Want to Crew a Fast One this Sunday?....

Mervyn is without James this weekend. If you are looking for a sail on Sunday (breeze forecast looks terrific!!) get in touch with Mervyn direct. If you don't have his details, email me on datchetman@flyingfifteen.com

Racing Sunday 13th - Breeze Forecast...

The breeze looks good again for this Sunday !! The forecast is showing 16mph Southerly with some good gusts on top...

For Club Members, this weekend will count for the Award of the Sunday 13th Trophy!!

See you there...

FF Hackers....

If you have been reading this website for a while, you will know that by some huge stroke of luck we managed to get hold of great internet domain names. We got "flyingfifteen" with dot com, dot org.... and dot co dot uk set up pretty quickly. Each is at a nominal fee and comes with five forwarding email addresses. I noticed today that flyingfifteen dot net has been squatted on by hackers. Whatever you do, do NOT try keying the dot net address into your browser. It will freeze your screen... and maybe your system...

Little did they know, the hackers have done us a favour. Nobody else can get it either - Yippee!! or should that be Yahoo??!! :-)

So what is all this about? We had the same thing happen with our startup company in 1999/2000. We stupidly booked our company name before booking our domain names. There was only a gap of a few days. In the gap, cyber squatters moved in on our dot com address and put a porn channel on it.... Then what happens is that the squatters then sit back with a few beers, play with their X-box, and wait for the next startup company to make the same mistake. We threatened them with legal action, they asked for HUGE amounts of money for the domain name.... but we never settled. We ran our business off the dot net address until we sold up. I lost count of the number of times that a client, or potential client, rang up to tell us there was porn on our website. Tricky for an HR Company's reputation...

Anyway, Hackers... thanks for the favour. You probably have more in the bank than our fleet does. You wont be hearing from us soon...!!

The 2011 FF Open Circuit Kicks Off...

Keith Jamieson of BIFFA has just sent around a reminder that the Bewl FF Open is on 19th/20th March (NOR available). Also don't forget that the Datchet FF Spring Open is the weekend following on 26th/27th March!!! 

Hayling Worlds - From the Vice Cap'n's Desk....

The accommodation block at HISC is getting booked up so any club members that want to take part in the 2011 nationals should book soon to avoid disappointment !!  

Fo more info visit. http://www.hisc.co.uk/accom2.htm 

The RYA Dinghy Show....

From time to time, Keith Jamieson kindly circulates material from the RYA. A few days ago it was this very good website about the Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace - in just a few weekends time.

http://www.rya.org.uk/programmes/dinghyshow/Pages/RYAVolvoDinghyShow2010.aspx?utm_source=InBrief&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=feb11nmem

On the Flying Fifteen Stand we can expect two boats - one brand new Ovi, and also Keith's own Evans/Goacher boat to show how great the Mk IX's can still look. The Datchet Fleet are planning to help staff the FF stand and scour the visitors for people who might try our Datchet FF Trial Sail program... If you would be interested in giving a hand, contact Philip Tinsley, Adam Mangan, John Hanson or Mike Firth..... The more the better in my view.... If you we don't bring back a handful of scalps, there's going to be trouble from the VC...

Hayling Worlds and the New FF Owner...

Andy Murphy, who is as keen as mustard for touring the Circuit, had a word with me today about the Hayling Worlds. You may recall his boat is only just delivered and Andy is a new owner - he says that he would like to do the Hayling Worlds, but suspects that he cant get the points to qualify. My suggestion is that with the new higher entry numbers for FF worlds, he just does what he can for qualifiers this year. Apparently there's not many entries yet, so Andy has banged his name in anyway. Allowing for entries from Australia and New Zealand, there are still 90-100 spots to play for. The UK qualifying table currently lists 110 teams, I think - so it could still happen for Andy.

He also says it is a significant financial commitment - I think he said £350 for two weeks of Championship sailing. Still - once in a decade probably - lets hope he does it!! By the way, we have no takers as far as I know to go and observe the racing from the Vice Cap'n's rib??... Is that right?? What if we hired something huge ...with a bar???

The Flying Fifteen 2011 Circuit Kicks Off...

Keith Jamieson of BIFFA has just around a reminder that the Bewl FF Open is on the 19th/20th March (NOR available). Also don't forget the Datchet FF Spring Open is the weekend following on 26/27th March!!!

The Winter Warm Up Kicks Off- Race Report....

What a fantastic sail !! We had an encouraging forecast of 16 gusting 30, but on the day it was 22-28 gusting 35 - what a blast ! Some of those reaches were screamers - the spinnaker legs were a little broad, but the two sail reach was a real corker - perhaps near terminal velocity in some of the gusts. You know, when the boat goes super light and your eyes are closed with the spray and you start to wonder...

We had a great turnout of 11 boats, almost half the Club total Fleet. Yet we had notable absentees too - Ian Linder and Kevin Sweetman, Mervyn Wright and James Curtiss, and Charles had said he would try to make it, but in the event was not with us. Mike Firth and Phil Tinsley are on Safaris, of course....Extra visitors turned out in the shape of Brett Dingwall and Jonathan Clark, Dave Nicholls and Steve Ward, and Matt Glasgow and Gareth Brown. For our no-shows, they should note that it is 6 out of 8 to count, so you can still race from next weekend with a chance!!!

The PRO laid a great first leg the length of the reservoir and in race 1 the fleet were clean out of the gate on a pretty square line. We all converged on the weather mark in something of a pack - Richard and Howard approached on an 'Apthorp', but lost several places on the turn. Brett and The Humes set a scorching pace. Given their weight I thought for the day as a whole, Dominic and David deserved the "Men of the Match" award. They sailed like their trousers were on fire. Dave Nicholls had to retire - there was a very loud bang aboard their boat followed by a rapid main drop. Also recording a DNF were Andrew and Matt - not sure what happened there. Matt and Gareth sailed the first race with flair but were seen heading for the jetty before race 2 started. In the end, Brett took race one, from The Humes, and Mark and Tony took third.

The Flying Fifteens had the privilege of being the first in the sequence for race 2, catching Brett completely by surprise. Rather typically he found himself on exactly the right spot with the fleet charging towards him, and shot clear of the line - and was never seen again. Dom and Non-Dom, setting 1998 vintage sails really sailed well. They overtook Richard and Howard at the end of the sausage run, then went on to scream past Mark and Tony too. At the end, it was Brett again, then The Humes, followed by Mark and Tony. "Promising Team Award" for the day must go to the Stensons, I reckon - great pace aboard 3632.

To see the full results, click on the "Last Sunday's Results" photo to the right of this page.....