Flying Fifteen sailors seek sailing paradise

The 2023 Flying Fifteen World Championships are about to happen off Fremantle between 9 – 25 March 2023. Just a couple weeks away!

Here’s what a regatta of F15s looks like.

Competitors will be arriving from all over the world to compete at the F15s.

77 boats from 4 continents are entered with overseas entries travelling from as far away as South Africa, the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, New Zealand and all over Australia.

Containers of boats have arrived from the UK, New Zealand and the East Coast of Australia courtesy of the MSC Shipping Group.

F15’s have travelled from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, the majority of those taking the 2-3 day trip across the Nullabor Plain to get to here.

There are two main shipping routes to Fremantle from Europe – one is a direct sail to Fremantle with a typical sailing time of 30 – 40 days and the other is trans-shipping through Singapore or Port Klang in Malaysia.

There have been three groups of boats transported by containers, two from the UK were shipped direct to Fremantle, a second container for a fleet of boats from Auckland in New Zealand, and the last came from the East Coast of Australia.

Other boats were, unusually, transported from Melbourne by RORO – the fab roll on roll off vehicle monsters we love to see in Freo harbour.

There are competitors driving from NSW, Victoria and Queensland to compete at the F15 World Championship regatta. Most of these are driving across the Nullabor Plain, a trip of some 2-3 days of driving if coming from Queensland!

You’ve got to love the commitment. Here are more F15s.

The Flying Fifteen is a 76 year old class designed by the late great Uffa Fox of Cowes, in the UK. The yacht is sailed by a crew of 2 and is 6m in length with a removable keel. Six boats can be squeezed into a 40ft container with the mast and rigging all packed alongside.

The logistics company organising the containers was the MSC Group. XS Global Logistics handled quarantine and customs clearance and the transport of the containers from the wharf to Fremantle Sailing Club.

The schedule of racing begins with an Invitational race on Sunday 12 March, then four days of racing for the Australian Championship. Another lay day is followed by seven days of world championship racing with a provisional lay day in the middle.

Racing takes place at Owen Anchorage which is a body of water just south along the coast from the entrance to Fremantle’s inner harbour. The boats will be craned in and out of the water on a daily basis at Fremantle Sailing Club.

If you’d like to learn more about the event look here.

We look forward to bringing you updates during the Championships.

WHILE YOU’RE HERE –