The 2022 Flying Fifteen World and Australian Championships have been postponed to 9th to 23rd March 2023.

A consequence of this change is that the 2023 World Championships scheduled for Weymouth will now be held in the Summer of 2025.

Flying Fifteen international hope that the delay will allow the event to sail in more normal times and that travel arrangements can be made with more certainty on overseas travel.

Irish crews were planning to attend the event.

The event will remain in the same format as the proposed 2022 event but delayed by a year due to the uncertainty surrounding the global COVID 19 pandemic. The event will be sailed out of Fremantle Sailing Club (“FSC”) with Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club (“RFBYC”) being the Organising Authority. South of Perth Yacht Club (“SoPYC) is also supporting the regattas.

RFBYC Commodore, Robert Parker, said “As the Organising Authority, RFBYC remains committed to hosting this prestigious event and fully supports the postponement to March 2023. We will continue to work collaboratively with the Flying Fifteen Associations, FSC, members and volunteers from both RFBYC and SoPYC to bring this event to fruition. We look forward to welcoming regional, interstate and overseas competitors to enjoy the hospitality of the three Clubs. Every effort will be made to ensure this is a memorable experience for all involved and we are confident sailors will enjoy the superb sailing conditions off Fremantle and our Club’s excellent facilities.”

The World’s Committee recommended that RFBYC requested a further postponement of the World Championship event from FFI, as there was no clear understanding as to how international visitors would be able to attend the event, due to the continued travel restrictions im- posed by the Australian and State Governments at the present time, and the unknown global regulations regarding travel with the rollout of COVID vaccines.

RFBYC would like to thank Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) for agreeing to postpone the Worlds they were due to host in 2023 to the UK Summer of 2025.

RFBYC looks forward to welcoming competitors to Fremantle, and in particular, the many visitors expected from Overseas and the East Coast. The facilities at FSC are world-class and that Fremantle is renowned throughout the World for its unique sailing conditions. The proposed course area at Owen Anchorage is a location that has been used for numerous World Championship events, including the Perth 2011 ISAF World Championships and a host of other National and International Sailing events.

The Flying Fifteen organisation in France is working hard to try and have a European Championship in 2021 but Covid is being very persistent and its scheduled event at École Na-vale, Lanvéoc-Poulmic, Brest, France between 13 -15 May 2021 is looking very unlikely. 

Currently, there are international travel restrictions in France and the UK which at best will be eased in France in mid-April and mid-May for the UK which in the circumstances means the current dates for the European Championship are unworkable.

FFI France is hoping they may be able to sail the event later in the year and are seeking a venue, most probably CN Crozon-Morgat where it previously staged a World Championships in 2015.

FFI France is asking the organising club CN Crozon-Morgat if they could hold a two to three day regatta for the Europeans later in the year (possibly Sept/Oct), when hopefully life will be nearer normal.

The event will be open to all EU Countries and under current requirements, competitors from EU countries other than France will require a valid PCR taken within the 72 hours prior to entry to France.

The 20-foot Flying Fifteen class is one of Ireland's most popular keelboat classes.

A new hull builder gives Flying Fifteen sailors an option to the Ovington hull that has been so dominant in the class in recent years has been announced for the 20-foot keelboat class. 

The class, one of the largest one-design keelboat classes in Ireland, raced for World Championship Honours on Dublin Bay in 2018.

Ginger Boats of Cockermouth in Cumbria, run by Phil Hodgkins, has a reputation for building fast GP14 dinghies is now adding Flying Fifteen Hulls to its inventory.

The company has recently been strengthened by the recent appointment of Alex Leonard (another skilled boat builder) as a director of the company last year. Phil and Alex have recently won contracts to produce solo hulls for Rooster and RS200 hulls for RS Sailing.

Flying Fifteen racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Hodgkins says he has made a few changes to the traditional Dingwall internal layout, designing a new console as can also be seen in the above picture.

More here on the new build on the class website

Mewanhile, as Afloat reported here, Scottish club Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club is keen to recruit Irish Flying Fifteen entries for its staging of the UK National Championships from 24th - 27th June 2021 where no doubt the first of the Ginger boat hulls will be competing. 

Scottish club Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club is keen to recruit Irish Flying Fifteen entries for its staging of the UK National Championships from 24th - 27th June 2021.

