Flying Fifteen Nationals - Fifteen legend chalks up another title win

David Yu and Chris Nelson saved their best till last, with a well fought third place - Flying Fifteen Nationals
Bernie Kaaks
Flying Fifteen National Championship - Great Britain’s triple world champion Steve Goacher teamed up with the winning skipper from last year’s Flying Fifteen Nationals, Matt Owen, to secure the Golden Anniversary National Championship for the class. The union resulted in Owen winning an Australian title in successive years, one as helmsman and one as crew!


Before the start of today’s race, Goacher’s assignment was simple. To win the title he had to ensure that he did not allow Alan Bax and Simon Childs to finish more than three places ahead of him. As it happened, both finished worse than seventh, so today’s race did not influence the scoreline for either boat.


Adele Jackson gets a hug from Dean McAullay after today's strong win. - Flying Fifteen Nationals
Bernie Kaaks

Today’s race was a triumph for Adele Jackson and Dean McAullay. They suffered a horrible day yesterday, starting out with a black flag disqualification in the first race and tenth place in the other two races – their worst scores for the week. Starting sensibly near the centre of the line today, the pair were clearly focused on controlling the centre of the course. The played the shifty easterly well, ignoring the massive proportion of the fleet which headed off to the north side of the course on the first beat, and led at the top mark, with Adam Hawkins, Mike Hart, Graeme Lillingstone and David Yu in hot pursuit.


Mike Hart struggles to regain control at the gybe mark - Flying Fifteen Nationals
Bernie Kaaks


Steve Goacher and Matt Owen therefore take home the Australian Flying Fifteen Championship trophy, with Adele Jackson and Dean McAullay being the best all-Australian crew.


Final Top 10:
1. 3988 17 Steve Goacher/Matt Owen
2. 3987 20 Alan Bax/Simon Childs
3. 3775 22 Mike Hart/Richard Rigg
4. 3933 27 Adele Jackson/Dean McAullay
5. 3781 30 David Tucker/Matt Summers
6. 3881 30 Adam Hawkins/Ben Jones
7. 3670 35 Graeme Lillingstone/Ed Repsevicius
8. 3743 43 Greg Tonnison/Steve Roberts
9. 3859 45 David Yu/Chris Nelson
10. 3982 58 Chris Paterson/Rupert Leslie

Final Silver Fleet:
1. 3085 10 Adam Semple/Lisa Greeve
2. 3224 14 Hank Heimans/Alan Sharpe
3. 3312 15 Murray Latham/Tony Pugh

Final Classic Fleet:
1. 2756 6 Ray Ellard/Ken Treharne
2. 2012 11 Peter Paton/Narelle Thomas
3. 2115 20 Wayne Hudson/Brianna Hudson

Flying Fifteen National Championships website