Rankings Update – Post Southerns ….!!

Flying 15 UK Ranking: Round 7 – Davy and Huett crowned Southern Area Champions at Hayling Island

Over the bank holiday weekend, Hayling Island Sailing Club welcomed 35 competitors including 26 visitors from 15 clubs. The Bulwark Trophy/ Southern Championship saw 16 of 2013s top 20 helms competing (and 14 of the top 20 crews), providing a really strong fleet.

A range of conditions across the 6 races over 3 days provided some close racing. Saturday saw an oscillating Southerly around 10-12 knots with 2 wins for Davy/ Huett. Sunday arrived with sun and a more stable 15-17 knot Southerly providing some great downwind sailing…’Hayling Bay at its best!’…with races wins for Goacher and McKee. Monday dawned with rain and a shifty Northerly, Kneller took race 5, and Davy/ Huett took the title in style with third win in race 6.

The results have had a huge bearing on the overall Ranking. Cadwallader has moved into the #1 spot, Apthorp and Kneller round off the top 3, with Goacher hot on their heels in 4th. It is equally close in the Crew’s ranking with the podium positions occupied by Lucas, Evans and Alvarado.

In June there are three events including the Inlands at Grafham, Burnham and Ogston. The National Championships at Parkstone YC are a little over 6 weeks away and already have 23 entrants.

Click here to download :-

Helms Ranking

Crew Ranking

or see the images below

 

National Rankings Update – Round 5 ….!!

Round 5 – Cadwallader wins in the West Country to move into 2nd in the Flying 15 UK Ranking

Chew Valley played host the Flying 15 Open over the weekend of 10th/11th May. It was definitely “breeze on” for the 10 boats including 2 visitors as the final race on Saturday only saw 4 finishers. With no racing on Sunday the overnight results stood.

A win for Cadwallader boosts him up to second place overall. Wright and Shawyer’s 5th place moves them up to 3rd and 2nd respectively in the helm and crew rankings.

It is set to be a great bank holiday weekend at Hayling (hopefully the weather holds out) as we look forward to another competitive Bulwark trophy. The competitors already entered include Richard Lovering (last year’s #1 Ranked Helm), Charles Apthorp (currently leading the Ranking), Steve Goacher (current UK National Champion), Greg Wells with his European Championship Crew Richard ‘Riggy’ Rigg, BIFFA President Jeremy Davy and David Tabb (newly crowned French National Champion) among others.

Click here for the helm rankings

Click here for the crew rankings

National Rankings – Crews Update !!

We have a small amendment to the Round 4 ranking tables for Crews.  The original posting and the file on the BIFFA website have been amended.

Daily Benchmark Prizes at The Nationals….!!

Benchmark Prizes at the Nationals

Here is an example of how the class has been able to use the National Ranking Series. This year at the Nationals daily prizes were awarded to those who best outperformed their benchmark, which was created from the results in the NRS.

The boat that achieved the highest points differential between their race result and their benchmark would be the highest achiever. The benchmarks were created using all the results from 2012 and the current standings in 2013. Points were only awarded for outperformace (ie: no negative scoring). The table below shows who won the daily prizes (note that the helm cannot win on successive days).

Best outperformers on a daily basis

 

	Helm	Club	Sail Number	Benchmark	Outperformance
Day 1	Simon Spolton Pip Hudson	Parkstone YC Broxbourne SC	3407 3681	35 30	30 points
Day 2	Steve Douthwaite Nick Taylor	Derwent Resevoir Grafham Water SC	3936 3947	23 37	31 points
Day 3	Bob Alexander	Parkstone YC	3537	24	29 points
Day 4 (1 race)	Steve Randle	Parkstone YC	3783	40	16 points
Day 5	Graham Scroggie	Parkstone YC	4020	14	24 points

 

Over the course of the 9 races during the week Simon Spolton from Parkstone outperformed his best benchmark by 170 points. Pip Hudson (Broxbourne) was in second, having outperformed by 120 points, and in third were Nick Taylor (Grafham Water) who was 97 points better than their benchmark.

When creating these benchmarks there were a number of teams that had not competed in enough events to be able to gauge an accurate idea of the relative performance. For example in 2012 only 33 teams (of the 155) had competed in at least three events, and only 26 so far (of the 167) in 2013 have been at more than three events. As more teams compete in more events over a period of time, the benchmark will reflect their results and be an ever better gauge of their relative performance.

