Why? For one reason because the Flying Fifteen he designed in the '50s, and which is still going strong, must be one of the prettiest and funniest (that's "most fun" in anglo-Belgian) keelboats afloat. Ffly is among those 3,500 or so Ffs now afloat, and among the furthest north, lying to her mooring off the Wee Pier at Ullapool, where she was launched last week.
Since then I have had the most extreme fun in many a year. Alone, with a crew in winds ranging from Force 3 to gusting 6 she was, as they say, a blast. Yesterday being a case in point. The MetOffice said strong, gale-force at times, winds and so it proved - hitting us squarely on the beam around midday, and sending Ffly fflying homewards, barely in control. But what larks!
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| Photo: Chris Perkins copyright |
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| Photo: Chris Perkins copyright |
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| Photo: Chris Perkins copyright |
Courtesy of Chris Perkins, boat builder extraordinary and photographer par excellence, here are some shots taken during the much quieter Saturday. He says she only came into shot as the backdrop to the launch of Ulla, the St Ayles skiff built in these parts. But I can't help thinking his lens was inexorably drawn to the elegance of her line, the speed of her advance and the ludicrous attitude of her owner and skipper...
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