10 July – fuego Trophy 1 – Pollença

We sail this series every year, organised and sponsored by John and Stephen – of fuego fatuo, hence the name! Instead of the normal long coastal or up and down courses, we set a diamond shaped course with a beat just under half a mile. This allows us to set left or right-handed “Olympic triangles”, as well as a wiggly course which goes up the beat, down to the left wing, then a tight reach to the right wing and down again to the finish. Lots of spinnaker work and boat handling! We also use a very short start line, so you must get that right too…

We aim for each race to be around 30 minutes, to get in 5 or 6 races each afternoon. Another quirk of the series is that there are two discards – a “normal” worst result discard after 10 or more races, but also after 5 races have been sailed, the best result must be discarded. This is to reward consistent performers.

Day 1 saw six boats join the fleet, with a brisk 10-12 knots from around the east. The first race – a port around Olympic triangle – set off with the wind slightly east of north-east, favouring the right side of the course. Affrayd Knot saw this and tacked immediately off the line but went too far and sailed out of the best wind. The rest of the fleet had gone left, and then coming back to the favoured side, and arriving at the top ahead of them. David Miles was sailing the newly refurbished Heaven Sent, and led from here on, followed home by fuego fatuo and Spanish Fly.

On the second start we set the wiggly course – the wind was the same, and only one boat went to the left. Nevertheless, the wind was swinging, and fuego had to luff up and shoot the windward mark behind Heaven Sent and just ahead of Spanish Fly. On the tight reach across the course between the two wings, Heaven Sent dropped their spinnaker, whilst fuego kept theirs and were catching all the way. At the wing, they tried for an inside gybe, but the spinnaker got caught and they couldn’t pass. Another 1-2-3 for Heaven Sent, fuego and Spanish Fly.

Third race was a starboard round Olympic triangle, with the wind dropping and veering south, making the right side even more favoured. fuego, Heaven Sent and Spanish Fly all saw this and went for port tack starts on the pin. They held arrived at the top in this order, but a poor spinnaker hoist saw fuego drop to second behind Heaven Sent. Spanish Fly came alongside but couldn’t get past and a poor gybe dropped them back. The top three finished within 5 seconds – again in the same sequence.

Race four saw the wind come back a little, to the east and 6-8 knots. Course 4 was set – this being the wiggly course plus an up and down. Everybody was late on the start, but fuego made it to the top first by a hundred metres. At the bottom, Heaven Sent gybed inside fuego and tacked out, whilst fuego stayed left and made it to the top ahead – keeping this lead to the finish, with Dragonfly taking third.

The last race of the day saw fading winds of 3-5 knots, with a little more wind to the right – so we again set the starboard triangle. Bias on the line allowed fuego to push Heaven Sent up at the start, and to the wrong side. Things got worse when they then caught the buoy’s line in their rudder and started last. This actually came out to their advantage, as the wind swung, allowing them to sail to the top on a single tack, and arrive only just behind fuego and ahead of Spanish Fly. The next leg had become a run, followed by a very tight reach – so much so that the leg became a fetch with no spinnaker. Finishing places were as at the top mark.

After the mandatory discard of best result, Heaven Sent finished the day first on 6 points, followed by fuego on 7 and Spanish Fly 13.

17 July – fuego Trophy 2 – Pollença

Ffuga and Wight Flyer joined for the second day, replacing Triffid and Dragonfly. We set the wiggly course, in 3-7 knots, backing from east to north. Ffuga started on port, but this didn’t pay off so Heaven Sent and fuego got to the top first. The last leg turned into a fetch and Wight Flyer came in third behind the other two.

For race 2 we rotated the course anti-clockwise, moving the start to the previous number 4 mark, and setting a starboard triangle. fuego led at the top but held their spinnaker too long on the downwind leg, and were passed by Heaven Sent, finishing ahead of ffuga.

The third race was again the wiggly course, with all boats starting well. fuego got there first pursued by Wight Flyer and Ffuga. By the second wing mark, Wight Flyer had passed and set off down the last leg – now a run due to the wind shift. fuego saw the shift and had moved to the correct side of the course, gybing early and finishing ahead of Heaven Sent and Spanish Fly.

The final race started with almost no wind, what little there was coming from north or northwest, so another starboard triangle was set. fuego again got to the top first, ahead of Wight Flyer and Ffuga. Coming to the finish, Ffuga stayed higher and passed to finish second.

Only nine races having been sailed, there was not yet a second discard, so feugo now led on 13 points, Heaven Sent 14 and Spanish Fly 29.

24 July – fuego Trophy  3– Pollença

Only four boats made it for the final day, with Flying High joining whilst fuego was unable to sail. We started with the wiggly course in an 8-12 knot northerly. After a good start all boats went left with Wight Flyer beating Flying High to the top. On the reach, Flying High dropped their spinnaker, but lost out and had to re-hoist, finishing second ahead of Heaven Sent.

Race two set off in the same conditions, on a starboard triangle. Affrayd Knot got caught up at the start and was pushed out by Heaven Sent who got to the top behind Flying High. The wing mark had started drifting, but all got around close together, with Wight Flyer coming home third.

After repositioning the wing, we set off in reduced 6-20 knot wind, on the wiggly course. Wight Flyer reached the top first and had a great battle with Flying High on the next two spinnaker reaches. At the righthand wing, they kept their spinnaker whilst Flying High dropped and passed to windward, finishing first.

The wind was starting to drop for the fourth start, so we decided on one longer race, setting course 4. With a port tack bias on the line, Wight Flyer tacked on the gun but misjudged things, fouling Heaven Sent and taking a penalty. Flying High led at the top and kept this for the rest of the race. Wight Flyer slowly reeled in the others, and on the last mark split to the left side, which paid off as they found more wind and pulled back to second, ahead of Heaven Sent.

In the end, thirteen races were sailed, so both discards kicked in, giving the series to Heaven Sent with 21 points, Affray Knot 57 for second and Spanish Fly with 59 in third.

If you’re interested in a trial sail, just follow the link: http://tiny.cc/TrialaFlying15, we’d love to see you!

Our 2021 calendar is posted on our website http://flyingfifteen.mallorcaservice.de
Visit us on Facebook @f15spain.

By Stephen Babbage