Flying Fifteen

After no sailing was possible on the penultimate day or the regatta only one race was sailed on the final day of the Flying Fifteen World Championship at Fremantle. With an unassailable lead Graham Vials and Chris Turner (GBR) won their unprecedented fifth World Championship in the class. Vials and Turner from Derwent Reservoir / Lyme Regis SC won 5 of the 10 world championship races and with drops of a 4th and 8th they could not be beaten.

After an epic lay day where the vast majority of the fleet of 150 competitors took a boat trip to Rotto (Rottnest Island) 19 nm off Fremantle for a mass raft up of power vessel’s loaded to the gunnels with booze and food and a massive lunch at the pub, a day that will be remembered for a long time. Today we got back to the business of the Flying Fifteen World Championship.

Just one race today on yet another hot late summer day in Fremantle as the regatta passes the halfway point. The fleet was held ashore for a few hours until a soft sea breeze perked up about midday.

It was an early start for the fleet on day 3 of the 2023 Flying Fifteen World Championship held on another hot and sunny day off the coast of Fremantle. The forecast of an early Easterly which was due to shut down by lunchtime forced the PRO Kevin Wilson to set an early start time of 0905 hrs. As it turned out it was a wise decision as two windward / leeward races were completed just before the wind died.