Sunday Racing Weather Outlook

The weather outlook for Sunday is light breezes (6kn, gusting 10kn - note conversion is 9kn = 10mph!!) northerly - and so a bit cool.

See you there!!

More mylar v dacron

I have had a telephone conversation with Tim Saunders, Chairman of the UK Fireball Association.  

 

The Fireballs changed their rules to allow mylar for the mainsail and the first new sails were made early 2003.   For some time, sailmakers experimented with materials and are now using a heavier grade of mylar than they began with.    There were no changes to the sail shape and dacron sails remain legal and some sailors prefer them and use them.   However, most sailors now use mylar.   At his club, which has a fleet of newish boats, the mylar mains seem to last about 18 months.    He confirms the remarks made by Non Dom about the stability of the mylar cloth - until it collapses.

 

One of the reasons for allowing mylar was to promote the image of the fireballs to compete with the growing numbers of new trapeze classes.   I asked him whether the mylar part of the image had proved beneficial.   He said he really doesn't know.   Association membership has stayed roughly the same since 2003.   Clubs have different approaches to growing their fireball fleets.    He thinks there have been much more important influences than the promotion of the image via the change to mylar.

 

I would be interested to hear from Non Dom how his old mates in GP14s have fared since they took to mylar.   In particular, did they believe that they needed an "up to date" image and do they think it has made a difference.

 

Mike

 

2011 Four Day Eventing

VC has spotted the fact that in 2011 we have no less than three 4-day weekends during the Spring, and relatively close together too. They are:-

22-25 April Easter
29-05 May Royal Wedding
04-07 June Diamond Jubilee

Given this plethora of time off from work, and the complete freedom of family commitments (!), should we as a Fleet do a special event (eg Hughsie style family regatta) on one of the weekends, or maybe have some idea which links two or three of the weekends together?? Ideas to the Fleet Captain please - and copy datchetman@flyingfifteen.com for putting on the blog to raise debate.

Dacron v Mylar/Laminated

> I was involved in the beginnings of the spec for the proposed new rig. The
> intention from day one was for the new main to be available in BOTH
> materials - Dicks demo sail was in Dacron. Sailmakers are naturally keen on
> laminated NOT because of cost, but they don't last as long! Laminated 5o5
> genoas last a REGATTA only!! I hope the dual option still is being offered.
>
> Laminated Main would look "new" and "Modern" - we don't use cotton sails
> anymore so progress isn't a bad thing! It's also lighter aloft so helps
> lighter crews. It's also see through - making the Millars less of a hazard!!
> Dacron Main lasts longer, is a proven product and would be more forgiving.
>
> Certainly the new genoa will be suitable for use with your existing main -
> giving some advantage without shelling out for a new suit straight away.
>
> Let's all have a good look in Feb when the suits of sails are with us - and
> a year old at least!
>
> VC
>

Mike Firth's blog Mylar Vs Dacron

>
> I recently visited my sail maker - as in McNamara - and
> discussed both Mylar and Dacron. He had equivalent rolls of material of each
> in stock and I can confirm that the Mylar 'felt' marginally lighter, As a
> raw material the Mylar costs the sail maker between 35% and 40% more than
> the equivalent amount of Dacron, I was given to understand that the labour
> and skills involved in manufacture were similar.
>
> I was advised that in comparable circumstances, as in dinghies and small
> keel boats, we should expect the Mylar to have approx half the life of
> Dacron. To be more specific Mylar is particularly sensitive to abrasion and
> flapping/flogging - they call it 'wragging' -. The growth of Mylar on the
> dinghy scene is associated with the growth of the new generation of bow
> sprit skiffs - euphemistically some times referred to as lollipop boats -
> where the latest materials are 'derigour' and the 'image'. The self taking
> jibs on these craft are heavily supported by reinforcement and battens,
> whilst the majority of mainsails are fully battened. Plus they are rigged on
> shore, where the carefully rolled mainsail can be fed up the mast, where it
> will be supported by the battens thus eliminating a degree of flapping.
>
> With the Flying 15, in the case of the foresail/genoa, the consequent
> overlap causing abrasion on the mast plus furling, means that Mylar is an
> unsuitable material. In the case of the mainsail, which is not fully
> battened and hence less supported, one also has to consider all that Mylar
> 'scrunched up' in the floor of the cockpit prior to hoist. This is where a
> substantial amount of attrition will occur, in addition that on the race
> course.
>
> Two significant other established dinghy classes have adopted a Mylar option
> for their Mainsails, the Fireball and The GP14. In the case of the Fireball,
> a class that was significantly under pressure from the skiff type craft, the
> members voted for the for the option because they believed it would update
> the image of the class. The average retail price hike between a Dacron and a
> Mylar mainsail on the Fireball is 22%.
>
> In the case of the GP14, the council made the decision to allow a Mylar
> option, there was no vote invited from the membership. The GP14 situation is
> quite similar to that of the Flying 15, where just a few sail makers seem to
> have developed a bit of a monopoly - cartel is perhaps too strong an
> interpretation - nevertheless some members of the GP fleet were bemused by
> the decision towards mylar. In the case of the GP14 the average retail price
> hike is just over 19%.
>
> So there we have it, Mylar costs more and sails made of this material will
> have a weight benefit, but unless correctly supported, will have a shorter
> life. Currently sailmakers are charging substantially less for a complete
> sail, than the increase in the cost of the raw material used. Is this
> because they are trying to establish a new market segment or do they expect
> to make twice as many sails long term?
>
> Non Dom
> 3559

Mylar versus Dacron Mainsails

Does anyone in the fleet have any real data on the subject of mylar versus dacron for mainsails?? I've spent some time on google looking for sound material, but strangely cannot find any......

Y&Y's Profile of QMSC

If you've not seen it, there's a pretty good profile of Queen Mary SC in this month's Yachts & Yachting. They've done a nice job of emphasising the positive, and make a feature of the fact that the water is split into parts by the headland. And the 45 degree slopes at the water's edge! Mind you, if Thames don't pump more water into Datchet soon, we basically have the same feature.... I emailed the office and the Commodore asking if we were also in the Y&Y queue for a Club Profile, but got no response. The article lists Flying Fifteen as one of the QMSC supported fleets. When I sold 3644 to a member there, I think it was their seventh FF. Has anyone been over lately to see how many Fifteens they have now?? Do they get a fleet start??

2011 Southern Travellers Series

There are a couple of changes to the Southern Travellers Series for next year. Bewl isn't part of the program in 2011 and it's two events out of five to count - Great !!  See the new information panels on the right hand side of this blog.

FFs at the Next Dinghy Show - and the Mk IX again....

