The final three heats of the 57th Australian Flying Fifteen Championships were sailed today (January 5) in perfect South Westerly breeze of around 10 to 15 knots, slowly building as the day went on.   

Nick Jerwood, with daughter Enfys, in Ineffable comfortably won his second Australian championship, with WA boats filling the top 4 placings in the regatta.

Race 7

Race 5 started in winds of around 10 knots from the SW.

Nick and Enfys Jerwood from SoPYC in Ineffable comfortably won this race, their third of the championship, by just under 30 seconds.  At the finish, Firefly (Philippa Packer and Dean MacAullay) from RFBYC and fellow RFBYC sailors in Glamour Buoys (Greg Leaversuch and Peter Barblett) were inseparable, being scored in equal 2nd position.  Stephen Fries from Victoria and David Tabb from the UK continued their excellent regattas in 4th and 5th places respectively.

6th to 10th places were all filled by WA boats - Ffast Lane 3 (John Wilson) in 6th, Yes No Maybe (Jen Simms) an excellent 7th, Nelson's Loose Cannon (Geraldton's Peter Groom) in 8th - their best placing of the regatta, Second Breakfast (Karen Dawes) in 9th and Tuffan Up (David Yu) in 10th.

Further back, other WA boats included Faffin (Carl Petterson) in 14th - also their best finish of the regatta, 16 (Stephen Pidgeon) in 17th, Fflashpoint (Peter Rooke) in equal 18th, Fforeigner (Simon Lucas) in 20th, She Who Must Be Obeyed (John Hassen) in 22nd and Enuff Rope (Greg Howell) in 23rd.  Ffast Lane (Jeff Vance) failed to complete the course.

Full results from Race Seven can be found here.

Race 8

The seabreeze picked up a little for Race 8, coming in at around 14 knots.  A general recall was followed by a clean start by the fleet.

SoPYC's Nick and Enfys Jerwood in Ineffable repeated their Heat 7 win although this time their win was not quite as comfortable with the fleet being quite closely bunched. Second was Victoria's Stephen Fries in Surprize by Giver closely followed by another Victorian, Lewis Davies, in The Flying Flamingo, recapturing some of the form that he had shown earlier in the regatta.  David Tabb from the UK in Ark crossed the line in 5th position.

Then followed a trio of RFBYC boats, Firefly (Philippa Packer), Glamour Buoys (Greg Leaversuch) and Tuffan Up (David Yu) in 6th to 8th positions respectively.  

Fflashpoint (Peter Rooke) crossed the line in 10th, Ffast Lane 3 (John Wilson) in 11th, Yes No Maybe! (Jen Simms) in 13th,  Nelson's Loose Cannon (Peter Groom) in 14th and Ffast Lane (Jeff Vance) in 15th.

The remaining WA boats to finish were 16 (Stephen Pidgeon) in 17th, Fforeigner (Simon Lucas) in 18th, She Who Must Be Obeyed (John Hassen) in 19th, Second Breakfast (Karen Dawes) in 20th, Faffin (Carl Petterson) in 22nd and Enuff Rope (Greg Howell) in 24th. 

Full results from Race Eight can be found here.

Race 9

With the Jerwoods' win in Race 8, they could not be beaten for the National Championship, and so they chose not to compete in Race 9, leaving it to other to battle it out for the minor placings.  Going into the final race, Firefly had a narrow lead for second place, and third place looked like it would be a three-way battle between Glamour Buoys, Tuffan Up and Ark.

The final race of the championships was a very closely fought affair, with a three way battle for the lead between Firefly, Glamour Buoys and Tuffan Up.  At the finish line, Tuffan Up (David Yu from RFBYC) came away with a narrow win, with FireFly (Phillipa Packer) in second place only just ahead of Glamour Buoys (Greg Leaversuch).  Only 7 seconds separated the top three finishers at the end.

SoPYC's Peter Rooke in Fflashpoint sailed his best race of the regatta to finish fourth ahead of David Tabb in Ark.

Other WA boats included Ffast Lane 3 (John Wilson) in 9th, Yes No Maybe! (Jen Simms) in 10th,  Second Breakfast (Karen Dawes) in 11th, She Who Must Be Obeyed (John Hassen) in 12th,  Ffast Lane (Jeff Vance) in 15th, Faffin (Carl Petterson) in 16th, Nelson's Loose Cannon (Peter Groom) in 19th,  Fforeigner (Simon Lucas) in 20th,  and Enuff Rope (Greg Howell) in 21st, and 16 (Stephen Pidgeon) in 23rd.

Final Standings

After nine races,  Nick and Enfys Jerwood from South of Perth Yacht Club in Ineffable comfortably won the championship with a race to spare, scoring 10 points after two discards.  Their worst result of all of the races that they competed in was a 4th - displaying remarkable consistency.  A well-deserved result. 

Phillipa Packer and Dean MacAullay from RFBYC finished a clear second in Firefly with 19.5 points.  The results in Race 9 meant that third place was filled by fellow RFBYC entrant Tuffan Up (David Yu and Chris Nelson) in third place, a mere half a point ahead of  RFBYC's Leavo and Baddy in Glamour Buoys in fourth.  A further 2.5 points further back was the UK's David Tabb - an outstanding result for him. 

The final placings for other WA boats were as follows:

• Ffast Lane 3 (John Wilson and Brad Sheridan, RFBYC) in 7th,
• Second Breakfast (Karen and Russell Dawes, SoPYC) in 10th
• Fflashpoint (Peter Rooke and Paul Dunbar, SoPYC) in 11th
• Yes No Maybe! (Jen Simms and Adam Semple, SoPYC) in 12th
• Nelson's Loose Cannon (Peter Groom and John Muscio, GYC) in 14th
• She Who Must Be Obeyed (John Hassen and Kevin Griffiths) in 15th
• Fforeigner (Simon and Aileen Lucas, PRSC) in 19th
• 16 (Stephen Pidgeon and Stuart Adamson, GYC) in 20th
• Ffast Lane (Jeff and Greg Vance, SoPYC) in 21st
• Faffin (Carl and Kristine Petterson,SoPYC) in 23rd
• Enuff Rope (Greg and Leanne Howell,,SoPYC) in 25th

The overall results for the regatta can be found here.

Congratulations to RSAYS and all the volunteers and staff who made this event such a success.