Flying Fifteens at TheYachtMarket.com Southampton Boat Show
by Bobby Salmond 27 Sep 2018 15:59 BST
14-23 September 2018
Flying Fifteens at TheYachtMarket.com Southampton Boat Show © Bobby Salmond
In addition to our usual presence at the RYA Dinghy Show the Flying Fifteen class also chose to exhibit at the Southampton Boat Show for the first time in 2018, and this proved to be a huge success thanks to the ample number of Fifteeners who volunteered to run the stand over the full ten days of the show, and to Richard Drabble's 'Fram Freyr', GBR 4046 which was on loan for the show.
We secured a very good deal for the stand, in a prominent location near to the main entrance. Several hundred people came to chat about the class and over 60 requests for trial sails were logged, now being cascaded to class captains nearest to the interested sailors. Interest was shown by a wide cross section of sailors, those moving up from dinghies, to those returning to racing after career/family priorities, and those with bigger boats wanting also to sail an easily managed keelboat within the cut and thrust of a competitive fleet. On display were the reasons to sail a Flying Fifteen, a list of open meetings and championships and a map of clubs where Flying Fifteens are sailed.
The boat looked great in the Association's purpose made display cradle, allowing visitors easily to see inside the boat without needing step ladders. The Association wishes to thank all those involved in supporting this initiative including Mike Dixon, Mike Kilbee, Phil Tinsley, Andrew Milband, Chris Evans, Steve and Lisa Randle, Richard Drabble, Christina Moncur, Andrew Rutherford, Mark Hart and Brett & Jan Dingwall.