We were very pleased to be asked to go to Cockermouth in Cumbria to begin measurement of the Ginger Boats Dingwall Flying Fifteen Hull.  The company was founded by Phil Hodgkins in late 2011 and has a fantastic reputation for building wooden GP14's.  The company has developed and grown its reputation into repair and refurbishing boats using composite materials.  They also manufacture bespoke items for many classes of boat, as Phil told us when we visited building boats was the next logical step.  The company has recently been strengthened by the recent appointment of Alex Leonard (another skilled boat builder) as a director of the company last year.  Phil and Alex have recently won contracts to produce solo hulls for Rooster and RS200 hulls for RS Sailing.

The early results in the pictures attached to this article look very promising indeed; Phil tells us he has made a few changes to the traditional Dingwall internal layout, designing a new console as can also be seen in the pictures. 

In conversation with Phil, he tells us that they have committed themselves to the Flying Fifteen class and have three hulls currently in production, one each for Phil and Alex who will be campaigning their boats on the circuit and one for a sailmaker (yet to be revealed) who will also campaign his boat on the circuit. Phil tells us that he will be sailing with his regular GP14 helm Andy Smith, together they have been very successful in that class so we will be watching with interest as they begin their campaign.

These are indeed very interesting times for the class with a new builder coming in with a new option to the Ovington Hull that has been so dominant in the class in recent years. The future is very definitely bright, the future is Flying Fifteen.

For more details on Ginger Boats please contact the company via their website.