South African Flying 15 National Championship 2024 at Henley Midmar Yacht Club

Flying Fifteen South African Nationals - 2nd overall, Myles White Estelle Buys © SAFFA fleet

Flying Fifteen South African Nationals - 1st overall, Thomas and Peter Funke © SAFFA fleet

With the water quality in Durban Harbour remaining foul and making launching of Flying Fifteen's a significant health hazard, it was decided to relocate much of the fleet one hour inland to Midmar Dam, thus exchanging the country's best offshore sailing waters for the best fresh-water sailing on offer. Once the current infrastructure repairs have been completed and the water quality has returned to good, we will again be able to launch and sail in Durban.

This relocation was timed to coincide with our 2024 National Championships, which was hosted by Henley Midmar Yacht Club, on 16 and 17 November. Most welcome visitors were Bryan and Gerald Paxman who trailed the beautifully re-vamped 'Ffenominal' 3009 down from Vaal Dam, and who helped to boost the F15 fleet to 12 boats. The final tally was 5 Classic boats and 7 Open boats, which included all 4 carbon boats that have been built locally.

Saturday was a frustrating day, with a major truck collision on the highway turning the 1 hour trip into 2 and even 3 hour trips for some, and then the wind remaining very light with no consistent direction. While waiting for the weather to improve the clouds to the South-West grew more and more ominous before breaking into a full blown thunderstorm which turned the dam into a froth. As seasoned sailors tend to do, we retired to the bar before convening our Annual General Meeting earlier than originally scheduled. This was followed by a thoroughly enjoyable F15 fleet dinner accompanied by generous quantities of good quality wine. Thereafter it was back to the pub to watch our mighty Springboks taking care of Steve Borthwick's English rugby team!

A thoroughly enjoyable breakfast at the Fern Hill Hotel got Sunday kick-started for me, after which we got back to HMYC and set about rigging. A light but most acceptable North-Easterly was blowing over the dam wall, promising reasonably consistent winds for the day. Race officer Kevin Bingham got racing under way at around 1000 hrs and by 1300 hrs we had 4 races in the bank, with each taking approximately 40 minutes for the leading boats to complete 2 laps. A 5th race was completed by 1400 hrs, and so a 6th and final race was started before the 1430 hrs cut off, but was shortened to 1 lap in order to give people sufficient time to de-rig and get home before dark.

All races were close with much place changing, and replacement skipper Mike Colbeck sailing 'Financial Fling' (3205) with Rob Finlay proving that a well-sailed Classic boat remains highly competitive in flat water. In addition to Mike, all of the Open boats had moments with their noses in front, but it came down to getting the right read on the subtle wind shifts going upwind, and then being fortunate enough to find the wind channel on the way to the leeward mark that dictated the positions across the finish line. Fortunately, the notoriously fickle Midmar holes did not play as much of a role as they could have.

505 National Champions Thomas and Peter Funke, sailing Neil Wadsworth's '55 South' (4066) were the dominant team of the day with 3 bullets earning Gold, while Estelle Buys and myself, Myles White on 'Ffothermucker' (3867) surprised everyone, and most of all ourselves, to win the first and last races, securing silver. Long time Flying 15 campaigners and perennial champions Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek sailed consistently into 3rd overall on 'Ffigjam' (3999).

Flying Fifteen South African Nationals - Ariel shot at Midmar Dam - photo © SAFFA fleet

The sailing took place with wonderful spirit from all competitors, and although there was some inevitable contesting with raised voices at mark rounding's, the regatta was a showcase of why the Flying 15 sailors get on so well both on and off the water.

There has been increasing interest from Vaal Dam sailors in obtaining Flying Fifteens, and several Classic boats have already been given homes there. The reality is that there is now a demand for boats from that area, to the extent that we are planning to hold our next Nationals at Vaal Dam in 2025. The outlook for Flying Fifteen sailing in South Africa is undoubtedly positive!

Overall Results: