There is much interest in the class at the moment with this being a World Championship year, being held in the UK at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy in August, which was reflected in the entry for the event.

A total of 22 visiting boats from all parts of the UK and Ireland, made the journey to Windermere to join 13 boats from the home fleet, all in all an excellent entry of 35 boats.

Saturday dawned bright with the promise of some breeze, but as the crews began to rig, the Lake was flat calm. However as forecast the wind F2-3 filled in from the SW and Race Officer Steve Bewsher made the decision to take the fleet out into the North basin. After a short postponement while the breeze settled a little, a windward / leeward course was set for the afternoon's racing. The fleet were keen to get going, resulting in a general recall in race 1, after which a little more discipline was shown by the fleet.

Local hero and 4-time World Champion Steve Goacher, crewed by Tim Harper took the win in Race 1, but it was Andy McKee and Rich Jones from Dovestone who stamped their authority on the fleet winning races 2 and 3 on Saturday afternoon. It was very close at the top of the leaderboard on Saturday evening as the crews enjoyed RWYC hospitality in the bar and restaurant and exchanged stories of a very close and competitive day's racing.

Sunday dawned much cooler than forecast with a little mist around the Lake. It was back to woolly hat weather for many of the sailors. The forecast was for more wind than Saturday and sunshine later in the morning. Two races were scheduled, and the first got away in light SW winds very similar to Saturday. Andy Mckee and Rich Jones completed their hat trick by winning race 4 from another RWYC pair, Tony Woods and Andrew Davey, with Steve Goacher and Tim Harper third.

So, it was all to play for in the final race. By now the wind was filling in with some testing gusts and shifts particularly in the vicinity of the windward mark. Excluding discards, at the start of the final race there was a 6-point gap between Andy McKee and Steve Goacher. However, it was Steve and Tim who mastered the conditions to take the win from John Hanson and Helen Selden (RYA). Andy and Rich finished 6th and which put them second overall, one point behind Steve and Tim. As Andy alluded to in the bar afterwards, it was probably the first open meeting where he and Rich had won 3 races and not the event overall.

With the generosity of our sponsors, Goacher Sails and Maiden Marine this was a hugely successful event and wonderful showcase for Royal Windermere YC and its Flying 15 Fleet. We look forward to welcoming everyone back next year.

