Flying Fifteen National Championships, Abersoch

by Flying Fifteen media on 21 Jul 2009 The South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club was the host for the 2009 Flying Fifteen National Championships from 16th to 21st July.

Fifty boats entered the Championships, a good number as all the boats were visitors, there being no home fleet. Furthermore, qualification for the World Championship only takes place in alternate years and this tends to attract more boats, but this was not one. The number of visiting boats represented a substantial increase on recent years.

Apart from the participation of four previous World Champions and several former Olympic sailors, there was an extra element of interest because a number of National Champions in other classes of boat had entered the event. It was going to be interesting, therefore, to see what effect sailors would have on the regular fleet members.

The first day of the Championships took place on a rather overcast day but with a fairly steady force 4 westerly breeze. After a short practice race the first race proper got underway at the first attempt. There was a close battle between David McKee and Chris Hewkin, Mike Hart and Richard Rigg and Steve Goacher and Phil Evans. The latter came through only on the last beat to win with Hart second and Mckee third, Sam Mettam (in his first Flying Fifteen Championship) was fourth.

Day two dawned as a rather more dull day with lighter breezes. Race two began in a reasonable breeze. Charles Apthorp, having been left at the bus stop missing the start of race one showed his mettle, taking an early lead in his old boat. It was, however, Ben McGrane, current RS800 Champion, in his first appearance in a Flying Fifteen National Championship who won the race with Alan Bax, David McKee and Mike Hart in hot pursuit. The wind lightened towards the end of the race and then died altogether leaving the later boats stranded. There followed a torrential downpour followed by a long delay because of an unstable breeze.

Once the breeze filled after a substantial shift, the third race started in a steady force three breeze. There was no obvious advantage on the first beat, but the right side paid best on the second round. There was no established order in the fleet and a lot of variability in results was noted. Justin Waples and Ian Stowe took an early lead which they held to the finish. David McKee and Chris Hewkin were second and, because of their consistent results they held the overnight lead.


Flying Fifteen National Championships, 2009
Place Helm Points R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6
1 Steve Goacher Phil Evans 3821 RWYC 17 1 9 5 1 3 7
2 Mike Hart Richard Rigg 3917 Port Dinorwic/RWYC 17 3 4 3 7 1 6
3 Alan Bax Bill Masterman 3941 HISC 18 8 2 6 4 2 4
4 David McKee Chris Hewkin 3905 Dovestone 19 2 3 2 5 7 9
5 Greg Wells Mark Darling 3920 HISC 21 7 22 4 3 4 3
6 Ben McGrane Jamie Stewart 3660 HISC 33 9 1 22 6 5 12
7 Jeremy Davy Tim Harper 3922 HISC/Draycote 40 13 6 26 10 6 5
8 Andy Davis Andy Farmer 3835 Chase CS 48 6 46 19 13 9 2
9 Sam Mettam Martin Grady 3734 HISC 48 4 12 11 24 11 10
10 Brian McKee Ian Smyth 3892 Stragford Lough 50 18 11 12 8 8 11
11 Henry Craven-Smith Matt Alvarado 3904 HISC 53 15 37 7 2 13 16
12 Simon Kneller Dave Lucas 3937 Grafham Water 55 5 15 17 17 10 8
13 John Lavery David O'Brian 3883 National YC of Ireland 61 14 10 13 13 12 13
14 Chris Hogan Tim Hall 3796 SCYC/Port Dinorwic 65 12 16 8 26 15 14
15 Geoff Bayliss Steve Wilson 3890 HISC 78 10 28 25 11 14 18
16 Charles Apthorp Alan Green 3591 HISC 78 50 5 14 9 50 1
17 Justin Waples Ian Stowe 3716 Royal Corinthian YC 79 17 18 1 27 24 19
18 Gill Browning Simon Weatherill 3818 HISC 87 16 34 24 14 18 15
19 Phil Snewin Brian Holland 3820 SCYC 97 24 7 35 33 16 17
20 John Leydon Sandra Williams 3736 Motueka YC NZL 98 36 13 10 16 26 33
21 Steve Douthwaite Paul Averley 3936 Derwent 100 21 19 27 19 21 20
22 Mark Longstaff Graham Wadley 3727 Grafham Water 105 19 23 16 25 50 22
23 Michael Thompson Simon Millington 3899 Chew Valley 105 20 20 23 22 20 29
24 Pip Hudson Peter Nash 3681 Broxbourne SC 107 25 30 15 29 17 21
25 Peter Lawson Orla Lawson 3893 Portaferry SC 118 22 25 21 21 29 32
26 Chris Swallow Matt Pallett 3932 Burton SC 118 26 21 42 23 22 26
27 Adrian Tattersall Tim Smart 3914 Parkstone YC 120 11 33 50 28 25 23
28 Julian Clarke Mark Stott 3898 Grafham Water 123 23 29 28 20 28 24
29 Tom Murphy Peter Bannister 3774 National YC of Ireland 127 37 31 37 15 19 25
30 Richard Hope Scott Smith 3642 Draycote Water SC 142 27 27 31 30 30 28
31 David Morgan Lorenna Walden 3780 Llangors SC 143 41 17 18 31 41 36
32 Peter Hogg Alex Dobson 3902 Dovestone SC 147 38 45 34 18 27 30
33 Jonathon Ward Julia Ward 3667 Ogston SC 150 32 35 9 34 40 43
34 David Brockbank Janet Lefton 3787 RWYC 151 35 14 40 46 35 27
35 Tessa Lancaster Nick Lancaster 3845 HISC 152 42 8 45 40 23 39
36 Adam Mangan Emma Mangan 3653 Datchet Water SC 156 31 36 20 39 38 31
37 Robin Dawson Ian Preston 3293 Bassenthwaite SC 159 28 32 33 36 31 35
38 Mike Kilbee Tony Cox 3901 Parkstone YC 170 39 40 29 32 32 38
40 Scott Train Graham Lamond 3362 Thornton Stewart 171 30 26 38 43 34 46
41 Tim Tomlinson Mark Greer 2433 Middle Nene SC 180 50 24 41 38 37 40
42 Peter Slater Keith Jamieson 3935 HISC/RWYC 185 29 50 32 47 36 41
43 David Mulvin Ronan Beirne 3919 National YC of Ireland 193 33 38 39 41 42 42
44 Richard Marshall Robert Parkinson 3626 Grafham Water 193 40 44 43 37 39 34
45 Guy Kippen Emily McKee 759 Dovestone SC 198 43 41 36 35 43 44
46 Robert Tait Brian Turner 2606 Broxbourne SC 216 45 39 44 44 44 47
47 Geoff Povey Claudette Povey 3778 Bewl Valley SC 224 46 43 50 45 45 45
48 Grant Colborn Gavin Shaw 798 Sunderland 232 44 42 46 50 50 50
49 Gareth Jackson Shelley Jackson 3003 Llyn Brenig 236 47 48 47 48 46 48

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