Fourteen DBSC Flying Fifteens had a cracking night on the water last night on Dublin Bay when the light zephyrs of the past few sessions, Thursdays and Saturdays, were replaced by a robust breeze out of the west. The forecast had been for 12/14 knots with gusts in the low twenties and during the afternoon on site, down the N7, that appeared to be the case. It was also the case on the water.

The racecourse for the night was NW3 – Harbour-Omega-Poldy-Bay-Poldy-East-Finish. Our decision was to start at the committee boat end and enjoy the breeze and avoid the reverse flow of the incoming tide along the Dun Laoghaire shore. Not everyone shared that view as a sizeable number of the fleet did go inshore. In the brisk beat, the “winter avoir dupois” of the crew (singular) of 4081 (Ben Mulligan) was put to good use as they rounded the Harbour mark in first place but closely pursued by Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753) who had taken the inshore route. Others in the frame were Jill Fleming & Alan Green (4026), Frank Miller & Ismail Inan (3845), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) and Keith Poole & Niall Meagher (4093). The leg to Omega was a spinnaker leg, but it was challenging, especially for the lighter crews and some chose not to fly their coloured sails. Mulligan and Bradley’s lead soon evaporated with spinnaker pole issues (crew) but they stayed in the frame to Omega and onto Poldy. Court & O’Leary powered down the leg to open up a comfortable lead.

The leg from Omega to Poldy was less severe on the crews, but a tight bunch of chasers had gathered behind the lead boat. Green and Miller took the places at the front of this chasing pack as they approached Poldy with Mulligan and Colin also in close company and only a couple of boat lengths astern of the other two. Just astern of this group was Poole & Meagher. The leg to Bay was one for playing the shifts and the chasing group of four went about the task in different ways. The breeze was still healthy so the crews had their work cut out for them. Mulligan pursued a slightly offshore route with Fleming while Colin and Miller went inshore (I think). The sense from this correspondent was that Court’s lead was reduced on this leg, but he and O’Leary were still comfortable relative to the chasing group. In the view of the chasing pack, Court went round Bay the wrong way, as the four chasing boats now reconverged at the mark. Miller got there first, followed by Colin, Mulligan and Fleming. Under spinnaker Court sailed a long starboard tack before gybing out to sea. Miller and Fleming also started off on starboard whereas Colin and Mulligan sailed a short port tack leg before gybing as well. At this stage Mulligan had got ahead of Colin but only by a boat-length but as the quartet sailed towards Poldy they all reconverged and as spinnakers were dropped, Miller had gone into the lead position, followed by Mulligan, Colin and Fleming who ended up slightly to leeward of the other three.

The leg to East was a two-sail fetch, made a bit more interesting as the wind had got up under an oncoming bank of grey cloud. Mulligan managed to sail through Miller’s weather but could not pull away by any distance which meant that Miller came back to try and squeeze him at East. Mulligan rounded in the windward berth and on the beat was able to break free of Miller. At this stage, for the beat to the finish, the breeze was at its strongest and again Mulligan was able to power up with the extra weight on board. Colin also stayed offshore whereas Miller and Fleming headed inshore.

The finish was a tight affair again with Mulligan taking them over the line in second, probably only a boat-length ahead of Colin. Poole & Meagher must also have enjoyed the robust final leg as they finished 4th over the line, not far behind Colin, followed by Miller, Green, Murphy & Mulvey (3774) and Dumpleton & O’Reilly (3955).

Race 3, Thursday Series, 12th May. (Provisional, protest pending.)
1. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary, 3753.
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley, 4081.
3. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey, 4028.
4. Keith Poole & Niall Meagher, 4093.
5. Frank Miller & Ismail Inan, 3845.

Overall Series (3 races sailed)
1. Keith Poole & Crews 9pts.
2. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 13pts.
3. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 18pts.

On arrival at the sea-front late on Saturday morning, one might have been forgiven for thinking that Keat’s Ode to Autumn was in vogue as a mist had descended on Dun Laoghaire to the extent that there was shore-side speculation as to whether we would get to race at all. Curiously though, there was sense that there was some breeze on the water. In the absence of any sound signals or flags to the contrary, the fleets went afloat………..and were rewarded with a glorious afternoon of sunshine with and a breeze that the weather mark rib recorded as 4.5knots early in the afternoon. The Flying Fifteen fleet mustered 18 boats on the water, including Dunmore East visitors Lee Statham and Andy Paul, in their upgraded Fifteen, 4070. Their previous boat, 3896 (I think) is also in Dun Laoghaire in the ownership of Adrian Cooper.

