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'Genesis' wins Flying 15 Classics
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
'Genesis' won the recent Scottish classics championship with a two-year-old set of Hyde sails, which just goes to prove the brand is made to last as well as perform…
Dan Challis and his fiancee Kirsten Shaughenessy bought 'Genesis' - one of the last Classics to be built in 1984 - some three years ago to join the burgeoning Scottish Classic fleet. They race her regularly at Holy Loch Sailing Club, which has a growing fleet and is home to the current Flying Fifteen Classic world champion. Dan explains: "I really enjoy sailing the boats, they are nicely balanced and offer a good challenge to sail them well. It has provided a great introduction to sailing for Kirsten with the stability of the keel making them very forgiving, which has really helped build her confidence. Finally I really enjoy the challenge of one-design racing with the club having a good sized fleet and there are good turnouts at open events - it is probably the biggest one-design class in Scotland right now! This season a Scottish traveller series had been organised with a series of events throughout the country, which we are currently leading the series having won the opening event."
We asked Dan to tell us the story of his Classics championship win at Loch Ard: "The event took place in very shifty conditions (being an inland venue) with the wind ranging from 2-3 to 10 knots," he recalls. "The Classic fleet started five minutes behind the Modern fleet (30+ boats) who were having their worlds qualifier. However, by the end of each race the top three classic boats were all well up in the modern fleet and if the times were combined, the classic boats would have won the event outright! It just goes to show how shifty everything was! There are probably five boats that we consider our main competition - two of which we were racing at Loch Ard, Bob Salmond (2nd) and John McMillian (3rd) both have beautifully prepared very early all wood Chippendale boats. Both are fiercely quick and both have beaten us in the past."
Dan was delighted with his win and the boat's performance, paying tribute to his suit of Hyde sails: "After a couple of seasons' use, they are still holding their shape well and seem plenty quick! Although it may be time to buy a new jib sometime soon... Many thanks - we are very impressed with your product and we hope that we can keep your sails at the front of the fleet."
For more information on Hyde Sails and the Flying 15 class, see Hyde Sails F15 spec page or contact Paul Austin (T: +44 (0) 7801 907458).
posted by Hyde Sails at
12:36
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