Flying Fifteen Europeans at Pollença, Spain - Days 1 & 2
by Greg Wells 17 Sep 2014 12:53 BST
14-19 September 2014
A good fleet of Flying Fifteens from the UK, Ireland and Spain have assembled at the beautiful town of Pollença on the north side of Mallorca for the 2014 European Championships.
On day 1, Monday 15th September, the sailors were greeted with glorious sunshine and a good 12 knot breeze from the east but shortly before the start time the wind shifted to the north and the course was reset by the efficient race team. Two windward/leeward course were duly raced in tricky and shifty conditions. Steve Goacher and Phil Evans showed their mastery of such conditions to record a first and a second and winning the first race by quite some distance. David McKee and Andrew Weatherspoon sailed consistently to record two thirds. Greg Wells and Richard Rigg managed to work they way into the lead for race 2 and once there extended for a solid win.
Day 2 and again glorious conditions and a 15 knot breeze from the east which this time held to give the competitors a perfect sailing day and in both races the fleet remained very bunched with much place changing. Goacher/Evans won race 1 with Wells/Rigg pipping McKee/Weatherspoon into 2nd. The wind dropped to less than 10 knots in race 2 and there were lanes of pressure giving everyone an opportunity to excel. In such conditions Mckee/Weatherspoon sailed brilliantly to lead form start to finish. Behind them, any of ten boats were challenging for 2nd and 3rd which eventually went to Goacher/Evans then Wells/Rigg. Michael Clough and Alan Green from the local fleet had a great race amongst the leading pack and finished a good 6th.
Results so far can be found here.
www.flyingfifteen.net