XCWeather was suggesting a SE breeze that would go ESE as the afternoon wore on, but in the light conditions, it was also a day for watching what was happening on other parts of the Bay. Is it ever otherwise? The Race Officer took the Green Fleet west of the harbour and set up a 2-lap Windward-Leeward course for the first race of the day. At one stage the conversation between RO and Rib driver suggested a beat of 1900m, with the weather mark in the direction of the harbour.

Initially, there was a suggestion that there was more breeze out the left-hand side, but then there was the question of where the tide could be used to best advantage, given that at 14:00 it was approaching the fastest rate of flow, with high water at approx. 17:00. My recall is that the lead boats came in from the left-hand side at the top mark and on rounding the spreader mark most boats went right initially, before taking an inshore hitch. On this first downwind leg there was no sense of the leading group pulling away from the rest of the fleet, but rather there was a steady stream of boats rounding the mark. To the fore though were John Lavery & Alan Green (4083), Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (4093), David Gorman (4099), David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028).

Bearing in mind that there had been a promise of the wind going slightly further east, this correspondent and helm, Ben Mulligan (4081) stayed on the left-hand side of the second beat and were rewarded by catching up to Messrs Mulvin & Beirne and a low single digit placing. These two crossed each other’s paths on the downwind leg, in gentlemanly fashion and by the leeward mark, Mulligan had eked out a “short-head lead”. In the two-sail fetch to the finish, Mulligan held on to finish ahead of Mulvin.

For the second race, the Race Officer set a four-lap Windward – Leeward course with a proposal that the race might be shortened at the weather mark. Again, there was some debate as to which was the best way to tackle the beats, but for a substantial part of the race, the lead group was made up of Statham/Paul, Lavery/Green, Gorman, Mulvin/Beirne, Colin/Casey. Others who flirted with a top ten position included Niall Coleman, sailing with his daughter (4008), Tom Murphy & Carel (4057), John O’Sullivan & Cas (3762) and Peter Sherry, sailing with his daughter (4056).

While there was a bit more “oomph” for this second race, the wisdom of checking what was happening elsewhere came to the rescue of 4081. Rounding the leeward mark of a shortened three-lap race in the low teens, we observed other classes enjoying breeze beyond the top right-hand corner of our course. While the majority of the boats ahead of us had gone to sea, we ploughed an inshore furrow and found ourselves being lifted on the port tack as we moved up the course. A timely header allowed us to put in a starboard tack for the finish line and while three boats went past us, we were able a to sneak a fourth place.

Race 1: Lavery & Green, Mathews & Poole, Gorman, Colin & Casey, Mulligan & Bradley.

Race 2: Statham & Paul, Lavery & Green, Gorman, Mulligan & Bradley, Mulvin & Beirne.

Saturdays Overall (after 4 races & 1 discard)

1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 6pts
2. David Gorman 8pts
3. John Lavery & Alan Green 11pts
4. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 11pts
5. Lee Statham & Andy Paul 13pts.

After the first Saturday was blown out due to high winds, DBSC’s subsequent fixtures have been characterised by light and fickle winds. And last night was no exception, with the addition of a strong ebbing tide on the start line causing the “U” flag to be raised for more than one class start.

The Flying Fifteens had eighteen boats on the water of which sixteen finished, one was scored DNF and another was scored DNS. We did well, the Ruffians didn’t register a single finisher in the very light wind of later in the evening.

The Fifteens were the subject of a General Recall for their first start and got away at the second time of asking under a “U” flag. This correspondent was at the pin end trying to execute a port tack start that was just a little too late. There was at least one other boat trying the same thing but being unable to close the gap to the pin in time they let a group of four of five boats head out to sea on starboard.

The course for the night was BULLOCH-ISLAND-PIER-ISLAND-PIER-FINISH. The nature of the evening was such that there was a wide spread of boats across the upwind course before a file of boats went round Bulloch.

