I used to think that those who sailed throughout the winter were a tough bunch who felt no pain and who excelled in a strong breeze. However, the experience from Chew’s current frostbite series is that the 2022 winter sailor is a light airs specialist, without a frozen jib sheet in sight ! During this series, Chew have introduced windward / leeward courses and they have certainly kept the fleet tightly compact with the result that the racing is anything but processional. I especially enjoy the challenge of calling whether to gybe at the windward mark – lifted on starboard approaching a port hand windward mark ? it’s probably worth a gybe. It’s also worth looking behind for wind too and putting the 15 into that stronger pressure. Both of which, I’ve found out to my cost.
I hope to test out some of this new found knowledge at the Ovington Inlands at Grafham Water on 19th / 20th March. It’s our first open meeting of the season and a really good venue. A lot of the fleet stay in Huntingdon, The George Hotel and the Weatherspoons Hotel are good bets for accommodation. There’s also plenty of B & B’s but not all 15 crews are allowed back in these. Then, the open season really kicks in with Bewl, Datchet, Windermere and Chew. The opens are great fun and I know only one team can win, but the camaraderie you experience is fantastic and it really does sharpen your sailing skills. Trust me, on inland waters – there’s very little difference in boat speed between a well sailed 3200 boat and the latest Ovington / Ginger. Who remembers Brett and Ben Dingwall’s 2nd place in 2018 inlands at Grafham in 397 ? Have a look at the famous names behind them…
Before the Opens, we have the Dinghy Show at Farnborough International over the weekend of 26-27th February and this is a great opportunity to catchup and view some of the latest 'Fifteen developments. This year, we’re lucky to have two 15’s on our stand, Jeremy Arnolds’ Ovington 10 and Andy Tunnicliffe’s Ginger Boats/ Impact Marine. Do come and see us and if you have a couple of hours to help out on the stand – we’ll be happy to provide you with a free ticket, get in contact with Keith Jamieson.
New boats are progressing well, with the builders struggling to find room to fit them out - see the super picture below from last week at P&B showing progress. There was a wicked rumour that even Ian Pinnell had picked up the tools – but, the chisel was swiftly taken off him as he was using it to screw in the jib cleats.
This week, Flying 15 international have published the 2022 rules which take affect from the 1st March 2022. Changes include provision to remove the requirement to carry anchors in a notice of race and the increase in the number of sails that can be purchased in a season (that’ll cheer Ritchie Lovering up !). We’re still awaiting the new measurement forms and the proposal on how to manage the re-weighing of boats when removing correctors. So, please don’t take any lead out of your boat yet ! We are on it.
Further on in the season are the Nationals at Hayling and the Europeans at Cowes. I know 4 or 5 Spanish teams looking to charter for Cowes – please get in contact with me if your boat is available.
It would be great to see large fleets at these fantastic events, and I look forward to catching up with you on the water
Ian Cadwallader
Flying 15 4055