( Click here to see the table )

Tom Waples

UKGLOBAL National Ranking Update – Post Nationals….!!

Round 13 – Goacher and Evans take their 10^th National Championship at WPNSA, as Lovering/ Alvarado consolidate their lead at the top of the UKGlobal National Ranking List

The weather gods duly delivered for the forty boats who made the trip from across the UK, but also for those who travelled slightly further including a French and Australian team, for the 2013 UKGlobal National Championship.

With scorching temperatures, many competitors were seen to be sporting shorts and t-shirts, reminding some us of the 2012 Europeans at Lake Garda. However, the wind gods unfortunately failed to materialise, with 5-8 knots throughout the week. This created very challenging and shifty conditions for the competitors throughout the week, with huge place changes and surprise appearance at the front of the fleet.

It was Goacher and Evans who eventually managed to master these tricky conditions and take the title. Mike Hart (looking for his third National title), crewed by Class President Jeremy Davy were second closely followed by fleet newcomers Richard Lovering and Matt Alvarado.

Over the course of the week there seven different race winners, once again epitomising the quality and depth of talent in the class.

How does this impact the UKGlobal NRL? Lovering/ Alvarado and Goacher/ Evans maintain their positions at the top of the leaderboard, both of whom have sailed fantastically so far this season. Bax/ Grant climb into a podium position with their 4^th place finish. There were no changes in the Silver and Classic fleets.

There are still 9 events remaining this season, with much to play for, can anyone make a late charge to topple the long-time leaders in each fleet?

Click here to see the ranking table

UKGLOBAL National Ranking Update….!!

No change at the top after Round 10

After Round 10 and the Royal Motor Open (still waiting for the Ogston results) there is no change at top with Richard Lovering, Peter Card, and David Morgan maintaining their Number 1 rankings at the top of the Open, Silver and Classic fleets.

This weekend sees the Scottish Championships, followed closely by the Northerns (also part of the Scottish Traveller Series).

There is just over three weeks now until the Nationals in Weymouth, and with 17 confirmed entries so far it is shaping up to be great weeks racing.

Click here to see the ranking table

UKGLOBAL National Rankings – after the Bulwark…..!!

Wells takes Bulwark win to close gap on Lovering as summer arrives at HISC

Greg Wells and Andrew Jameson take Round 9 of the UKGlobal National Ranking Series, counting 3 bullets from four races. Wells and Jameson mastered the shifty conditions to take the honours from Richard Lovering, and Dave Lucas in third.

The 22 competitors, including 11 visitors enjoyed what can only be described as ‘the arrival of summer’ with wetsuits donned (for most). Hayling Bay offered both tricky Northerly winds on Saturday, then a nice sea breeze on Sunday.

Wells’ win moves him up to 2^nd overall, but remains behind long-time series leader Lovering. There is currently 28.4 points separating 3^rd-6^th after the first eleven events. There are still 12 potential regattas left, including the Nationals, Northerns, Southerns and Scottish Championships. With plenty of points up for grabs can anyone mount a late charge and rival those at the top of the leaderboard?

Click here to download the leaderboard (as above) 

UKGLOBAL National Rankings Update – Bewl….!!

Lovering/ Alvarado survive the sub-zero temperatures at Bewl to take the third leg of the UKGlobal National Ranking and Number 1 spot

A small but brave bunch of sailors battled the freezing conditions at Bewl this weekend to complete five races. Building on their impressive performance two weekends ago Lovering/ Alvarado were top dogs again.

They took the title from Cadwallader/ Sweet who seem to be getting to grips with their new boat, with Hogben/ Morgan in third.

Let’s see if Lovering can build on his lead, or if anyone can close the gap at Burnham in three weeks time. With 18 boats confirmed so far it’s set to be a tasty affair.

Tom Waples

UKGLOBAL FF National Ranking – Kneller and Lucas Hold Their Lead….!!

Kneller/ Lucas hold On to Top Spot after Round 2

Written by Tom Waples

Kneller/ Lucas remain the Number 1 seeds in the 2013 UKGlobal National Ranker after two events. The imperious Lovering/ Alvardo mastered the varied and challenging Datchet conditions at the weekend, taking five bullets, to move them up to second overall, ahead of Apthorp who slipped to third.