The leg from Bulloch to Island was a two-sail fetch, so it was only at Pier that spinnakers were flown and my estimate that Messrs Mulvin & Beirne (Ignus Caput Duo, 4068) were well placed was confirmed when their red spinnaker flew at Pier. Others to be well up were Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (FFuzzy, 4028, yellow spinnaker) and Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (Mike Wazowski 4093, red & black spinnaker). Ahead of us on the leg to Island I could see David Gorman (4099) with ace Fireball crew Stephen Oram on board, Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (Hera, 3774), Alistair Court & Conor “Hola” O’Leary (FFinisterre, 3753) among others.

The leg to Pier saw a narrowing of the width of the run to Pier and the middle section of the fleet consolidated behind the leaders.

Unfortunately, my grasp of who went where on the second beat disappeared but suffice to say that at Pier for the second time, the lead groups was as before – Mulvin, Mathews, Colin – joined by Alan Green (Mach Ffive, 4026) with Jill Fleming on the helm. A better beat saw us get into a single digit position for the final run to Pier and at one stage it looked as though more places might be gained, but that did not materialise. Colin went hard right on the run and did not seem to lose out by doing so. The other three took a more inshore route to Pier.

Mulvin & Beirne secured the win, but I understand it was very close, seconds even, between Colin, Mathews and Fleming, in that order. Gorman/Oram took fifth.

DBSC, Race 2, Thursday Series. (5th May).

1. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne, 4068, Ignus Caput Duo.
2. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey, 4028, Ffuzzy.
3. Ian Mathews & Keith Poole, 4093, Mike Wazowski.
4. David Gorman & Stephen Oram, 4099.

Lough Neagh Sailing Club at Kinnego Marina, Northern Ireland hosted the first 2022 event for the Flying Fifteen class which was designed to support personal development of crews through practise starts followed by a series of races.

Participants were welcomed from Strangford clubs, Belfast Lough and Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. The event took place on Saturday 9 April 2022.

With most crews at Kinnego by 1100 hours boats were set up and tea and scones were consumed while the race organisers monitored the wind and set a beautiful course with a wind axis of 300 degrees and a nice gentle breeze of 4.2knots gusting 7knots. All was well with the world as the crews briefed at 1200 hours.

Upon arrival at the race area however, the beautiful course was found in disarray. The wind which had been at 300 degrees had veered by a full 90 degrees to 060. Mark layers began the process of moving everything from West to East.

By 1317 hours all was in order and the practice starts commenced with crews jostling for starting positions while timing their arrival at the line to coincide with the removal of the starting flag. Crews completed 3 starts with only a little bit of misbehaviour which necessitated the preparatory flag being switched from Papa to black to keep the unruly bunch of sailors in line.

The plan was to run 6 practice starts before the racing began, but the wind had different ideas. It would appear that Brexit or COVID or fuel prices meant that while the order for sun had been delivered in abundance the order for wind was still stuck at a port somewhere, or maybe someone didn’t put enough money in the meter. Either way, after the third practice start the wind dropped to 0 knots gusting 0 knots from a direction of nowhere. And so it began…the Flying Fifteen drifting event in basking April sunshine on the millpond of Lough Neagh.

The patience and the resilience of the sailors was eventually rewarded about 45 minutes later when the wind filled in to the grand sum of 1.7 knots gusting 2.1 and a short course was hastily set with a constantly shifting wind axis causing havoc for mark layers. After 2 laps the course was reset again and a second starting sequence was hastily commenced. Crews headed out for a second race and again completed 2 laps before another wind shift necessitated another course lay to be arranged. The money in the meter clearly ran out again and the guy with his wind machine in Antrim obviously heard the Grand National was on so packed up and headed home. The wind on the course fell again to 0 knots and it was time to call it a day and drift or grab a tow back down Kinnego bay to the slipway and the awaiting BBQ in the club house.

Thanks to all the participants and to the crews afloat and the crews ashore, those who organised and served food and provided so warm a welcome and hospitality for all.

Lough Neagh Commodore (left) presents the prize to David Mulvin

The event was won by the crew of “Ignis Caput” David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne NYC who donated their winning voucher from Sands Marine Chandlery and Boat Supplies to The Lough Neagh Rescue at Kinnego.
 