The Flying Fifteen will again have a good stand at the Alexandra Palace Show in March. In 2011 there will again be two boats on display - a brand new Ovington Mk X and also an example of the FF bargain of all time, a 15 year old Mk IX Smoothie. As we have written before in Datchet Man, these boats offer just terrific value and our fleet seems to be focussing on them these days. The example on display will be World Championship winner 3521 dating to 1995. This was Steve's Goacher's boat in which he started his World Championship hat-trick. I had 3644 put together by Phil Evans as a replica of it, and I must say I thought it was super boat to race in. I still have the write-up of the boat itself from Y&Y which inspired me to get myself up to Windermere in 1998. The show is on March 5th-6th.

P&B 20% sail discount ends tomorrow

Just seen on twitter that the P&B discount on sails(20%) and covers (15%) ends tomorrow, 24th.

Why Reduce the FF's Weight?

Why do some wish to reduce the minimum weight? Isn't a heavier boat less sensitive to the variations in crew weight? Would a weight reduction mean a change in handicaps? I know we are looking for a solution rather than more questions, but I don't understand the logic....

FF2948

Christmas Holiday Racing Program

Just a reminder that the Datchet Club has racing over Christmas. There is a bottle race on Sunday 26th, and the Pink Elephant Race on Saturday January 1st. Then our Flying Fifteen 2011 Winter Series starts full-on with two races, normal times, on Sunday January 2nd. Full details on www.dwsc.co.uk - See you there....

The Lighter Flying Fifteen......

An item came up at the Fleet AGM about the minimum weight of the FF being reduced - maybe by as much as 20kg, maybe less. Do we really want this?? The FF is never going to become a light boat just by knocking 20kg off it. So why bother? It may well be that for 50 boats on the circuit, or indeed any boat built in the last 15 years with maximum correctors, that this is not an issue. What about the FF owners with Classics and Silvers - what do they think? Indeed what is the opinion of Clubs whose fleets are majorly built on Classics and Silvers - what do they think? At Datchet, a weight reduction might just wash past us as the bulk of our fleet is probably carrying a lot of correctors, but there may be fleets where that is not true. Do we want to create a fourth category of FF when we already have three?? Effectively that's what we might get - a fourth category that sits in between silvers and new boats. We know that people from other fleets read this blog - let us know what you are thinking about this in your Club. Email us at datchetman@flyingfifteen.com

The BIFFA Christmas Newsletter

Was delighted to get the BIFFA Online Newsletter to members this morning. If you haven't received it, just let me know at datchetman@flyingfifteen.com and I'll forward you a copy. It contains a good summary of the major events in 2010 and has a special focus section on Club Racing. In the Club racing section there is some dialogue about increasing turnouts that you should read - and the importance of active Fleet Officers, sharing the workload and so on. BIFFA is going to feature Dovestone in a future item and the way they share the load there.

I agree very much with the sentiment that it's better to have lots of people involved and sharing the work - at Datchet around 6 of us are actively involved in the running of the fleet. If you have any ideas you should let the FC know, and why not drop a line to BIFFA as well.

On the circuit front, there was an interesting snippet - 32 Clubs had competitors in the Championship series in 2010. Pretty good...

There are good reports on the new experimental FF rig and also the importance of Communications ( "Datchet Man" mentioned - hurrah !!) which we would wholeheartedly agree with.

Let me know if you need a copy...

Update on Jonathan's Classic, FF1803

I have had a note from Jonathan to say that he and John have collected 1803, and John is currently updating the cockpit. The spinnaker system also needs a spot of re-engineering. They hope to have 1803 afloat in March.

Race Wins - Extra Analysis

The Race Report below has been edited and extended slightly to include commentary on "race wins" in the autumn series. It's a fascinatingly close picture......

Race Report - Sunday 19th

The race report for today is .... "Snow - No Sailing!!" So that brings our Autumn Series 2010 to the end. We had fourteen boats entered in the series, of which nine qualified - a great result in itself. There was a substantial score difference between the top three boats, but interestingly all three had the same number of race wins.
Fine winners for the series are Dominic and David Hume. Their Ovington Mk IX boat, 3559, is in great shape. It must be around 1996 in vintage and was fitted out by David himself - quite a few clever ideas,... go and sneak a look. They use 5 year old McNamara sails and are rigged for a chute, not bags. Dominic is a great sailor, a previous Club Championship winner, and as I recall, David was a big wheel in the National GP14 fleet in years gone by - so no shortage of talent aboard there! Dominic and David were discarding 5ths. They had five wins this series.
In second we have Mark Firth and Tony Mumford, our current Club Champions. They've had boat problems this series and had to count one DNS in their final score. They had five wins this series. As we all know, they really sail very well in their Dingwall 3860 (sneak a look at their jib sheeting arrangement...) have it rigged for spinnaker bags, fly away pole, and use mainly Goacher sails - you may just occasionally see them wearing Batts too. I often think fly-away poles are for girls, but Tony seems to manage it pretty well.
In third were Richard Jones and Howard Shawyer. Family and work commitments kept them off the water too much for a good series and they had to count DNS three times in their score. They had five race wins this series. They race a two year old Ovington, 3934, and for this series have mainly used Goacher sails - at least for the wins! They are rigged with spinnaker bags and a standard end-to-end pole. They had an inconsistent series, marked by poor results at the beginning and good at the end of the series.
Fourth placed were Mike Firth, the senior branch of the Firth family, crewed mainly by Vice Commodore Phil Tinsley, but actually with a whole number of crews aboard this series. We have three generations of the Firth family racing at the Club now - amazing! Mike had a good run of results actually, but had to count a couple of DNS which brought them down. Mike's Team had four race wins.  Mike sails a Mk X Ovington, 3888, with Bax sails aboard. It is rigged for bags. Mike did very well in the 2010 Silver Southern Travellers Series, cleaning up there in Phil Tinsley's Silver boat 3385.
A special mention too for Roger Abbey-Taylor who finished in fifth in 2948, 'Midnight Cocktail'. I am sure that Roger would modestly say, "Turnouts Count!" - but he is still learning a lot and keeping at it tenaciously. Well done, Roger! Roger and Katherine Barrett take the Silver/Classic award this series.

Hayling Worlds 2011

For the hotshots in the Fleet, the NOR and Entry Form for the 2011 Worlds at Hayling has just been posted on the HISC Website.

New Website Address

I was concerned not to put Fleet Officers' personal email addresses on the website and started seeking an alternative.

How long has this internet lark been going on? Two decades? Three maybe? You would think that someone, somewhere in the world, in all these years, would have had the wit to register www.flyingfifteen.com as their domain name, wouldn't you? Well they have now ..... !! The Datchet Flying Fifteens have !! www.flyingfifteen.com now points to our fleet website. It is so memorable that you can easily pass it on to people you meet who might be interested in sailing with us.

I also took the precaution of registering www.flyingfifteen.org which points to the "Datchet Man" Blog and can be used instead of the old complex address. Additionally, I reserved www.flyingfifteen.co.uk for us as well - for some future initiative maybe, but it points to our Fleet Website for now. All the old addresses for the Fleet Website and Blog continue to work, of course. Fleet Officers now have forwarding mailboxes at @flyingfifteen.com which gives improved personal security and future changes are handled more easily. Give the addresses a try and let me know if you have a problem. If you use Twitter, Facebook, Y&Y or Linked In, let me know if you see any of the old complex addresses visible there.

The Twisted Halyard Debate - Mike Firth's Solution

I think a pair of halyards twisted right around each other is pretty rare. The usual reason for sticking is mast bend - the spinnaker halyard is trapped between a tight genoa halyard and the aft surface of the mast wall. This can also happen to the main halyard. Put the ram on, take the rig tension off and the sail can be pulled down. To make sure that all the halyards are free, it might be worth trying this : rig the genoa halyard first and put tension on the rig.... run the main halyard and put tension on that as well.... and then run the spinnaker halyard.

MF

The Olympic Classes Debate....

Have you seen what is happening in the Olympic Classes debate?? For a start, the Star has gone (oh, even in this snowstorm a pig just flew past my window...). The second big trend is toward mixed gender teams. ISAF are proposing boy/girl cats and boy/girl 470s. Very interesting. A pretty good idea I think (works well in Flying Fifteens...). The proposed classes are Mens' Laser, Womens' Laser-Radial, Mens' Finn, Mens' 49er, Womens' skiff (29er?), Womens' keelboat (this funny Elliott class has replaced the Yngling), Mixed Cat, Mixed 470. Interesting, but no mens' muscle boat anymore. Oh - there's that pig again....

Sailing this Sunday!!

Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday for racing. Forecast is for mild to warm temperatures and gentle breezes....

Successfully Rigging Halyards in the Mast

You probably all know that Andy Murphy had to take to the shore last Sunday and thinks that his spinnaker halyard was wrapped around another halyard inside the mast... I've been thinking about this, and have luckily never ever had to sort one out. Does anyone have any tips or a successful method for ensuring halyards are rigged so that they are free running??

Classics, Silvers and.... the Mk9 "Smoothie"

Many Clubs have had outrageous success with Classic and Silver focus in their FF fleet. At Datchet, we have had some success with Silvers, and a dabble or two with Classics (perhaps Jonathan will teach us the way to go here...) over the years, but I would say that neither so far has really taken off for us. I've often wondered why - and Adam "got it" for me last weekend. For reasons which may include flat water, average incomes in the South East and local enthusiastic disciples - the idea that has sold very well in the Datchet FF fleet is ..... Mark IX Smoothies. He's right of course - we have many in the fleet and new joiners are also wisely choosing them a lot. They're fast, and importantly they are fast at Datchet - they have super build quality, look good and stay stiff for a long, long time. Today's price range for a Smoothie on the BIFFA for sale site is £4950-£7750 - and I reckon I've seen in the £3000-£4000 price range. Well, what kind of value is that ?? - "Outstanding", that's what..... Adam's right - You can race in the Open Fleet with a great, fast boat - have an excellent chance of winning races and series - and have hardly any depreciation in real terms. Plus it is low cost racing. The cost of ownership versus maybe a new Wayfarer or any Laser product, for example, - because of the low depreciation - will be tip top. Maybe Mike Firth's new Trophy should be for Smoothies??

Squibs Association versus BIFFA

Did you notice in Y&Y this month, that the National Squib Owners Association claim 600 members ?? - versus around 360 for BIFFA. Does anyone know any Squib owners who you can ask to understand how they make it so attractive?? Richard Hughes - do you know??

The Yachts and Yachting Keelboat Review

This month's Y&Y fell through the letterbox this morning. Last month they published the Dinghy Review and the Dinghy Championship Table. In DM, we had a look how the Flying Fifteen fitted into the Top 20 Championship League Table. The answer was of course, that the FF showed up pretty well.

This month they have published the keelboat review, and a Championship Table for the Top 10 Classes of Keelboat. So how did the Fifteen do this time?? Not bad is the answer....

For devilment I assume, they have included the one metre radio control model yacht, but lets leave that out. This is what I see:-

- the average fleet in the top 10 classes was 47.4 entries and this is boosted a little by inclusion of the model yachts who had 70. The FFs had 64.

- the FF came third in the league table. Ahead of the Flying Fifteen came the amazing XOD of Cowes - coming to its 100th anniversary, Hurrah!. We once in 2002 achieved the same championship turnout as the XOD, otherwise it is in a Class of their own. I'm not even sure they build new ones often any more. Amazing...

- then another excellent result ahead of the Fifteens is the Squib. They make a big deal of their 100+ turnout in 2009, and actually they do a great turn out at their Nationals. But more on the Squib in a moment...

- then in 3rd is the Fifteen, ahead of the much vaunted SB3 in 4th, then interestingly the RS Elite in 5th. The K6 is in 10th by the way, and has flat turnout for the last 5 years. So the K6 is cooked.

- the Flying Fifteen had the biggest increase in its Championship turnouts of all the Classes in 2010 relative to 2009. The Squib by the way was in decline versus both 2009 and 2000.

- we hear lots of the SB3 don't we? It's been growing since launch of course in 2002, but in the last five years the FF has turned out a bigger championship than the SB3 in three of them, including 2010... and six times out of the nine years (but allow for the SB3 launch years). However, they had 27 less competitors in 2010 than in 2009. How many new SB3s were built?? Five... How many new Fifteens ?? Twenty five. That's about £125,000 invested in the SB3 product and £450,000 in the Flying Fifteen Product...

- On the same theme, there were 10 new Squibs (£135,000) and 9 new RS Elites (£175,000)

So - my conclusion. Not a bad year for the Flying Fifteens. Number one for new boats in the year, and number one for money invested in the fleet in the year.
The Squibs seem to have peaked out, the K6 is finished and very interestingly the SB3 may now be going out of fashion. We'll see.

Team Stenson report they have bought a Boat!!

Richard and David Stenson report that they have found and bought a little used mk 9 smoothie. Sail number is in the 3600's.

The boat is called "infidel" and will be a great addition to our fleet. Hopefully we shall see it sailing before Christmas! Given how well they sailed the loan boat, we had better watch out.....

Race Report - Sunday December12th

We had seven boats rigged to race, including Andy Murphy's brand new baby with Richard Stenson at the front end - more of that later... Conditions were a bit frosty but under blue skies it all melted away pretty quickly. We were left with an unusual North Westerly of just a couple of knots. We had Mike Firth of the Fifteen Fleet as PRO for the day - not an easy job as it turned out.

