Flying Fifteen Southern Area Championship at Parkstone Yacht Club

by Greg Wells 11 Jun 2024 14:50 BST 8-9 June 2024

An excellent entry of 57 boats rolled up to the impressive Parkstone Yacht Club for the Flying 15 Southern Area championships and 2025 Weymouth worlds qualifier.

As always, the home fleet and members led by the Rear-Commodores sailing - Christina Moncur were fantastic hosts and the facilities at Parkstone are superb not to mention the wonderful views across Poole Harbour.

On Saturday, the fleet ventured out into Poole Bay with a very unstable WNW breeze blowing down over Canford Cliffs. There were 40-degree shifts and lots of holes and gusts to look out for - A race officers nightmare!

PRO Roger Hakes did his best to find a mean direction and racing was under way after a bit of a postponement. Inevitably the U flag was soon deployed.

It was extremely difficult sailing, firstly trying to find a clear lane with 58 boats vying for position and then secondly trying to predict the next shift and gust. Those who ended up on the edges of the course were going from "hero to zero" or "zero to hero"!

Ben McGrane ably crewed by Scott Dawson gave a masterclass in handling these incredibly difficult conditions by seemingly plying the shifts near the middle of the course and thereby staying in the fight so to speak and always managed to round the first mark in the top ten and from there was able to progress further up the fleet. Their day one results of 3,2,3 was remarkable and gave them a massive 13-point overnight lead from 2nd placed Jeremy Davy and Martin Huett.

Winners of Race 1 Andy McKee and Richard Jones - 4005
Winners of Race 2 Andrew Jameson and James Grant - 4060
Winners of Race 3 home team Richard Whitworth and Eddy Scroggie - 4114

The fleet returned to shore to enjoy a beer from Piddle Brewery and a Sailors' Supper in the Club House.

The forecast for Sunday morning was for no wind so the start time was delayed an hour, and the competitors were given an extra hour lie in. By all accounts, there was some who enjoyed Parkstone YC's hospitality on Saturday evening who will have welcomed this extra hour!

At the midday start time conditions in Poole Bay were a doppelganger of day one but perhaps with a little more consistency in the strength of breeze but the shifts were just as big!

Race 4 start and the tide flowing from Old Harry Rocks was pushing boats over the line and 2 black flags starts were required. One of the casualties were Jeremy Davy and Martin Huett in 3760 which meant Ben and Scott only needed a top ten finish to win the event which they duly achieved by finishing 4th.

Richard Whitworth and Eddy Scroggie followed up their win in Race 3 with a 2nd place (should have been a first if they had read the SI's correctly and didn't go round mark 2 to port before the finish line) to put them firmly in control of 2nd overall. Ben Cooper and Richard Bundock in 3904 won race 4 and with a good last race could still pip Richard and Eddy to 2nd overall but this was not to be as they had their worst race by far!

Race 5 got away at the first attempt under the U flag which just Paul Busby and Neil Barford in 3918 falling foul and they went home for an early bath. In this race, it was the boats who headed for Bournemouth who came in smelling of roses with Simon Kneller and Ashley Painter in 4113 leading closely followed by FFI Commodore Chris Waples crewed by Simon Weatherill in 4061. These two sailed off into the distance with Chris and Simon overhauling Simon and Ashley to take the win. Greg Wells and David Tulloch in 4112 made a good recovery to finish 3rd in this race which projected them to 3rd overall.

So, a difficult regatta, but what great racing with so many different boats having their moment of glory and five different race winners. Also, this was the 2nd Southern Area championships in a row where the overall winner did not win a race.

The Flying 15 class really is in rude health at the moment.

Thanks again to Parkstone YC and all the volunteers for another excellent weekend.

