Displaying items by tag: Flying fifteen
Flying Fifteens Wait for Race to Complete Championships
#flyingfifteen – No racing was possible yesterday, Sunday 22nd, at Largs at the Allen Flying Fifteen Nationals.
Initial readings on the racecourse were at a fresh 16-18 knots, with gusts well above, and the wind subsequently rose to 25 to 35 knots, ruling out any racing.
Tomorrow will have two races instead of the scheduled one, to complete the Championship.
The Fifteen Nationals come to Largs every few years, and Scottish co organiser David Atwood noted a much improved Scottish entry this time of nine boats, plus many from both the NW and NE of England, as well as from further South. David said that many owners in Scotland had moved into modern boats, plus they can join in an active and very friendly Scottish
Travellers circuit which goes to many of the most scenic parts of the country.
The 2012 Scottish circuit culminates in the Scottish Championship at Loch Lomond on October 6/7, and this event will also be the final Worlds Qualifier event, so top British crews can qualify for the 2013 World Championships in Hong Kong. A strong entry of over 30 boats is expected at Loch Lomond, which has one of Scotland's biggest fleets.
At this Nationals, top Scottish boat is currently that of Hamish Mackay and Andy Lawson, in 15th overall, while Bobby Salmond and Ingrid Magnus are close behind in the first Classic (vintage) boat in 19th.
Overall standings after Day 3
1. Kneller/ Lucas, 4pts
2. Goacher/ Evans, 6pts
3. McKee/ McKee, 6pts
4. John Lavery/ David O'Brien, National YC, IRL, 6pts
Top Scots: Hamish Mackay and Andy Lawson, Royal Highland YC in 15th overall.
Top Classic overall; Bobby Salmond/ Ingrid Magnus, Holy Loch SC in 19th
overall.
Top Silver overall; Chris and Marion Bowen, Northampton SC in 24th overall.
Full results here
Kneller and Lucas Lead Flying Fifteen British Nationals
#flyingfifteen – On Day 2 of the Allen sponsored Flying Fifteen Nationals at Largs, Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas banged in two top results to move into the Championship lead but Sunday's heavy weather showdown did not materialise when racing was scrubbed as gusts hit 30-knots. Dun Laoghaire's John Lavery and David O'Brien lie fourth in the 33-boat fleet.
In light breezes, peaking around 10 knots, the first of today's two races looked like a battle of the sailmakers, as Alan Bax led all the way in style, while Steve Goacher fought off Peter and Sue Bannister to take second on the water. But Bax had been caught OCS at the start, so his apparent victory was for nought. Instead the race win went to Steve Goacher and Phil Evans, with the Bannisters second and Simon Kneller/ Dave Lucas in third.
Kneller's rise to the front continued in the second race with a race win to give him the best scoreline of the day, lifting him above Goacher overall after three races.
It was a hard fought victory, as he finished just two boat lengths ahead of second placed David and Sally McKee, who also rose up the leaderboard today. The day's results set up a very tight leaderboard, with four teams separated by just two points, at the halfway mark of the Championship. The stage is set for an exciting climax to the Championship over the next two days at Largs.
Last night the competitors enjoyed a seafood buffet and whisky, courtesy of hospitality sponsors Loch Fyne and Loch Lomond Distillery whisky.
At the reception, the class is celebrating passing a major milestone, of sail number 4,000. The two very latest boats sail number 4001 and 4002 were launched at this Championship. But the Championship and class also includes many older boats, the vintage Classics and the rather younger Silver fleet.
The class encourages both these fleets, ensuring long competitive life for older boats.
Results, Race 2, Calypso Cup
1. Steve Goacher/ Phil Evans, Royal Windermere YC
2. Peter and Sue Bannister, Hayling Island SC
3. Simon Kneller/ Dave Lucas, Grafham Water SC
Results, Race 3, John Clark Trophy
1. Kneller/ Lucas
2. David and Sally McKee, Dovestone SC
3. Adrian Tattersall/ Tim Smart, Parkstone YC
Overall after Day 2
1. Kneller/ Lucas, 4pts
2. Goacher/ Evans, 6pts
3. McKee/ McKee, 6pts
4. John Lavery/ David O'Brien, National YC, IRL, 6pts
Top Classic overall; Bobby Salmond/ Ingrid Magnus, Holy Loch SC in 19th overall.
Top Silver overall; Chris and Marion Bowen, Northampton SC in 24th overall.
Full results here
Green and Doorly Take FF Frostbite Title
#FLYING FIFTEEN – It was dubbed 'Super Sunday' as four boats were in contention going into week six of the National Yacht Club's Frostbite series for Flying Fifteens and with two races slated it was all up for grabs.