Just before the prep signal for race one it was pretty much becalmed, but suddenly a knot or two appeared in the nick of time - but from a new direction - it was almost a single tack to the top mark. Richard and Howard were well over the line, but Dominic and David were right on the case and thankfully pushed the whole fleet over (allegedly!). Start two was a pretty clean getaway - or maybe Mervyn and James were over. It was going to be one of those days where he who gets in front stays in front - and so it was. Dominic and David shot away up the first beat and were never seriously challenged - they were miles ahead. Then, half a mile ahead were Fleet Heroes Mark and Tony also going seriously quickly - just gliding past Richard and Howard at the top mark as if they were standing still. Richard and Howard dropped their knitting at the first hoist - a rigging error on the slipway caused that - so they were cooked. The order settled as the Humes, Mark and Tony, Adam and Tim, Richard and Howard then Andy and Richard in the new baby, Mervyn and James, Roger and Kathryn. Just on the last lap Richard and Howard managed to sniggle their way past Adam and Tim under spinnaker to get third. Calamity on Andy and Richard's boat - spinnaker stuck aloft. They may not have finished in fact. Helped by the muscular triathlete Tony, they capsized the boat at the jetty (Tony is good at this even in deep water), but the halyard looked jammed inside the mast somewhere. DM not sure how they cleared it, but they did not make race 2.

There was very slightly more breeze for race two, for which the PRO wisely decided to change the whole course. No general recall this time, but again he who got in front stayed in front. This time it was Adam and Tim who took off into the distance - very accomplished light air technique. Scrabbling behind were Richard and Howard, Mark and Tony, Dominic and David, Mervyn and James. A bit of a ding dong between Richard and Howard and Mark and Tony developed with Mark and Tony just gaining the windward mark in the lead the second time around. However, at the wing mark the order changed again at the hoist - and so it was at the finish. Good racing and great result for Adam and Tim.

Almost certainly this secured the Autumn Series for Dominic and David - after discards they are 8 points clear and a gross level the result is even more marked. A great series from them. However, we have two races to go before Christmas, and it may just be that Mark and Tony can pull it out of the bag - we'll see.....

BIFFA - Flying 15 Newsfeed

DM has added to BIFFA Newsfeed to the lower part of "Datchet Man". You'll find it next to the statistics counter, under the BIFFA photo on our Blog Page.

My FF has no nose.... How does it smell?

As it happens, we have two boats in our fleet with a shortened tiller - the most recent of which is Steve Bell's new boat, 3827. I was talking about this with Howard Shawyer, who as you will know has been Flying Fifteen racing for longer than he would admit. Anyway, Howard came up with this story about a chap with one leg at Grafham who used to sail fifteens years ago. For mobility reasons, he also shortened his tiller. Howard says though that he used to hang up his artificial leg up in the mens' changing room while out sailing. The key question of course, is "how did he tack?".
Howard has a very dry sense of humour and he may be pulling my leg (sic). Did you know that we had been racing together for about 5 years, when we were chatting between races in 3644 one day, and we discovered that we went to the same school in Cardiff....

Weather Outlook for Racing on Sunday

The windguru outlook for Sunday morning is F2 northerly, temperature about the same as last week. In fact, all about the same as last week!

Richard Stenson is looking to crew for someone!

The FF Autumn Open Meeting - The Commodore Goes on Record.....

Some very interesting commentary from Dart Class representatives !! Note the Commodore's second entry !!!

http://pub44.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3742624459&frmid=12&msgid=1137795&cmd=show

A New Trophy Idea from Mike Firth...

The Admiral has come across an old FF Compass in his shed and is wondering if it could make an interesting Fleet Trophy. What could we award it for?? DM is not sure that we have a Family Trophy any more, and as we have a number of Father/Son and Husband/Wife Teams perhaps we could award it for "Best Family Team"?? Mike is wondering what we do about unmarried-living-together Teams? DM thinks we should let them qualify so long as they don't win it - ha ha ha ha !!!

What would you award it for??

Your ideas please to datchetman@flyingfifteen.com

Datchetman says, "Tweet".......

You can now follow Datchetman on Facebook and Twitter!! If that's what you enjoy..... and whatever floats your boat!!

In a similar way, you can also follow Datchetman via Yachts and Yachting's Flying Fifteen page.

Tweet, Tweet.......

New FF Website from Goacher Sails

Have you seen the new Flying Fifteen section in the Goacher Sails website? It's a huge improvement and getting to the FF tuning information is a lot easier. Apparently the website is done by Steve's wife, Shelagh - and a super job she has made of it. You can check it out by clicking on the Goacher Sails link at the lower section of Datchet Man.

Datchet Man has Influence ??

DM can report that just days after sniping remarks in our Blog about the defunct hot air dryer in the male changing room, the one with the "it will all need rewiring problem",.... the hand dryer is now fixed - Bliss!!!! We have also heard from the Admiral's Mole that final plans for the Changing Room refurbishment have been discussed between the Contractor and Club Management - Hurrah !!

Race Report - Sunday December 5th

DM left home this morning with 8 inches of snow on the driveway - so very surprised to find precisely zero snow at Datchet. However, the crisp conditions and duvets kept many people away and four boats rigged to race.

Andy Murphy was in attendance but went home through lack of spinnaker sheets. Good news there is that Andy will team up with Andy Partington for the Winter Series and beyond. David Hume was also ready to go, but Dominic has apparently hurt his shoulder and may be off games for a couple of weeks. Steve Bell, and I think Jonathan Baggott, have their new boats in the workshop. Bob Millar is recuperating from his eye Op, and VC was away on family duties. According to Firth Snr., Firth Jnr was in bed.... no word of Tony - probably doing another triathlon. No sign of Andy and Nadia - who are becoming a rumour in their own lifetimes. Richard was held up for an hour by a carriageway closure on the M25, so three boats started race one. Richard took tea with Mike Firth, Admiral of the Fleet, and fixed BIFFA, agreed the new "Family Trophy" should be open to those living together, the future definition of "Silver" and the changing room refurbishment - as there was only time for one mug. Out on the racecourse, it was blowing 6-8mph SW and about a piping 4 degrees eventually. The fleet got away cleanly and John Hanson built an enormous lead with great speed and cunning - and frankly romped it from FC and his new Aussie crew - and then Mervyn sailing his new 3536. Mervyn said boat speed was fine, but he just needed to point the right way more often.

In race two, charged by hot tea, Richard and Howard made it 4 boats on the line. The PRO elected for a mass start, so with plenty of Toppers to intimidate, we immediately took a general recall. It was a bit of a short line, but the Race Team were gradually getting hypothermia, so were forgiven. Start two, got away cleanly. Committee boat end was generally a bit popular, but Richard and Howard took the pin end (because the Tacktick said that was the end to go for - amazing) and carved their way up the left hand side of the first beat crossing the entire fleet on port just at the top mark, RS bowsprit jobs and all. That set the pattern for the race, with John and Helen fighting to close the gap and nearly succeeding on the last spinnaker reach home. How does that Girl do it? It was Richard and Howard who took the gun, John and Helen 10 seconds behind, then the FC, followed by Mervyn. That makes it five wins in seven starts for Richard and Howard - there were rumblings in the Fleet that since the boat's recent secret trip to Windermere, it should be renamed "Hand of God"....

At this point it was blue skies, and a warm 5 degrees. Coming ashore we were all as warm as toast. The breeze though was dying and we are in for a sharp frost. Today's catering report = "OK".

