Flying Fifteen Hong Kong Nationals - Quick reactions to light winds

by Lindsay Lyons on 31 Oct 2013 For the third and final day of the Flying Fifteen Hong Kong Nationals, the race management and mark laying teams had to show quick reactions today, which brought lighter conditions, with around 10 to 14kts of breeze, starting easterly first thing and tracking round to the south throughout the day.

The race area was one again in the Lamma patch, however with the lighter breeze, boats were corralled by the safety team at the Lamma shipping channel and RO Jerry Rollin raised the AP to ensure that all competitors could get to the start in time.

First one, then two, then half the fleet crossed the middle of the line before the start gun resulting in a general recall and a black flag on the re-start sequence. Just on the one-minute signal, Rollin raised the AP to allow a large crane barge which had just weighed anchor to clear the race area.

This took 20 minutes to accomplish before the start sequence could recommence and, perhaps impatient to get started, another bunch of competitors were over early, this time at the committee boat end of the line. Caught in this bunch, and probably missing out on an overall win in the Nationals were Nick and Janet Jerwood on Ineffable, scoring BFD along with seven others including three-time world champion Steve Goacher.

Defending world champion Graham Vials led the race from start to finish on Foof, crossing the line nearly a minute ahead of Grant Alderson on El Toro. The remaining 31 boats followed them in a processional with the last boat nine minutes behind.

A quick turnaround, relaying the marks to address the tracking wind, and the fleet was off again on the black flagged start of race six. The competitors were very circumspect this time, and after a clear start Matthew Owen and Andrew Reed on The Wife’s Ffault led the fleet around the course until the final leg, when Greg Wells nipped past to take his second first of the series, followed by Graham Vials in second and Owen in third.

The provisional overall results show Graham Vials/ Chris Turner in first on nine points, ahead of Nick and Janet Jerwood on 15. Third place goes to Grant Alderson and Dean McAullay with Greg Wells and Andrew Jameson in fourth.

Race 6
Rank	Prefix	Sail No.	Bow	Boat Name	Helm	Crew	Elapsed	Points
1	GBR	3920	6	Betty	Greg Wells	Andrew Jameson	01:16:37	1
2	GBR	4004	1	Foof	Graham Vials	Chris Turner	01:16:49	2
3	AUS	3684	40	The Wife's Ffault	Matthew Owen	Andrew Reed	01:16:55	3
4	AUS	3986	50	Ineffable	Nick Jerwood	Janet Jerwood	01:17:11	4
5	GBR	3998	10	TBA	Alan Bax	Chris Hewkin	01:17:24	5
6	AUS	3933	46	El Toro	Grant Alderson	Dean McAullay	01:17:28	6
7	GBR	4019	11	Pure Magic	David Tabb	Chewey Sherrell	01:17:37	7
8	AUS	3743	41	Spot the Difference	Greg Tonnison	Steve Roberts	01:17:57	8
9	GBR	4021	13	TBA	Steve Goacher	Phil Evans	01:18:00	9
10	AUS	3992	52	Glamour Buoys	Gregory Leaversuch	Peter Barblett	01:18:08	10
11	AUS	3972	48	PHAROS Financial Group	Ashley Smith	Adam Kingston	01:18:14	11
12	NZL	3754	37	Business	Sandra Williams	Graeme Robinson	01:18:20	12
13	IRL	4002	15	Afloat.ie	John Lavery	David O'Brien	01:18:51	13
14	HKG	4015	35	Uffa Fox Ache	Barry Hayes	Sheridan Teasel	01:18:54	14
15	AUS	3982	49	Storyteller	Christopher Paterson	Rupert Leslie	01:19:28	15
16	AUS	3930	45	Aussie Falcon	Dale Collings	Glenn Scheen	01:19:52	16
17	GBR	4020	12	Freaking Fantabulous	Graham Scroggie	Ben Scroggie	01:20:06	17
18	AUS	3880	44	Where The Bl**dy Hell Are You	Craig Rainey	Ian Rainey	01:20:24	18
19	AUS	3855	43	Fflashpoint	Peter Rooke	Martin Arrowsmith	01:20:50	19
20	GBR	4022	14	Always Fforever	Andy Goddard	Mal Hartland	01:20:57	20
21	GBR	3953	9	Fforca del Vento	Robert Hogben	Noel West	01:21:00	21
22	AUS	3964	47	Fforeigner	Simon Lucas	Aileen Lucas	01:21:09	22
23	HKG	3997	34	Tomffoolery	Tom Sheppard	Peter Barker	01:21:44	23
24	GBR	3692	4	fentura	Nick Heath	Pippa Noon	01:21:45	24
25	AUS	3989	51	Fast Lane 4	John Wilson	David Tucker	01:21:48	25
26	HKG	3701	24	Puff'n Stuff	David Chow	Mark Lyons	01:21:53	26
27	AUS	4010	53	Mr Fox	Jade lane	William Ian Lane	01:21:58	27
28	HKG	3990	33	FfreeFire 90	Sam Chan	Nick Atkinson	01:22:11	28
29	ESP	3735	16	Pathffinder	Michael Clough	Hendrik Penndorf	01:22:21	29
30	HKG	3979	31	Kerfuffle	Carlyon Knight-Evans	Lucy Sutro	01:22:36	30
31	HKG	3830	27	Squiffy	Joe Nelson	David Bone	01:22:43	31
32	HKG	3981	32	Tchaikoffsky	Howard Williams	Huw Riley	01:22:52	32
33	GBR	3539	3	Hakuna Matata	John Hanson	Helen Selden	01:23:59	33.5
33	HKG	3305	18	Ffact or Ffiction	Simon Pickering	Rafael Buitre	01:23:59	33.5
35	HKG	3468	23	Zest	Chris Howard	Andrew Howard	01:24:07	35
36	HKG	3500	21	FFatal Attraction	Murray Latham	Nigel Davis	01:24:15	36
37	AUS	3545	38	Frequent Flyer	Jennifer Sims	Andrew Wallace	01:27:00	37
38	AUS	3620	39	Casper	Howard Faulks	Anita Faulks	01:27:13	38
39	HKG	3978	30	Flying Fort	Spencer Yuk Tung Suen	Daniel Kwok Keung Ng	01:27:32	39
40	GBR	3936	7	Smooth and Stoned	Steve Douthwaite	Paul Averley	DNS	50
40	AUS	3797	42	Changing Lanes	David Swan	Matt Elliot	DNS	50
40	GBR	3939	8	TBA	Athol King	Trevor Bellis	DNC	50
40	GBR	3901	5	Freewheelin'	Mike Kilbee	Tony Cox	DNF	50
40	NZL	3714	36	jaffa	Andrew Taylor	Greg Taylor	DNC	50
40	FRA	3722	25	Noisy Forefather	Cosmas Grelon	Rory Godman	DNC	50
40	HKG	3304	17	Skiver	Louis Brink	Thomas Issac	DNC	50
40	HKG	3415	19	Fflippin' Muppets	Kunihiro Fukushima	Motokazu Nlshimura	DNC	50
40	HKG	3882	29	No Name	Koichi Yamamoto	Shinji Ishiwata	DNC	50
40	HKG	3828	26	Ffirecracker	Naoki Ishihara	Masayoshi Higuchi	DNC	50

Tracking of a selection of the top performing boats can be viewed at Tack tracker

Tomorrow is a lay day for all competitors. The 19th International Flying Fifteen World Championship starts on Saturday 2nd November.