Only 11.5 points separate the top three who appear to have already put the gauntlet down to the rest of fleet. Next event is Bewl in two weeks.

National Ranking – Datchet Open Final Results…!!!

When I met Richard Lovering for a chat at the Dinghy Show, he mentioned that Hydes have continued to work on their FF sail designs for 2013 –  here they are kicking off the circuit, with five straight wins against formidable top flight opposition.  He didn’t tell me they were that good! The breezes were from light to force 4. Take a look at this report from Mervyn Wright, Fleet Captain at Datchet….

.

After a light and fickle first day with we had a healthy force 4 today, with the course using the whole of the Queen Mother reservoir.  Richard Lovering and Matt Alvarado secured the Mercedes Trophy with a very impressive margin having scored 5 firsts.  Last year’s winners Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas finished in second place this time with Charles Apthorp and Jonathan Clark taking third.  One highlight of the weekend  was the baptism of Ian Cadwallader’s brand new boat which showed no sign of any fingerprints it might have collected at the Dinghy Show the week before and which missed out on 3^rd by only 1 point.   Top Datchet boat was sailed by John Hanson and Helen Hepworth in 5^th place.

Click here for the full results

A total of 12 boats taking part with 6 top tier visitors was a fair turnout for a weekend that clashed with Mothers’ Day, illnesses and ski holidays.  A very big thank you to all those who took part and all the mothers that let them do so!

Over to Tom Waples to tell us who is in the top spot of the National Rankings after the first two events…

Mervyn Wright, Datchet Water SC

National Ranking – Datchet Day One Results…..!!!

It was pretty light at the first day of the Datchet Open today – more breeze forecast for tomorrow (and tons on Monday!).

So far after three races, in very firm control are Richard Lovering and Matt Alvarado from Hyde Sails. I met with Richard at the Dinghy Show and he explained they continue to develop their new FF sails – obviously to great effect!!!

Click here for the Day One Results summary

UKGlobal Sponsors National Ranking League….!!

UKGlobal National Ranking League

We are pleased to announce UKGlobal as our title sponsor for the National Ranking League.

Based on results over the past 6 years, I have simulated who would have been the Number 1 ranked boat each year based on the new National Ranking. As you can see it is by no means a foregone conclusion and anyone really can take the honours.

	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007
Overall
1st	Steve Goacher	Steve Goacher	Charles Apthorp	Greg Wells	Alan Bax	David McKee
2nd	Simon Kneller	David Mckee	David McKee	Charles Apthorp	Gill Browning	Steve Goacher
3rd	Hamish MacKay	Justin Waples	Robert Hogben	Steve Goacher	Charles Apthorp	Justin Waples
Silver	Peter Card	Malcolm Hall	Andy Clark	Andy Clark	Andy Clark	Paul McCarthy
Classic	Bobby Salmond	Gavin Cassidy	Bobby Salmond	Tim Tomlinson	Bob Tait	Colin Fletcher

Greg Wells thinks that ‘the ranking system is an excellent initiative which will create much interest. Virtually all sports have world ranking lists and it is a great opportunity for the International Flying Fifteen class to lead the way for the non-Olympic classes’.

Class President, Jeremy Davy, believes that ‘the beauty of having those distinct categories is that it provides a sub-plot where older FFs can race each other on a level (and affordable) playing field… and the racing is just as serious as in the Open Fleet!’

The question is can any of these helms ‘retain’ their title? Simon Kneller, the current National Championship and who would have come second last year has taken an early stranglehold as we move on to the second event of the season. The next events come in quick succession with Datchet this weekend, closely followed by Bewl, Burnham and Grafham.

There is all to play but who is your money on to become the top seed in the 2013 UKGlobal National League?

Tom Waples

UK National Ranking Table for 2013…..!!

BIFFA has approved a new National Ranking Table for Association Members in 2013 !

We are used to it from other sports like tennis and golf, so we’re going to give it a try for the UK FF Fleet !  The system as proposed by Tom Waples differs from the World’s Qualifier Table and would run along side.

A team gets more points the more Opens they attend, and bigger events get a multiplier to reflect the difficulty of winning there.  So it’s quite possible that the usual top stars of the Class might not top this league table.

Tom also wants to use it to deliver focus on Classics and Silvers who travel !!