Results were as follows

Race 1 – 030 degrees 1.7 knots – 2.2 knots
Boat Name Time Place
Stiflers Mom Sail No 3892 12.35 1
Ignis Caput Sail No 4068 13.46 2
Simply Gold Sail No 4074 14.12 3
Taking it easy Sail No 3963 14.34 4
Phoenix Sail No 4083 15.36 5
Freyja Sail No 3454 17.04 6
Freya Sail No 2290 18.33 7

Race 2 – 000 degrees 2.1 knots – 2.3 knots
Boat Name Time Place
Taking it easy Sail No 3963 12.43 1
Ignis Caput Sail No 4068 12.49 2
Phoenix Sail No 4083 13.16 3
Simply Gold Sail No 4074 13.30 4
Stiflers Mom Sail No 3892 14.17 5
Freya Sail No 2290 16.28 6
Freyja Sail No 3454 17.37 7

Results
Boat Name Points Place
Ignis Caput Sail No 4068 4 1
Taking it easy Sail No 3963 5 2
Stiflers Mom Sail No 3892 6 3
Simply Gold Sail No 4074 7 4
Phoenix Sail No 4083 8 5
Freya Sail No 2290 &
Freyja Sail No 3454 13 6

Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) biggest one-design keelboat fleet staged a pre-season Interactive Racing Rules talk on April 1st with Irish International Judge Gordon Davies.

The Flying Fifteens – a fleet that numbers 26 boats in the just-published 2022 DBSC yearbook – assembled at the Royal St. George YC for the pre-season pow-wow.

Davies took the fleet through aspects of the 2021-2024 Rules ahead of a busy season in a meeting run by Lady Captain Jill Fleming.

The first DBSC race of the season is on Saturday, April 23 and runs through to October 1.

DBSC has highlighted some new initiatives, to include the FFs, for the season ahead on Afloat here

Lough Neagh Sailing Club will be running Flying Fifteen one design keelboat starting practice sessions and three Windward-Leeward races on Saturday 9th April 2022 a shakedown event for the 2022 season. 

The Oxford Island event is open to all members and non-members of the Lough Neagh club.

In an attempt to keep costs down, and therefore entry fees to a minimum, prizes will not be on offer but the top three best-placed boats will be announced at an end of day farewell.

The entry fee per boat will be £20. The fee includes hot food after the racing.

The training and racing area is South-East Lough Neagh outside Kinnego Harbour. 

Former Flying Fifteen British Isles and Irish Champion Gerry Donleavy who died last year is one of three members of the Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen class to be honoured at the 2021 FF15 Trophy Awards Dinner in Dun Laoghaire Harbour this Friday.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club hosted event will celebrate the season's achievements on the water but the class will also commemorate its former helmsmen Donleavy, Jack Roy and Ross Doyle who all died in 2021.

Rosemary Roy, Jack's wife and flagship partner and the Chairman of the Irish Flying Fifteen Association of Ireland, Hammy Baker are guests of the Dun Laoghaire class for the evening.

The occasion will also be the last official function of outgoing Dun Laoghaire Class Captain, Neil Colin of the DMYC.

The successful defence of the Irish National FF Championships by Dun Laoghaire's John Lavery and Alan Green on Strangford Lough last August that will be saluted again on Friday was also rewarded last weekend with the National Yacht Club's O’Leary Cup for the best performance of the year in one designs.

The International Flying Fifteen 75th Anniversary Regatta, incorporating the 2022 European Championship and 75th Anniversary Race, will be hosted by Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club from 20 to 26 August 2022.

Over the week before from 18 to 22 August, there will be an Open Regatta weekend and series of shore-based events celebrating the life and work of Uffa Fox. The event is called Uffa Fox 2022.

As Afloat reported previously, Uffa designed the Flying Fifteen in late 1947. There are several stories on how it came about from a eureka moment in the bath to the workforce stretching out an International 14 mould in the workshop!

Sailing will be at the heart of the event which will also include static displays for historic boats

Sailing will be at the heart of the event which will also include static displays for historic boats. The Classic Boat Museum will host receptions and talks in their buildings which include a large Uffa Fox Collection.

Uffa Fox designs include National 12, International 14, North Norfolk 16, National 18, Firefly, Pegasus, Jollyboat, Albacore, Redwing, Daysailer, Flying 15, Other Racing Keelboats, Duckling, Fox Cub 18 and Atalanta.

There is only one criterium for entry and participation and that is that boats must have been designed solely by Uffa Fox.

For more info on the Flying Fifteen 2022 European championship click here

The International Flying Fifteen 75th Anniversary Regatta, incorporating the 2022 European Championship and 75th Anniversary Race will be hosted by Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club 20th to 26th August 2022.

