Building a fleet of Flying 15s in Canada

Flying 15 © Salt Spring SC

The International Flying Fifteen Canada (IFF) started with me buying Lawrie Neish's F15 Robin Hood in Sept 2023, sailing my F15 solo (mostly going in a circle as I had no idea how to sail) and craving company, so I posted a note on social media asking if anyone had a F15 they'd like to donate to me to establish a group of women F15 sailors.

At the same time, I googled F15's internationally and found Jenny Price in Auckland NZ. Jenny told me of her NZ team of F15 sailors who had almost half women and her all-female boat. I asked if I could come to Auckland and sail with her, she agreed, and found me a spot on David McIntyre's F15 in the 2024 New Zealand Nationals competition at Wanaka!

I was over the moon, thrilled, truly a beginner but super keen to learn and had no idea what a regatta looked like. I sailed with David four times at Auckland and definitely I was a beginner!

I rode my bicycle 1700 km south to Wanaka to meet the Auckland F15 team there for the Nationals. I had a most amazing introduction to racing and Graeme Robinson kindly allowed me to shadow him as he did the fleet measuring, fabulous!

Whilst there, John Lyus contacted me to say that he had a F15 Feonix I could have, he was in Tasmania and his F15 was being looked after by Western Australia 2024 champion, John Hassen in Perth. I called John Hassen, explained to him my plan, and he thought he could find several more abandoned F15's that with a bit of work could be valuable additions to the Salt Spring Island fleet!

Richard Blaquiere (Perth) took the lead on organising the contents and shipping, with the help of 18 Perth F15 sailors!

Here are a few more links and details of that incredible part of the story:

flying15.org/News/f15s-at-saltspring-island-bc-canada
www.flying15.org.uk/news/building-a-flying-15-fleet-in-canada

Around May in 2024, Jenny Price (Auckland) volunteered to come to Salt Spring Island to teach our growing group of mainly women, how to sail a F15! Around July 2024, Lilly Grimshaw (Wanaka) built on Jenny's instruction, slowly building capacity in the beginner F15 fleet. July 4th the shipping container of Australian F15's arrived!

On our little island there is no loading dock, so Don, owner of the island crane operator, worked with Nick, owner of the marine supply company (motor boats), on the busiest week of the year on our island, generously juggled their day to be ready when the truck arrived with the 40' shipping container. All of us budding F15 gals watched in utter awe as Nick and Don worked magic slowly removing each hull from the container, like two dancers. We took them straight to Ganges Harbour boat ramp, Tony Meek, a master sailor helped install masts, booms and sails, and we were Sailing!

In August, John Hassen and Richard Blaquerie arrived to start training us on the Australian boats, John and Richard said the boats were needing work but we loved them and held our first F15 regatta wobbly but a ton of fun.

Last year, addicted to racing, I contacted John Hassen who shared the critical contacts with me, enabling me to charter a F15 and sailed in the 2025 Australian Nationals at Davies Bay with Jenny Price who kindly came over from New Zealand to skipper, teaching me in real time, which was an incredible learning experience for me, and super challenging for Jenny as it was a for a real race!

My dream was to share this amazing experience of competing in National F15 Championships with other Saltspring Island F15 sailors.

2025, the NZ F15 team were looking for one crew, I was over the moon thrilled to crew for David McIntyre (NZ) at the British Nationals and F15 Worlds in Weymouth, England. There I met several women sailors from Hong Kong, and they introduced me to their Ladies Helm race and their Hong Kong Nationals, Gina (Hong Kong) helped me find two F15's and a team of four F15's from Salt Spring Island who were able to get time off work.

Crossing shipping channels and sailing in Hong Kong Harbour I joined those races, we really look forward to returning for the Worlds if we could find a boat to charter. Two weeks later, the Western Australian Championships were scheduled and John Hassen invited us to join that race, finding two F15's for four more Saltspring Island F15 sailors! Here is a link to the local newspaper article on part of that adventure.

gulfislandsdriftwood.com/flying-15-sailors-ready-for-overseas-adventures

Support from F15 sailors in Hong Kong, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand provided the critical components needed to form our own IFF-Canada organisation this year!

We invited contacts made at the international F15 championships to sail in the IFF-Canada fleet, three individuals from Australia and Hong Kong were able to join us on Saltspring Island in June, so we held our first international competition with F15 sailors Adam and Chris from Australia, Howard from Hong Kong, and Robert from USA!

Here is article in Sail World for more details: www.sail-world.com/news/297036/First-Flying-Fifteen-Regatta-to-be-held-in-Canada

Howard Williams (Hong Kong) has just left after spending 4 days with us, slowly working through the boats, one boat at a time, so now Feonix, Fire Fox. Bluebird and Mini Finn are 'race ready'. F15 sailors world wide are invited to take the 20 minute float plane ride from Vancouver International to Ganges Harbour, and come sailing with us, sharing whatever information you see is missing - there is a lot!

Irish Flying 15's

Sunday Morning free Intro to Sailing Lessons on the Salt Spring Island fleet of F15's have attracted a steady stream of people curious to try out sailing, many stay and share their new info with more newcomers. We now have the capacity to offer internationally certified courses and will begin doing so this winter using the four F15's Irish sailors have so generously donated!

Internationally certified instructors donate their time to provide the instructions, exams, on-the-water evaluations and ongoing support, for free! Once someone is checked out in the Flying 15, they are able to borrow one for an independent sail, following our Flying 15 Standard Operating Procedures as per our insurance requirements.

Here are a few photos and videos of people participating in Sunday morning informal sailing lessons on F15s - 'Smiles not Miles' is our mantra and the photos tell why we so look forward to the next Sunday!

www.youtube.com/@SaltspringIslandSailingClub

All Australian and Irish donated F15's are not allowed to be sold. They are used collectively, for free, maintenance, lines-hardware, moorage, insurance and any other expenses are covered by local donors! All our boats are classic or silver, we love sailing them, regardless of how old the sails are. All of our fleet are using the same vintage sails, about 30 years old, so the boats in our competitions are evenly matched.

Currently, our free Sunday morning classes are full. The Irish F15's provide a valuable addition to our growing fleet, making sure no one is left on the shore. These boats will also provide us with the critical mass needed to create a vibrant race team, which will further build our sailing skills.

We are thrilled to host, and really look forward to welcoming Irish F15 sailors who make their way to the Pacific Northwest coast of Canada. See you sailing F15's on Salt spring Island.