SA Flying 15s
KZN Flying 15 Regionals
Henley Midmar Yacht Club: 15 – 16 November
Winning their inaugural regional title, Thomas Funke and Colin Becker impress after a long, tough, challenging weekend of sailing at the KZN Flying 15 Regionals hosted by Henley Midmar Yacht Club on 15 and 16 November.
A small fleet of 8 yachts reported for the regional champs with some big names in the class lining up on the start line. Funke, a relatively newcomer to the class paired up with Becker who has been doing most of his yachting in recent times on the big boat, CFM.
‘It was my first time in a Flying 15, and I enjoyed being part of such a welcoming group of sailors. Sailing with Thomas was a highlight, his boat was well prepared, and his calls were spot on more often than our competitors. It was a pleasure to sail with him again.’ a chuffed Becker enthused.
‘It was great to compete, the wind blew from the southeast, with cold and wet conditions keeping things challenging. Each race was exciting, with positions changing on every leg due to the shifty breeze. It's a competitive fleet, and the final rankings were only decided in the last race.’ Becker shared.
Funke is gearing down for a well-deserved Christmas break, commented, ‘What an awesome way to finish a good sailing year, five regionals, three Nationals, one African Championship and one World Championship!’
The victors were only two points ahead of top rivals, Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek. Harris and Kriek have a slew of Flying 15 titles spanning three decades, including 13 National titles. Out of the 8 races set by Race Officer, Tony Alison, Funke and Becker earned three wins, two second places a third, fourth and fifth – which was their race discard, while Harris and Kriek equalled the wins, with three bullets, adding a second place, a third and two fourth places to their tally. The race discard was a sixth place in the final race. Funke ended his weekend with 14 points and Harris settle on 16 points.
After prize giving, Funke enthused, ‘It was awesome. Such good competition. We planned to be consistent and finish every race in the top three. Conditions were really tricky; some races the wind went left and right with switches of 30 degrees. Colin was incredible. First time racing Flying 15s and he was a star. Hardly put a foot wrong.’
‘The last race was the best one. We knew the points were close and we needed a big one. We got away nicely and hit the right. We saw clouds coming over and it paid off. We led from start to finish and with that secured the third win of the event and the regatta. What a great feeling. The boat is working so well the new gear and changes I made have paid off. Better speed, good manoeuvres and no issues.’ Funke concluded.
Harris reported, ‘The regatta was hard work, all the boats were very close. One mistake and you lost places quickly. It was cold and wet, especially on Sunday! Quite a lot of full power conditions, makes for hard work, rain, cold and poor visibility on Sunday, otherwise a close hard-fought regatta.’
Adding, Harris said, ‘The last time I sailed at Midmar was probably the 9 Hour in February this year. It was good to be back! Our first race on Sunday was possibly my favourite; we had a poor first day and we set things right with a win.’
Closer to home, the local lads had a few impressive moments. Leading the charge were long time partners, Paul Changuion and Tim Duguid. Changuion has been cheating on his sailing partner a fair bit this year, between some exotic travelling and participating in several international events with his daughter, Polly where they finished fourth in the world at the Marriot Mirror World Championships. In his more familiar role in the FF fleet, Changuion and Duguid finished on the third step of the podium including two wins.
Hilton old boy and former top competitive sailor, Anthony McMillan sailing with his wife Farrell relished being back on the water. ‘It was good to have such close racing. You couldn’t make one mistake. Flying 15s are great boats to sail with your wife. Unlike other small keel boats, mixed teams can sail in highly skilled fleets very competitively.’
The class of Flying 15s has a broad age appeal with the youngest competitor Connor McLoughlin at 18 years and oldest competitor, Anton Ellens at 78. Not many classes can boast stats like that!
Another highly skilled sailor who is making a splash, Howick resident, Rob Finlay crewing for Ellens had an eventful weekend. Starting off they carved their way through the middle of the pack in a dying breeze to pip the McLoughlins at the pin. ‘We picked up 2 seconds in the FF regionals this last weekend which was great for an old classic design. Unfortunately, the cost of a new design is out of our league for pensioners.’
‘I rejoined HMYC when my wife and I retired to Howick and enjoy sailing the FF. Anton and I are the oldest crew on the water at 78 and 76 respectively.’
Briefly chatting about his vast experience, Finlay shared, ‘When a member of HMYC, Terry Clarence and I sailed in the World Fireball Champs in France in 1975 where we came 10th out of 86 boats in the pre worlds and 13th out of 49 boats in the worlds.’
A phenomenal experience, as is coming second, twice, with a beautiful old classic boat.
The fleet of local Flying 15s go back to the drawing board organising their next event with many of them rumoured to launch for the upcoming Jonsson Cup taking place in Durban.
Results
1 Thomas Funke / Colin Becker (PYC) 14pts; 2 Patrick Harris / Jeremy Kriek (RNYC) 16pts; 3 Paul Changuion / Tim Duguid (HMYC) 19 pts; 4 Myles White / Estelle Buys (HMYC) 29pts; 5 Anthony McMillan / Farrell McMillan (HMYC) 32pts; 6 Jerome McLaughlin / Connor McLaughlin (HMYC) 32pts; 7 Anton Ellens / Rob Finlay (HMYC) 37pts; 8 Simon Musgrove / Kevin Wallace (HMYC) 56pts
