Flying Fifteen National Championships at Parkstone Yacht Club - Days 1 & 2

Day 2 of the Flying Fifteen National Championships at Parkstone © Ian Roman / www.ianroman.com

The UKFFA National Championships 2019 at Parkstone Yacht Club is supported by UK Global.

Day 1 - Wednesday 24 July - sponsored by Mar-Key Group

Race 1: The weather gods were certainly kind to the fleet today. blue skies moderate warm winds and lots and lots of sunshine.

For race 1 Race Officer Bryan Drake and his team set 3 laps of a windward leeward course, the fleet got away on time and (unbelievably!) first time.

4071 Vials and Turner soon stamped their authority on the fleet and took the lead, local boat 4020 Whitworth and Scroggie were having none of it and pressed hard but were unable to overhaul the leaders.

Race 2: Again the fleet got away first time on a race shortened to 2 laps of the windward Leeward course, this time Vials and Turner established a lead and extended to a comfortable lead for the rest of the race.

The fleet returned to shore, for Parkstone hospitality and the daily prize giving sponsored by Ringwood Brewery and Magic Marine.

Day 2 of the Flying Fifteen National Championships at Parkstone - photo © Ian Roman / www.ianroman.com

Day 2 - Thursday 25 July - sponsored by Bournemouth Digital

Local knowledge or tactical racing?

Three races were scheduled on what was expected to be the hottest day of the year, a day that turned out to be 'a race officers nightmare'. Luckily a light haze of thundery cloud kept sailors cool whilst on shore holiday makers sizzled but the breeze turned out to be a real challenge for competitors.

The fleet of 47 Flying Fifteens from all corners of the UK headed out of Poole Harbour in a light 7 - 8 knot breeze. By the time they had assembled for the first race of the day the light breeze was fading and swinging by anything from 110 - 150 degrees.

After about 30 mins of trying to set a windward/leeward race course the PRO Bryan Drake managed to start race 3 of the Championship in a fickle breeze struggling to reach more than 6 knots. As 'sods law' dictates, seconds after the start gun was fired, there was a big shift to the right which some of the local Parkstone YC sailors took full advantage of.

Richard Whitworth and Ben Scroggie (Parkstone YC & Hollingworth Lake SC) rounded the windward mark with a handsome lead over fellow PYC sailors David Tabb and Chewey Sherrell with Mark Weston and Andrew Weatherspoon (West Riding SC) in third. The early pace setters had already left a big gap to the rest of the fleet which included a number of the regatta favourites including first day regatta leaders, Graham Vials and Chris Turner (Derwent Reservoir/Lyme Regis SC) and current world champions, Steve Goacher and Tim Harper (RWYC/WLSC).

With some tidal influence the downwind runs where quite a struggle especially for the bigger crews, of which there are many in this fleet!

The patchy wind shifted one way and then the other, demanding maximum concentration which leaders Richard Whitworth/Ben Scroggie took in their stride to open up an even bigger margin on lap 2 comfortably winning race 3 of the regatta from David Tabb/Chewey Sherrell. Moving up to third was Richard Lovering and Matt Alvarado (Hayling Island SC/WYC). Other worthy performances included Peter and Jo Allam (Parkstone YC) with a 4th, their best result of the championship, and Brett Dingwall and Tim Scarisbrick (Aldenham SC) with their 5th.

Graham Vials/Chris Turner recovered to finish 12th with Steve Goacher/Tim Harper on his tail in 13th. A number of other top ranked teams had to make do with double digit results.

The faint breeze shut down for lunch and reformed in a SE sector tempting the PRO to try a second race. Alas a similar story, just as the fleet got under way under the U flag, the pendulum began to swing as the soft breeze ebbed and flowed from 2 - 6 knots. Early on the right again looked favoured however this time a big shift to the left and an increase in pressure favoured a few brave souls who chanced their luck at the pin end of the line going hard left. The two 'Classic' boats, Bobby Salmond and Will Morris (Royal Northern YC) and Nicholas Mark Heath and Philippa Noon (Cam SC) where two boats who chanced their luck but pushed the envelope a bit too far (a real case of banging the corner!)

Day 2 of the Flying Fifteen National Championships at Parkstone - photo © Ian Roman / www.ianroman.com

The F15 that did come out smiling was another local Parkstone boat helmed by Simon Spolton and crew Grant Murphy, followed by yet more locals in Adrian Tattersall and Richard Popper. Impressively third to round was the visitors all the way from South Africa, Campbell Alexander and Jeremy Kriek from the Royal Natal YC.

By the time the majority of the fleet had got round the windward mark the leaders had sailed in a big arc struggling to make headway against the tidal flow with spinnakers drooping. At this point the PRO decided to put wilting competitors out of their misery and shorten the race with a finish after only 1 lap.

Simon Spolton/Grant Murphy were just able to hold off the attention of David Tabb/Chewey Sherrell who had sailed the angles of the downwind leg superbly to close on to their transom. Locals Adrian Tattersall/Richard Popper made it a full PYC podium. Justin Waples and Jackie McKellar (RCYC) finished admirably in 4th and the former world champions Vials/Turner recovering to 5th. The South Africans held on for 6th.

At the halfway stage in the regatta Tabb/Sherrell lead the regatta with 17pts followed by Whitworth/Scroggie 18pts and Vials/Turner 19pts. There is then a big gap to Chris and Tom Waples (HISC) on 36pts.

There was little appetite for any more racing so the fleet was towed ashore for refreshment and the Championship dinner sponsored by UK Global.

Four races are scheduled on Friday with a slightly later start time of 12 noon. Lets hope a sea breeze can show up to cool down competitors and hot up the competition for the podium places.

Day 2 of the Flying Fifteen National Championships at Parkstone - photo © Ian Roman / www.ianroman.com

Results after day 2: