After the cancellation of racing on Day 1, sailing finally got under way on Day 2 of the 2019 Flying Fifteen WA State Championships in Esperance, sponsored by Gemmill Homes.

The winds, while much less wild than on Day 1, were still challenging for the fleet, with an offshore wind resulting in wind speeds ranging from over 20 knots to under 10 knots (excluding the squall that - thankfully - came through between races 1 and 2 where the wind peaked at 32 knots) as well as some quite significant windshifts.

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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.

The Sailing Instructions for the 2019 Flying Fifteen WA State Titles in Esperance are now available and can be downloaded using the link below.

58th Flying Fifteen WA State Championships Sailing Instructions

A fleet of 17 Flying Fifteens from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and South of Perth Yacht Club braved the early morning start on Saturday March 23 for Day 1 of the Pre-states regatta on Melville Water West.  Three races were scheduled for Day 1, with another three for the following day. Sometimes shifty south-easterly breezes at up to 10 knots persisted for the morning, creating some interesting conditions for competitors  Those that picked the shifts and found the pressure had the opportunity to make some good gains.  

Unsurprisingly, the cream rose to the top, and by the end of Day 1 Nick Jerwood was at the top of the results sheets with 2 firsts and a second, closely pursued by Levo and Baddie in Glamour Buoys who had a first and two thirds.  Not far behind was Greg Tonnison in Spot the Difference on a rising trend with a fourth, third and second.

Day 2 on Sunday March 24 started at a similar early hour, with the wind once again in the south-east but lighter than for Day 1, with winds generally under 5 knots and very shifty.  Adding to the light-wind challenge was sharing the course with the Couta Boats who were sailing their State Titles - by crikey they cast a big wind shadow!

A slightly smaller fleet of 14 boats greeted the starters gun for the first race of the day, Race 4 of the series.  The wind progressively dropped during this race, with those at the back of the fleet left becalmed after the front runners had finished.  This led to four of the fleet being classified as DNF due to not being able to finish within the specified time limit.  At the pointy end of the fleet, Hamish Carnachan and Muddi got the finishing gun, followed by Greg Tonnison in Spot the Difference, and David Yu and Chris Nelson taking the last spot on the podium in Tuffan Up. A long postponement ensued before the Race Officer decided that the wind wasn't going to fill in and hoisted P over A.

With Nick Jerwood having finished fourth in Race 4, he consequently won the series, with Greg Tonnison in Spot the Difference second and Levo and Baddie in Glamour Buoys third.

All results for the series can be viewed here.  There are also some photos from the series (courtesy of the RFBYC mark layer, George Vaskovics) which can be viewed here.