Flying Fifteen National Championship 2026 at Tees and Hartlepool Yacht Club - Days 1 & 2
by UK Flying Fifteen Association 12 Jul 10:57 BST
9-12 July 2026
The UK Flying Fifteen fleet, along with several boats from Ireland and one from Australia, have gathered at Tees & Hartlepool Yacht Club for their 2026 National Championship. It's been over thirty years since a F15 championship has been held at the club and we have immensely enjoyed the welcome we've received both from the club itself and it's own resurgent F15 Flying Fifteen fleet.
It's also noticeable how many crews at the event are taking part in their first Flying Fifteen Nationals, and it's also good to see the range of boats competing, everything from the the sixty-year-old Flying Fifteen of Mick Scholes (sail number UK419), right up to the brand-new-first-time-on-the-water boat of Ian Cadwallader (sail number GBR4152).
Coinciding with (yet another!) UK heatwave the event so far has been blessed with warm and sunny weather but also light winds, and indeed the first day was lost entirely as the minimum 5mph windspeed required by the championship regulations failed to materialise during the tide window available - however the Race Officer's sensible decision to raise the abandonment flag early was praised by the competitors who were then released to spend the rest of the day exploring the area with their families.
Day two began with a much better wind but with a fluctuating sea haze that reduced visibility across the race area and led to the fleet being held ashore until it cleared. Fortunately the slipway was opened after a delay of only around an hour and two good races were then held. Unusually for the Flying Fifteen championships the general recall flag remained stowed all day, the line and course being square and the fleet behaving itself.
The first race saw the boats that went left on the first beat come out narrowly ahead at the first mark, that of Ian Cadwallader & Steve Graham leading around the windward mark, then gybing around the spreader and setting-off down the run chased closely by Jeremy Davy & Martin Huett. These two crews maintained these positions for the rest of the race, followed home in third place by the Irish boat of John Lavery & Alan Green of National YC.
By the time the second race started the consensus amongst the top crews was that the turning tide would favour the right-hand side of the first beat and a great deal of tacking and stern-ducking was evident after the start as crews fought their way out to that side of the course. Much of this would turn out to have been in vain, however, as once again the left side seemed to pay - although a significant wind shift as the fleet approached the first mark also caused some re-shuffling of the order.
The majority of the fleet this time chose a bear-away spinnaker hoist and an inshore route down the run, with opinions differing after the race about the importance and effect of the tide. This time Lavery & Green led the fleet home, followed by another Irish boat - that of Emma Pierce and Ian Smyth, with the consistent Cadwallader & Graham, in third.
So after two races Lavery & Green currently lead overall, but with the possibility of four races on Saturday and a further two on Sunday everything is still to play for.
Results so far [PDF]