Uffa Fox designed the Flying Fifteen in late 1947. There are several stories on how it came about from a Eureka moment in the bath to the workforce stretching out an International 14 mould in the workshop. However it evolved, in 1948 he built his prototype “My Dainty Duck” and took her around the country to promote the design and by 1949 there were enough boats to hold the first national championship at Cowes where 13 boats competed. The regatta was won by Sqdr Ldr Nance in number 6 “Neesa”.

1949 was a significant year for the class as Uffa persuaded the people of Cowes to fund the building of probably the most famous Flying Fifteen “Coweslip” as a wedding gift for the Queen and Prince Philip.

Uffa sailed with Prince Philip in Cowes Week in the Flying Fifteen class until the late 1960s.

Immediately before the FF 75th Anniversary Regatta there is another event that could be of interest to Fifteen owners which will mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Uffa Fox, Uffa Fox 2022, which runs from 18th to 21st August.

More here

Due to the increasing Covid numbers, the Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen Fleet AGM was moved at relatively short notice from a person-to-person meeting in the DMYC to an online Zoom meeting last Thursday night.

Given that there are thirty-plus Flying Fifteens situated in Dun Laoghaire across three of the four waterfront clubs, an attendance in the high teens/low twenties could be considered quite good in this day and age.

Outgoing Class Captain, Neil Colin (4028/DMYC), who served a two-year term due to the shortened Covid afflicted 2019 season, presented his report that among other things highlighted the new boat additions to the fleet, 4093 Ian Matthews & Keith Poole and 4085 Shane McCarthy and noted that there have been further upgrades to the fleet over the past couple of years – 4057 Tom Murphy, 4068 David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne, 4081 Ben Mulligan and 4083 John Lavery & Alan Green. It was also noted that Mick Quinn and Mary-Jane Mulligan have also brought in a boat from the UK – 3960 in recent weeks.

He referenced the proposed changes by DBSC to a Windward-Leeward course for Thursday night racing and conceded that while the change didn’t materialise in the strictest form of a W/L course, we still had enjoyed good racing on Thursdays that had departed from the traditional multi-mark races that are a feature of Thursday night racing to a three-mark format. In all we had enjoyed 48 races over the summer months, not counting three weeks of “trial races” at the very start of the DBSC season. Thanks were offered to the various Race Officers and Race Teams who had given of their time throughout the season.

Travelling to away events had presented a challenge, with only one DL Fifteen contesting the Northern Championships in Portaferry. A better turnout was recorded for the Nationals in SLYC. However, the one DL-hosted event had seen local boats parked on the hard over the weekend in question.

The ongoing Covid situation also impacted on the social side of the season and it has now also claimed the Annual Dinner and Prize-giving, originally scheduled for Friday 26th November in the National Yacht Club, but now postponed to early 2022 (hopefully).

There was some discussion as to how the participant numbers might be improved for 2022 and there was a view that communication is key to that exercise. In respect of travelling to away events, the suggestion was that a clinic on the condition and maintenance of road trailers might be an exercise to persuade more people to travel. Covid had impacted on a proposal to conduct a training weekend, so that was also put on the agenda for 2022.

Nationally, the FFAI committee had met the evening before, again on Zoom, and they will be concentrating on getting a 2022 calendar in shape as a preamble to a FFAI AGM, which is hoped might be held before the end of the year. In this meeting too, the emphasis was on getting numbers back on the water.

Congratulations were offered to the various winners during the 2021 season – Alan Balfe & Patrick Frison Roche (Tuesday nights, Fifty Something Cup)), David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (Saturdays, Bryan S Ryan Trophy) Ken Dumpleton and Joe Hickey (Thursdays, Flying Fifteen Gun), Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (Midweek Handicap Racing, Blake Cup) Niall & Susan Coleman (Facet Trophy) and Ian Matthews and Keith Poole (Captain’s Prize).
Peter Sherry gave a very favourable report on the Fleet’s Finances.

In terms of the officers for the 2022 Season, Jill Fleming has been selected as Class Captain with Keith Poole as her Vice-Captain. Frank Burgess stood down as Trophy Secretary with Ronan Beirne selected as his successor. David Mulvin passed on the role of Secretary but as I didn’t take notes, I can’t tell you his successor! Peter Sherry retains the Treasurer portfolio.

Neil Colin was acclaimed for his stewardship of the fleet over the past two seasons.

Zoom timed the meeting out before any meaningful discussion under Any Other Business.