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(Article from July 2004)

FLYING FIFTEEN NORTHERN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Before the main article by Fifteen owner Dave Rosser on this subject, the editor would just like to say a big thank you to Michael Binks and Mike Collins for use of their Flying Fifteens in the run up to and during the Northern Championships.  Not only did this give me an opportunity to helm, what to me was an entirely new class of boat, but allowed me to enter an event with a top class field and learn substantially from it.  Very many thanks to you both.  Many thanks also to Giles Passmore, not just for his pivotal role in organising the event, but also for his personal advice and assistance before the event.

Steve Gibbon

We have three articles on the Championships thanks to Giles Passmore and Dave Rosser:

42 Flying Fifteens

The Flying Fifteen Northern Championships were undoubtedly a great success (writes Giles Passmore).  42 boats is a good fleet, I was pleasantly surprised. A lot of work went into the planning and organisation of the event, and of course the weather gave us wonderful support. With the weather and wind forecast that we had for the Sunday no one could have believed that we would have had such a good day’s racing.  In fact we were just beginning to wonder whether we should have an abandonment so that those competitors who had come from the South Coast could get a reasonable start home. Suddenly a breath of wind appeared out of Whickhope, and then we had enough for racing.  It was fantastic, and we had our full racing program.  Without exception the competitors enjoyed themselves, but what appealed most to many of our competitors from the more ‘affluent’ clubs was the friendliness that we had in the club.  This is not to knock the large well organised clubs.  When you have four, five, six  hundred or more members it becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, to run a sailing club with volunteers.  So you start to employ full time staff, and inevitably you lose some of that friendly – dare I say it – organised chaos that gives out such a happy atmosphere in the smaller clubs.  This point was made to me on a number of occasions over the weekend. So it is a great credit to all those members who gave their time to make this a happy occasion.  It would be invidious to mention individuals, so all that I can do is pass on the good wishes and thanks that I have received to everyone. Another encouraging aspect of the event was the attendance of a large number of boats from Clubs in the North of England.  The Class has a good presence here and I would like to thank them for their support.

On a different tack, what also gave me a lot of personal pleasure was to see two Kielder members (and their crews) who, to my knowledge, had never competed in such an event before. In fact Stephen Gibbon (with Francis Scott) had hardly ever sailed a Fifteen before and when I mentioned the event to Dave Rosser (and Geraldine) I thought that he might well decline. How wrong can you be! I can’t thank them both enough for the support that they gave to the club, the class and me. I think, I am sure, I hope, that they both enjoyed the experience! In fact it helped to emphasise the effort that the Flying Fifteen Class is making to encourage everyone to join in. At the Class Captains meetings we spend quite a lot of time on this subject. The Class is encouraging those boats that have earlier hull shapes that are slower – this is not the same as hulls that are slower because they are old – to enter these events and have their own prizes.  There are also events around the country specifically for these boats, the Silver Fleet and the Classic Fleet, and at the Nationals, the European and World Championships these boats have their own competitions, and the Class is making it easier for them by not making it compulsory to qualify. My personal goal is to make the World Championships at La Rochelle in 2007. The French love their sailing. The French, Spanish, Italians, Belgians and the usual hardy fleets from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and various other countries with smaller fleets will all be there. I think I have a crew!  We have already been to one event in France and they do make you welcome, but I think that La Rochelle will be something special! There is a good selection of Fifteens, from old to new and at all prices, to buy – there is a list on the Class web site - and the Class is certainly holding its own these days.

Well that is it all over for another few years.  But thank you to everyone who gave us so much to give us such a successful event.

Giles Passmore

A Stern View

After many weeks practising and preparing the boat and crew the flying Fifteen Open meeting weekend had arrived.

Amazingly the sun was out and with a steady north-easterly wind blowing Kielder Water was looking at its best.

The first race was at 1 o’clock , we arrived at the club around 9:30 on the Saturday morning to find over 20 fifteens had already turned up and registered. Looking around these boats they were all relatively new, none like any I’ve seen at Kielder and they were still arriving. By around 11:30 the number of fifteens had now risen to almost 40. With 2 rows of them either side of the jetty stretching up the concreted section, others spaced around using what ever space they could find. The whole fore shore was a hive of activity as masts were raised and boats prepared for racing.