Green/Doorly (23pts) in their boat Deranged had a one point advantage from Mulvin/Beirne and Poole/Marsden who were both on 24 points with Coleman/Quinn on 25. Being November a reasonable breeze was expected but no... on arrival to the club the sun was shining and Dublin Bay was flat calm!
PRO Ian Mathews, who had done a fantastic job for the event, went out to check the bay and after a short delay decided to abandon sailing for the day, this proved to be the correct decision as the wind never filled in. However, the first race of the DMYC dinghy frostbites did manage to sail a course set inside the harbour later in the afternoon.
Ten races were sailed in what was an excellent series, a feature of the racing was that there was a different winner in nearly every race, Ken & Hugh were the only one's that won two races. At the prize giving the Mermaid class (who organized the event) captain Tony O'Rourke thanked the sponsors, the NYC boathouse, the PRO and his team including the excellent rib drivers and mark layers. Alan Green thanked them also and also thanked his fellow competitors and his crew for the series Chris Doorly.
Five Regional Events Planned for 2012 Flying Fifteen Season
#FLYING FIFTEEN – At Monday's Irish Flying Fifteen Fleet AGM at East Antrim Boat Club 2012's sailing fixtures were agreed with five regional events planned. The cost of new boats now running to €20k was seen as a deterrent to new members but as a means of promoting the class a suggestion was made to hold an open evening at events to try to encourage new blood using four or five boats.
2012 Fixtures
May 19-20 Northern Championships - Strangford SC
June 23-24 or 15-16 Sept Southern Championships - Carlingford
Aug 17-19 Championship of Ireland - Strangford Lough YC
TBA West Coast Championship - Carrickfergus SC
Oct 6-7 East Coast Championship - National YC
July 20-23 British Championships - Largs SC
Aug 27-31 European Championship - Lake Garda
Green and Doorly lead Flying Fifteen Frostbite Series
There are over thirty boats entered with over 20 of them Flying Fifteens, quiet an impressive turnout leading some to conclude that maybe we should be sailing more in the winter when there are less distractions!
After four races and one discard Green/Doorly lead the way along with McCambridge/Murphy with Poole/Marsden in third place. There have been plenty of thrills and spills and PRO Ian Mathews and his team have had their work cut out to keep things running smoothly but smooth it has been with excellent courses and racing.
The first week was cancelled due to light winds and on week 2 we just got one race in between squalls of 30 plus knots! This became survival and the PRO took the sensible and correct options of cancelling the remaining races. In Race 1 the lead changed a few times with Crummy Burgess leading at the final weather mark but hit it allowing Green to nip in and take the gun on a shortened course. Dooley/Hickey were second with McCambridge/Murphy third. Some of the crews had plenty of practice bailing out but all survived!
Race 2 took place on Sunday on a sunny day in a nice force 3 in west/south west shifty winds with the tide coming in. The fleet were a bit over eager and eventually after a couple of general recalls the black flag came out, this still didn't stop a number of boats including Crummy, Dumpleton, Sherry and O'Sullivan been over! Coleman/Quinn lead from McCambridge/Murphy followed closely by Green and Poole. McCambridge got the lead on lap two and held it comfortably to take the gun Green had moved into second place but approaching the committee boat got a sudden lift but couldn't release the main and was heading to weather of the committee boat, the racing was so close that after ducking back down and narrowly missing the committee boat, three boats had nipped in. Coleman was second with Murphy third and Poole fourth.
Race 2, boats got off at first time of asking Crummy lead from from Dumpleton followed closely by Doyle and Poole and McCambridge with Green back in the pack. It was nip tuck all the way with Dumpleton getting the lead at the final mark to take the gun, Crummy was second, Poole third and McCambridge fourth.
Race 3, again general recalls were the order of the day, the black flag was brought out again. Green lead at the weather mark followed by Gavin Doyle and there was a mad scramble at the weather mark with some boats totally illegally coming in on port causing havoc and ruining other peoples racing – this needs to stop, rules must be obeyed! Green was sailing with a broken tiller since race one and tacking was difficult, Doyle took advantage of this and took the lead on the last beat, Crummy had his own private wind on the last run over on the right and moved into second place with Green limping over the line in third after an eventful day. There was plenty of incidents with great racing including the usual mid fleet battles also new fleet members Robin and Susan got stuck into the racing and completed all races- an achievement in itself! We all look forward to two more races next Sunday.
McCleery and Dougan Win Western Championships at Larne
The Flying Fifteen Western Championships took place in the Larne at the weekend and were hosted by East Antrim Boat and Yacht Club.