Report by Dave Heron
Photos Jane Legge

Flying Fifteen Northern Area Championship & Lakeland Grand Prix 2025,

Royal Windermere Yacht Club

Results are final as of 10:02 on April 30, 2025

Rank	Sail Number	Helm	Crew	Helms Sailing Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5		Total	Nett
1st	4021	Steve Goacher	Tim Harper	RWYC	1.0	3.0	(13.0)	3.0	1.0		21.0	8.0
2nd	4005	Andy McKee	Rich Jones	Dovestone SC	(11.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	6.0		20.0	9.0
3rd	4102	Anthony Woods	Andrew Davey	RWYC	2.0	9.0	3.0	2.0	(19.0)		35.0	16.0
4th	4065	David Mckee	Mal Hartland	Dovestone SC	5.0	4.0	2.0	(10.0)	5.0		26.0	16.0
5th	4143	Charles Apthorp	Charlie Apthorp	HISC	8.0	2.0	5.0	(18.0)	3.0		36.0	18.0
6th	4031	Nigel Tullett	Jean Tullett	RWYC	6.0	6.0	4.0	(11.0)	11.0		38.0	27.0
7th	4094	John Hanson	Helen Selden	Rya	13.0	5.0	9.0	(20.0)	2.0		49.0	29.0
8th	4037	Neville Herbert	Mark Fowler	Lymington Town Sailing Club	3.0	13.0	7.0	7.0	(18.0)		48.0	30.0
9th	4110	Phil Snewin	Ros Snewin	Royal Windermere Yacht Club	(14.0)	10.0	11.0	6.0	4.0		45.0	31.0
10th	4124	Andy Tunnicliffe	Ian Hopwood	Bassenthwaite Sailing Club	10.0	7.0	8.0	(16.0)	9.0		50.0	34.0
11th	3632	David Wilkinson	Chris Robinson	BFYC / RWYC	4.0	8.0	21.0	4.0	(27.0)		64.0	37.0
12th	3886	Nathan Bachelor	Richard Rigg	Tynemouth SC	9.0	11.0	(14.0)	9.0	8.0		51.0	37.0
13th	3903	Gary Stuart	John Wayling	Northampton	7.0	12.0	12.0	15.0	(17.0)		63.0	46.0
14th	4103	Julian Clarke	Nick Hampson	RWYC	12.0	14.0	(16.0)	14.0	7.0		63.0	47.0
15th	4029	Andrew Smith	Peter Smith	RWYC	(26.0)	15.0	10.0	5.0	20.0		76.0	50.0
16th	3998	John Walter	Michelle Kay	RWYC	16.0	17.0	6.0	12.0	(23.0)		74.0	51.0
17th	4130	Adrian Tattersall	John Mathie	Parkstone	18.0	16.0	17.0	(21.0)	10.0		82.0	61.0
18th	4123	Dave Heron	Keith Jamieson	RWYC	17.0	19.0	15.0	17.0	(25.0)		93.0	68.0
19th	4118	Ian Ackroyd	Mark Thompson	RWYC	15.0	18.0	18.0	(23.0)	22.0		96.0	73.0
20th	3506	Christian Barnes	Nicholas Barnes	Ullswater YC	(37.0 DNF)	21.0	19.0	26.0	12.0		115.0	78.0
21st	485	Graham Sharp	Cameron Sharp	Plockton Small Boat Sailing Club	20.0	22.0	(26.0)	22.0	15.0		105.0	79.0
22nd	3664	Keith Byers	Lisa Woods	RWYC/MSC	21.0	24.0	22.0	(27.0)	16.0		110.0	83.0
23rd	3362	Scott Train	Anne Stewart	Solway Yacht Club	27.0	23.0	24.0	13.0	(29.0)		116.0	87.0
24th	4026	Alan Green	Caroline Hanniffy	National Yacht Club	19.0	20.0	(29.0)	24.0	24.0		116.0	87.0
25th	3428	Graham Lamond	Alistair Lamond	Ripon SC	24.0	(28.0)	20.0	25.0	21.0		118.0	90.0
26th	3583	Mike Wilczynski	Jean Wilczynski	RORC	25.0	25.0	(30.0)	28.0	13.0		121.0	91.0
27th	3520	Neil Currie	Rory Yardley	Bassenthwaite S.C.	37.0 DNF	(38.0 DNC)	38.0 DNC	8.0	14.0		135.0	97.0
28th	3733	Michael Harris	Sarah Harris	B&f	22.0	30.0	27.0	19.0	(31.0)		129.0	98.0
29th	3970	Christopher Garner	Christine Garner	RWYC	23.0	29.0	25.0	(32.0)	30.0		139.0	107.0
30th	4146	Tim O'Brian	Lynne Sweeney	RWYC	(31.0)	31.0	23.0	30.0	26.0		141.0	110.0
31st	3286	Jordan Aspin	Jason Benn	Sir John Fisher SC	30.0	27.0	(31.0)	29.0	28.0		145.0	114.0
32nd	2864	Ian Shae	Sonia Kwiatkowska	Notts County SC	28.0	32.0	28.0	(33.0)	33.0		154.0	121.0
33rd	4049	Michael Day	Cathy Thompson	RWYC	29.0	26.0	32.0	(38.0 DNC)	38.0 DNC		163.0	125.0
34th	3634	Nick Richardson	Graeme Boagey	Tees & Hartlepool Yacht Club	32.0	(33.0)	33.0	31.0	32.0		161.0	128.0
35th	3641	Jon Abbatt	Chris Mulholland	Ullswater Yacht Club	(38.0 DNC)	38.0 DNC	38.0 DNC	38.0 DNC	38.0 DNC		190.0	152.0