2022 Flying Fifteen European Championships to be sailed at Cowes
by Mike Dixon & Jonny Fullerton 3 Mar 2020 09:01 AEDT
20-26 August 2022
Titania - Uffa Fox won the 1950 Nationals in this boat © Ian G Gilchrist
The Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club (CCYC) is delighted to have been selected to host the 2022 Flying Fifteen European Championships in what will be the year of the 75th anniversary of the design of 1947. The championship will be held from 20 to 26 August, two weeks after Cowes Week.
With fleets based in Belgium, France, Ireland and Spain it is hoped that there will be strong interest from European boats as well as those based in the UK and even further afield overseas.
The exact format of the event will be agreed between the club and the local, National and International Associations of the class over the next 18 months but there is likely to be a 75th Anniversary celebration race on Sunday followed by four days of racing in the central Solent. The racing will be accompanied by a varied social programme incorporating many of the attractive and interesting venues available in and around Cowes.
Cowes has been the venue for numerous Flying Fifteen championships since the first National Championship was held there in 1949 and recently has hosted Southern Area Championships on significant anniversary years in 2007, 2012 and 2017 being 60th, 65th and 70th respectively. Prior to that in 1997 CCYC hosted what was the largest ever gathering of Flying Fifteens to mark the 50th anniversary of the class when over 180 boats descended on Cowes to take part in the Worlds, Nationals and Classic Fifteen regatta.
2022 is not only the 75th anniversary of the design of the Flying Fifteen but will also mark 50 years since the designer Uffa Fox passed away. The legend of Uffa is very much a part of Cowes yachting history with his breakthrough in planing dinghy design in the late 1920's in the International 14 Avenger, his prolific design and build portfolio that followed, his often eccentric behaviour and of course his links with royalty including sailing with Prince Philip for nearly 20 years in the Flying Fifteen 'Coweslip'. Preliminary discussions are under way on how to celebrate Uffa's 'fiftieth' and the Flying Fifteen European Championship will be a significant part of the celebration.