The recent 2024 Nationals hosted by Strangford Loch Yacht Club in Northern Ireland provided some great sailing for all competitors. It was interesting to see (by my count) six sail makers represented and each with at least one boat in the top ten!
Leading the pack was Graham Vials sailing on North Sails, I believe for the first time in a Flying Fifteen. North are the only sail makers to utilise a full radial cut on their mains, but the other stand out feature for me is the larger window which massively improves leeward visibility. North Sails have been producing and refining their Flying Fifteen sails for several years now with Richard Whitworth representing the company out of Poole. Graham and Chris were sailing North’s latest FR3 mainsail design, optimised for lighter crews, as well as North’s standard ‘off-the-shelf’ jib and spinnaker designs.
The next boat home was Ian Pinnell sailing with his P&B Sails. There is a subtle difference in the newer P&B sails which have visibly narrower seams on the main and jib, to help induce and stabilise sail shape. Ian mentioned that their latest design is working really well with the narrower sheeting angles on modern boats. They’ve been busy installing the Allen Brothers jib track system on all their new boats and retrofitting others, so that the sails literally match the boat. Impressively, four of the top ten boats sailed with P&Bs.
The Hyde Sails race boat took third position, sailed by Ben McGrane who was also testing new sail designs. Ben is sailing with two jibs – one optimised for lighter air and inboard sheeting, and a flatter design with less leech return which helps keeps the slot open and minimises backwinding in stronger winds. Ben was also trialling a new mainsail, with a radial top section, reduced luff curve and an increased broad seam – improving effective downwind sail canvas without compromising upwind performance. The spinnaker is also a departure from Richie’s long-standing design, with a full radial panel layout.
Andy Tunnicliffe came in sixth, sailing his own Impact Marine sails. Andy is a relatively new joiner to the Flying Fifteen fleet and has brought a wealth of ideas into the class. Many of these ideas could be seen in the thoughtful fit out of his new boat, which was displayed on the class stand at the RYA Dinghy Show earlier in the year. On the sails side, he’s has been working hard on developing a competitive sail plan and his consistently good results over the past few years show that this is going well. Andy is targeting the 2025 FF Worlds in Weymouth and has been getting faster at every qualifying event.
With Steve Goacher and Jeremy Davy both missing from this year’s Nationals, Pete and Jo Allam sailed the first Goacher Sails powered boat home. Their 8th place won Jo the trophy for first female placing. Steve Goacher remains involved with sail designs even with Chris Robinson taking the reigns at the Windermere based loft a couple of years ago. The current designs are refinement of past success, with recent focus on a new jib optimised for both flat and choppy waters.
Shane MacCarthy finished 9th overall on HD Sails, another loft that has come back to the Flying Fifteen fleet and is clearly making very competitive sails. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Andy Davis in the Flying Fifteen fleet, but interesting to see the radial clew and top section utilised in his main and jib designs. Again, the goal is to stabilise the sail shape across wind strengths and there’s no question that Shane was competitive in all conditions. As far as I could see, HD Sails were the only sailmaker producing a fully cross cut spinnaker – obviously optimised for the predominantly windward-leeward championship courses.
There aren’t many fleets with such a wealth of sailmakers supporting the class, and even fewer producing so many competitive boats as we see in the UKFFA fleets. In case you’re considering a new suit, here’s the contact list of UK based sailmakers that were represented at the Nationals. Thanks to each of them for their assistance in writing this note.
North Sails - Richard Whitworth - 07841 233 637 - [email protected]
P&B - Ian Pinnell - 01604 592 808 - [email protected]
Hyde Sails - Ben McGrane - 07421 065 527 - [email protected]
Goacher Sails - Chris Robinson - 01539 488 686 - [email protected]
Impact Marine - Andy Tunnicliff - 01524 237 183 - [email protected]
HD Sails - Andy Davis - 01213 562 175 - [email protected]
All photos are from the UKFFA Nationals at Strangford Lough Yacht Club and courtesy of Simon McIlwaine at WavelengthImage.