Duel in the light

One of the most enduring skiff classes – the Flying 11s – is proving as popular as ever with more than 40 boats turning out for the second round of the Allen NSW Flying 11 Championships.

Photography by Mel Yeomans, DeckHardware

24 February 2021

There were lots of Flying 11 sailors itching to get back to racing against other clubs following the postponement of the Nationals.

After the first round back in November 2020, there was very little difference between the top five boats, so there was going to be plenty to play for on the waters of Lake Illawarra in Round 2.

The forecast was not good, so everyone was pleasantly surprised when hitting the water in an 8–10 knot northeast sea breeze on Saturday for three races. It was a day for the lighter crews with Sam Stodart and Ash Napper (Manly 16s) establishing a solid lead for the regatta with a 1, 1, 3.

Newcomer to the class and Opti National Champ Joel Beashel and crew Marshall Day showed their potential with 4, 2, 1 placings, pushing Sam and Ash hard. Behind them the placings were variable and this set up a close contest for the final two races.

Sunday brought a light southeast wind with lots of shifts and holes to test competitors.

(Credit: Mel Yeomans, DeckHardware.)

This made racing tight and tactical. Sam and Ash had their struggles and opened the door with an eleventh in the penultimate race, won by Liam Karunaratne and Ben Millham (Manly 16s).

A bad start for Sam and Ash in the second race gave the bunch of boats fighting for second a chance to grab the overall title. The race was won by Darby Jones and Mackenzie Paterson (Belmont 16s), but behind them, no-one did quite enough to bump Sam and Ash from first place.

Three points behind, second overall and first all-girl crew were Aimee Galloway and Bella Divola (Manly 16s), on a countback from Luke Sullivan and Taj Waters (Belmont 16s).

The sailors are now gearing up for the rescheduled Allen Flying 11 Australian Championships in April at Belmont on Lake Macquarie.

The Flying 11s are very lucky to have great supporters of the class with Allen sponsoring both the Nationals and the States. LIROS Ropes, Vaikobi, Composite Spars and Tubes and Ullman Sails are on board as day sponsors for both regattas as well.

Top 5

Plc	Sail No	Boat Name (Boat Type)	Skipper/Crew	From	Total
1	1383	The Muppets Flying 11	Sam Stodart Ash Napper	M16SSC NSW	32
2	1408	1408 Flying 11	Aimee Gallaway Bella Divola	M16SSC NSW	35
3	1399	Nomad Flying 11	Luke Sullivan Taj Waters	Belmont 16s NSW	35
4	1384	Don’t Worry Flying 11	Bailey James Connor Radford	Belmont 16s NSW	36
5	1363	Knot Shore Flying 11	James Hopkins Tom Cameron	M16SSC NSW	37

Full results available here.

Supplied by Flying 11s Australia.

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