Flying 15 News

Southerns at Weymouth 11-12 September

The current NoR issued by the event hosts reflects a 6 race series. Your committee is trying to have this amended to a 5 race series with the following advice:-

5. Schedule of Races
5.1 5 races are programmed.
5.2 The scheduled time of the warning signal for the Race 1 on Saturday 11th September is 12.55hrs, races 2 & 3 will follow sailed back to back . The first warning signal on Sunday 12th May is 10.25 hrs for races 4 & 5 , and or any postponed races , all will be sailed back to back .

Please note this intended revised schedule.

Men Behaving Badly came good at Cowes

Well done to Men Behaving Badly for winning Cowes Week.

Congratulations to Manders father and Son team, John and Rupert for the overall victory winning the regatta without sailing the last race.

I would like to wish the whole fleet a great weeks sailing at Cowes. I always remember CCYC for it's excellent food, hospitality, fun friendly bar after a great days sailing. I am hoping to see you all at the southerns.

Sue Bannister
GBR 3736 - sailing Wavebreaker
President of the British Isles Flying Fifteen Association

Schedule dates for sail plan trials

29th July to 9th August - Loch Lomand
14th August to 23rd - Draycote then taken to Europeans
29th August to September 10th September - Northampton
At Southerns at Weymouth
11th - 20th September - Chew Valley
25th September to 4th October - Llangorse
9th October to 28th October - Hayling Island
30th October taken to the fleet captains meeting Venue to be advised
30th October to 22nd November - Queen Mary
November either South Carney, Cowes, TBC by the clubs
December either South Carney, Derwent Water, TBC by the clubs
Month of January - Grafham Sailing Club
Month February - Datchet Sailing Club

To express an interest please contact secretary@flying15.org.uk, each club will be sent a valuation form.

Tony Lee retires as Chief Measurer an appreciation

Tony lee has retired after many years as Chief Measurer for the Flying Fifteen Association. The following tribute comes from long-time friend and fifteen sailor Chris Hough.

Tony's massive contribution began in the 1980s when he moved from the Enterprise class. Since then he has held high office in both British and International Flying Fifteen Associations. During this time he has acted as an unofficial ambassador cementing international friendships and promoting the development of new fleets in France and Belgium. During this time he was ably supported by his wife Brenda who has made significant contributions to the class herself.

Few Flying Fifteen sailors are as knowledgeable, capable, practical, friendly and fun or have contributed as much to the Flying Fifteen fleet as Tony. We all share these sentiments and we know that the class will continue to benefit from his enthusiasm and experience for many years to come.

Objectives of the Development Sail

The Flying Fifteen International (FFI) set British Flying Fifteen Association (BIFFA) the task to evaluate and put forward the technical draft of rule changes to incorporate the following elements by Autumn 2009.

BIFFA to develop a rig that will enhance the handling of the flying fifteen without significantly changing the already excellent performance of the boat. This will all a broader range of crew weights to sail the boat to the highest level.

Objective The development rigs included Mylar and Dacron mainsails with a higher roach to provide an improved gust response. The class is looking for a mainsail development that will provide greater forward speed and less healing when the gust hits. In addition the development rigs have taller genoas with a shorter foot.

The class gave the sailmakers the challenge of updating the aesthetics of the rig in addition to enhancing the handling and balance of the boat. The fleet of four development rigged boats and four standard rigs sailed in a variety of conditions that gave a good deal of comparative information for the class to consider. The brief given to the Class UK sailmakers was not to increase the combined sail area of the mainsail and genoa.

Strategy for the first trail compelled of three sailmakers to trial four development rigs and compare them against three standard rigs over a series of races with 7 different crew weights.

Aim was for 7 different crews in varying conditions to evaluate the initial performance. Throughout the weekend Philip Tinsley facilitated and managed these trails.

Initial Outcome - those involved in the assessment weekend concluded that between the development rigs they had indeed found the basis of a recommendation for the future rig.

Charles Athorp has made some valid comments about the sail changes. . . . The new rig is a big assistance to medium weight and light weight crews and modernises the appearance of the boat. Basically the boat goes forward rather than falling over as the sails twist off.

Raking the rig just adds complexity, cost and doesnt achieve the same results. All modern classes have gone away from raking rigs towards a skiff style self adjusting rig - more akin to a windsurfer.

The benefits need to be explained better: The real problem is misinformation, most people believe that having more area at the top makes the boat fall over, whereas the converse is true because the top of the rig is less supported by cutting away the area below, therefore it opens up much earlier.

But it also balances the boat and makes it much nicer to sail, less weather helm and easier to sail - so it is really no brainer - no one would design the boat with the present rig, which is a butchered version of the original rig - the class needs a future not a past.

Other actions
1. Greg Wells is to share the measurements proposed with the Aussie and Kiwis ; this is for development and trial purposes only. once Greg Wells, Adrian Tattersall and Sue Bannister have had their feed back for council a formal proposal will be made to FFI from BIFFA secretary.

2. Greg Wells, Adrian Tattersall and Sue Bannister agreed that HISC would do a weight reduction trial in the Autumn and feedback on the results to BIFFA members and council. The aim being to see what a 15 to 20 kg reduction feels like.

3. Greg Wells, Adrian Tattersall and Sue Bannister agreed that their should be three separate elements to any proposal 1. Weight reduction, 2. Sail dimensions, 3. Introduction of Mylar sail material.

4. the schedule sailing club venues the development sail will be available will be posted before the Europeans, it is currently on its way or at Loch Lomond Sailing Club for the next couple of weeks and shall be heading south to Draycote then Northampton for the its next two ports of call.

Contact the Keith Jamieson secretary expressing an interest secretary@flying15.org.uk
SB

Datchet Micro Site

Datchet Water have launched a new FF micro site which has lots of good information and news articles flying fifteen related. The Datchet fleet has grown considerably in strength in recent years and anyone interested in developing their fleet would find it benificial to have a look or get down to Datchet and have a chat with Richard or Adam. The URL is as follows, copy and paste into your web browser http://web.me.com/rjlondon/ffdatchet/Flying_Fifteen_Welcome.html

Southern Championships Accomodation

Mike Hart has informed me that the new accomodation block, Portland House, near WPNSA is now up and running; there are we understand very few bookings for the weekend of the Southerns. The weblink for more details is www.rya.org.uk/go/portland