What Snow ??!! Datchet is Open for Racing - Sunday 5th

It's warming up - well a little anyhow!!  The forecast for tomorrow is 8kn and 4 degrees.  The Club has informed me that they are open and Honda has been putting down as much grit as they can.  The Club also has new caterers, the lasagne last week was particularly good!

We have six races left in the Autumn (ha!) Series with, I think, Dominic and David Hume leading the Fleet.  Roger is leading the Silvers and Classics.

FC

New FF Photos on Fleet Website

To my mind, David Harding at Sailing Scenes is the top photographer for Flying Fifteen Events. David kindly gave us permission to use his work on the Fleet Website and most of the terrific photos shown there are his work. I've just added four more fantastic FF action shots from David. You can see them in the Photos page of the Fleet Website - they are the first four on display. (Click on the Fleet Website photo to the right side of the blog, then click "Photos" on the Welcome Page...)

More on definition of Silver FFs

I think that the cut-off for Silvers should correspond to a significant change in 'build' which results in a performance increase.  By allowing the fleet to increase to a numerical formula, the purpose of a performance based group is destroyed.

If they dont want to support older boats, then they could consider a handicap based on the sail number of the boat.

Roger

DM says : and we could have another performance cutoff for 3860, as it's obviously in another league!

Want to Watch the FF Worlds - very close up??

John Hanson has suggested that he could take half a dozen FFers out on his RIB to watch a Worlds Race at Hayling in 2011 at close quarters. See your favourite Stars' technique from just a wave away !!  If you're interested, have a word with John. His email address is on the "Contact Us" page of the Fleet Website. Bring your own bag!!

What are the Australians doing with Silver Category FF's?

I was just reading what the Aussies are doing with Silver FFs - they have some Fleets that are built entirely on Silvers. At FFI they have a rule which says that silvers are 2701-3200 and in the UK we are keen on 2700-3400. The Australians seem to have adopted a rolling formula - they have just gone to a definition of Silvers which is 2700-3329.

They describe the formula as "half the number of sail numbers less 2700, then add back the 2700".... Interesting !

Read about it here:-
http://www.flying15.org.au/index.php?page=test

BIFFA's Support to Clubs

I can understand that BIFFA might feel reluctant to promote an individual Club, but they should get behind a group of Clubs that have a "trial boat" capability. It would benefit the whole FF population - which is what they should be doing.

I have voted in the Datchet Man poll !!

Roger Abbey-Taylor

BIFFA does a Good Job for Club Fleet Members?

I've put a little poll at the bottom of 'Datchet Man' to find out how good a job you think BIFFA is making of supporting Club level FF members. Just click a button there to let me know what you think. If I can figure out how to get the results out of it,.... I'll let you all know what they are....

Mike Firth's Contribution is Recognised

This had snuck past me as I did not attend the AGM this year... our very own Mike Firth has been awarded the Vice Commodore's Cup for the year in recognition of his "unheralded contribution" to our Club and our Sailing. Quite right too and I am sure you'll all join me in congratulating Mike on this special achievement. Hip Hip Hooray!!!

New Caterer at the Datchet Club

Did you know we have a new caterer at the Club? New faces, new names and ... a new menu, I hope. They were trying really hard to impress last Sunday - pity the arctic conditions made lots of people stay huddled around their campfires at home. There was simply tons of food on display. Even vegetarians would be happy. I expect we shall have some gastronomic experimentation while they figure out what we like. I tried their lamb kebabs with salad on Sunday - which were terrific !

Some of This Year's New Boats

We've a great surge in fleet members this year. I've not seen Jonathan Baggott's 1803 Classic yet, but we have three pretty interesting boats in recent weeks. Steve Bell's 3827 is extremely interesting technically. It is a carbon Coryn. I would guess that it's the same mould as Dave Harrop's old boat, which here at Datchet with dominantly light breezes went like absolute Stinkie. (We had better watch out!). It was previously owned by a disabled Fifteener so has some conversions like a short tiller which Steve is removing. Also interesting in that boat is the centre mainsheet post arrangement. Take a look when you get a moment. I was very taken by the hiking handles too! And the cream hull colour!

Then we have Mervyn Wright's 3536, sister boat to my old 3537 which is with Matt Glasgow now. This boat is in outstanding condition - it's a Mk IX Smoothie and reminds me what astonishing value these boats of that period (c 1995) are now. They don't cost a lot to buy and will hardly depreciate at all. And my goodness, they are fast. They were really well built and have retained their stiffness. Mervyn's boat is particularly clean too - and could pass for a two year old. Fantastic!

The final boat to tell you about is Andy Murphy's 3965(I think). This is straight out of the box from P&B and has got all the latest thinking in it. Very smart, but a couple of things grabbed my attention. One was a very interesting harken track on each cockpit side aimed at relieving those situations when you cant crank the pole off the forestay. Really clever. Also for a chute boat, the cockpit was very clear. The other thing I noted was the move to thinner jibsheets and tiny genoa cheekblocks as a consequence. I guess thinner sheets will anyway come with the new shape jib, but I am reminded that my Dragon had even thinner genoa sheets than that - and that on a genoa the size of an FF main. "Why?", some of you will ask. Well, it speeds up the tack is the answer - because they run out much easier. VC Tinsley took a thin pair with us to the Europeans, and actually it worked just fine. Take a look at Andy's boat if you can - it's very interesting.

News from the Club

Datchet Man phoned into the Club office last week to ask about the water level, which normally rises about now, and the alleged changing room refurbishment - the two most common questions "in the Bar"....

On the former, the answer was, "we just don't know". On the second the answer was, "We simply don't know.... We expect the new Commodore will include something about it in his Christmas address."

For Catch 22 fans, this all reminds me of a scene in Joseph Heller's other great book, Good as Gold. I'm thinking of the bit at the Whitehouse Press Briefing where the President is asked a particularly tough, gritty, insightful, strategic military question by one of the journalists - and when he responds, "We just don't know", the pack of journalists clamour around him shouting, "Can we quote you on that?!! Can we quote you on that?!!"

So now you know what I know, which is actually what we don't know..... For myself, I think it would just be nice to have the hot air hand dryer working again.....