The tension was steadily rising, when should I launch my boat, when are all these others going to launch theirs, will there be time to launch all these boats for the start of the first race?

Race briefing at 12 noon and then chaos, well I thought so I’ve only ever seen 5 Fifteens out on the jetty at any one time, how would we cope with 40 or so. Well it went like clockwork and before I knew we were out on the water heading for the start line. I thought it would be a hairy experience sailing with so many other boats, but it was not anywhere near as bad as how I imaged it.

I had already decided not to try and mix it with the professionals (the crews terminology) and stay out of the way, I can cope with the rules when there are a couple of boats around, but with 40+ around I need more practice.

The 3 Saturday races were run back to back, the conditions remained steady, it was fantastic to be involved in such an amazing spectacle from the water and a truly memorable experience. Couldn’t wait for Sunday.

We arrived very early Sunday morning for 2 back to back races starting at 10 o’clock, clear blue sky sun shinning again, wind, what wind, the water was like a sheet of glass. Everyone milling about looking up at the sky, out across the water and at the flags, will it fill in and from what direction. Must have been a nightmare for the race organisers.

Anyway after a short postponement the wind start to fill from the west and very soon we were all out on the water again. The wind quickly filled in and seemed slightly stronger than that on Saturday, again with over 40 boats out on the water this was really exhilarating.

In all the races we were quickly left behind with about half a dozen of us fighting amongst ourselves trying not to be last, but at least we were not lapped.

With the last race finishing early after noon there was plenty of time to meet some of the other competitors, one from Ireland had just bought a classic fifteen, all wood hull and was sailing it for the first time at Kielder others had travelled from the south coast. Fortunately, I think the weather was perfect for the event, every one I spoke to enjoyed the weekend and it must have been good advertisement for KWSC.

From a competitors view the whole event seemed to run smoothly and I can only congratulate all who were involved in running the event for their superb efforts, particularly Giles the Fleet Captain who encouraged countless numbers to attend, and of course Alex our Commodore for the sunshine.

Dave Rosser

Results

42 boats turned out for the Northern Championships at Kielder Water which were also a qualifier for the 2005 Worlds in New Zealand.  They came from as far afield as Ireland, Hayling Island and Peterhead, with a good attendance from the Northern fleets of Derwent, Bassenthwaite and Royal Windermere. Three races were sailed on the Saturday in bright sunshine and an Easterly wind of 10 knots that generally favoured the North side of the course but which fell away as the afternoon progressed.  The wind backed as the first race was started and resulted in a general recall. The restart was ‘black flagged’ and everyone was well behaved in this and subsequent races.  At the end of the day Steve Goacher was in the lead with three wins with John Hardisty and Scott Beattie equal at second and Tom Bayliss and David McKee in fourth and fifth places.

Sunday dawned with bright sunshine and a flat calm. However the wind filled in to about 15 knots from the West, to give good sailing and entertainment for the spectators, as the gybe mark was in front of the clubhouse. For the first race Simon Robinson put on his Kamma Kazi headband with the presumed aim of frightening off the opposition.  It didn’t really improve his position but it seemed to have an effect on Steve Goacher who fell to twelfth place but retained the overall lead with John Hardisty still second and Scott Beattie third. For the last race the wind backed to the South West. Steve resumed his winning ways to win the last race, with  David McKee second, Glyn Morgan third and John Hardisty slipping to eighth which he discarded.  Steve Goacher won overall, with only 2.4 points separating the next three boats.

Overall results.  1st 3721 Steve Goacher & Phil Evans (Royal Windermere) 0pts: 2nd 3802 John Hardisty & Roger Errington (Derwent) 34 pts: 3rd 3805 David McKee & Chris Hewkin (Dovestone) 34.4pts: 4th 3673 Scott Beattie & John Somerville (Bassenthwaite) 36.4 pts: 5th 3612 David & Sue Giles (Hartlepool) 49pts.

Silver Fleet. 1st 3175 Brian Campbell–Bottoms & Martin Grady (Hayling Island) 97pts, 2nd 3139 Giles Passmore & Stephen Graham (Kielder Water) 126pts.

Classic Fleet. 1st 617 Graham Lamond & Scott Train (South Windermere) 123pts, 2nd 1117 Keith Jamieson & Maff Smith (Bassenthwaite) 142pts.

Giles Passmore

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