The spirit of sailing

Singing the praises of the Flying Fifteen-an attractive, self-righting and popular fixed-keel dinghy that sails brilliantly

- CLIVE BOATS

From the day we met outside the headmaster's office, holding similarly unimpressive exercise books, John and I became the best of friends.

John crossed the bar some years ago, but we had some very good times sailing.

I was always keen on boats, but John showed no interest until he met his lovely wife, Moira, who had sailed GP14s. She introduced him to our sport, and together they bought a Mirror dinghy. I sailed with John on the Medway estuary and off the beach at Shoreham. He liked racing and had a room full of cups.

Progressing to a Maxi 84 yacht, which they kept at Brighton, they finally purchased a Flying Fifteen. This two-person racing keelboat has the characteristics of a dinghy and looks admirable in or out of the water-it's a sculptural work of art and symmetry like an E-type Jaguar, kind on the eyes and something your neighbours should be pleased to see sitting on your front drive.

One cold March morning, we entered a Flying Fifteen race on Bewl Water near Wadhurst, East Sussex. John was a competitive sailor, but for some reason when the start gun sounded, we were nowhere near the line. Bewl is a good-sized lake but, compared to the sea, was tight for these 20ft boats, and as soon as the spinnaker was up, it was time to get it down again. This was okay for the youngsters, but we were getting on a bit. We eventually came in second place which pleased me considering our poor start, but it didn't impress Moira, who had a greater competitive streak than I.

Stylish performance

What impressed me was the boat's looks and performance. Sleek, steady and fast. She planed easily while at the same time her ballasted fin keel gave her the righting capability of a yacht. She was decked with a small cockpit which could easily be bailed. These features made her a safe boat. She was a large self-righting dinghy.