Race Report and AGM - Sunday 28th November

We arrived in minus three degrees at Datchet this morning, very light ghostly breeze, and six boats were promptly rigged!! Blimey.....
Biggest thrill was a brand new Datchet member, Andy Murphy, with his brand spanking new, out-of-the-box, Flying Fifteen. Lovely it is - 3965 I think. 3965 will form our sixth new team at Datchet this year!!
It wasn't half nippy though. Roger's furler shattered in the frost and then there were five. In the end, it was two family teams were the brave souls who cracked the ice and ventured out for a spot of match racing - Mark and Matt Firth and Dominic and David Hume. The rest headed for the Bar..... and the new caterers' coffee machine.
Actually Dom and non-Dom really did crack the ice - very, very slippery it was there this morning but boat and team survived to sail the day - with around a dozen fifteeners ashore watching. To be honest, I couldn't see that much of the racing through the steam pouring off my hot cappucino.... The results aren't posted on the website yet, but the PRO reported to Datchet Man that Team Firth had won the day.... Well through his shivering lips it was actually quite difficult to tell what he was saying, but I think that was the gist of it. He was very grateful for the opportunity to run the races this morning, as were the RIB drivers who were OK once they had de-iced their eyebrows. We were very grateful to them obviously. Mark and Matt, who between them weigh the same as two bags of sugar, found the conditions outstanding.
Team Hume and Team Firth arrived ashore in time for the quarterly prizegiving, which was the last item on the Fleet AGM - held in a very snug Boardroom with gallons of coffee and misted up windows. It was a pretty active fleet meeting and you can read or download the minutes by clicking the Fleet website picture to the right of the "Datchet Man" blogpage, and then clicking "Downloads" from the list above the photo.

New Fleet Captain at Datchet

The Datchet Fleet's AGM was today.  Among other topics the Fleet dealt with was the bi-annual changeover of Fleet Officers.  For Richard Jones it is time to step down at the end of his second "tour" of duty and the new Fleet Captain is .....Adam Mangan!!!  (A fine photo he makes too!)  His Vice Captain will be John Hanson.  A brilliant pairing, I would estimate.!!!

Good luck and best wishes to them both!

More Comment on the New FF Rig...

I respond to Trevor's suggestion and the interest in the new 15 rig. I believe it would be true to say that we all have an interest, not least the sail makers, who will be stocking up with anticipation, with the short life of mylar.

There is a very interesting article in the F15 section of the Hayling website at http://www.hisc.co.uk/locker/fifteen The content of the article is the research by Martin Stainsby (who in the past has had the enriching experience of crewing for me in a GP14) regarding the new sails. I make the assumption from the content and layout, that as well as being a competent 15 sailor, Martin may be into "project management"...!

My conclusions are that we still have some way to go with this initiative. It appears to have no definitive dimensions yet for the new sails, including the number of battens required. Also we seem to be blindly moving forward with the concept of a new mainsail shape, to the extent that this new mainsail shape is being evaluated in some parts of the world with the existing genoa.  Have we tried the new genoa/jib in conjunction with the existing mainsail?

It is my guess that a move to a new rig next July is in the balance and if Mylar is mandatory for the new main design, this will fracture the class and render all the hard work on classic and silver fleets to the bin. In the event that the new sail plan is approved and there is freedom of choice between dacron and mylar sails, then it would probably be a couple of seasons before the sail makers settle on their preferred cuts and designs.

Back to Trevor's suggestion, I should think a sailmaker will be pleased to strike a keen deal for 4-6 suits of Mylar sails. On a personal note I would only buy dacron because I like to obtain a minimum of 3 years use out of a suit of sails - our current suit are actually 5 years old - added to which I enjoy having an input into the design of sails I use.

Best Regards
Hume - non Dom -
FF3559

Sunday 28th - Weather Outlook and AGM

As I type, the Met Office daytime forecast (ha!) for Datchet is 0 degrees and 3mph northerly...

In the event that the forecast is correct (more "ha!") and we don't race..... because of lack of breeze....., we'll run the Fleet AGM right away as soon as we are quorate. If it all goes wild and we're in deep snow, I have a conference call number that we could use from our armchairs and will circulate the details for that by the end of Saturday, if it looks likely.

See you there!

FC

Autumn Series Update

We normally have around 12 boats entering each series, and so it is this Autumn. (Just looked outside - we should maybe rename this the "Autumn/Winter Series"...) The thing that is hitting many of us is getting enough races in to keep our scores up. Certainly Howard and Richard have taken a month off for various family commitments and a few others have had the same kind of pressures. Nonetheless, in the Autumn it is still the fast guys out front....

Leading the Series by a strong margin are Dominic and David Hume. When you see that yellow spinnaker whooshing past to the right - yes, it's them! In second at the moment we have our Superstars, Mark and Tony - a good few points behind it must be said, Chaps!! However, now Brett has glued the boat back together I expect they'll be pushing Team Hume very hard from now on. And then in third place, continuing the Firth Family domination of our fleet, comes Mike Firth - just a few points behind Mark. You will recall that Mike's normal partner, Vice Commodore Tinsley, has had a few challenges of his own on the domestic front. Mike has been sailing with a variety of crews, so his position just a few points behind his lad is all the more creditable.  (Click on the 4th photo to the right for the full results table) 

"Lad" ??! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ....... !!!!

The Number of BIFFA Members is ????

Just reading the minutes of the last National Fleet Captain's Meeting and I noticed the answer to a question that I've been seeking for quite a while.... How many boat owning members of BIFFA do we have??
The answer is... 360. To be honest, I cant decide if that's good or bad ! I think the last figure I recall for the number of Fleets is 52. That gives an average Fleet Membership of BIFFA of about seven.
I wonder how many of our Datchet boat owners belong? So what do you think? If you don't belong, is it out of apathy or do you not hold a strong opinion on it?

The New FF Rig

Trevor Sparrow is thinking ahead to the new FF Rig being approved.... He wonders if the bulk of us at Datchet would consider changing to the new rig at the same time, giving us maybe the opportunity to get large scale discounts on the sails - if we all buy at the same time. Also eliminating any issues that the new rig is either faster or slower than the current sails. Interesting... Got any views?? Emails to Trevor or the FC please.

Appointment of New Fleet Measurer

Just to let you all know that Phil Tinsley, VC, has passed the rigorous BIFFA examinations and multiple vivas to become a qualified Flying Fifteen Measurer. So no more excuses for unmeasured sails, and the installation of illegal camping stoves under the foredeck!
Phil's fees are reasonable he says and are calibrated in the following units:-
Small Tasks - Mugs
Medium Tasks - Glasses
Big jobs - Bottles
This is the first time i can recall in 15 years that we have our very own Measurer. Call Phil direct, if you need him.

Grafham Fleet Comparison with Datchet

Howard took Julien up to Grafham for the Laser Inlands two weekends ago. While there, he was able to check the health of the Flying Fifteen Fleet. They have 32 boats, (I think we may have 29 now) and on that Sunday had 7 boats start in the morning, and 6 in the afternoon.
So, all in all, we are about at the same level as Grafham now ! Well done, Everybody !!

2009-2010 Fleet Rankings !!!

One of the by-products of the Personal Handicap Series is that we can get a good idea of how we all sailed over the course of a year via the calculated personal handicap numbers - lets say over 40-80 races for most of us. It makes pretty interesting reading. The handicap numbers, not unlike a golfing handicap, are directly proportional. So a team with a personal handicap of 1010 is 1% slower than a team with a handicap of 1000. Mark and Tony are our "scratch" team and everyone is measured relative to them. Unfortunately for these purposes, the normal discard rules apply. So if you turn out for less than half the races, you start to get pushed down the league table.

