2016 Australian Flying 15 Championship - Overall report

by CYC Media on 19 Jan 2016 2016 Australian Flying 15 Championship - For the first time in the 54 year history of the event, Canberra sailors scooped the pool at the International Flying Fifteen Australian championship sailed on Lake Burley Griffin last week in a fleet of 34 boats.

The CEO of the Canberra Yacht Club, Matt Owen, and his crew Andrew Reed won their third Australian championship in the Class, with Owen having won a fourth time, as crew, in Perth in 2012. They won five of the seven races, finishing third in the other two. The other two races were won by Craig Davidson and Robin Malpas who finished second in the series. Third overall were John Hanrahan and Simon Claringbold. Other locals to perform creditably were John Tracey and Craig Murphy in fifth place and Peter Forster and Neal Davis in 11th place.

Of the 34 boats that sailed, 13 were from the ACT, nine from Queensland, eight from Victoria, three from WA and one from South Australia. There were five lady skippers with Nicole Magyar and her sister sailing together, finishing in seventh place to be the best of the lady skippers.

Racing comprised the Invitation race on Monday, won by Brian Carroll of Victoria, with Matt Gleeson from Canberra as crew, three races on each of Tuesday and Thursday and one race on the Wednesday. Racing was not possible on the final day, Friday, due to lack of wind. Fortunately, there was sufficient wind for satisfactory sailing on all but one day, of moderate strength from the S-SE quarter, an unusual direction for winds on the lake. The prevailing winds are from the W-NW quarter, and local sailors rarely experience the S-SE winds of last week. This reduced the benefit of local knowledge, making conditions more unpredictable for all competitors.

Further enquiries to Peter Forster, President, ACT Flying Fifteen Association phone 62811124.