had disappeared behind the grey curtain.

Working on the shifts, Mulligan & Bradley gained the impression that they were pulling away from the chasing pack and using the angle of other boats in other fleets in their approach to Island found that they weren't too far off the ideal line for rounding Island.

Mulligan & Bradley felt they had a good lead at Island but as the run to Harbour progressed the fleet closed in on them – McCarthy & Doorly and Green were dead astern and to their port side respectively while Colin & Casey were again at odds with everyone by working the right-hand side of the run. As we passed Omega and Pier, the chasing boats got even closer.

At Harbour for the second time, Colin & Casey rounded first, followed by Mulligan & Bradley, Green and McCarthy & Doorly. Also, in close proximity were the Colmans (4008) and Mulvin & Beirne. Less than ten boat-lengths covered Mulligan, Green and McCarthy. At this stage, even the committee boat had disappeared from sight. Colin went inshore, as did Green.

McCarthy went offshore and Mulligan also took this approach but a little bit later than McCarthy. He also took a hitch inshore earlier than McCarthy and found himself rewarded by putting distance between himself and Green and closing on Colin.

In the final approach to the finish, McCarthy had gained the upper hand as he came in from the left-hand side, though both Coin and Mulligan were close to him. Colin held on for second with the sequence thereafter, Mulligan, Mulvin, Colman and Green.

In the eighteen-boat fleet, there were two DNFs and 4 UFDs. It was a very good course set by the race team and a most enjoyable evening's racing as a consequence. Thanks Jack!

Results here 

After a number of training races, which were very well attended and received, Mother Nature and Race Officer Jack Roy’s Team conspired most favourably to give the Flying Fifteens a good workout in a brisk breeze last night.

Throughout the day the forecast was for wind just west of south in the 12 – 14 knot range but with gusts in the 17 – 19 range and with low tide around 18:15, the flood was already evident on the racecourse.

Windward-Leeward JW2 was the course of the night – Battery(P), Bulloch(P), Molly(P), Bulloch(P), Island(P), East(P), Island(P), East(P), Pier(P) – Finish. Battery was not a turning mark and most people had twigged the requirement to leave this mark to port, leaving Bulloch as the principle windward mark of the first leg.
Thirteen boats contested last night’s race and five of these decided to take an offshore route for the early part of the beat. Of these Shane McCarthy & Chris Doorly (4085) and Frank Miller & Ed Butler (3845) were two of the more prominent. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081) worked the middle of the course with a number of others – Ken Dumpleton & Joe (3955) coming to mind, while the rest of the fleet went shorewards. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) and possibly Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753) were in this final group.

As the fleet converged at Battery, it became apparent that the offshore option had paid dividends with Miller & Butler crossing the entire fleet on port to assume the leading slot in the final section of the beat from Battery to Bulloch. McCarthy/Doorly also featured prominently, while Mulligan/Bradley slotted in behind these two with Dumpleton/Joe and Court/O’Leary following in behind them.

Miller/Butler led the fleet around Bulloch, followed by Mulligan/Bradley and McCarthy/Doorly and an excellent spinnaker leg took the fleet off towards Molly. The front three had a gap on the rest of the fleet, so I am going to use poetic licence here and suggest that Dumpleton and Court were at the head of the chasing bunch. Miller/Butler held the lead to Molly while in the very latter stages of the leg, McCarthy powered over Mulligan in the final boat-lengths to the mark, but a more efficient spinnaker drop by Mulligan/Bradley allowed them to recover second place and leave McCarthy/Doorly, who had a few problems, to leeward and behind for the beat back to Bulloch.

This leg was more difficult to interpret. Miller and McCarthy kept further offshore than Mulligan and Dumpleton also took a more offshore approach. Later, onshore, Colin admitted he had gone offshore and found it paid dividends. The front group of three then became four, with the sequence at Bulloch being Miller, McCarthy, Dumpleton and Mulligan. Dumpleton then erred by flying spinnaker on what was a two-sail reach to Island. Island to East was another enjoyable spinnaker leg and at East the leading three were a bit more circumspect about their drops. McCarthy had taken the lead at this stage and led the race to Island for the third beat of the night. However, even with the state of the tide, pushing the boats offshore at Island, both the leading boats appeared to overstand the mark, allowing Mulligan to close until he was forced into a double tack to round Island. The third spinnaker leg of the night allowed mulligan to close the gap a little on Miller, but McCarthy was comfortable at this stage.