22 crews descended on the town in what was the last event of the season. Andy McCleery & Colin Dougan (KYC) pipped Gorman/Doorly (NYC) to win their second event in succession, had the last race not been abandoned it could have been a different story . . but that's sailing!
Third overall were locals Norman Hamilton and William Rutherford.
The large contingent of classics was won by Rory McKenna & David McFarland (CAYC). Gorman's second overall was enough to put him at the top of the ranking list at the end of this season.
An exotic weekend in Dun Laoghaire with the start of an Olympic class keelboat event plus the arrival of a Volvo 70 into the harbour but Irish weather meant all did not go to plan. Click our links for a round up of the weekend's sailing events from around the country: Mansfield Wins 1720 Euros in Baltimore, Squall Puts Paid to First Race of Star Europeans in Dun Laoghaire, West Kirby Teams Top ISAF Worlds in Schull, Johnston's Beneteau 31.7 is Good Prospect, Killyleagh Pair Scoop Flying Fifteen East Coast Cup, Lively Lady Sails to Victory in Fickle ISORA Race to Rockabill, SB3 Team Sanya Welcome Scuppered by Strong Winds. We'll have more reports later this morning from the J24 Easterns in Howth, the National 18 season in Cork and J80 Match racing.
Killyleagh Pair Scoop Flying Fifteen East Coast Cup
Strangford Sailing Club's Brian McKee and Ian Smyth finished second after five races in Red Bay over Saturday and Sunday, while Roger Chamberlain and Jason Scammell-Maarch from Strangford Lough Yacht Club finished third, despite helm Roger receiving a knock to the head and retiring from the fourth race.
Eventual winners Andrew McCleary and Colin Dougan from Killyleagh Yacht Club (far right) lead off the line. Photo: Damian Connon
First in the Silver fleet was Tom Murphy and Andrew Marshall from Dun Laoghaire's National Yacht Club. The Bronze fleet was led by Philip and Anna Sanford, again from Strangford Sailing Club, while Bryan Willis and John McPeake from Whitehead's County Antrim Yacht Club were the leading boat in the Classic fleet.
In all 27 boats took part in the racing, which saw calm but overcast conditions on Saturday, and increasingly fresh breezes with gusts over 20 knots during Sunday's three races. Clubs participating in the championships included: Killyleagh Yacht Club, Strangford Sailing Club, Strangford Lough Yacht Club, the National Yacht Club, Portaferry Sailing Club, County Antrim Yacht Club in Whitehead, Larne's East Antrim Boat Club, Carrickfergus Sailing Club and Courtown Sailing Club in Wexford, as well as four local boats from Cushendall Sailing and Boating Club.
The first home of the locals were Rob Pelley and Marc Ritson. Paul Lowry and Brenda Reddington were next, followed by Eddie and Eoin Ritson. Paul McLaughlin and Michael McKinley, competing in a borrowed boat, were next over the line.
Last year's East Coast Championship in Carlingford was won by Strangford Lough Yacht Club's Buckfast, helmed by Darren Martin. Brian McKee, also from Strangford Lough Yacht Club in Killinchy, and sailing Stifflers Mom is currently ranked first in the national fleet, with only this weekend's event left to race. David Gorman aboard Hy5ive and from the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire is second; while Strangford Sailing Club's Gerry Reilly on Over the Moon is ranked third. The winner of the south coast championships at Dunmore East two weeks ago, John Lavery is not competing.
The Flying Fifteen is a 20-foot keelboat that provides competitive sailing for its two-person crew. There are thriving fleets across Ireland and the UK, with approximately 50 boats regularly competing in races in Ireland. More than 4,000 flying fifteens have been built worldwide to date and a large number of these are still sailing.CSBC Commodore John Lowry said: "This is the second regional event to be hosted in Cushendall this year, following the Topper Ulster Championships in June. We're all looking forward to some great racing on the water, and great craic off it. We have six Flying Fifteens in our club, and I know that those sailors are excited by the added competition from the visiting boats this weekend. We're crossing our fingers for some good weather," he added.
Flying Fifteens Make the Front Page
An early start for the Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen fleet paid off yesterday when up to eight of the 20-foot keelboats ventured from their moorings at the National Yacht Club (NYC) across Dublin Bay and up the river Liffey for the Royal Alfred Yacht Club's (RAYC) annual Liffey Challenge in Dublin's city centre.
Although there was little wind for the confined event the class nevertheless made the headlines; splashed across the front page of this morning's Irish Times newspaper. An impressive five column wide photograph captioned 'Liffey reflections' by Irish Times snapper Brenda Fitzsimons is top of the page. One no doubt that will now hang on the wall of the Dun Laoghaire clubhouse!