Ireland has a strong tradition of attending the UK event, particularly when staged in Scotland and convenient for Northern Ireland fleets at Belfast and Strangford Loughs.

Royal Northern & Clyde says the hope is that Covid-19 restrictions will have been relaxed or even lifted by the time of the Nationals that could reasonably expect a fleet of 50 boats or more. 

The Argyll and Bute based club is basing its planning on the assumption that either of the two lowest tiers in Scotland may still apply.

Ireland has past Flying Fifteen success on the Clyde with Dun Laoghaire's Gerry Donleavy from the National Yacht Club sailing 'The Real Thing', the last Irish winner of the UK title in 1988.

The Flying Fifteen Association of Ireland (FFAI) hosted their delayed AGM on the Zoom platform last Wednesday night (13th Jan) with a virtual attendance from Dun Laoghaire, Strangford Lough and Dunmore East and, refreshingly, Galway, where there is a significant fleet of boats. In all, there was an attendance of just over twenty people, including our Middle East Representative (and Treasurer) who was home on a short break from his posting in warmer climes.

Current Class President, Chris Doorly opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and proceeded to give a synopsis of the season, noting at the outset that the impact of Covid 19 had decimated the regatta schedule with the Championship of Ireland, hosted by Waterford Harbour Sailing Club in Dunmore East one of the few to be sailed. This reduced race Championship was won in a heavy weather weekend by John Lavery and Alan Green sailing their new 2020 boat after the Friday and Saturday racing had to be abandoned. We also managed to sail the single-day regatta that commemorated the 150th Anniversary of the National Yacht Club. This regatta had some "fun and games" in determining the overall result due to a varying number of interpretations of the numbers of races to count. All the other regattas for the season were lost.

Full Flying Fifteen fixture list for 2021

A full suite of regattas is scheduled for 2021 with events in Dun Laoghaire, Galway, Strangford and Lough Derg. Additionally, the Class will support the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, split this year over two weekends at the start of July in anticipation of the need to dilute the crowd numbers and to encourage more classes to attend. At this stage, there is no commitment to sail a ranking event as part of VDLR but that may be subject to change. (The regatta schedule has already been published on the Afloat website here and is on the Flying Fifteen website.)

In the past few months, the Class Constitution has been subject to a long-overdue review and a new draft Constitution was circulated before the meeting with a view to having it adopted by the Class. This prompted a lively discussion on membership, in particular, with some concerns expressed on the classes of membership and the rights accumulating to the proposed classes. The mechanism by which Association membership monies are collected also featured in the discussion. Concern was expressed on the implications of not having a quorum at meetings. Chris Doorly acknowledged the value of the discussion and agreed that further consideration of the Constitution would be given.

An update on finances confirmed that the Class is in a healthy position, despite the lack of regatta activity during the season.

New Flying Fifteen Class Officers

Having served a three-year team as Class President, Chris Doorly confirmed that he was standing down and welcomed Andrew (Hammy) Baker as the new President. Hammy sails out of Strangford Lough and he was also congratulated on his new position as High-Performance Coach with RYA Northern Ireland. Other officers confirmed on the night were; Ian Mathews, Treasurer, David Mulvin, Secretary, Ben Mulligan, Fixtures Secretary, Alan Green, FFI Representative and Messrs Martin (Rory) and Bradley appointed to PR and website support.

Classic Flying Fifteen Division

Under AOB, it was proposed that a Classic Division be accommodated at the Galway event and the Galway hosts gave a brief update on their plans for the regatta and the facilities that are available.

A straw poll was taken to determine interest in attending the next Worlds in Freemantle, Australia, postponed by a year to 2022 due to Covid. The early indication is that a container may be required for the Irish contingent.

The Class website is undergoing an overhaul and is expected to be operational by the end of January.

Roger Chamberlain proposed a vote of thanks to Chris Doorly for his term as Class President and the other officers of the Association were likewise thanked. Best wishes were afforded to the incoming President who said he would do his best to follow in the style of his predecessor.

Dun Laoghaire's buoyant Flying Fifteen class is getting behind the new format Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021 One Design event scheduled for July

With two boats already entered five months before the event, Class Captain Neil Colin of the DMYC is encouraging the Bay's Flying Fifteen sailors and those in other fleets around the country to put the Dun Laoghaire Harbour event in the diary. 