In a brief period of bravado, they tried to fly spinnaker, but soon came to see the error of their ways. Miller then found himself to leeward but ahead of Mulligan on the two-sail reach to Pier and gradually started to eek his way upwind to protect his second place. The distance between these two ebbed and flowed, but not to any significant extent.

Miller tacked immediately at Pier for the upwind hitch to the finish whereas Mulligan held on for a few more boat-lengths before tacking and setting himself up for a finish at the committee boat end of the line which is where the favourable bias was. It was enough to pip Miller at the finish.

Thursday 10th June

Flying Fifteen – 13 starters. (1 DNF).

1. Shane McCarthy & Chris Doorly, 4085
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley, 4081
3. Frank Miller & Ed Butler, 3845
4. Ken Dumpleton & Joe, 3955
5. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary, 3753
6. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey, 4028.

With Dublin Bay Sailing Club's final week of Pandemic-restricted Training Races currently underway (restrictions are lifted on Monday, June 7th), the always-numerous Flying Fifteen class have been threatening to fly too high, and may need to have their wings clipped in order to stay within the Irish Sailing limits of not more than 15 boats per class in an approved training fleet.

FF Class Captain Neil Colin has circulated his members today regarding the races on June 3rd and 5th, and states: “We will run the WhatsApp Roll Call, and if we exceed the quota, I will be asking some to step back on a Random Selection Basis”.

Like all DBSC members, the offer of training races for race committee members and competitors alike, has been a welcome feature for the Flying Fifteen fleet in these opening days of the 2021 summer sailing season.

Last night saw the full quota of Fifteens out on the water for what turned out to be a very interesting evening. As with all “training events” there are lessons to be learned, the first of which, for this correspondent, was – take a course card with you. My flawed understanding was that the Fifteens would be sailing windward/leeward courses on a Thursday night and that seemed to be the consensus when we arrived at the start area. However, what evolved was slightly different but most welcome.

A course that took in Battery (P), Bulloch (P), Island (P), Molly (P), Island (P), Molly (P), Pier (P) to an upwind finish – confirmed at my desk this morning (Friday) – explains some of the manoeuvres on the water last night.

The fleet was distributed along the start line with the tide just turned and a modest breeze. A slightly mistimed start by Mulligan and Bradley (4081) at the pin saw them having to go back and restart. This initially forced them to go inshore before the onset of starboard tacked boats forced them seawards. At that stage the seaward side of the course was occupied by newcomer to the fleet, Shane McCarthy, sailing with Chris Doorly (4085) and Ken Dumpleton (3955), with Joe, was lurking with intent out there too. I also recall seeing Alan Balfe and Frank Burgess (3995) in a slightly seaward location. The balance of the fleet had headed shoreward much earlier with Tom Murphy and Carel (4057) leading the early charge. Also, on that side of the course, was Alan Green & John Lavery (4083), but in reverse roles, John being crew on the night, David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068), Neil Colin & Mick McCambridge (4028) and Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753), among others.

McCarthy, Mulligan & Dumpleton then found that they weren’t off the pace and coming in from the left, joined the leaders of the shoreside group – Murphy, Green, Colin and Court. Still guessing as to what our weather mark was, we found ourselves on the right side of Battery, whereas Court/O’Leary had to tack and dip transoms to pass it on the correct side. Still of the view that a windward/leeward had been signalled, it was intriguing to see the SB20s hare off seawards on a two-sail reach.

At Bulloch, Murphy literally squeezed around the mark, the flooding tide pushing him towards it. He was followed by Green, McCarthy, Colin, Mulvin, Mulligan and Dumpleton, all heading after the SB20s towards Island. Down the two-sail reach there was no change to the running order and while the leg to Molly saw the width of the fleet increase, and a few gybes thrown in to take advantage of breeze and tide, there was no change to the running order.

After Molly, there was a divergence of thought! McCarthy took an early tack to head off to sea and was followed by Mulligan who considered that he was being adversely affected by Mulvin’s slightly higher windward slot. Murphy led the charge to the shore, distinctive in his bright yellow jacket. Again, the seaward route to Island paid dividends and while McCarthy got the bigger dividend by tacking early at Molly, Mulligan helped his own position too. Murphy led around Island for the second time, but McCarthy was hot on his transom, followed by Green, Colin, Mulvin and Mulligan. At this stage there was a lead group of three and a following group of three. The former stayed reasonably tight to each other, but the latter spread out with Colin going right and Mulvin going left.

