British tied on top of Flying Fifteen Worlds after Day 3

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World on 12 Jan 2009
Two British crews are tied on the top of the points table after Day 3 of the 17th Flying Fifteen Worlds, being held on Port Phillip. Melbourne. After five races completed Steve Goacher and Phil Evans are tied for the overall lead with Barry Parkin and Tim Fells. Australia's Grant Alderson and Dean Mcaullay are in third, just four points adrift with two races to go.

Racing was delayed for over two hours due to a combination of light winds and several attempted starts. In contrast to previous days the wind was at its most westerly with initial starts being set for a course of 200 degrees.

However as the wind settle.d down it swung east to 165 and then back to 180 degrees the normal direction for the seabreeze on Port Phillip. Early in the afternoon the overcast skies cleared allowing the sun to break through and warm the land and generate the seabreeze.

Race 4 got underway in a 6-7kt breeze with slight seas.

The lead group soon broke away from the paleton, and had a race between themselves.

It was the turn of Britain's Mike Hart and Richard Rigg to exact revenge for their disqualification the previous night. They led the second British crew of Alan Bax and Bill Masterman around the shorter course with a small but comfortable lead of a couple of lengths, until the final beat when Hart and Rigg stretched away as the wind freshened to 10-12kts and settled back into the south.

Britain's Parkin and Fells finished in third place, with Murrey Gilbert and Jonathan Burgess of New Zealand in fourth and David Tucker and Matt Summers (NZL) fifth. Goacher and Evans finished sixth to stay in the hunt.

Race 5 was again marred by several attempts at starting, and it was only the imposition of the Black Flag by Principal Race Officer David le Roy, that enabled racing to get underway.

This was a make or break race for many crews, and the Australian crew of Grant Alderson and Dean Mcaullay made no race of it by starting at the pin end crossing the fleet and were never challenged for the lead. Hart and Rigg again turned in a masterful performance to take second place with Goacher and Evans turning in a very useful third.

Parkin and Fells finished in fourth and this tied them with Goacher and Evans for the overall lead. Fifth were David McKee and Hewkid (GBR) and sixth Aaron Goodmanson and Alister Rowlands (NZL).

The seabreeze built throughout the afternoon, and provided some of the best and closest racing sailing of the series. Certainly there were plenty of incidents at every mark, and groups of five crossing the finish line were not uncommon.

In the Classic Fleet, Australians Andy Mckee (AUS2523) leads by two points from Arnold and Phillip Parish (AUS 2251) with Reagan Bear and Les Kearney (AUS 962) in third.

In the Silver Fleet, Steve and Megan Cranch (AUS3167) maintained their clean sheet after five races, with Ronald Joseph and Laurie Hatch (AUS3058) in second and David and Michael Arnold (AUS1690) third.

Tomorrow only one race is scheduled. However some iffy weather may disrupt the race schedule, with light winds forecast for Tuesday, and strong Northerlies on Wednesday. Two races remain to be sailed in the series.

All Fleet full results. Official website: www.ffiworlds2009.yachting.org.au

Flying 15 World Championship - Open Fleet Overall results after 5 races, 1 discard

1 GBR 3821 Steve Goacher Tba 1 3 [13] 6 3 13 pts
1 GBR 3911 Barry Parkin **** [6] 1 5 3 4 13 pts
3 AUS 3833 Grant Alderson No Bull 2 2 12 [12] 1 17 pts
4 NZL 3781 David Tucker Sixteen [15] 5 1 5 11 22 pts
5 GBR 3931 Alan Bax N/a 8 4 [40] 2 9 23 pts
6 NZL 3739 Aaron Goodmanson Ffortune 5 6 [11] 7 6 24 pts
7 GBR 3905 David McKee Secret Ingredient X 9 [18] 8 8 5 30 pts
8 NZL 3840 Murray Gilbert Ffrenetic 11 [17] 3 4 16 34 pts
9 GBR 3917 Mike Hart Art Gekko 3 36 [81] 1 2 42 pts
10 NZL 3823 Brett Willcock Ffoto Finish 10 15 [21] 15 8 48 pts
11 AUS 3881 Adam Hawkins I'd Swap This For A Bundy 7 [23] 10 16 20 53 pts
12 AUS 3661 Gavin Dagley Fizz [43] 9 16 18 12 55 pts
13 GBR 3923 Charles Apthorp Ff 4 7 [81] 34 14 59 pts

