41 boats on the start line for the 65th FF State Championships
The Flying Fifteen has definitely stood the test of time, as is proven by the passion of the people who sail them. It is a neat boat, exciting, sails like a dinghy, but is so much more forgiving (no capsizes with a keel!), only requires 2 crew and its sleek planning hull is just so much fun when the breeze gets up and it really ‘flies’!
The 41 boats on the start line for the 65th WA State Flying Fifteen Championships held at South of Perth Yacht Club over the 2026 Easter weekend is a good display of the current strength of the Class, not just locally on the Swan River and the established fleets in Esperance, Albany and Geraldton, but we were also delighted to also welcome a new fleet of 5 Flying Fifteens that have started sailing together at Port Bouvard. More extraordinarily, we also welcomed 2 boat crews that had come all the way over from Salt Springs Island Yacht Club oW Vancouver, Canada to sail in our State Championships and enjoy the wonderful and famous Western Australian FF hospitality and camaraderie!
Unfortunately, the first day of the Flying Fifteen State Championships was anything but ‘flying’ weather as the 41 boats struggled to chase tiny lines of pressure on Melville Water East. A bit of a lottery and we only managed one race in the 4½ hours we were out on the Swan River, but any long faces were quickly banished at the Good Friday Seafood barbeque, ably cooked by the first 4 SoPYC boats to finish – who were volunteered (with a smile) by the wonderful Chief organiser and sailor, Mary-Anne Reid. What a great idea for pressing volunteers into service! Sandy Dunn said he would volunteer to cook every time as long as he was promised finishing in 2nd place every time….
Saturday and Sunday were two fabulous racing days, and the Race Management team did well to get us all away for 3 races on both days, despite a few over-eager starters! 41 boats on a start line is quite confronting as none of us get that much practice at big fleet starts – But ever so exciting!….
With 41 boats there will always be races within races and there was lots to discuss on our return to shore over a beer or three in the boat park. Flying Fifteen camaraderie is famous the world over and it was certainly on display!
The SoPYC team of organisers had done a wonderful job making sure we were well caffeinated and hot-cross-bunned every morning prior to going out on the water, fed with sausages and burgers on our return back to the dock, and the Easter Bunny was doing an amazing job shooting Easter eggs at every competitor out on the racetrack on Easter Sunday morning! Great fun!
A new innovation was the introduction of ‘blacron’ sails, proudly sported by 3 boats, which appeared by surprise prior to the first race on Friday. As there was very little wind, everyone had a chance to have a good look and formulate an opinion. These were shared with great merriment in the boat park!
Some were not convinced Uffa Fox would have approved….
There were 6 boats that could have won the Championship going into the last race…. Very close racing! Many congratulations to Paul & Mike Dunbar (SoPYC) for their terrific success in taking out the Championship. Very well sailed against tough competition. RFBYC boats came 2nd (Philippa & Dean) 4th (Dave Yu & Chris Nelson) and 6th (Hamish & Muddy), whilst Greg Tonnison & Scott Fallows and Brad Sheridan & Martin Ashby (SoPYC) came 3rd and 5th respectively. Very balanced! Everyone seemed to have some good races and some not so good – but in the middle of the fleet it was a closely-knit pack that usually crossed the Finish Line in a bunch, causing major stress on the Finish Boat as they documented them all! That was where the real racing was happening….
Thank you to all organisers, SoPYC, volunteers and visitors. Well sailed to all and we look forward to the National Championships at Royal Queensland YC in mid-January 2027 for the next opportunity to all get together and display the Class strength. As an international One-Design yacht, some sailors are also looking ahead to travel to Hong Kong in February 2028 to take part in the next FF World Championships. With between c.70 and 80 yachts competing from all around the world, it should also be a lot of fun!
If anyone reading this article is interested in possibly trying out a Flying Fifteen for a test sail, please contact me and I would be happy to help. You would be warmly welcomed into the fleet!
Philippa Packer
President FFIWA
FF4063
A Race report can be found here – Flying Fifteen 2026 State Titles Report.
Overall results can be found here – 2026 State Champs Overall Results.
Consistency results can be found here – 2026 State Champs Consistency Results.
A photo gallery is also available here.