Along with forty other boats and crews we arrived in Puerto Pollenca on the beautiful island of Mallorca for the inaugural European Championship of the International Flying Fifteen. Travelling by land, sea and air our competitors from all over the world gathered at the Reial Club Nautic de Puerto de Pollenca for the event held between the 9^th and 14^th May, 2004, to compete for the Uffa Fox Memorial Perpetual Trophy.

We opted for the scenic route, from Saddleworth in Yorkshire via Portsmouth to Le Havre and then through central France over the Massif Central and the Midi Pyrenees to northern Spain and the marvellous city of Barcelona. We lunched on San Miguel and dined on paella and after several hours sightseeing collapsed aboard the overnight ferry to Palma. Arriving early on Friday we were welcomed on to the marina by glorious sunshine and were served breakfast in the clubhouse. Our esteemed International Commodore and Chief Measurer soon appeared, having flown in from Perth via London the previous day.

After a day of settling in to our accommodation, which could not have been nearer to the clubhouse, we spent Saturday morning meeting and greeting fellow ‘fifteeners’ as they arrived and contemplating how the Irish team were going to extract their craft from their container which was still six feet off the floor! In the afternoon we took the opportunity to drive up the hill to view the magnificent terrain and to walk on the exclusive beaches of Formentor.

Sunday dawned and we managed to be first in the queue for scrutineering. The club erected sun awnings and with a bar adjacent to the race office this was a relatively painless process for all. Several participants took advantage of a fine breeze and ventured out onto the race course area and the turquoise waters of the bay. The Irish squad unveiled their amazing flowery shirts to wear with their co-ordinated sleeveless jackets. We climbed into the mountains of the north (in the Discovery) and were enthralled by the spectacular scenery and the monastery and gardens at Lluc.

Serious business started on Monday morning! Postcards written and posted while drinking coffee on the esplanade, the fleet then slipped or craned into the water and made ready for the practice race. The breeze gradually filled in but it was light and fluky and some of us thought we could be in for a frustrating week! Jock Mawson and Ben Robinson launched their kite on the final beat!!!!! and crossed the line first in ‘Hayffever’. Having moored in the marina we then gathered in the clubhouse for the warm welcome by the President of RCNPP and were treated to the first of the week’s ‘eats and drinks’, which included extremely tasty Mallorcan pies and pastries.

Tuesday. It isn’t like this normally!!!! Overcast, there was wind, predicted to rise and it did. During the first race the wind built up gradually providing exhilarating reaches and testing beats as the wind swung. In our ‘Sweet Chariot’ we crossed the line first followed by John Lavery and David O’Brien from the National YC. Eight boats later discovered that they were OCS.
More wind followed for the second race, with huge, steep waves coming square on a port tack at times crashing in to the cockpit. Amazing reaches, we were surfing the waves while trying not to sail down the mines. Some damage ensued, broken halyards and the like, and as the local fleet were not used to sailing in such conditions, it was mainly the British and Irish boats that took the top places with Charles and David Apthorp first and Tom Hall and Ian Barker from Northampton second. Thoroughly exhausted we crossed the line fifth but recorded a third place, as another two boats were OCS. Wow, first overall that night! A barbecue was planned for the evening and some hardened souls (being used to this as well) duly cooked their food in the pouring rain and partied anyway. We finished the day with a large mug of PG tea in the chip shop!

Day Two arrived in the teeth of a gale! The race team took a long lunch and abandoned for the day shortly after three o’clock. It is never like this usually!!!! For some of us the evening was spent in the Jazz restaurant with a delicious buffet dinner. Others, I believe, adjourned to a local Irish pub, which did good business all week!

Calm seas, and a postponement while the sea breeze fought with the land breeze delayed the start on Thursday until eventually the committee boat led us further out of the bay. During the first race the wind veered considerably and as the marks were moved those on the right of the beat took advantage of the increased pressure in the bands of wind. The Apthorps gained their second bullet and Eric Basset and Arnaud Biet from Dinard finished second with Lavery and O’Brien third. With a little more pressure for the second race, right was good again but it paid to take the shifts. Nigel Tullet and Sam Rayner from Royal Windermere were at the front when the first three boats mistakenly went through the gate at the end of the reach, leaving the way open for us to record another win on the score card! Justin Burke and Alan Green came in second with the Apthorps third. The points were now very close at the top of the table!

A fantastic three course Regatta dinner with wine was served to over one hundred and twenty noisy people in the club that evening. All included in the entry fee! The evening finished with a film of some of the racing on the giant screen, all of which is to be available on DVD at a later date.

The final day, Friday, brought ‘normal’ conditions, bright sunshine, good wind and a superb day on the water. Again the wind was shifty with lines of pressure, but the very efficient and professional race committee and crews ensured fair racing and although the black flag appeared for the first time it was not fallen foul of. Tullet and Rayner made good their mistake from the previous day and won the first race convincingly with Jeremy Davy and Andy Thompson second and local sailors, Javier Chacartegui and Joaquin Cobarro, in third place. Going in to what was to be the last race, the Apthorps, finally discarding their OCS, shot off the line and made sure of the title by winning for the third time.

The prize giving was held outside by the pool in the sunshine. More eats and drinks! Prizes were awarded to the first boat from each country, the first classic, silver and youngest sailors, the furthest travelled, (Jeffrey Morrison and Graeme Robinson from New Zealand), and the furthest travelled with boat, (James Gerard and Jon McKencie from Scotland). The first three overall, Charles and David Apthorp form Hayling Island, David and Sally McKee (us) from Dovestone SC and John Lavery and David O’Brien from National YC, Ireland, took home a variety of swag including a scooter each provided by one of the many sponsors. (Full results are below). Nils Blumann responded once again to the speeches and thanked the RCNPP for holding a fabulous Championship.

