National Yacht Club

19th November 2011

We currently have 25 Flying Fifteens, mostly based out of the National Yacht Club here in Dun Laoghaire, and we are glad to say that the class is in rude health. Several additions to the fleet have taken place over the past 2-3 years without any provocation, so our Class Captain, Dave Mulvin, thought it would be a good idea to arrange a “try-a-fifteen” session in response to a few expressions of interest.   We designated Saturday last as “the day” and started planning towards it. The general expectation was that maybe 3 or 4 might be interested, given the short notice etc.   Having got the all-clear that we weren’t overlapping with any other racing in the harbour, and that there were no ships due that morning, we sent out the initial communication, and very quickly had 9 expressions of interest. Asking for volunteers to sail and to help with organising, we had a huge response and had no trouble getting 9 boats on the water and plenty of help ashore.   The morning was glorious, light breeze, sunshine and 15 degrees – better than most of the days in the summer, and ideal as an introduction.   Ciaran Crummy (PRO), ably assisted by Peter Cronin (Flags) and Phil Marsden (Recorder) ran 2 excellent races in spite of the unexpected RStGYC Team Racing – many thanks lads. The race results are below. We had planned for a fun prize-giving in the bar afterwards, but the Leinster match put paid to that.   The feedback from the participants was universally positive, with several making inquiries about getting involved.   I think we will run something similar at the start of the 2012 season, as several other people have since approached us complaining that they had not heard about the event.   A big thank-you to all who took the time to take their boats out and show what a great one-design it really is.   The Boathouse staff of NYC, especially Olivier and Alex, were superb, laying on a rib, VHF, flags, hooter and marks, …and a spare rib (just in case) – thanks a million lads.  

Some Boats Available:

Our aspiration in running Saturday’s event was that more people would join us and enjoy one of the biggest one-design classes racing in the bay, either as crew, or by acquiring a boat themselves. At present, there appears to be 3 good boats we know of which are available for sale, and I am trying to get details on each of these for posting onto flyingfifteen.ie. One of these is quite a new boat, the other two are a few years old but still very competitive. It may take a week or two before details are added to the website, however, if you are interested in acquiring a Flying Fifteen, please contact Alan on 087-8173398 and I’ll forward on contact details to you.