As regular Afloat readers will know, in order to facilitate social distancing and be Covid-19 compliant, a new regatta format will comprise a One Design Championship (2nd – 4th July 2021) specifically tailored for sailors in the one-design keelboat and dinghy classes. 

Preparations are off to a flying start with nine of the expected 22 racing classes already declaring regional or national championships to be held as part of the biennial sailing festival.

The Flying Fifteens have two entries so far, Neil Colin's own FFuzzy from the Dún Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club and Niall Meagher's Ffantastic Mr Ffox from the National Yacht Club.

Traditionally, the FFers are big supporters of the Dun Laoghaire Regatta with a fleet of 24 boats mustered for the 2019 event and NYC duo David Gorman and Chris Doorly won the overall prize for the best one-design performance of the event.

The Irish Flying Fifteen class AGM will now be held this week on Wednesday, January 13th and not January 14 as previously notified.

As Afloat reported earlier, the 2021 Irish fixtures for one of Ireland's most popular one-designs were published ahead of the class AGM that see the fleet sail in Connemara in May. 

The main FF fleets are based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, Strangford Lough and Casla Bay in Connemara with activity also out of Dunmore East.

Flying Fifteen AGM 2020 agenda

• Minutes of Previous meeting and matters arising.
• Apologies.
• FFAI Presidents report
• World Championship report
• FFAI Constitution review
• Finance report
• Election of Officers to Committee
• AOB

The Flying Fifteen class will move to support a growing Gaeltacht-based fleet by staging its 2021 West Coast Championships at Rossaveal in County Galway next May. 

The 2021 Irish fixtures for one of Ireland's most popular one-designs were published ahead of the class AGM to be held next January 14. 

The main fleets are based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, Strangford Lough and Casla Bay in Connemara with activity also out of Dunmore East.

2021 Irish Flying Fifteen calendar:

• West Coast Championships, Rossaveal, May 23/24
• Championships of Ireland, Whiterock, August 27/29
• East Coasts, National Yacht Club September 18/19
• South Coasts, Lough Derg Yacht Club October 9/10

There may also be an extra event in the North of Ireland subject to confirmation at a later date.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club is already starting to plan its racing for the 2021 summer season next week and it's racing sub-committee is taking on board suggestions from the 22 different classes it provides racing for every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

There have been many plaudits for how the umbrella racing organisation for all Dun Laoghaire's Yacht Clubs handled the massive changes in pandemic and, as it transpires, some of those changes appear to have taken root for 2021.

The Flying Fifteens, the club's biggest one-design class with a 20-boat fleet, has been asked to canvass members to carry forward the 2020 practice of setting courses over windward/leeward instead of traditional club courses.

"These were most enjoyable, simple to "navigate" and great fun", one senior FFer told Afloat.

"The old practice of struggling with course cards, bearings and damp writing materials, whilst at the same time attempting to steer clear of other boats in gusting breezes and choppy conditions are not routines I would look forward to next year having enjoyed the simplicity of this year's format", he added.

It remains to be seen, however, what transpires for DBSC 2021.

Laser dinghy class praise

DBSC's popular single-handed Laser dinghy class have also been quick to praise the club for how it handled this year's curtailed season and recently made a presentation to its DBSC race officer. 

Just as Ireland's one-design keelboat classes were gearing up for the last blast of the season this weekend, anticipated COVID-19 restriction hikes are threatening the staging of the annual regatta at Dromineer in County Tipperary.

Flying Fifteens, Dragons, Squibs and SB20s are all scheduled to compete.

Organisers of the traditional end of season freshwater regatta at Lough Derg Yacht Club (9-11th October) will be watching out for COVID-19 level announcements today. The much-anticipated hike in restrictions aired on Sunday night (NPHET advice for a countrywide Level Five lockdown) would bring the curtain down on the popular autumn event that typically sees boats travelling from Northern Ireland, Dublin, Cork and other ports for the three-day event.

Some of Dublin's One Design keelboat classes are hoping that current Level 3 restrictions due to expire this Friday will allow travelling out of the county for the last sail of the season. All Dublin club racing has been cancelled over the last three weeks due to the county-wide restrictions.

Lough Derg Yacht Club has posted a Notice of Race with the rider that the 'Club reserves the right to cancel this event with short notice and all fees will be refunded' if it cannot go ahead.

In Kinsale, Squibs were hauled out at the weekend in anticipation of the Squib Inland Championships that are being held as part of the Lough Derg event.