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	Red	4002	Ben McGrane	Scott Dawson	Netley SC	3	2	3	4	‑13	12
2nd	Red	4114	Richard Whitworth	Eddy Scroggie	Parkstone Yacht Club	8	‑14	1	2	12	23
3rd	Red	4112	Greg Wells	David Tulloch	Hayling Island SC	‑24	17	4	8	3	32
4th	Red	4124	Andy Tunnicliffe	Ian Hopwood	Bassenthwaite SC	4	4	‑24	14	14	36
5th	Red	4126	Ian Pinnell	Ian Cadwallader	Hayling Island SC	12	5	‑16	10	10	37
6th	Red	3760	Jeremy Davy	Martin Huett	Dovestone SC	10	3	8	(BFD)	22	43
7th	Blue	4080	Simon Patterson	Simon Thompson	Draycote Water SC	18	‑28	5	16	4	43
8th	Red	4005	Andy McKee	Richard Jones	Dovestone SC	1	24	‑36	12	9	46
9th	Red	4061	Chris Waples	Simon Weatherill	Hayling Island SC	23	18	‑27	7	1	49
10th	Red	4116	Shane MacCarthy	Andy Thompson	Greystones SC	13	‑27	12	5	19	49
11th	Red	3904	Ben Cooper	Richard Bundock	Royal Thames Yacht Club	2	11	(BFD)	1	36	50
12th	Red	4065	David Mckee	Mal Hartland	Dovestone SC	9	10	14	17	‑31	50
13th	Red	4052	Andy Brewer	Chewey Sherrell	Parkstone Yacht Club	6	21	11	13	(RET)	51
14th	Red	4060	Andrew Jameson	James Grant	WYC	17	1	‑42	9	27	54
15th	Blue	4104	Simon Childs	Kato	Hayling Island SC	7	13	‑41	20	16	56
16th	Red	3793	Pete Allam	Jo Allam	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑20	7	19	15	17	58
17th	Blue	4113	Simon Kneller	Ashley Painter	Grafham Water Sailing Club	14	22	‑39	23	2	61
18th	Green	3850	Peter Hoyle	Stephen Moncur	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑30	23	13	22	5	63
19th	Green	4037	Neville Herbert	Mark Fowler	Lymington Town SC	19	‑34	31	3	15	68
20th	Blue	4020	Graham Scroggie	Ben Scroggie	Parkstone Yacht Club	33	15	(RET)	19	7	74
21st	Blue	3918	Paul Busby	Neil Barford	Northampton/Hayling Island SC	27	12	9	27	(UFD)	75
22nd	Blue	4102	Anthony Woods	Josh Hamer	Royal Windemere Yacht Club	11	33	10	24	(RET)	78
23rd	Red	4033	Justin Waples	Jackie McKellar	RCYC & RHYC	29	6	18	26	‑34	79
24th	Green	3903	Gary Stuart	Tom Evans	Northampton	40	‑46	7	31	6	84
25th	Green	4016	Roberta Hartley	Simon Crowther	Parkstone Yacht Club	35	‑48	23	11	18	87
26th	Green	3914	Adrian Tattersall	John Mathie	Parkstone Yacht Club	32	9	21	‑33	29	91
27th	Blue	3953	Robert Hogben	Glyn Morgan	Bewl Valley Association	16	26	‑43	28	21	91
28th	Red	4017	Dave Lucas	Harry Lucas	Grafham Water SC	5	8	22	(DNC)	DNC	93
29th	Red	4058	Jon Gorringe	Kelly Aaron	Parkstone Yacht Club	31	‑44	17	21	28	97
30th	Blue	4115	Ian Linder	Michael Linder	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑44	37	6	30	25	98
31st	Blue	4088	Geof Gibbons	Nick Gibbons	Parkstone Yacht Club	28	‑42	34	29	11	102
32nd	Blue	4030	Alastair Stevenson	David Culpan	Hayling Island SC	26	30	26	25	(RET)	107
33rd	Blue	4082	Richard Jordan	Ian Finley	WYC/HISC/RTYC/CCYC	22	20	‑40	40	26	108
34th	Blue	3884	Mark Nicholson	Steve Culpitt	Hayling Island Sailing Club	25	25	2	(DNC)	DNC	110
35th	Red	4094	John Hanson	Helen Selden	RYA	21	‑45	29	37	23	110
36th	Green	4027	Michael Clapp	Howard Shawyer	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑52	31	44	6	35	116
37th	Blue	4101	Crispin Read Wilson	Steve Brown	Parkstone Yacht Club	15	16	30	(DNC)	DNC	119
38th	Green	4091	Jeremy Arnold	Richard Hope	Notts County SC / Draycote SC	36	‑54	15	32	37	120
39th	Green	3912	Charlie McKee	Johnny Assheton	Hayling Island SC	‑51	19	37	34	33	123
40th	Blue	3922	Ian Zimmerman	Mike Barton	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑56	32	25	42	24	123
41st	Green	3901	Peter Biggs	Yung Leung	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑55	40	49	35	8	132
42nd	Green	4036	Dick Linford	Richard Popper	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑50	36	20	43	42	141
43rd	Blue	3764	Duncan Matthew	Chris Spark	Aldeburgh YC/WSC	41	‑53	45	38	20	144
44th	Blue	4069	Bill Chard	Josh Preater	Chew Valley	37	43	28	36	(RET)	144
45th	Green	3974	Ann Keates	John Keates	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑45	39	38	39	30	146
46th	Green	4019	Steve Randle	Lisa Randle	Parkstone Yacht Club	‑49	29	35	48	39	151
47th	Green	4054	Andrew Currell	Simon Flack	Parkstone Yacht Club	39	‑41	33	41	40	153
48th	Green	4100	John Tuckwell	Graham Tuckwell	Northampton Sailing Club	54	‑56	54	18	41	167
49th	Green	3936	Andrew Clark	Peter Verver	Parkstone Yacht Club	46	‑47	46	47	32	171
50th	Green	3934	Graham Davies	Homfray Vines	Parkstone Yacht Club	34	52	32	(BFD)	DNC	176
51st	Green	3536	Angus Scott	Philip Snowdon	Dracote Water SC	48	‑51	51	45	38	182
52nd	Green	3664	Keith Byers	Lisa Woods	Royal Windermere Yacht Club/MSC	43	35	48	(DNC)	DNC	184
53rd	Blue	4109	David Chandler	David Clarke	Ullswater	38	38	53	(DNC)	DNC	187
54th	Green	3758	Graham Latham	Sara Briscoe	Parkstone Yacht Club	42	55	50	44	(RET)	191
55th	Green	3751	Peter Warne	Graham Wilson	Northampton SC	53	49	52	46	(RET)	200
56th	Green	3821	Patrick Keats	Aly Baxter	Parkstone Yacht Club	47	50	47	(DNC)	DNC	202
57th	Red	3907	Charles Apthorp	Charlie Apthorp	Hayling Island SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	232

Top Blue division boat - 7th overall - 4080 Simon Patterson and Simon Thompson
Top Green division boat - 18th overall - 3850 Peter Hoyle and Stephen Moncur