Flying Fifteen Spanish Championship 2025 at Real Club Nautic Puerto de Pollenca, Mallorca
by Spanish Flying Fifteen Association 17 Mar 05:38 AEDT
2025 Flying Fifteen Spanish Championship © Spanish Flying Fifteen Association
The Flying 15 Spanish (Balearic) Nationals were held alongside the Snipe and 420 Nationals in Pollenca Bay on the island of Mallorca.
The Snipes and 420's sailed on Saturday and Sunday only, whereas the Flying Fifteens's raced from Friday to Sunday with 9 races scheduled, allowing only 1 discard which was going to prove to be crucial in the final outcome.
There were 13 Flying 15 entries despite a number of absentees due to work and other commitments for an event that had very different weather and wind forecasts for each day which is typical for this time of year.
Significantly, the Spanish F15 fleet welcomed four very competitive new crews to the fleet bringing a new strong challenge to the experienced racers and adding to the growing Pollenca F15 Fleet.
On Day 1 light winds prevailed around 4-8 knots favouring the lighter crews and sure enough Victor Perez and Jorge Diaz in 'Ffuga' backed up some strong starts taking the first two races of the day in their maiden competition outing in a Flying Fifteen, followed by one of the other new helms Josh Banks in 'Ospray' partnered by the experienced Vincent Harris taking 2nd place in both races. Close on their tales in Race 1 was Rafa Benitez in 'BigBoyNautica' with his wife Pilar Casares taking 3rd place and in the second race Ralph Hennin in 'Speedy Gonzales' and his son Ivo took 3rd place. Incredibly this was Ivo's first time crewing in a race, a great result!
With winds strengthening slightly for the last race Rafa and Pilar showed everybody the way round followed by a close tussle between James Waugh in 'Puffin' crewed by Maxi Tuston and John Walker in 'No Way Jose' crewed by Oscar Tullberg, both in new boats with James winning out for 2nd place. Closely following James and John across the line were 5 boats all within 50 metres! Day 1 ended with Victor on 6 points, Josh on 9 and Rafa on 10.
On Day 2 the fleet woke up to dark clouds and strong 15-21 knot winds and lumpy seas awaiting in the bay meaning heavy weather gear was the order of the day, This time there were new race winners in the form of John/Oscar taking Race 1, Ralph/Ivo winning Race 2 and in Race 3 Josh/Vincent came home first in challenging conditions. Unfortunately for Victor who was leading from Day 1, he broke his carbon tiller and had to retire from race 1, and get back to the Port for a replacement, meaning he had a DNF and DNC for Race 2 but fortunately managed to compete in Race 3. James / Maxi had a strong day picking up two 2nd places but a strong showing from Ralph with a 1st and two 3rd places brought them level on points with James. However, the consistency of Josh/Vincent with a 1st and a 3rd had them topping the leaderboard at the end of day 2.
The top 3 going into the last day were: Josh on 13 points, James 14 points, Ralph 14 points closely followed by Rafa on 17 points and John on 20 points with all of these able to snatch the win in the final 3 races.
Day 3 although predicted to be wet, gusty and cold, turned out to be a great sailing day for the Flying Fifteens with steady 12 - 16 knot winds. James & Maxi dominated the leading group with two 1st places and a 5th and we also had another race win and great last day for Stephen and Philip Parry in 'Wight Flyer' with 1st, 2nd & 4th place finishes.
The overall podium places were up for grabs right up to the last race in a 9 race regatta with some amazingly competitive individual races that resulted in 7 different race winners across the 3 days. Commiserations to Victor & Jordi, if they hadn't sustained damage on day 2 ruling them out of two races they also would have been in the mix for a podium place.
Congratulations to James & Maxi, they really got motoring on days 2 and 3 to take the title for the first time from Josh & Vincent in 2nd place and Ralph & Ivo in 3rd. Not far behind was Rafa & Pilar and John & Oscar.
This was one of the most competitive Championships seen in many years and a great advertisement for Flying Fifteen sailing in Pollenca. It was also great to see Michael Clough, one of the pillars of the club for many years in the dinghy park and also later in the bar. Although he has now retired from competitive sailing, his old boat 'Speedy Gonzales' was still going fast in the hands of Ralph & Ivo. Two of our new crews were on the podium so congratulations to them too and we are all looking forward to a competitive 2025.
Overall Results: (top 3 from 13 entries)
1st Place: James Waugh & Maxi Tustain in 'Puffin' ESP4131 on 21 points
2nd Place: Josh Banks & Vincent Harris in 'Ospray' GBR3831 on 24 points
3rd Place: Ralph Henin & Ivo Henin in 'Speedy Gonzales' ESP3804 on 27 points
Many thanks to the Race Officer Juan, who set great courses, managed the Committee Boat and organised the race days, and also Real Club Nautic Puerto de Pollenca for facilitating the Championships and providing a great venue for racing.