- Written by FFIWA_webmaster
- Published: 19 Apr 2019
Strong winds have prevented any sailing from taking place on Friday April 19 - Day 1 of the 2019 Flying Fifteen WA State Titles at Esperance. With gusts occasionally well in excess of 30 knots and heavy seas, Race Officer John Taylor initially called an on-shore postponement. At 1pm all sailing for the day was called off, as there appeared to be little prospect of conditions improving sufficiently to ensure the safety of competitors.
The regatta will resume on Saturday at the scheduled start time - first warning signal at 12:30pm. The aim is to complete 3 races on Satruday and a further three on Sunday morning, making a 6 race series in all. At this stage, this looks achievable, with winds of 15-20 knots being forecast for Saturday afternoon, and 4 to 13 knots for Sunday morning.
In order to make it easier to fit three races into each session, a new Course 5 has been added to the sailing instructions - competitors should pick up a copy of the amendment if they have not already done so.
As usual, the folks from Esperance Bay Yacht Club have made everyone extremely welcome - the 35 competing boats and their crews, as well as the significant number of non-sailing visitors who have come to volunteer their services and sample the legendary Esperance hospitality. At the welcome function on Thursday night, Club Commodore (and erstwhile Flying Fifteen sailor) Stewart Wallace welcomed all visitors to the club, and David Swan, in his multi-faceted role as Event Chairman, club Vice Commodore and Flying Fifteen diehard, recognised the many FFIWA life members and former Flying Fifteen world champions in the room - as well as a couple of our newer Flying Fifteen sailors who managed to tow their boats all the way from Perth complete with rudders still in place!
The scene is now set for another Esperance tradition - the seafood barbecue tonight - followed by two days of intense, but enjoyable competition on the water.