Solway Yacht Club’s long-established Flying Fifteen fleet

It is uncertain when the first Flying Fifteen came to Kippford and sailed from the Urr estuary into the Solway Firth, but it was a long time ago, probably in the early 1950s. The class became established and continues to thrive at the Solway Yacht Club to this day. Based in Kippford, on the Colvend coast between Dumfries and Kirkcudbright, in the beautiful “Scottish Riviera”, the Club enjoys one of Scotland’s best sea sailing venues.

At the time when the estuary and the upriver harbour at Palnackie were still actively engaged in commercial shipping, the channel was deep enough for many of the Flying Fifteens to be wet sailed, remaining on moorings at all states of the tide, even though the river had never been dredged. Some moorings were up the river above a high mud bank around where there was, and still is, a deeper pool. Before the Second World War, it was deep enough for “Solway Maid” to stay afloat with a draft of 9 feet but since then, all took the ground. Between the bottom of the mud bank and the bend, towards the present slipway, other boats partially dried out every tide, with boats lying on the mud. More recently the channel almost completely dries out at low water so the whole fleet is hauled out after sailing.

A past Commodore of SYC, Joe Girotti was a great friend of Uffa Fox whom he met because Joe was a member of The Island Sailing Club at Cowes, as was Uffa, and Joe bought his first 15, “Cinderella”, (sail number 76) made of GRP (alias “The Glass w

The sailing area itself is the picturesque setting of the outer Urr estuary with Rough Island, a National Trust for Scotland reserve to the East with the Almorness peninsula to the West. Beyond the estuary, Hestan Island is a popular focus of many races with courses set around the island combined with marks further out into the Solway Firth.

Slipper”) in 1954. However, the hull was very soft. When the crew went on board at the mooring, the first job was to jump on the turn of whichever bilge the boat had been resting on and push it back into shape with a “boing”. He only had the boat for a year, and the second “Cinderella”, 216, arrived in 1955. By 1964 Joe Girotti owned “Cinderella” 490 and by 1968 he had changed boats again, “Cinderella” becoming 1018.

In 1957 SYC hosted the Flying Fifteen Northern Championships, won by Joe. He always said he only won because he knew the local conditions. By this time Dr. Peter Murray Kerr and his wife Philippa, (“Skate” 128), Joe Rickerby, (“Ffumff” 152), whose racing flag was a pheasant’s tail feather on a swivel, Bill Bleakley (“Folette” 620), Barry Filer (“Fe-Fi-FoFum” 202), Kenneth Wright (76 renamed “Fflook”), Tommy Hutchison (611) and some others had 15s, all on moorings, and this prompted the purchase and modification of the old Kippford Pier into the forerunner of the present slipway and dinghy park. At first, it was found that a F15 on a trailer head to wind in a gale would tip up backwards breaking either the rudder or the whole stern section off and so a row of fixed ball hitches was provided, concreted to the ground.

Ronald Copland won the Scottish Championship in 1962 and Northern Championship in 1962 and 1963 sailing “Figleaf”, 505, although he never actually sailed that boat at Kippford. He had been the SYC Cadet Captain in 1955. Jim Benson had an early 15, and there used to be a photo of them apparently sitting on the water after their boat filled with water. Another Flying Fifteen owner, Kenneth Wright was occasionally crewed by Heather Nicholson, a founder member of Kirkcudbright SC.

Over the years, the Club has been fortunate to enjoy great support, not least from Uffa Fox himself, who came to the Club to open the newly constructed pier in 1958. He brought the Duke of Edinburgh’s own Flying Fifteen “Coweslip” with him, on the roof of his Humber Super Snipe car, the unbolted keel in the car’s boot. Mrs Fox duly cut the ribbon to open the pier before Uffa Fox, joined by local crew, launched, and duly won the Kippford Quaich.

One memory from the late 1970s is the young Colin Filer’s lovingly restored wooden boat (“Fe-Fo 2”, 393) but after only a year, the boat was lost off the estuary, sinking after becoming waterlogged in bad weather. She was not the only F15 to end her days at SYC. Another Flying Fifteen was badly damaged while on her mooring and ended up half buried in the mud, only the keel protruding. Inevitably the keel had to be removed as it had become a hazard to other boats. The remnants of both boats must still be out there, along with an E boat in mid Solway and an OK, together with several trading schooners from a previous era, all ending their days in the mud of the Solway or the Urr estuary.

By 1994 SYC hosted the Flying Fifteen Scottish Championships with 29 boats racing. The event was won by “It Pays To Advertise”, (3421) sailed by Steve Goacher and Phil Evans.

More recently, the class held the highly successful 2016 Scottish Championship at the Club attracting an international fleet, led home again by World Champion Steve Goacher. Entrants were treated to a surprise by the Club’s enthusiastic cadets who formed the “Shore Fforce” assisting launching, berthing trailers once launched, and then amazing the fleet by having trailers ready, in order, for hauling out and returning to their shore berths, all courtesy of the SYC “Shore Fforce”!

As well as occasionally hosting the Scottish Championships, the annual Kippford Week and RNLI Regatta, run by the Club, includes Flying Fifteen fleet racing, usually on their own or similar courses to the larger cruising yachts. The week is a great competitive and social event, and also includes fast medium, and slow handicap racing for the dinghy fleet. It attracts a wide range of sailors but always includes many of the Club’s enthusiastic cadets, graduating from the Club’s Cadet Week a fortnight earlier, and all prospective Flying Fifteen sailors.

2023 will see the return of the Scottish Championships to SYC over the weekend of 17th & 18th June 2023. Kippford Week 2023 will be held from 31st July to 4th August with the RNLI Regatta race on 5th August. A warm Solway YC welcome is guaranteed for all visitors.

While Flying Fifteen fleet numbers have fluctuated over the years, there are always willing members to help newcomers enjoy great sailing and a vibrant Club social life. Long may it continue!

With thanks to current and past Flying Fifteen sailors, and others, at SYC for their recollections and contributions. In particular, Gordon Daly, Colin Filer, Robert Dinwiddie, Heather Dodds, Ronald Copland, Stewart Biggar and his complete collection of SYC Handbooks from 1950s to 2020 saved by his late mother, Mrs Jean Biggar, an SYC Honorary Member.