Designed by Uffa Fox in 1947, the 6m (20ft) Flying Fifteen was, and remains, a popular two-person racing keelboat.
The first boats were built at Uffa Fox’s own Cowes based boatyard, but in time numerous builders would produce Flying Fifteen’s, using a range of materials. The fairly wide building tolerances of the class also led to some amount of experimentation with hull shape, although in later years this was tightened up.
The original method of construction was two cold moulded skins of honduras mahogany, the inner skin running diagonally and the outer running fore and aft (although sometimes this was switched around).
The March 1949 edition of Yachting Monthly reported that Stebbings had many orders for Flying Fifteens that winter. I have no other information about FF’s built by Stebbings – how many were built in total, or any boat names/owners. The photo above is from inside the Stebbings’ dinghy shed and appears to show two Flying Fifteens in production, although it’s difficult to judge if the scale is right.
Stebbings Archive 