Flying Fifteen Nationals - Kneller and Lucas victorious

by Alan Henderson on 24 Jul 2012 Monday, 23rd July marked the final day for the 2012 Allen Flying Fifteen Nationals at Largs. After a day of big winds yesterday, wind peaked briefly today at six knots and then disappeared, so no racing was possible.

The Championship rested on the first two days of racing, in particular on the two races on day two, when Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas from Grafham Water SC took a win and a third place in two tricky light weather races. Very few competitors managed two good results on a difficult day.

Kneller and Lucas, improving with every race at this event, thus rose to the top of the leaderboard, to take the Allen Flying Fifteen National Championships. Kneller and Lucas were sailing in their tenth successive National Championship, and it was tenth time lucky as they landed the title for the first time.

Just two points behind, three teams were tied on six points, but the tiebreak gave Steve Goacher and Phil Evans second place, with husband and wife pairing David and Sally McKee third. Fourth in a brand new boat, launched on the first day of the Championship, were Irish visitors John Lavery and David O’Brien.

They were one of three Irish visiting boats from Dun Laoghaire, who joined Scottish, English and Welsh boats at this Championship at Largs.

Fifth were Charles Apthorp and Jonathan Clark, from Hayling Island. All five leading teams have years of experience in the class, and collectively boast many Championship titles. Racing was thus very competitive in this quality of fleet.

However those with a more relaxed attitude were also catered for, with several Silver fleet (older boats) and Classics (vintage) boats enjoying the Championship. Alex Tatlow, who sailed in the Silver fleet said, 'A Silver FF is the most economical way to have a competitive boat. Silvers give excellent value for money, and need much less maintenance than many other boats. My brother and I really enjoy sailing our Fifteen at events like Cowes Week, and at Championships like this.'

This Nationals was a Qualifier event for the 2013 World Championships, and the final Worlds Qualifier event in the class will be the Scottish Championship at Loch Lomond on October 6/7, where a strong entry of over 30 boats is Flying Fifteen website