The Flying Fifteen is a British

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

that was designed by

Uffa Fox Uffa Fox, CBE (15 January 1898 – 26 October 1972) was an English boat designer and sailing enthusiast, responsible for a number of innovations in boat design. Not afraid of courting controversy or causing offense, he is remembered for his ec ...

as a one design racer and first built in 1948.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 106-107. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.

Production

In the past the design was built in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by Fairey Marine, Halmatic Ltd., Rob Legg Yachts, Stebbings & Sons, Copland Boats and Chippendale Boats. It remains in production in the UK by

Ovington Boats Ovington may refer to: Places In England: * Ovington, County Durham * Ovington, Essex * Ovington, Hampshire * Ovington, Norfolk * Ovington, Northumberland People with the surname * John Ovington (1653–1731), an English priest * Earle Ovingt ...

and in Australia by Windrush Yachts. A total of 3,700 boats have been completed.

Design

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The Flying Fifteen is a recreational

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

, originally built from wood and more recently of

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

. It has a fractional sloop rig, a spooned and highly

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a plumb, raised counter transom, an internally mounted spade-type

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

controlled by a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

with an extension and a swept fixed fin

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

. It displaces and carries class imposed minimum of of ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel. The boat was accepted as in international class in 1981. The design has changed over time, with modifications to the rig and the hull construction. The hull tolerances were originally set at +/- of the plans. In 1984 the class club reduced the hull tolerances to +/- and introduced the first measurement templates. In 1993 there was a further reduction in tolerances to +/- was introduced, along with additional adjustments to the median plan lines equal to the current design. Older boats built to the previous tolerances are known as "classics" within the class, are grandfathered and still permitted to be raced. For sailing the design is equipped with a self-bailing cockpit, a

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C * Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player *Abe Cunningham, American drummer * Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

boom vang A boom vang (US) or kicking strap (UK) (often shortened to "vang" or "kicker") is a line or piston system on a sailboat used to exert downward force on the boom and thus control the shape of the sail. The Collins English Dictionary defines it ...

downhaul The downhaul is a line which is part of the rigging on a sailboat; it applies downward force on a spar or sail. The most common downhaul on a modern sailboat is attached to the spinnaker pole, though this may be referred to as the foreguy in some r ...

outhaul An outhaul is a control line found on a sailboat. It is an element of the running rigging, used to attach the mainsail clew to the boom and tensions the foot of the sail. It commonly uses a block at the boom end and a cleat on the boom, closer ...

, a spinnaker and air bag flotation for safety. The class rules require positive buoyancy and hiking strapss, while prohibiting the use of instruments and mast adjustments on the water.

Roller furling Roller furling is a method of furling (i.e. reefing) a yacht's staysail by rolling the sail around a stay. Roller furling is typically used for foresails such as jibs or genoas. A mainsail may also be furled by a similar system, whereby the ...

for the

jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsail ...

is permitted. The design has a

Portsmouth Yardstick The Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) or Portsmouth handicap scheme is a term used for a number of related systems of empirical handicapping used primarily in small sailboat racing. The handicap is applied to the time taken to sail any course, and the han ...

racing average handicap of 91.0 and is raced by a crew of two

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

Operational history

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The design is supported by a class club that controls the design and organizes racing events, the ''Flying Fifteen International'', with a club in Australias as well, ''Flying Fifteen International – Australia''. There are racing fleets in Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa as well as in Britain and the United States east and west coasts. In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood wrote, "the Flying Fifteen is an ultra-light-displacement keel boat that has been clocked at 16 knots."

References

External links

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links