Int. Flying 15 Worlds - Competitors try light air sailing on Day 6

by Lindsay Lyons, RHKYC Media on 6 Nov 2013 The 19th International Flying Fifteen Worlds has thrown every conceivable weather combination at competitors, and today it was time to try some light air sailing. The T flag was displayed on shore, indicating that all competitors would be towed across the Lamma TSS and RO Jerry Rollin was happy to raise the AP at the start line in order to ensure that everyone had time to prepare.

That also gave him time to reconsider the start line position, which was pushing the windward mark right out to the limit of Hong Kong waters, by retreating 200m further downwind.

Early indications were that a 1.15nm beat would be ample to give the sailors a race of around two hours, however the wind was gradually shifting round to the east, requiring the pin boat to be re-anchored and by the time the start gun was fired, although the fleet got a clean start, Rollin noted the dying breeze, coupled with another wind shift and raised the N flag to abandon the race and bring everyone back to the start area.

The pin boat was once again relocated, and with the breeze filling in to five kts, the RO tried to get race six underway again, however just before the start gun, another AP number two was displayed, as race management waited for a wind shift to settle. The AP was removed, only to be re-hoisted four minutes later and the pin boat anchor was lifted once again with all boats standing by waiting for the new breeze to fill in.

Fill in it did, 50 degrees further east than when the first attempt at a start was made, however this time the forecast replenishment of the northeast monsoon held steady at eight to 10 knots and the RO was able to reset the line to his satisfaction. Perhaps impatient to get sailing after sitting around for so long, the bulk of the fleet was over early, earning a general recall and a black flag re-start. This time, everyone got it right, including the breeze, and the fleet were all clear nearly two hours later than scheduled.

Cosmas Grelon got a flyer of a start for Hong Kong on Noisy Forefather, reaching the windward mark first, ahead of Pharos Financial Group and the rest of the fleet before a local fishing vessel managed to hook the mark. With the mark returned to its rightful owners, the mark layers had 45 seconds to get it into place before the fleet rounded the leeward gate.

By the time they did, Graham Vials had taken up the head of the fleet, ahead of Greg Wells on Betty and Ashley Smith on PHAROS Financial Group and the Jerwoods on Ineffable and with the wind holding steady, Foof crossed the finish line in first place – their fourth of the regatta – to secure their defence of their World Title with a race in hand.

On the dock afterwards, Vials said 'it was surprisingly good racing – I was a bit concerned that with the lighter breeze we might get caught by a wind shift, but it all went to plan. We’re looking forward to the curry buffet tonight, and a day off tomorrow!'

Ineffable maintains their position in second place, six points ahead of Steve Goacher and Phil Evans on 4021. El Toro has dropped to fourth overall after a disappointing ninth today, with Betty in fifth on equal points with Alan Bax and Chris Hewkin on 3998.

Top Hong Kong boat is Noisy Forefather with Cosmas Grelon and Rory Godman in 17th overall, with Ffact or Ffiction in 21st and Uffa Fox Ache in 24th.

