19th Int. Flying 15 Worlds day 3 - Team gets on station early

by Lindsay Lyons, RHKYC Media on 4 Nov 2013 For the 19th International Flying Fifteen World Championships, having lost Day two to typhoon Krosa, the race management team was on station early today, with a target of two races in order to get back on track for a Thursday finish. Krosa left a confused sea and some dreach weather in its wake, with a shifty 10 to 14kt breeze which tracked from 040 to 070 degrees in the space of 20 minutes.

Having set the line in his customary spot, Race Officer Jerry Rollin was forced to move it forward as a ship was anchored on the port lay line, however both committee boat and pin end managed to reset before the scheduled display of the attention signal at 1155hrs.

The first attempt at a start featured a mass of ‘Fifteens going OCS, resulting in a black flag restart. This time all boats were clear and El Toro charged into the lead, ahead of Ineffable and Steve Goacher, with Graham Vials rounding the windward mark in fourth place.

Talking after the race, Vials noted that 'conditions were tricky – there was a big swell with a bit of time and a shifty breeze' but that didn’t prevent him drawing up to the front by the leeward mark rounding to set up a private battle with the Jerwoods, which was settled in favour of Ineffable. Meanwhile Always forever was holed in a port/ starboard with Aussie Falcon, forcing her to retire from the day’s racing. RHKYC boatyard staff are hard at work trying to repair the damage in time for tomorrow’s racing.

With the wind tracking round another 20 degrees, the line was set again for Race four, with Rollin looking to get one race ahead of the schedule and take the pressure off for the remaining three days of racing.

Unhappy with the line, the RO AP’d just before the start and after moving for the pin end, restarted the sequence. Once again the fleet struggled with the combination of tide and swell and once again a general recall was signaled.

After an increase in line length, another attempt at a start with the black flag displayed at the preparation signal – a clutch of boats was again over towards the centre of the line with two being identified and scored BFD. The lucky ones made it to the next restart, but it was a case of déjà vu, yet another general recall and five more boats scored BFD. Finally, at the fourth time of asking, the depleted fleet made a clean start, with Hong Kong-ers Cosmas Grelon and Rory Godman making it to the windward mark in first place.

By the leeward mark, Foof had taken up its customary position at the front of the fleet, closely followed by Steve Goacher, with Noisy Forefather in third. On the same leg, My Fair Lady was holed in a port/ starboard with the appropriately named Kerfuffle, but chose to carry on racing with a sizeable hole in her hull – surprisingly, she managed to finish ahead of three other boats scoring 39 in the process.

The series is shaping up to be a keen contest between Vials, Jerwood, Goacher and Alan Bax, with Vials sitting pretty on a seven point cushion after scoring a 2-1 today. The Jerwoods are on 12 after a 1-2 and Goacher is on 20. Top Hong Kong competitor is Simon Pickering in 15th on Ffact or Ffiction, with 18 year old Cosmas Grelon just one point behind in 16th.