Based on the entire 2009-2010 data, here's the Fleet Rankings :-

1 - 1028 - Mark and Tony
2 - 1038 - Mike and Phil
3 - 1039 - Richard and Howard
4 - 1043 - Dominic and David
5 - 1055 - Andy and Nadia
6 - 1060 - Andy and Bob
7 - 1065 - Adam and Emma
8 - 1068 - John and Helen
9 - 1134 - Roger and Janet

Looks like a Firth Family Clean Up !!!

2010 Personal Handicap Trophy - Results

Our Personal Handicap Series Resources Executive has just handed me the results for the 2009-2010 Series.

The Winners are:-

1st - Andy Clarke and Nadia Melinkova (71pts)
2nd - Mark Firth and Tony Mumford (78pts)
3rd - Richard Jones and Howard Shawyer (97 pts)

Congratulations to Andy and Nadia !!!

Race and Series Results now in Datchet Man

A couple of you raised with me yesterday the idea of being able to get to the race and series results tables in one click from Datchet Man. Good idea....

I have fixed that up and it should work - just click on the photos to the lower right. Let me know what you think !

Race Reports - Sunday 21st November

Seven boats racing today. Noticeable absentees though - John and Helen, Adam, Andy and Nadia, the Admiral and XFC. Pretty cool but not cold - and around a 10knot northerly - which was all over the place from time to time. "Up the middle" seemed to pay. The course was a bit short, notably the reaches - using only half the reservoir again.

Race One : we were generally a bit tardy for the very prompt race officer. Mark and Tony shot off the line and kindly waved to Howard and Richard headed in the opposite direction trying to get a start in. Howard v cross, as they began in 6th.... and heaven knows how many seconds behind. Richard blamed the tacktick.... A nice race - Mark and Tony never challenged, and Team Millar sailed a stonker to come a great second. Howard and Richard did a bit of that overtaking thing to come third. Doing a Button as they say....

Race Two : pressure on as we were all at the line and ready to go. Mervyn in his new 3536 had a great start at the committee boat end as did Mark and Tony. Richard and Howard gambled for the pin end, and the fleet in general got out of the trap very well. The pin end gamble didn't work too well, and at mark one it was Mark/Tony, Mervyn, then Richard and Howard. Then unaccountably Tony decided to read poetry to Mark instead of focussing on his spinnaker work - letting 3536 come storming through to take the lead. And then before mark two, Richard and Howard took them both. Terrific stuff! Howard is so good in those marginal reaching and planing conditions.... This was great racing. Team Hume came through strongly, Mervyn continued to sail well, and Mark and Tony (poetry readings complete) really piled the pressure on. But at the end, Richard and Howard took it by four seconds from Mark and Tony, and they were 5 seconds ahead of Team Hume.

Star performances of the day? Team Millar in race one - really sailed it very cleverly. Then our newcomer, Mervyn Wright in 3536 sailed extremely well too. His crew had never sailed a spinnaker until the day before. Blimey. A team to keep an eye on. The midnight monster might need to put lead in their tanks if they keep on like that!!

A great day's class racing !

The New FF Rig

Datchet is down for another visit of the new experimental Flying Fifteen rig in February. If you haven't already tried it, let me know. I would like to get some idea of the number of people who would be interested in having a sail.

Next we ought get some bar level conversation going as to whether we think we should support the move to the new rig or not. The vote will be soon and we should raise the level of debate. When Howard and I tried it last year in light to medium breezes we were pretty impressed - same speed, much faster tacking, lighter sheet loads. The monster spinnaker was a bit awe inspiring, but I think the current status of that is 'dropped'.

FC

Boat News

Steve Bell and Simon Scullion will take their super-stiff carbon boat away for a short period for a speed upgrade - terrifying thought.... and this weekend we might see Mervyn Wright's new baby - FF3535. Fingers crossed!

Google Discovers "Datchet Man" !!

Google has discovered Datchet Man !! It looks like it was found around 8 days ago and is being reported now,.. but we're on the list from this point forward. If you key "Flying Fifteen" into Google, we're still miles down the rankings just yet - well, unfindable really! You still have to key "Datchet Man The Flying Fifteen Blog" to even get on the first page, but we should start rising up the tables now. Our aim is to be listed ahead of BIFFA when the search words are simply the class name.
By the way, we've had readers in Australia, USA, Netherlands, Belgium and New Zealand too. Lets hope there are some within an hour's drive of Datchet!!
We've also done some work on getting the fleet website discoverable by google. More on that later.
Well done, everybody ! Keep reading......

The New Datchet Man has Passed its 1,000th Hit today !!

Well done, Everybody !!!

Racing Outlook for this Weekend!

For what it's worth at a Thursday evening (!), the breeze forecast is 9-12mph for Sunday morning.
It's a northerly though - bring your woolies and drysuit !!!!
We have a member of the Club's small Wayfarer fleet expressing an interest in Flying Fifteens.
His name is Bob Maddex. If you should see him around, make him feel welcome.
See you at the slip! The more the warmer.....

Want to Try a Carbon Spinnaker Pole??

Do you want to try a carbon spinnaker pole? I have a P&B spare (end to end type, with triggers). One piston end is sticky - needs attention or replacement. Half price.

If interested, see the FC.

Sent from my iPhone

2011 Mid-Winter Championship Dates

This year's Mid Winter Championship is at Burton S.C. on January 29-30th.

We've written to BIFFA asking if we can have them back for 2012 and 2013 and called it "our Mid-Winter Championship"......

Club AGM Highlights - Phil Tinsley Elected Vice Commodore!!

Phil Tinsley of the Flying Fifteen Fleet is our new Vice Commodore at Datchet ("Hurrah" for Philip!!....) and Barry Peters is our new Club Commodore.
Barry made it clear that his priorites will be to increase the membership, grow the numbers racing, boost the JYS/training activities and encourage them to move to fleet racing. We can expect considerable energy to be appled to improving all aspects of our on-the-water activities. Plenty to do, Chaps!!
Congratulations to both of them - a Great Team in prospect.
David and Rosemary Harrop were elected honorary club members:
- they were Flying Fifteen members almost since the club was started
- David was Commodore
- Rosemary stood in for the Club Secretary at times when staff illness struck us down
- the first husband and wife team in the Club's history
Best wishes to you David and Rosemary !!

Other FF Fleets Also Showing Signs of Recovery

If the go to the BIFFA website (see link at the bottom of this blog), and select the "F15 News" page there, you'll see both the Chew and Dovestone Fleets reporting significant resurgence in their Flying Fifteen Fleets. Like Datchet they are now seeing average race turn-outs in the 6-10 range, with Dovestone reporting an 8.7 boat average.
Perhaps that's a metric that we should start tracking?

Crew Wanted for Sunday November 14th

If you are looking to crew an FF tomorrow, quickly contact Adam Mangan!

Are Andy and Nadia losing their (silver) Touch?!

I've just heard that Andy and Nadia have lost their Silver Title!!!

The new winners of the Silver Trophy in the Summer Series are Richard and David Stenson! Hurrah for our newcomer team....!!!!

("Come on, Nadia !!!!!!"...)

Summer Series Results

The winners of the Summer Series, which ended at the end of September were:-

1st. Mark and Tony
2nd. John and Helen
3rd. Dominic and David

Well done to the winners! Mark and Tony keep the Trophy for another year! (more polishing Tony!)

Prizegiving at the AGM after sailing on the 28th!

Y&Y December Issue - The Nationals Attendance Tables

This months Yachts and Yachting magazine has just popped through the door. It's the time of year that they review all dinghy classes. As always, it is so frustrating that they don't include the Flying Fifteen in the tables - they classify it as a "yacht" not a dinghy. The article starts off with an analysis of National Championship attendance figures for the last decade. It makes pretty interesting reading.
Of 134 classes, only 24 classes made 'the cut' - with more than 50 entries in this year's National Championships.
- of the 24, 19 are non trapeze boats, 5 have trapeze. The top 11 classes are all non-trapeze.
- only two of the 24 were designed after 2000, and about half were designed before 1970 and half since
- two of the 24 are Laser designs (Radial and 2000)
- three are RS designs (RS Feva, RS200, RS400)
- interesting absentees ? Fireball, 505, the other RS's, Laser, Laser 4000
- youth classes of Optimist and Topper are way out front with 300+ entries
So where would the Flying Fifteen fit in the league table?
- the answer is at number 17, with 63 entries
- two less entries than the Merlin Rocket
- one more entry than Dart 18
- three more entries than RS400
Y&Y also score if you had more or less boats than in 2000 and 2009.
Only 12 of the 24 listed managed more entries in 2010 than in both 2000 and 2009.
If the Flying Fifteen were listed, it would have been one of them.
Yachts and Yachting on sale at your bookstall now - £4.30
Not bad.......

Summer Series Prizegiving

The prizegiving for the 2010 summer series will take place at the Fleet AGM after sailing on November 28th.

Better be there!!

Datchet loan boat programme

We have two loan boats and they rely on our generous ff members for sails and we shall need replacements in the new year.    Have you any old ones cluttering up your garage?

 

Please email me, Mike Firth, on mike_firth@bluebottle.com

Winter Members!!

We've already heard from both Ian Linder and Matt Glasgow that they'll be bringing their boats to race at Datchet this winter.

If you know anyone else who would be interested in racing with us until March, the Club has a choice of four advantageous FF packages available. You can download a one page leaflet with all the details by visiting the "downloads" section of the fleet website. (click on the right hand side of this Blog)

Sent from my iPhone

Race Start Time on Remembrance Sunday

It's Remembrance Day this coming Sunday - remember that the gun for the first race will not be until just after 1100am.

National Fleet Captains' Meeting 2010

This year, the main focus of the National Fleet Captains' Meeting was about supporting Clubs and Club Racing.

Datchet made a written submission to the Meeting. You can download it by going to the Fleet Website (Click on the panel at the right of the blog)
and selecting the "Downloads" page. You will see it there.

Datchet was represented at the meeting by Mike Firth and Adam Mangan. They'll be happy to talk to you about it.

Fleet AGM

We're thinking we should have our 2010 Fleet AGM after sailing on Sunday 28th November.

The agenda would include:-

- Minutes of Last Meeting (if we can find them!)

- Treasurer's Report (IP)

- Fleet Captain's Report on the the Year (RJ)

- National Fleet Captain's Meeting (MF & AM)

- Marketing our Fleet

Statistics from 5 years of the Loan Boat Program (MF)

Marketing Online, Website etc (RJ)

- Appointment of new Fleet Officers (RJ)

- Any Other Business

Bids for additional topics to Richard please.....

Racing - Sunday November 7th

Good turnout today - 6 boats raced - FC and Howard, The Millar Team, Roger sailing Midnight with John Hanson, Adam without Emma but with a new crew for the winter, plus the two most regular starters, the Stensons and the Humes....

Adam's new crew, Tim, looks a handy piece of work - obviously not up to Emma's massive Gaelic charm (no swimsuit days to look forward to here...), but pretty useful in a breeze, I'd say.

It was the first cool sailing day of the autumn but a nice non-planing breeze.  We had around 10mph gusting maybe 15mph, so just the odd bit of fun and spray.  It was definitely a double thermals kind of day (6 degrees) - we had a pretty unusual northerly direction to the breeze, with some jolly massive shifts.  Gave up on the tactick mullarkey....

The FC had returned from his holiday in Windermere.  We are told that he persuaded his wife that it would be a perfect place for an autumn break.  It just so happened that they were two minutes walk from the base and sail-loft of a certain well known Flying Fifteen Champion...  Wifely comment on this chicanery is not recorded.  ("It is in our house" - Ed.) She should have guessed something was up when they hitched up the Fifteen for the journey.  Completely baffled at their new turn of speed, Richard and Howard just took off in 3934 and left the fleet for dead in both races.  That's three wins out of four starts for them.  Of course, there was nobody named Firth competing which makes a giant difference, obviously!!  Racing was very close in the Fleet though - in the first race 90 seconds separated 2nd, 3rd and 4th places and in the second race just 30 seconds separated the same three !!!

Team Millar were sailing exceptionally well - they have got to grips with their new mast and had a really convincing 2nd in the second race after a great tussle with the Humes.

XFC appeared for coffee, sounded more cheerful, adjusted the spreader settings here and there and inspected the FF part of the boat park and 3888 in particular.  I have never had to face an Ofsted inspection but it must be somewhat similar - that feeling that one could do much better if one tried only a little harder!!

Water level still disturbingly unmoved.

The New Fleet Website

We've designed a new website for the fleet aimed at newcomers to both Flying Fifteens and to sailing. Take a look and see what you think. Lets us know.....

http://web.me.com/rjlondon/ffdatchet/Flying_Fifteen_Welcome.html

The Europeans at La Rochelle

You probably all know that FC and XFC tugged 3181 all the way down to La Rochelle for towing practice.

It was a pretty good regatta it seems - the photo here taken on the Friday is our favourite.  It's not FC and XFC I can reveal here.....!!

Photo is copyright: Francois Richard
email him at francois.richard.photo@gmail.com
if you'd like to see more.

Datchet Buoy can also reveal that if they hadn't swapped trailers for the event, all hell would have broken loose. Admiral Firth used said same trailer for the Llangorse Open and had to have it welded back together in a Supermarket car park.  Waitrose think of everything....

New Boats in the Fleet

Not only have Steve Bell and Simon Scullion bought a Flying Fifteen this year - and a carbon one at that ...  but now Datchet Man can reveal that we have another new boat - Mervyn Wright has bought the poetically numbered 3535. The only boat in our fleet that rhymes......  Next up : David and Richard Stenson, we hope. That'll be three for the year !!