14 IRL 3883 John Lavery Boat [38] 11 9 24 19 63 pts
15 GBR 3799 Veronica Falat One Under 23 20 2 19 [23] 64 pts
16 AUS 3670 Graeme Lillingston Escalator [29] 16 14 11 26 67 pts
17 NZL 3832 Craig Coulan Blowffish [58] 10 4 23 38 75 pts
18 AUS 3718 Ashley Smith Fully Active Board 14 22 [48] 10 34 80 pts
19 NZL 3907 Phil Quinn Foreign Affair [56] 29 23 27 7 86 pts
20 AUS 3909 Gavin Gourley Skandia 12 25 [45] 42 10 89 pts
21 AUS 3910 Brad Sheridan Yes 25 [46] 26 13 27 91 pts
22 GBR 3914 Adrian Tattersall Defying Gravity 20 42 [42] 20 13 95 pts
23 IRL 3641 Andy Martin F'feckin'Eegit 22 31 15 [47] 28 96 pts
24 AUS 3743 Greg Tonnison Spot The Difference 33 34 [34] 14 17 98 pts
25 ESP 3796 Javier Chacártegui Ffatigaos 21 [81] 35 21 22 99 pts
26 AUS 3662 John Tracey Wings 28 12 36 [39] 24 100 pts
26 AUS 3717 Greg Leversuch Glamour Buoys 16 [65] 28 41 15 100 pts
28 NZL 3754 Ian Morley Business [54] 30 7 30 36 103 pts
29 GBR 3903 Ian Cleaver Elise 36 21 19 [43] 30 106 pts
30 AUS 3525 Doug Cooksey Freodoctor 42 [51] 6 28 31 107 pts
30 GBR 3611 Steve Douthawaite Smooth & Stoned 37 8 20 [51] 42 107 pts
32 AUS 3619 Ron Packer Affrodisiac 27 28 [39] 22 32 109 pts
33 AUS 3572 Hamish Carnachan Relience 17 18 [49] 33 37 25 113 pts
33 GBR 3928 Howard Green Got any lettuce? 26 33 [81] 33 21 113 pts
35 AUS 3880 Craig Rainey Where The Bloody Hell Are You 30 [40] 18 31 35 114 pts
36 NZL 3541 Richard Guy Snafler [59] 37 24 17 37 115 pts
37 GBR 3890 Geoff Bayliss If Only..... 13 35 29 [54] 44 121 pts
38 GBR 3851 Ian Linder Ffuk 19 38 [51] 32 33 122 pts
39 AUS 3797 David Swan Changing Lanes 49 14 31 36 [58] 130 pts
40 AUS 3800 Rupert Leslie Saltheart 35 19 [63] 26 55 135 pts
41 AUS 3861 Brian Carroll Supertoy Plays On 31 [45] 44 38 29 142 pts
42 GBR 3818 Gill Browning Ffizzy 44 13 [81] 46 40 143 pts
43 AUS 3527 Peter Milne Just Looking 17 64 46 [81] 18 145 pts
44 AUS 3062 David Meldrum Good Thing 45 54 22 25 [60] 146 pts
45 AUS 3879 Kim Peaker Aussie Way 47 26 47 29 [50] 149 pts
46 IRL 3897 Ken Dumpleton Kooigjug 32 32 32 [81] 57 153 pts
47 AUS 3930 Dale Collings Aussie Falcon 41 [81] 27 44 43 155 pts
48 GBR 3835 Andy Goddard Sucking Feagulls 46 24 81 9 [81] 160 pts
49 GBR 3786 Christopher Harris Sans Culottes 51 43 25 45 [69] 164 pts
50 AUS 3854 William Shand Relience Ffenty Ffoo 50 52 30 40 [65] 172 pts
51 AUS 3095 Adam Semple Fiddle-de-dee [53] 27 50 48 48 173 pts
52 AUS 3822 John Crosby Ruffians [81] 56 17 58 46 177 pts
53 AUS 3775 Philippa Packer Absolutely Ffabulous [81] 39 53 49 39 180 pts
54 AUS 3878 John Wilson Ffast Lane 2 40 [53] 37 52 52 181 pts
55 AUS 3814 John Wallace Comited to conffusion 24 [66] 57 55 47 183 pts
56 IRL 3774 Tom Murphy Rollercoaster 39 [62] 59 57 41 196 pts
57 NZL 3087 Sally Garrett Iff 55 48 38 [61] 56 197 pts
57 AUS 3259 Chris Hall Celtic Pride 48 57 43 [60] 49 197 pts
59 NZL 3169 Robert Anderson Skinffull 52 55 [55] 50 45 202 pts
59 GBR 3902 Peter Hogg Blue Flame 34 61 54 [64] 53 202 pts
61 AUS 3616 Stephen Leiceter Ffunnily Enuff [64] 44 41 62 59 206 pts
62 GBR 3893 Peter Lawson Ffrig It 62 41 [81] 56 51 210 pts
63 GBR 3815 Athol King Passing Wind 57 59 60 35 [62] 211 pts
64 AUS 3767 Ken Bubb Bubbles [81] 63 62 53 54 232 pts
65 AUS 3709 ronald walker Ghost Magic 60 58 52 [69] 63 233 pts
66 NZL 3088 Fred Price Ffirst Offspring 63 47 68 [74] 64 242 pts
67 AUS 3063 Kevin Griffiths Stress Free Zone 65 [72] 56 59 67 247 pts
68 AUS 3745 Tom Ruut Splash 67 68 49 65 [81] 249 pts
69 AUS 2823 Murray Latham Diffino [81] 50 61 71 73 255 pts
70 AUS 3846 Alan Carson Demon 3 61 70 64 63 [74] 258 pts
71 AUS 3761 John Hassen Grumpy Old Woman 68 67 58 68 [71] 261 pts
72 HKG 3722 Joseph Nelson Noisy Forefather 69 71 65 66 [76] 271 pts
73 AUS 3859 Michael Clark Gannin Tappy Lappy [71]