PRO-SET Epoxy and Ovington Boats Flying Fifteen Worlds at the WPNSA, UK - Day 3
by Mark Jardine 20 Aug 07:49 AEST
16-21 August 2025
A promising breeze in the morning on Allen Sailing Day at the Flying Fifteen Worlds, headline sponsored by PRO-SET Epoxy and Ovington Boats, flattered to deceive when the wind petered out as the only race of the day was completed.
The sailors came into the day recharged and raring to go after Monday's lay day, happy to get out on the water for the hour earlier start time, with aching muscles soothed, if not fully recovered.
The forecast was for the wind to decrease throughout the day, and turn more from the east to the north east later in the day, but the wind itself had other ideas, reducing in intensity early and ending up switching the other way to confuse and confound many.
The fleet were on their best behaviour on the startline, recognising that the wind was unstable, and the race went away first time, with the boats spread from the committee boat all the way to the pin end, demonstrating once again how well the courses have been set at this championship. With the lighter winds though, the choice of which end to start had a huge bearing on which side of the upwind leg sailors took.
Shrewd operators Russell Peters and Zeb Elliott decided on the committee boat end, tacking away on to port almost immediately and proceeding to the far southern side of the upwind leg, almost to the lay line, to lead at the windward mark. While they came out smelling of roses, Russell wasn't anywhere near as confident when glancing over his shoulder at the fleet in the distance on the northern side of the course as he described:
"My daughter gave me the weather forecast and said 'just head right' and we did what we were told to do - it was the right way to go! It was marginally frightening out there, we sat in a hole for a bit and thought 'oh dear...' and at that point I thought this really isn't clever at all. Luckily we got a little bit of a puff and it just came right for us. We did then extend so I think we are reasonably quick in that kind of breeze. We're just not quite sure what we should be doing when the breeze is up."
As Russell said, he and Zeb on 'The Hoff' continued to extend throughout the race, but in the fickle breeze it wasn't all plain sailing, especially on the final run before the hook to the finish, when the wind swung towards the south east, allowing the boats behind them to close reach into the bottom mark, but Russell remained unfazed to take the race win:
"The wind was going forward from halfway down the run, and we were in a better position than anybody else for the wind to go forwards, as we were to the left of them. Unless the wind had shut down and kicked in from behind, we felt more and more confident going down that leg. Our biggest concern at that stage was the race being abandoned."
Russell is loving being back in the Flying Fifteens, having not raced since the Worlds in 2011, and has found the ethos of the class to be superb:
"The sailors are good fun, welcoming us in and telling us what they're doing with their tips, and we've had some good evenings as well. We're having a really good time. Zeb and I have sailed together a lot over the years, but this is the first time we've sailed together on a Fifteen."
Many will notice the DBS buoyancy aids that Russell and Zeb are wearing, which actually date from their Ultra 30 days, but still form a major part of their kit cupboards:
"The Ultras were fantastic fun. I think I did nine years in the Ultra, and we got nine buoyancy aids every year, but I've now only got four of them left. I don't know who's stolen them all, but I'm still wearing my Ultra wetsuits, and Ultra buoyancy aids - I can't afford anything more than that!"
Elsewhere the cream once again rose to the top, with overall leaders Graham Vials and Chris Turner coming through to second at the finish with Ben McGrane and Russ Clark just behind them in third. These two teams are beginning to edge out a lead over the chasing pack, and it looks like the main trophy will go to one of these exceptional crews.
The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy boat park is a friendly place, with sailors of many nationalities mingling and chatting about their days, often over the bowls of pasta handed out after racing together with a cool beer. Finding out their stories, where they usually sail, and how they got into Fifteens has been a highlight once ashore.
Gina Chen crews on Carbon Ffootprint (HKG 4017), usually sailing from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, and had a great day on the water, even though their choices on the first upwind leg were very different to Russell and Zeb's:
"It was awesome! A little more civilised conditions for us, as we are a lot lighter than some teams. We were really happy to get a good start and be on the right side of the shifts. We thought we needed to go left, so that's the direction we headed, and it kind of worked out!
