Flying 15s at the Ovington Inlands

Flying 15s at the Ovington Inlands © Errol Edwards

The 2022 Flying 15 Open Meeting circuit started in glorious weather at the Ovington Inlands at Grafham Water over the weekend of the 19th & 20th March 2022. Bright sunshine, not a cloud in sight and solid 20 knots from the East blowing straight down the reservoir. Grafham's superb boat house team launched the 12 boats with their tractor and all the crews kept their feet dry.

Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas have spent the last 20 years sailing 15s together culminating in winning the UK Nationals in 2012. This was their first event sailing apart, Simon helming for Ashleigh Painter and Dave crewing for Shane McCartney - Who would have bragging rights ?

Flying 15s at the Ovington Inlands - photo © Errol Edwards

Ian Pinnell & Ian Cadwallader had a slight edge in boat handling and downwind speed, just pipping Shane & Dave to the gun in the first 3 races. In Saturday's fourth and final race, tiredness and general ineptitude from the two Ian's resulted in a port and starboard 720 penalty, when ducking Shane provided a well deserved race win for Shane & Dave. Simon & Ashleigh showed flashes of brilliance and speed throughout the day, but struggled for any sort of consistency.

Much to the battered and bruised crews relief, Sunday dawned with lighter winds with large variations in both its strength and direction. John Hansen & Helen Selden showed the fleet the transom of their new P&B boat, their lead growing on every leg of the 3 lap windward / leeward course. Buoyed in confidence from their race win, John & Helen tried (and spectacularly failed) to win the pin at the start of race 5, leaving Shane & Dave to lead the fleet. They were pressured all the way round by Alasdair & Lauren Stevenson showing that in the right hands, a well sailed Ovington mark 9 can be blisteringly fast. The pressure proved too much for Shane and they sailed to the finish a lap early and dropped to 3rd. Simon Kneller confirmed later that lap counting was a responsibility too much for his former crew.

Flying 15s at the Ovington Inlands - photo © Errol Edwards

Alasdair & Lauren went one place better comfortably winning the last race, with Jonathon & Trish Knight having their best race and rounding off the podium in third. The fleet just managing to finish before the breeze shut off entirely.

Overall Pinnell & Cadwallader won the event with a race to spare. And the Kneller / Lucas bragging rights ? They went to Dave Lucas ........ But don't let him count the number of laps!

Overall Results: