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.....