"On the second beat we were a lot more intentional, seeing the pressure was still in the top left hand pocket, which also worked out for us. At the final windward mark I said to my skipper that everyone was going for a gybe set, and that put us on the correct side of that leg as well."
Today's sailing was much more like the conditions they usually encounter in Hong Kong as Gina described:
"We're used to a little flatter water than this, but when we host the Worlds in 2028 it will most likely be a lot more like this, off the side of Lamma Island with rolling waves and these sorts of conditions, so this was right in our zone today. The weekend left me pretty bruised and I had to find a pilates class on the lay day! But this is why we came here, it's been amazing."
Jen Price from New Zealand is sailing with Alana Pooley in an all-female team, and had an up and down day, picking the shifts and negotiating the swell which was left over from the stronger winds of the weekend:
"We kind of started by falling down a really huge snake, but we did find a few ladders upwind! It was challenging, but once you got into a bit of a groove and got the boat in the right position, there was enough momentum to take you over the waves. You had to be really concentrating as every time you fell off a wave you stopped."
A great contingent of Kiwis have come over to the UK for the event, and it is the atmosphere within the fleet which draws them to travel the world to attend major events:
"They're fun boats to sail first and foremost. You can hop in and go for a sail, they plane, they go fast, but the biggest thing for me is the people. It's a great group of mates and you go away to regattas and catch up with people you haven't seen since the last Worlds. We've had people from the UK come to stay with us for the night, just to catch up, who we've met at different Worlds. We went to look at Parkstone Yacht Club the other day with friends we'd met in Fremantle, so it's quite cool!
"I did my first Worlds in 2017 in Napier, and was relatively new to helming at that point - I still am compared to most of this fleet - and the camaraderie has always been there, but if anything has just got better and better over the years. We'd heard all these stories about how formal things get in the UK, so we were almost disappointed that it was so relaxed!"
Philip Lawton is from Ireland, representing the Royal St. George Yacht Club with his crew Neil O'Hagan, but had a frustrating time in the lighter winds:
"We didn't have an amazing day, we got a little bit stuck on the start line, tacked off to the right, then went back left, and seemed to get on the wrong side of the shifts on the first beat."
Staying focused is key when things are going wrong, and Philip and Neil kept their cool in the conditions, and are using the whole event as an incredible learning experience:
"We talked about that quite a bit today, keeping calm, deciding on a gybe set at the windward mark, which gained us a few places, and then up the second beat we were going quite quick, picking off some shifts, only to get stuck outside someone on the final windward mark and couldn't gybe set soon enough. We did ok, but not amazing. It's a bigger fleet than what we'd normally sail in, and that causes us a few challenges, and our aim is to learn from it this week."
Greg Wells has seen it all in the Fifteens, and jokingly put a photo of himself and crew David Tulloch from the 1988 World Championship in Lowestoft on the competitor's Whatsapp group this morning, asking people to guess the year. Replies inevitably included 1948 and 1888, highlighting both the longevity of friendships in the class as well as the fun nature of the fleet. Even with his vast experience, days like today can prove a challenge:
"Things were going right for us up the first beat, coming off the pin end and working the left where we got a bit of pressure, crossing tacks with Jeremy Davy and Graham Vials. Then as we were approaching the windward mark the wind went very light, and quite a few boats came in from the right, but we thought 'that's fine', rounding tenth or eleventh. We gybe set, but lost a bit down the run, and unfortunately got forced out to the south on the next beat and ran out of wind, which lost us a lot of places which was very frustrating. We kept our heads together and managed to get five or six places back, so it wasn't too bad in the end."
Race Officer Woodsy was quick to raise AP over A, sending the fleet ashore, which proved a wise decision as both Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour gained a mirror-like surface for the rest of the afternoon. With a similar forecast for Wednesday the start time has been brought forward to 11am to try and make the most of the wind while it's there, and squeeze in three races if conditions allow.
More information on the event noticeboard.
Full results so far here.