2003 Flying Fifteen Championship of the British Isles

Race Day Sponsors

• Main Fleet
• Classic Nationals

Twenty three boats including 4 Silver fleet and 5 Classics entered this year’s Nationals, the numbers down on previous years mainly because of the proximity of the Worlds in Dun Laoghaire in August. Nevertheless the fleet had an excellent week both on and off the water helped by first class race management under Race Officer David Rayment who, possessing an uncanny instinct for the wind, made the most of the mainly lightish conditions. Apart from Thursday when the wind freshened to a steady 20 knots, the week consisted of NE to SE F2 –3. Although there were a couple of postponements, every day the sea breeze filled in and all race days were completed.
The racing was dominated by Steve Goacher and Phil Evans 3721 who secured an unprecedented third consecutive title with seven firsts in the nine race Championship. There was more competition in the rest of the fleet with second place still in contention on the final race with only 0.7 pts between Simon Kneller/David Lucas 3699 and Alan Bax/Andrew Weatherspoon 3786. With a light 6 knot wind from the north west for the first time in the week, Alan Bax rounded the windward mark first determined not to surrender his lead despite a strong challenge from Steve Goacher. These two ex World Champions extended their lead and match raced each other from the second mark. With Kneller only managing fifth place Bax/Weatherspoon secured second overall, Kneller and Bax proving to be the only two to beat Goacher all week.
There was even closer competition lower down with only 14 points separating the next seven boats going into the final race.
Brian McKee/Ian Smyth 3792 from Northern Ireland, who had started the week slowly, had a close race with Mike Kilbee/Tony Cox 3625 but held on in a dying breeze to take fourth on the day and fourth overall.
Martin Payne and John Heyes 3778 had a consistent week including two fourths and finished fifth overall – very creditable for John Heyes’ first time in a Fifteen.
In the Silver Fleet racing with the Open boats Bill Butcher/Martin Scobie 2797 won the overall battle of the home boats finishing 14th overall.

In the separate Classics event David Hill IRL 671 retained his title, this year crewed by Maf Smith. Like Goacher/Evans they dominated their event winning all eight races and on occasions finishing ahead of the tail of the Open Fleet despite a five minute discrepancy in the start time.

With the help of the Royal Torbay YC it proved a highly successful and enjoyable week. The weather was warm and mainly sunny, although the winds were light there was close competitive racing throughout the fleets .We had some excellent social evenings notably the pub skittles evening with Phil Evans demonstrating why he should stick to sailing! His first throw nearly went through the door whilst his second demolished a table of drinks!!
Our sponsors helped to provide a superb range of spot prizes including a Tacktick Compass and a Selden boom thus ensuring most people turned up to the prizegiving if only to qualify for the draw! Brenda’s goody bags were once again a feature with the Classic crews winning a high proportion of the free prizes
The highlight on the water was the appearance of a pod of dolphins on the last day; they chased the fleet before the start, nudging the boats and showing how to accelerate off the line.

On behalf of the competitors and BIFFA we would like to express our thanks to all our sponsors as well as to the Officers and members of the Royal Torbay Yacht Club who made this event so successful.

Next year’s Nationals are at Abersoch which will be a qualifying event for the 2005 Worlds in Auckland, New Zealand.

Main Fleet

Final Results

Pos	Fleet	Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	Open		GBR 3721	Steve Goacher	Phil Evans	Royal Windermere	0	0	0	0	5.7	0	0	0	3	0.0
2	Open		GBR 3786	Alan Bax	Andy Weatherspoon	Hayling Island	3	5.7	14	3	3	3	5.7	5.7	0	23.4
3	Open	Ana Karenina	GBR 3699	Simon Kneller	David Lucas	Grafham Water	8	3	5.7	13	0	13	3	3	10	32.7
4	Open	Simply Spiffing	IRL 3792	Brian McKee	Ian Smyth	Strangford Lough	22	19	13	14	10	5.7	11.7	8	5.7	68.1
5	Open	Yachts and Yachting	GBR 3778	Martin Payne	John Heyes	Royal Torbay	16	11.7	8	8	13	18	10	15	11.7	77.4
6	Open	Tempus Ffugit	GBR 3625	Michael Kilbee	Tony Cox	Parkstone	15	16	22	5.7	15	8	17	18	8	84.7
7	Open	Clapped Out Toy Boy	GBR 3635	Ian Cleaver	Chris Owen	Royal Highland	10	13	16	16	8	17	RAF	10	14	87.0
8	Open	Freebird	GBR 3790	David Chubb	Adrian Simpson	Northampton	14	15	10	10	11.7	15	18	14	16	89.7
9	Open	Cygnet	GBR 3429	Colin Fletcher	Huw Fletcher	Llangorse	13	10	17	11.7	17	10	OCS	19	13	91.7
10	Open		GBR 3599	Jeremy Arnold	Mike Pearce	Notts County	19	20	3	15	20	11.7	14	11.7	18	92.4
11	Open	Toys Out Of The Pram	GBR 3689	Grayson Eacott	Gary Lane	Hayling Island	11.7	14	11.7	21	14	22	8	17	19	95.4
12	Open	Fat Boys Go Faster	GBR 3583	Simon Dangerfield	John Washington	Chew Valley Lake	5.7	8	DNF	19	18	19	16	16	DNF	101.7
13	Open	Nuttenuff	GBR 3695	Tony Lee	Chris Hough	Derwent Reservoir	20	17	18	17	16	16	13	13	DNF	110.0
14	Silver	Her Outdoors	GBR 2797	Bill Butcher	Martin Scobie	Royal Torbay	17	23	15	18	22	14	20	21	17	122.0
15	Open	Beeffeater	GBR 3768	John Wardrop	Neil Cunliffe	Bewl Valley	21	18	21	23	19	23	15	22	21	137.0
16	Silver	Miffy	GBR 3040	Rob Llewellyn	Seamus McDermott	Royal Torbay	24	22	19	20	21	21	19	20	20	140.0
17	Silver	True Colours	GBR 3144	Nick Oliver	Lucy Oliver	Royal Torbay	23	21	23	22	23	20	22	DNC	15	146.0
18	Silver	Forrader	GBR 3033	Paddy Bettesworth	Tim Edwards	Royal Torbay	18	24	20	24	24	24	21	23	DNC	154.0

Classic Fleet

Final Results

Sailed: 9  Discards: 2  Ratings: None

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	Nevados	IRL 671	David Hill	Maf Smith	Carrickfergus	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	DNC	0.0
2	Sandbagger	GBR 2562	George Rock-Evans	Martine McPherson	Royal Torbay	3	8	3	3	10	3	5.7	5.7	0	23.4
3	Hangover	GBR 2645	Mike Jones	David Travis	Llangorse	10	3	5.7	5.7	5.7	10	8	3	3	34.1
4	Slartibartfast	GBR 2587	David Flint	David Hemmingway	Llangorse	5.7	5.7	10	8	3	5.7	3	8	DNF	39.1
5	Grey Goose	GBR 55	Jeremy Soulsby	Katherine Soulsby	Llangorse	8	10	8	10	8	8	10	10	DNC	62.0