HISC at the Flying Fifteen 2025 Word Championship – Rinse and Repeat

The Flying Fifteen Worlds, headline sponsored by PRO-SET Epoxy and Ovington Boats, took place at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) between 15th and 21st August. 82 teams from Australia, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, South Africa, Spain, New Zealand, and the hosting nation competed in what was arguably the hottest fleet ever assembled in the class.

Sea conditions contributed to some challenging racing, a 15-22 knot easterly with a big rolling swell and sunshine made for a perfect start to the event on day 1, and continuing into day 2. There was a bit of damage in the boisterous conditions – one broken mast, a nasty hole below the waterline (both HISC boats) were resolved overnight, and one Fifteen almost sank. Day 3 started with lighter winds, with some big shifts and fading fast; in the end we could only manage only one race. A decent North Easterly gusting 20 knots showed up on day 4, allowing three races. On the final day, race nine was to be the last, with the wind petering out, leading to Race Officer Mark 'Woodsy' Woods to make the popular decision to quickly raise AP over A and send the fleet home so they could pack up ahead of the gala dinner celebrations.

Overall it was a terrific turnout from HISC, with the largest number of entries from any club and 8 HISC helmed boats in the top 20. Special mentions for some impressive top 10 positions in the 9 races to Ben McGrane & Russ Clark (3rd overall), Russell Peters & Zeb Elliot (7th), Ian Pinnell & Ian Cadwallader (9th), Andrew Jamieson & Matt Alvarado (10th), Greg Wells & David Tullloch (12th), Chris Waples & Simon Weatherill (14th), Charles & Charlie Apthorp (17th).

And a huge thanks from our fleet and all competitors to Woodsy “…and his team have been absolutely spot on - they've made the right calls at the right time, really good, square lines, perfectly square beats, and the course length was bob on each time as well.”