Provisional Results Race 4 at 18:15hrs
Rank	Prefix	Sail No.	Bow	Boat Name	Helm	Crew	Elapsed	Points
1	GBR	4004	1	Foof	Graham Vials	Chris Turner	01:17:00	1
2	AUS	3986	50	Ineffable	Nick Jerwood	Janet Jerwood	01:19:16	2
3	GBR	4019	11	Pure Magic	David Tabb	Chewey Sherrell	01:20:53	3
4	AUS	3684	40	The Wife's Ffault	Matthew Owen	Andrew Reed	01:21:03	4
5	GBR	4021	13	TBA	Steve Goacher	Phil Evans	01:21:45	5
6	GBR	3998	10		Alan Bax	Chris Hewkin	01:23:48	6
7	HKG	3722	25	Noisy Forefather	Cosmas Grelon	Rory Godman	01:24:05	7
8	AUS	3992	52	Glamour Buoys	Gregory Leaversuch	Peter Barblett	01:24:10	8
9	AUS	3989	51	Fast Lane 4	John Wilson	David Tucker	01:24:19	9
10	AUS	3982	49	Storyteller	Christopher Paterson	Rupert Leslie	01:25:35	10
11	HKG	3882	29	No Name	Koichi Yamamoto	Shinji Ishiwata	01:26:20	11
12	AUS	3880	44	Where The Bl**dy Hell Are You	Craig Rainey	Ian Rainey	01:26:24	12
13	AUS	4010	53	Mr Fox	Jade lane	William Ian Lane	01:26:26	13
14	AUS	3855	43	Fflashpoint	Peter Rooke	Martin Arrowsmith	01:27:32	14
15	AUS	3620	39	Casper	Howard Faulks	Nick Faulks	01:27:43	15
16	GBR	3936	7	Smooth and Stoned	Steve Douthwaite	Paul Averley	01:27:50	16
17	AUS	3964	47	Fforeigner	Simon Lucas	Aileen Lucas	01:27:56	17
18	GBR	4020	12	Freaking Fantabulous	Graham Scroggie	Ben Scroggie	01:29:40	18
19	AUS	3797	42	Changing Lanes	David Swan	Matt Elliot	01:29:58	19
20	HKG	3997	34	Tomffoolery	Tom Sheppard	Peter Barker	01:30:04	20
21	GBR	3539	3	Hakuna Matata	John Hanson	Helen Selden	01:30:20	21
22	HKG	4015	35	Uffa Fox Ache	Barry Hayes	Sheridan Teasel	01:30:35	22
23	AUS	3930	45	Aussie Falcon	Dale Collings	Glenn Scheen	01:30:39	23
24	NZL	3754	37	Business	Sandra Williams	Graeme Robinson	01:31:32	24
25	HKG	3305	18	Ffact or Ffiction	Simon Pickering	Rafael Buitre	01:32:15	25
26	GBR	3692	4	fentura	Nick Heath	Pippa Noon	01:32:43	26
27	GBR	3939	8	Athol	Athol King	Trevor Bellis	01:32:55	27
28	HKG	3981	32	Tchaikoffsky	Howard Williams	Huw Riley	01:33:04	28
29	GBR	627	2	Vamoose	Bobby Salmond	Robert Till	01:33:11	29
30	ESP	3735	16	Pathffinder	Michael Clough	Hendrik Penndorf	01:33:37	30
31	HKG	3701	24	Puff'n Stuff	David Chow	Mark Lyons	01:33:55	31
32	HKG	3830	27	Squiffy	Joe Nelson	David Bone	01:33:59	32
33	HKG	3468	23	Zest	Chris Howard	Andrew Howard	01:34:43	33
34	GBR	3901	5	Freewheelin'	Mike Kilbee	Tony Cox	01:34:50	34
35	HKG	3500	21	FFatal Attraction	Murray Latham	Nigel Davis	01:34:52	35
36	HKG	3979	31	Kerfuffle	Carlyon Knight-Evans	Lucy Sutro	01:35:08	36
37	AUS	3545	38	Frequent Flyer	Jennifer Sims	Andrew Wallace	01:35:16	37
38	HKG	3828	26	Ffirecracker	Naoki Ishihara	Martin Heath	01:36:15	38
39	HKG	3533	22	My Ffair Lady	Brian Henderson	Ben Muskett	01:36:24	39
40	HKG	3304	17	Skiver	Louis Brink	Thomas Issac	01:36:25	40
41	HKG	3469	20	Frantic Forties	Wai Chuen Chan	Jack Leung	01:36:26	41
42	HKG	3415	19	Fflippin' Muppets	Kunihiro Fukushima	Motokazu Nlshimura	01:36:51	42
43	AUS	3933	46	El Toro	Grant Alderson	Dean McAullay	BFD	53
43	GBR	3920	6	Betty	Greg Wells	Andrew Jameson	BFD	53
43	GBR	3953	9	Fforca del Vento	Robert Hogben	Glyn Morgan	DNS	53
43	AUS	3972	48	PHAROS Financial Group	Ashley Smith	Adam Kingston	BFD	53
43	AUS	3743	41	Spot the Difference	Greg Tonnison	Steve Roberts	BFD	53
43	IRL	4002	15	Afloat.ie	John Lavery	David O'Brien	DNC	53
43	GBR	4022	14	Always Fforever	Andy Goddard	Mal Hartland	DNC	53
43	NZL	3714	36	jaffa	Andrew Taylor	Greg Taylor	BFD	53
43	HKG	3876	28	French Fries	Akira Takada	Wataru Takada	BFD	53
43	HKG	3990	33	FfreeFire 90	Sam Chan	Nick Atkinson	BFD	53