Lovering and Alvarado triumph at Flying 15 Open

by Geoff Hilton on 2 Apr 2009
Twenty five boats from a total of ten different sailing clubs attended the Flying 15 Open Meeting at Bewl Valley SC near Lamberhurst in Kent. Visitors had travelled from as far away as Wndermere in the north, and Cowes in the south.

On the Saturday two races were sailed in very challenging conditions. The forecast 15 knot north westerly was about right for some of the time, but a number of squally showers struck during the afternoon with sun, rain and hail coming in quick succession, and gusts recorded of up to 37 knots.

The Race Officer laid a 'd'- shaped course giving a long beat, a run, followed by two reaches separated by a spinnaker jibe, which provided some good entertainment in the gusts as the wind veered to and fro.

The Sunday proved a complete contrast with no wind at all and racing was abandoned.

The winning boat, taking firsts in both races and hence the overall prize, was from Hayling Island, sailed by Richard Lovering and Matt Alvarado.

Interestingly their boat was powered by Hyde sails, not a sailmaker we associate with Flying Fifteens, but apparently Richard works for the company!

Alan Bax and Steve Goacher take note perhaps?

The first Bewl Boat in the Main fleet came in second overall, sailed by Robert Hogben and Glyn Morgan. Bewl boats won the Silver Fleet prize, (Thomas Wright and Richard Kingsnorth), and also the Classic Fleet, (Richard Smith and Michael Smith).

Flying 15 Open Meeting at Bewl Valley

1st 3904 HISC Richard Lovering Matt Alvarado 1 1 2 2 pts
2nd 3853 Bewl Valley Robert Hogben Glyn Morgan 2 2 4 4 pts
3rd 3645 Graffham Colin Nutt Chris Hough 4 3 7 7 pts
4th 3681 Broxbourne Pip Hudson Alice Hudson 3 4 7 7 pts
5th 3932 Burton SC Chris Swallow Matt Pallett 7 5 12 12 pts
6th 3885 Derwent Res. Tony Lee Chris Chew 5 7 12 12 pts
7th 3746 Bewl Valley Paddy McFarlane Neil Cunliffe 6 8 14 14 pts
8th 3374 Bewl Valley Thomas Wright Richard Kingsnorth 9 6 15 15 pts
9th 3707 Parkstone Ian Ramus Penny Ramus 12 10 22 22 pts
10th 3503 Bewl Valley Doug Milligan Glenis Milligan 10 13 23 23 pts
11th 3901 Parkstone Mike Kilbee Tony Cox 11 12 23 23 pts
12th 3521 Royal Windermere Keith Jamieson Adrian Simpson 13 11 24 24 pts
13th 3808 Bewl Valley Noel West Steve King 19 9 28 28 pts
14th 2878 Lymington Mark Gardner Kate Jehan 15 14 29 29 pts
15th 3566 Bewl Valley Dan Kingston Geoff Hilton 16 15 31 31 pts
16th 3842 Bewl Valley Mike Blacklee James Blacklee 8 26.0 RAF 34 34 pts
17th 3726 Bewl Valley Judy Walker Bill Walker 18 16 34 34 pts
18th 3414 Bewl Valley Crispin Farrant Ann Marsh 20 17 37 37 pts
19th 3769 Bewl Valley Chris Taylor Jo Morgan 17 20 37 37 pts
20th 3570 Bewl Valley Roger Barton Miles Langrish 14 26.0 DNC 40 40 pts
21st 2605 Bewl Valley Richard Smith Michael Smith 21 19 40 40 pts
22nd 3322 Bewl Valley Dickie Case Linda Case 23 18 41 41 pts
23rd 3895 Cowes Corinthian Andrew Rutherford Eleanor Rutherford 22 26.0 DNC 48 48 pts
24th 3674 Bewl Valley Jo Mayes Bernard Branson 26.0 DNC 26.0 DNC 52 52 pts
24th 3778 Bewl Valley Geoff Povey Claudette Povey 26.0 DNC 26.0 DNC 52 52 pts