Isn’t it great that we’re back sailing? Both the open and the club sailing years are well underway, and the boat park is filled with the chatter and camaraderie that Flying 15 sailing brings. Royal Windermere YC’s hosting of our Northern Championships was a fine example of this, with Dave Heron and his large team of helpers laying on a great event. Now, somethings don’t change…. Steve Goacher and Tim continuing where they left off from pre-covid by winning the event, but they were pushed hard by Jeremy Davy & Martin and the Tullet’s who had a storming series.  However, the main point to take away was the hard work and preplanning put in by the host club, such as re-organising the boat park to make launching simple and hosting the event evening meal meant that everyone had a great time.  There is a cost to this, and Dave Heron and Keith generously sacrificed some of their races to make sure the event ran smoothly – on behalf of the association, a sincere thank you.
 
Hayling Island are hosting our Nationals between the 7^th and 10^th July. It’s a great club, set up for sailing with really excellent facilities from the club restaurant and accommodation to the choice of racecourses and committee boats. Mark Nicholson is the event coordinator and we all can help him by pre-entering here….
 
https://www.hisc.co.uk/sailing/open-events/f15-national-championship/
 
When Hayling Bay is good – it’s really good. It's a place where, even if you’ve had a shocker of a race, the sail back over the bar will cheer you up. So, come and join us. There’s even an early bird discount fee for entries before 7^th June.

 

This coming weekend, we have the class inland championship at Grafham Water. Not only is it our third qualification event for the Australian worlds, it is also the classic and silver nationals. There’s a separate start for the fleets, but there should be a great mix of boats in the boat park proving ample material to discuss the latest trends on inboard sheeting together with the perennial favourites such as ‘chute or bags?’ and ‘twin or single poles?’. The forecast is currently looking good too with 8 – 15 knots from the north all weekend and more importantly no rain. So, there’s no excuses!!
 
Further on in June brings the Southerns to Parkstone. Poole is a beautiful venue with easy launching, new clubhouse, sail out past the millionaires on Sandbanks and great sailing in the bay – but do mind the chain ferry!  
 
What about the Europeans at Cowes in August? This is a fun event, wet sailed and incorporates the 75^th Anniversary race on Tuesday 23^rd August. There’s already a healthy entry list with entries from UK, Spain, Belgium and that European enclave of Hong Kong – welcome Sam.
 
Intersperse this with Opens (Llangorse, Burton, Middle Nene & Bassenthwaite) and Regatta weeks means there’s Flying 15 sailing for everyone.
 
And so to Cad’s top tip …..
 
Helms – if you’re attending an event for the first time, do remember the 15 is two-person boat and give your crew plenty of warning and time to complete their tasks. As the picture below shows a gybe doesn’t have to take place right on the mark and a flat and stable platform does make the crews job easier and gets the job done quicker



Crews – communicate back to your helm. A lot of them are men and they can’t multitask. Treat them like an idiot and remind them of such things as where the next mark is, what colour is it, how many laps, boats coming across on opposite tacks. Trust me, helms can muck up even the most obvious and simple things!
 
See you on the water
 
Ian Cadwallader – GBR 4055