We wended our way home by the same route picking up local ‘produce’ at every stop. After talking with members of the French fleet on the Barcelona ferry and meeting Sandy Storrar in Le Havre with ‘that’ trailer on Monday morning we started to plan for more European events, we had such a good time! Thanks to all the organisers, sponsors and the Mallorca fleet for making us so welcome.

A truly International Class act.

Muchas gracias.

Sally

The fleet - Picture by Judy Walker
 

Sailed:6, Discards:1
Pos	SailNo	Helm	Crew	Boat Name	Nett	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
1	GBR 3591	Charles Apthorp	David Apthorp	Four Winds	13	OCS	1	1	3	7	1
2	GBR 3805	David McKee	Sally McKee	Sweet Chariot	17	1	3	10	1	6	6
3	IRL 3773	John Lavery	David O'Brien		22	2	DNC	3	4	9	4
4	GBR 3760	Jeremy Davy	Andy Thomson	V.L.G	30	OCS	4	8	6	2	10
5	IRL 3688	Justin Burke	Alan Green	As Good As It Gets	33	7	9	12	2	10	5
6	GBR 3699	Simon Kneller	David Lucas	Ana Karenina	33	3	OCS	7	5	11	7
7	FRA 3785	Basset Eric	Biet Arnaud	Deriversservices.com	36	OCS	10	2	8	8	8
8	GBR 3816	Nigel Tullet	Sam Rayner		37	8	8	16	7	1	13
9	GBR 3725	Tom Hall	Ian Barker		43	4	2	13	13	14	11
10	GBR 3615	Roger Palmer	Barbara Palmer	Saffina	47	10	17	6	10	12	9
11	ESP 3796	Javier Chacartegui	Joaquin Cobarro	Ffatigaos	54	15	11	14	11	3	16
12	ESP 3763	Graham Pearson	Mark Thirkettle	75,000 Feet	57	13	6	5	15	22	18
13	IRL 3803	Morgan Sheehy	Jan Van Der Pull	Even Blind Pigs	63	5	5	DNF	18	13	22
14	ESP 3592	Kiko Villalonga	Pau Balaguer		67	9	12	15	17	26	14
15	IRL 3753	Ken Dumpleton	John McNeilly	Olive Oyl	71	16	15	9	14	17	19
16	ESP 3728	Paco Palmer Payeras	Jaime Pujadas Arrom	T Duck Queen	72	17	18	18	16	4	17
17	IRL 3691	Ian Matthews	Ben Mulligan	It Just Gets Better	79	OCS	DNC	4	12	18	3
18	IRL 3686	Niall Coleman	Chris Doorly	Flayer	84	14	7	20	20	23	DNC
19	GBR 3695	Tony Lee	Chris Hough	Heaven Sent	86	12	OCS	26	9	24	15
20	FRA 3163	Arnaud Delamarre	Antoine Liagre	Tequila	97	19	19	17	22	20	24
21	NZL 3771	Jeffrey Morrison	Graeme Robinson	To Be Advised	101	6	DNC	19	29	21	26
22	GBR 3772	Jock Mawson	Ben Robinson	Hayffever	101	11	14	21	26	29	DNC
23	ESP 3432	Nils Blumann	Ray Sebo	Extra Sensory Perception	101	OCS	16	29	25	19	12
24	GBR 3786	Alan Bax	Paul Busby		102	OCS	OCS	11	RAF	5	2
25	ESP 3600	Michael Clough	Pepper Constable	Cinq A Sept	109	20	OCS	25	24	15	25
26	GBR 3279	John Washington	Anita Morris	Feel Good Factor	119	23	DNC	27	21	27	21
27	GBR 3211	Simon Dangerfield	Michael Abrahams	Affraid Knot	120	OCS	DNC	23	19	16	20
28	ESP 3610	John Leaf	Roberto Romano	Tchaikoffsky	125	26	DNC	28	23	25	23
29	GBR 3577	Mark Welch	Teresa Eshelby	Misty Blue	132	25	22	31	28	30	27
30	FRA 3061	Christophe Bouffan	Salmon Pierre	Star Shooter	136	21	OCS	24	31	31	29
31	GBR 3597	Paul Botterill	Wilfred Tolhurst	Mr Puffa	138	24	21	35	30	28	DNC
32	ESP 3598	Pere A. Enseñat	Raquel Crespi	Fugue	147	27	20	32	35	33	DNC
33	GBR 3589	Miguel Angel Perello Fluxá	Alejandro Presa Amengual	Flygates	155	28	DNC	33	32	34	28
34	ESP 3804	Miguel Guasp Amengual	Bernardo Pascual		157	18	13	DSQ	DNC	DNC	DNC
35	ESP 3364	Frederik Roegies	Jaques Gantois	Yohombre	164	29	DNC	34	34	36	31
36	HKG 3650	David Thewlis	Joyce Thewlis	Ffiskardo	165	22	DNC	36	33	32	DNC
37	GBR 3414	Crispin Farrant	Ann Marsh	Glint Of Steel	173	OCS	DNC	30	36	35	30
38	GBR 3666	James Gerard	Jon McKencie	The Effen Bee	175	DNC	DNC	22	27	DNC	DNC
39	ESP 2500	Jaime Segui	Miguel Clamor	Kiwi	183	30	DNC	37	37	37	DNC
40	ESP 2685	Alvaro Cobarro	Toni Segui	Cha Cha Cha	206	DNC	DNC	DNF	DNC	38	DNC
41	ESP 3388	Guillermo Socias Monserrat	Miguel Cirera Puig		206	DNC	DNC	38	RAF	DNC	DNC

Charles Apthorp collecting the trophy - Picture by Judy Walker