Flying Fifteen Buyer's Guide
The Flying Fifteen is a 20-foot two-person racing keelboat with the characteristics of a dinghy, designed by Uffa Fox and built in numbers past 4,000 since the class appeared in 1948. On the used market it spans wooden Classics, glass and epoxy Silver boats, and modern carbon Gold hulls, all still permitted to race together. For a shopper, the appeal is a planing fixed-keel dinghy that self-rights like a yacht, but the deep keel shapes where and how you keep it. Sources differ on beam, with one listing 5 feet and another 7 feet.
Layouts on the Used Market
The boat is a decked hull with a small cockpit that could easily be bailed, low freeboard, and wide decks that require the crew to hike out. Originally wooden with a 285 lb hull and 400 lb keel, later glass and epoxy-foam boats kept the same long, light, narrow hull with shallow flattish sections, fin keel, and spade rudder. The original design weight and the approximately 700-pound total with 400 lb in the cast-iron fin still define the type; the modern Ovington hulls use epoxy resin and carbon fibre for a significantly stiffer structure.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Buyers of newer Ovington hulls have a choice of non-slip on the foredeck and an adjustable mainsheet bridle routed through longitudinal tubes fitted during construction, both meaningful for grip and helm control when hiking. Across the class, the overlapping jib that rolls up quickly and the ability to sail exceptionally well under just the mainsail are standard; a spinnaker near 215 sq ft is part of the fractional sloop rig shared with the International 14 ancestry.
What to Inspect
The deepish fixed keel is the central used-boat caveat: it makes launching and recovery difficult and means the boat cannot be launched from a beach. On a wooden example, check the original 1/8in diagonal inner skin and 3/16in mahogany outer skin over 3/8in x 1/4in ribs at 2in centres, and the 3/16in marine plywood deck for rot or joint looseness. On later glass or epoxy-foam hulls, confirm the carbon high-stress areas and that the small cockpit drains and bails cleanly.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Maine has the only fleet in North America, at Sorrento on Frenchman Bay; beyond that, the class is centered on the British Commonwealth where it became widely popular. A short checklist for the shopping trip:
- Verify sail number against Classic (≤2700), Silver (2701–3400), or Gold status
- Confirm keel is cast iron fin with bulb, not a centerboard conversion
- Test cockpit drainage and bailing on decked hull
- Check hiking decks and non-slip if foredeck upgrade fitted
- Match rig to International 14–derived sail plan before purchase