FLYING 15 CHAMPIONSHIPS

FREMANTLE, MARCH 9 – 25

SAILORS ENJOYED BLUE SKIES, late summer warm sunshine, crystal clear warm waters and light to moderate breezes for the long awaited Endeavour Homes 2023 Australian Championship and Flying Fifteen World Championship sailed off Fremantle in the Indian Ocean.

Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club organised and ran the regattas with support from South of Perth Yacht Club and Fremantle Sailing Club.

A total of 79 boats from 4 continents entered with overseas entries travelling from as far away as South Africa, the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, New Zealand and all over Australia. Flying 15’s travelled from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, the majority of those taking the 2–3 day trip across the Nullabor Plain to get to WA. Over 40 boats came from West Australia with 11 boats representing RFBYC. Containers of boats arrived from the UK, New Zealand and the East Coast of Australia courtesy of the MSC Shipping Group.

Twelve days of Flying Fifteen racing opened with an Invitational race followed by four days of racing for the Australian Championship. Another lay day was followed by seven days of World Championship racing with a lay day in the middle.

Launching required a small army of volunteers marshalled by Paul Bayliss and ably assisted by ‘Lillo’ Graeme Lillingston who is an 11 time Flying 15 Australian champion and former world champion who was supervising the crane operation and no doubt offering a few of his own tips about racing a Flying 15.

Racing took place on the ‘Owen Anchorage’ race course with an assortment of race courses using the windward/leeward and triangle formats. The PRO’s for the event were the Wilson brothers, Kevin and Ross with a huge Race Management team including many past Flying 15 sailors and members from RFBYC, SoPYC, FSC and EBYC.

Invitational Race

The Invitational race was raced in perfect sailing conditions, providing an opportunity for all sailors to test the waters. Nick Jerwood and Brad Sheridan (AUS) finished comfortably ahead of Graham Vials and Chris Turner (GBR) with Greg Tonnison and Nick Robinson (AUS) taking third spot.

Australian Championship

The Australian Championship consisted of four days of racing with a total of 7 races sailed in predominantly light to moderate breezes with anything from shifty offshore easterlies to the regular sea breeze from the South West.

On the opening day the fleet were treated to ideal sailing conditions with moderate winds and warm sunshine. Three British boats started the regatta strongly taking the top three spots in the first race. In the second Philippa Packer and Dean McAullay (RFBYC) led from start to finish from the first windward mark. Grant Alderson and Luke Paterson (RFBYC) chased hard all around the course to settle for second place.

There was more champagne sailing on day two. Graham Vials and Chris Turner (GBR) led race 3 from the first windward mark to the finish line. The battle for second place was a bit more intense. Grant Alderson and Luke Paterson crossing 3rd. Race 4 became a battle of the British boats for the podium places.

Fremantle just kept on delivering with the weather for race day 3. As had become a regular occurrence Graham Vials and Chris Turner (GBR) led briefly at the windward mark but Grant Alderson and Luke Paterson (RFBYC) overtook by the time they reached the downwind gate and went on to claim the race win. After races 5 and 6 on day three of the regatta, Grant Alderson and Luke Paterson took the lead in the series with two race wins.

On the final day with ominous black clouds and an encroaching storm, Graham Vials and Chris Turner (GBR), crossed the finish line in the drizzle to become Australian Champions and by finishing third in the final race, Grant Alderson and Luke Paterson (RFBYC) had to settle for second overall missing out on the title by one solitary point.

Brits Ian Pinnell and Ian Cadwallader finished third overall and another British boat, Hamish Mackay and Andrew Lawson finished fourth overall. Fifth overall went to local sailors Nick Jerwood and Brad Sheridan (SoPYC).

The remaining top 10 places were taken up by Australian teams with notable performances by the ex-Olympic sailors Lachy Gilmour and Ryan Donaldson (RFBYC/Esperance Bay YC) in 6th. Philippa Packer and Dean McAullay (RFBYC) finished 8th.

A lay day followed the Australian Nationals to allow for re-tuning, rigging and relaxing with the help of MonkeyFist mobile chandlery set up by Peter ‘Muddy’ Mudford.