Marine Blast Regatta

We hope you enjoyed the Scottish Flying Fifteen 2011 Championships. The next FF event at Holy Loch is the Marineblast Regatta 10th 11th September. 

International Flying Fifteen Scottish National Championships 2011 at Holy Loch

 Competitors came to the Holy Loch over the 20th and 21st August from as far away as Northampton , Yorkshire and Cumbria. Sponsors Holy Loch Marina looked after the boats and Loch Fyne Oysters provided a tasty buffet to welcome crews.  With prizes including malt whisky from Loch Lomond Distillery and a decent weather forecast the scene was set for a weekend of top level racing.

The first of the four races saw a series of shunts and bumps as boats jostled on the start line.   Race two was memorable with a strong and gusty wind blowing along the loch making for a hard slog upwind and a sleigh ride back down the windward leeward course.

 A pattern was emerging in the Open fleet with UK Champion Steve Goacher and crew Phil Evans from Windermere coming home first in both races and Chris Bowen from Northampton coming in second (so much for local knowledge!).

 In the Classic division Bobby Salmond fought hard to keep in front of Dan Challis and Guy Neville in the borrowed  Ffia. In the silver fleet Panda crewed by George Purves and Roddy Anderson keep a respectable distance in front of Orr and Ferguson in Riff Raff  and Scott Trains’ Iffor the Engine.   

On Sunday things were very different with crews waiting for over two hours for the wind direction to settle to the satisfaction of the race officer. An even longer wait due to a broken ferry left three crews stranded on Bute and ultimately missing out on proceedings.  

Race three on Sunday saw a breakaway group dominate the race whilst race four was a very tight affair with much place changing and some near misses as crews worked hard to get one last good result.

In the final analysis Messrs Goacher and Evans won the Scottish title. Edinburgh based  George Purves with Roddy Anderson came in second overall and the first HLSC boat, Vamoose came in third .

 Bobby Salmond also claimed the Classic section and with it the HLSC Silver and Classic combined trophy. Just as well as he had forgotten to bring the trophy to the presentation having won it last year. Special mention should be made here for Patrick Condy, a young cadet member at HLSC who took on the challenge at short notice of crewing for Bobby on the current classic world champion boat Vamoose. Also braving the fierce conditions teenage Alistair Ireland from Toward Sailing Club sailing with his dad did a stirling job .

All in all a very competitive and hard fought championship. Enthusiasm for fifteens has steadily grown over the last 10 years at Holy Loch and the club was delighted to be given the opportunity to host the Scottish Nationals. Full results can be found on the results page of this site.

The club is now preparing for another FF open event - the Marineblast Regatta on the 11th and 12th September.

see www.marineblastregatta.com for details. 

 

SAVE YOURSELF 120 MILES  - use Western Ferries to nip across the firth of Clyde rather than driving the scenic but much longer route

 

Welcome to the Holy Loch Sailing Club Flying Fifteen website. The site promotes FF sailing at the Holy Loch and in particular the Flying Fifteen Scottish National Championships 2011. The Championships will be run over the weekend of 20th and 21st August 2011 and will be hosted by Holy Loch Sailing Club, Sandbank near Dunoon. Sonsored by three lochs!!!.

Holy Loch Sailing Club welcomes Flying Fifteen crews , with whatever type of boat (Open, Silver , Classic)  and from all across the world to join in the racing and socialising in August. If you sail a Flying Fifteen you are very welcome to come and enjoy top class racing and scottish hospitality.  

Good Food, Good Drink and Good Sailing.....

Our 2011 sponsors include 3 famous lochs - the famous Loch Fyne Oysters, Loch Lomond Distillery and Holy Loch Marina.

Sandbank based business Marine Blast is sponsoring this website. Club member and excellent photographer Jim McNair has provided the photographs and given permission for HLSC to use them on this site.