Rounding Molly for the second time, one crew from the leading group will not look favourably on their spinnaker drop, losing a place on the water, but if my memory of the finishing order is correct, that will be put down to experience!

At Molly, Mulligan had managed to get ahead of Colin but only just. Down the two-sailer to Pier, Colin hounded Mulligan and on rounding Pier he went seaward again. Mulligan sailed on before tacking for the finish. The eventual finishing order (I think*) was McCarthy/Doorly (4085), Green/Lavery (4083) Murphy/Carel (4057), Mulvin/Beirne (4068), Mulligan/Bradley (4081), Dumpleton/Joe (3955), Colin/McCambridge (4028) and Court/O’Leary (3753).

The grey and drizzle did not detract from a great night’s racing!

Lesson for the evening, after all it was a training event – have a course card onboard!

*If my finishing order is incorrect, apologies to the aggrieved parties!

To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Uffa Fox, one of the most highly regarded naval architects and enthusiast of all aspects of sailing, the Royal London Yacht Club, together with the Cowes Classic Boat Museum, and supported by the Atalanta Owners Association and the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club, are holding a series of exciting events in Cowes from 18th-21st August 2022.

To celebrate the life of a man so ahead of his time, a regatta will be held for all the Uffa crafts – a once in a lifetime opportunity for owners of Uffa designed boats.

The Classic Boat Museum will be organising a series of events including seminars and an exhibition of Uffa’s various dinghies.

The Uffa Fox celebrations will be followed by the Flying Fifteen European championships organised by the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club from the 20th to 26th August 2022.

It is appropriate that the Royal London Yacht Club should be chosen to organise the sailing as Uffa was a stalwart of the RLYC and, as Chairman of the Sailing Committee, was instrumental in the resurgence of sailing after the Second World War.

Racing will be for 100% Uffa Fox designed dinghies, keelboats and classic boats, with some classes’ racing areas along the shore to attract spectators.

Along with various off-the-water tours and activities, evening social events have also been planned for participants, their families and Uffa enthusiasts.

Uffa was not only a successful author and boat designer, he was also a superb sailor and instructor; sailing with Prince Philip and Prince Charles. In 1928 Uffa gained line honours in every race he sailed in “Avenger” (135), an International Fourteen. Of her 57 starts, she gained 52 first places including the Prince of Wales Cup, two seconds and three third places. “Avenger” was the first true planing dinghy with a good windward performance.

Uffa even sailed her 100 miles across the Channel to Le Havre - three-up - in a mere 27 hours. He then proceeded to claim a victory over the French on their home waters, then promptly turn around and sail Avenger home in another 37 hours. During the Second World War Uffa conceived the idea of the Airborne Lifeboat, a vessel to be carried beneath aeroplanes and dropped by parachute to survivors of ditched aircraft.

Lightly built, with lines that blended to the shape of the planes, the Airbornes had sails, an engine, survival kit, radio and instructions on how to sail. Many aircrews owed their lives to Uffa’s invention. Years later he was caught by Eamon Andrews on the television programme “This is Your Life” where many of the airmen that had been rescued by the Airborne Lifeboat were able to thank him personally. For all his success in the field of yacht racing, he maintained that this was “his most fulfilling design”.

Tim O'Brien, President of the UK Flying Fifteen Association, paid tribute to HRH Prince Philip, a former FF helmsman

By now many will have read and seen the sad news that HRH Prince Philip has died - much will be written about his significant contribution to many walks of life whether science, industry, commerce, environment, sport, and family. Through his concept of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, launched 65 years ago, he encouraged the youth of the day to build skills, confidence and resilience that equipped them for life - in many cases through outdoor activity.

Prince Philip's other main passion was the sea and his link with sailing was prominent throughout, none more so than during Cowes Week when the Royal Yacht was anchored off Cowes with many of the Royal family actively involved in the week's racing. Flying Fifteen K192 - Coweslip - was a gift from Uffa Fox to Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Philip on the occasion of their marriage in 1949, and Uffa and Prince Philip were often to be found sailing Coweslip throughout the 1950s & '60s, usually in front of the paparazzi of the day and frequently with significant racing success... fun times.

The Prince subsequently became life Patron of the Flying Fifteen class association, and indeed Coweslip can still be seen today on display in Edinburgh with the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The thoughts of the UK Flying Fifteen Association are with the Queen and her family at this moment, and we wish them many happy and fond memories that will hopefully bring smiles to the fore.