Dedicated to Flying Fifteen Fleet Racing in London and the South East. Beautiful Boats, Great Racing, and Friendly People to the West of London.
http://www.flyingfifteen.com
It was blinking cold down at Chipstead yesterday. Only five skippers turned out but the racing was actually jolly close. The F6 cleaned up the podium!!
Breezes were fickle as can be – classic Chipstead but the best guys kept own getting it right. They managed 11 races by lunchtime so there was plenty going on!
Our Datchet members did well, cleaning up first and second – With Nigel just squeezing it from Phil by 0.8 points!!
(Phil’s F6, number 66, looking very nice in the light breeze beating out to the top mark)
In the last few days, we have been musing on IOM Worlds Sponsorship. We know from UK’s MYA that their number of members is 2,250 …. but for Livestream TV to a Global Audience, how many skippers are “out there”? NB decided to ask AI …… and this is what it said…..
Here are the key indicators we do have:
IRSA has member national authorities across many countries.
Four major IRSA classes (IOM, Marblehead, 10R, A‑Class) are sailed worldwide.
World Championships typically draw 70–90 sailors per class, with strict qualification limits.
Large national associations (UK, USA, Germany, France, Australia, NZ) each have 1,000–2,500+ registered sailors.
Using these indicators, we can build a reasoned estimate.
📐 A realistic global estimate
Most countries with active IRSA membership have hundreds of sailors; the largest have thousands.
A conservative model:
Region
Estimated sailors
Basis
Europe
8,000–10,000
Many active IRSA nations; UK alone has 2,000+
North America
2,000–3,000
US + Canada
Asia
1,500–2,500
Japan, China, Singapore, HK, etc.
Oceania
1,500–2,000
Australia + NZ
South America
800–1,200
Brazil, Argentina, Chile
Africa
200–400
South Africa mainly
Global estimate: 14,000–19,000 active radio sailors worldwide
This aligns with class registration patterns, national membership numbers, and IRSA event participation.
If you have nay “real data” we can think about, please send your thoughts to the the email address on our “Contact” page of this website.
Well, seven of us were there today – three of us with our hands either thrust deep into our Rooster Robes … or hugging hot mugs of tea!! Gosh it was cold !! Around zero!!
The light was crystal clear and the sky a magical blue. The lake looked amazing and is full to the top.
We had three Proteus and a Viss…. all looking good. One Proteus (very smart) was wearing great looking Red Ant sails which I’d not seen before. We also had a chance to inspect the new mid-ship section print of the Proteus – very clever stuff going on there.
Four of us had Rooster Robes on – like Club uniform 🙂 Rooster will be at the Worlds – I wonder of we can get Rooster to print them with the IOM Worlds logo when the Championships are on…. must ask.
It was scheduled to be a Marblehead Sunday, but the Team GBR chaps won the vote to switch to IOM training instead. Lots of short order racing – brilliant to watch and very close!! We paused for lunch but the top guys went out on the south course for more afternoon training. As the weather warms up, we are expecting more Team GBR skippers to join in.
Datchet Radio Sailing - Making It All Much Easier !! 