Race 6
Rank	Prefix	Sail No.	Bow	Boat Name	Helm	Crew	Elapsed	Points
1	GBR	4004	1	Foof	Graham Vials	Chris Turner	02:01:11	1
2	AUS	3986	50	Ineffable	Nick Jerwood	Janet Jerwood	02:01:35	2
3	GBR	3920	6	Betty	Greg Wells	Andrew Jameson	02:02:35	3
4	GBR	4021	13	TBA	Steve Goacher	Phil Evans	02:02:58	4
5	AUS	3972	48	PHAROS Financial Group	Ashley Smith	Adam Kingston	02:03:07	5
6	AUS	3743	41	Spot the Difference	Greg Tonnison	Steve Roberts	02:03:37	6
7	GBR	3998	10		Alan Bax	Chris Hewkin	02:03:50	7
8	AUS	3982	49	Storyteller	Christopher Paterson	Rupert Leslie	02:04:22	8
9	AUS	3933	46	El Toro	Grant Alderson	Dean McAullay	02:04:29	9
10	AUS	3992	52	Glamour Buoys	Gregory Leaversuch	Peter Barblett	02:04:34	10
11	AUS	3684	40	The Wife's Ffault	Matthew Owen	Andrew Reed	02:04:55	11
12	HKG	3722	25	Noisy Forefather	Cosmas Grelon	Rory Godman	02:05:20	12
13	GBR	4020	12	Freaking Fantabulous	Graham Scroggie	Ben Scroggie	02:05:22	13
14	GBR	3953	9	Fforca del Vento	Robert Hogben	Glyn Morgan	02:05:23	14
15	AUS	3930	45	Aussie Falcon	Dale Collings	Glenn Scheen	02:05:38	15
16	GBR	4019	11	Pure Magic	David Tabb	Chewey Sherrell	02:05:39	16
17	GBR	3936	7	Smooth and Stoned	Steve Douthwaite	Paul Averley	02:05:57	17
18	GBR	4022	14	Always Fforever	Andy Goddard	Mal Hartland	02:06:39	18
19	AUS	4010	53	Mr Fox	Jade lane	William Ian Lane	02:06:46	19
20	AUS	3880	44	Where The Bl**dy Hell Are You	Craig Rainey	Ian Rainey	02:07:03	20
21	AUS	3797	42	Changing Lanes	David Swan	Matt Elliot	02:07:10	21
22	GBR	3539	3	Hakuna Matata	John Hanson	Helen Selden	02:07:25	22
23	GBR	3692	4	fentura	Nick Heath	Pippa Noon	02:07:38	23
24	HKG	3305	18	Ffact or Ffiction	Simon Pickering	Rafael Buitre	02:08:05	24
25	AUS	3989	51	Fast Lane 4	John Wilson	David Tucker	02:08:27	25
26	GBR	3901	5	Freewheelin'	Mike Kilbee	Tony Cox	02:08:30	26
27	NZL	3754	37	Business	Sandra Williams	Graeme Robinson	02:08:54	27
28	HKG	3701	24	Puff'n Stuff	David Chow	Mark Lyons	02:09:05	28
29	AUS	3964	47	Fforeigner	Simon Lucas	Aileen Lucas	02:09:19	29
30	HKG	3882	29	No Name	Koichi Yamamoto	Shinji Ishiwata	02:09:25	30
31	HKG	4015	35	Uffa Fox Ache	Barry Hayes	Sheridan Teasel	02:09:56	31
32	HKG	3990	33	FfreeFire 90	Sam Chan	Nick Atkinson	02:09:57	32
33	AUS	3545	38	Frequent Flyer	Jennifer Sims	Andrew Wallace	02:10:10	33
34	HKG	3979	31	Kerfuffle	Carlyon Knight-Evans	Lucy Sutro	02:10:17	34
35	GBR	627	2	Vamoose	Bobby Salmond	Robert Till	02:10:51	35
36	NZL	3714	36	jaffa	Andrew Taylor	Greg Taylor	02:11:10	36
37	AUS	3855	43	Fflashpoint	Peter Rooke	Martin Arrowsmith	02:11:17	37
38	GBR	3939	8	Athol	Athol King	Trevor Bellis	02:11:31	38
39	HKG	3500	21	FFatal Attraction	Murray Latham	Nigel Davis	02:11:32	39
40	HKG	3997	34	Tomffoolery	Tom Sheppard	Peter Barker	02:12:07	40
41	ESP	3735	16	Pathffinder	Michael Clough	Hendrik Penndorf	02:12:12	41
42	HKG	3830	27	Squiffy	Joe Nelson	David Bone	02:12:31	42
43	HKG	3469	20	Frantic Forties	Wai Chuen Chan	Jack Leung	02:13:03	43
44	HKG	3304	17	Skiver	Louis Brink	Thomas Issac	02:14:00	44
45	HKG	3828	26	Ffirecracker	Naoki Ishihara	Martin Heath	02:17:57	45
46	HKG	3981	32	Tchaikoffsky	Howard Williams	Huw Riley	DSQ	53
46	AUS	3620	39	Casper	Howard Faulks	Nick Faulks	DNF	53
46	HKG	3876	28	French Fries	Akira Takada	Wataru Takada	RET	53
46	HKG	3533	22	My Ffair Lady	Brian Henderson	Ben Muskett	RET	53
46	HKG	3468	23	Zest	Chris Howard	Andrew Howard	RET	53
46	HKG	3415	19	Fflippin' Muppets	Kunihiro Fukushima	Motokazu Nlshimura	DNC	53
46	IRL	4002	15	Afloat.ie	John Lavery	David O'Brien	DNC	53