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Club News

Found in the archive - Film of the 1959 Flying Dutchman Worlds at WYC

Posted: Thursday, 30 April, 2020

One of several reels of film found in the club archives, this short video shows black and white footage of the Flying Dutchman World Championship and FD Week held at Whitstable Yacht Club in July 1959. It was the year before the Rome Olympics and attracted competitors from across the world. Most notably it was the first time competitors from Russia, Poland and East Germany had competed this side of the Iron Curtain. There were also two boats from South Africa. It attracted a lot of media interest, and The local paper even reported what the Russians had for breakfast they seemed so alien at the time!
Competitors were in two fleets sailing Olympic courses of a triangle, loop and beat. The World Championships with one competitor from each country went first and the FD Week, which was open to anyone, went 15 minutes later. The World Championship was won by Mario Capio of Italy, followed by Adrian Jardine (K17) of Great Britain. FD Week was won by local sailor “Slotty” Dawes (K36) who represented GB at Rome where he finished 7 th. The Flying Dutchman was a new Olympic class in 1960 and had been introduced into the UK by WYC sailor “Slotty” Dawes. “Slotty” was President of the International FD Class Association. Whitstable was the centre of UK FD sailing and went on to run many international events including the Europeans.