Flying Fifteens enjoy the snow at Bewl
by Richard Lovering, Hyde Sails 3 Apr 2013 11:42 BST
23-24 March 2013
Richard Lovering and Matt Alvarado warming up during the Flying Fifteen open at Bewl © Hyde Sails
The Hyde team, sailing GBR3955, won the Flying Fifteen Open Meeting at Bewl Valley SC – the third round of the UKGlobal National Ranking Series. Richard Lovering shares the team's story from the event.
Unfortunately, the forecast put many teams off before the weekend arrived, as did the actual conditions on Saturday morning, as much of the country experienced both snow and cold temperatures. Undeterred, nine boats made the best of the warm welcome from BVSC and launched for a 1pm start. It was well worth it.
The plan detailed in the briefing was for two races on Saturday afternoon, both to be around an hour in duration. The Race Officer and his team set a good windward leeward course; Multiple laps and an upwind gate in each lap made for great racing. After a three-way battle in the first half of the race, GBR3953 won the first contest, the Hyde team in GBR3955 came in second with GBR4014 third. In the second race, with a better feel for the shifts, GBR3955 won after another three-way battle and numerous laps.
Sunday arrived and was colder... much colder, with two inches of snow on the boats and a wind chill well below zero. A slightly reduced fleet launched for three shorter races, around 35 minutes each, using the same windward-leeward format with an upwind gate. GBR4014 won the first race of the day controlling the left hand side of the course. Race two was won by the Hyde team going away after starting under the fleet on starboard and controlling the left side of the beat. It was the same story for the third and final race of the day, although under increased pressure from GBR4014.
The Hyde team won the event counting three first places and one second, discarding a second. The weekend's racing was great fun despite the cold temperatures, and everyone agreed Bewl is one of the most picturesque venues in the UK.
The Hyde FF team is now ranked number one in the UKGlobal-sponsored national series. The next event is the Burnham SC open meeting on April 13-14.
For the full results see www.bewlvalleysc.co.uk/sail/open-events/. To find out more about Hyde's Flying 15 sails, contact or see the class pages www.hydesails.co.uk/keelboat/flying-15-sails