Flying Fifteen Queensland State Championships at Tin Can Bay Yacht Club

Chris Villa and Mark Holmes win the Flying Fifteen Queensland State Championships © TCYC

This season the Australian National Flying Fifteen Championships have been cancelled due to the pandemic but the Flying Fifteen Class in Australia has organised State Championships that have been well supported. The Flying Fifteen Queensland State Championships were hosted by the Tin Can Bay Yacht Club Inc on the weekend 21 - 22 November.

The championships were held in near perfect conditions with blue skies, warm temperatures and a moderate north-easterly sea breeze.

Crews were tested with the tidal stream and the vagaries of the estuary. A total of 14 boats competed with crews coming from as far away as Darwin, Lake Macquarie, 'Brizvegas' (Brisbane) and 7 local boats.

Racing began on Saturday with a great days sailing. Two races in 10 knots of Easterly breeze, pushing 15 knots in the gusts. There were a lot position changes throughout the fleet and close finishes.

On Sunday 3 races were held in approximately 12 knots of Easterly breeze but the day's races were with an incoming tide making the windward legs very tactical.

Greg and Laurie Williamson looked like cleaning up with 3 first place's on the card but the current and past National Champions, Ashley Smith on (Sake) and Chris Villa on (Up Ship Creek) gradually found their mojo and dominated the final 2 races.

After 5 races only 2 points separated the top 3 positions with Chris Villa and Mark Holmes repeating their recent success at ACT by also taking out the Queensland Championship.

So the winners of this year's championship were Chris Villa and Mark Holmes from Lake Macquarie Yacht Club. 2nd place was awarded Greg and Laurie Williamson from Sandgate Yacht Club and 3rd went to Ashley Smith and Kym Thumpkin.

Silver division was dominated by Neil Lestor and Graeme Dobson on (Saffron) as did Michelle McAndrew with kids Ava and Alex in the Classic division.

Thanks go to everyone that travelled to compete from Darwin, Lake Macquarie, Toowoomba and Brisbane and thanks to all the volunteers and the organising committee for a great weekend of racing.

To Try a Fifteen please click here: www.flying15.org.au/try-a-fifteen and complete the simple form and we will arrange for a representative at the nearest fleet to your location, to contact to you to arrange a mutual time for you to have a trial sail.