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A fleet of J/80s coming off the starting line at the 2008 Red Grant Regatta. Photo by Allan Clark/photoboat.com |
| NEW RULES QUIZ POSTED |
UK-Halsey has just finished our 26th animated rules quiz, which has been posted to the Rules Quiz Program download. This quiz covers two similar situations at a downwind page. To see it, you’ll have to own the program or wait another month before we post it to the web site. We currently have 20 of the 26 quizzes available for free on the UK-Halsey site. The program sells for $55 and since it is a download, whenever a new quiz is posted, your program tells you that there is an update available. Click here to buy the program from our secure online store. Within 24 hours of making your purchase, you’ll get the download instructions. Still not sure? Click here to take a video tour of the program. |
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| GREAT RULES LEARNING TOOL |
 For the last seven years UK-Halsey Sailmakers has been teaching the racing rules of sailing with our animated rules quizzes. To keep up with the rules changes that took effect January 1st, we had the answers to our 26 quizzes re-written by Rob Overton, who is the chairman of the US Sailing Racing Rules Committee. To help get our quizzes out to more sailors, we have created a Google Gadget that can easily be installed on websites. The gadget has five quizzes; once it is installed, UK-Halsey can automatically update the gadget with different quizzes in the future. When the user clicks to get the answer, a new window opens up for the UK-Halsey web site where they can find all 26 quizzes. This gadget is an enhancement for any web site. Put it on your personal site, your boat’s web site, your yacht club’s site or even your blog’s site. Click here to see the gadget on the McMichaels Yacht Brokers’ site.
To get the UK-Halsey Rules Gadget, click here. |
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| NEW RACE RULES BLOG POSTING |
Rob Overton, Chairman of the US Sailing Racing Rules Committee, has just posted a new blog entry about a loophole in Rule 23.2. Rob points out a hypothetical situation where a boat trying to do the right thing could end up guilty. Read it and beware! To read our rules blog and /or post a comment, click here. |
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| THE ST. BARTHS BUCKET: BATTLE OF THE MEGA YACTS |
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Tim Wright photo |
By John Fries, Sail Designer for UK-Halsey Mystic
This year’s St. Barths Bucket for Mega Yachts was an exciting one, with winds ranging from 15-25 knots and typically large Caribbean seas. The conditions were an excellent test for the Swan 100 VIRAGO’s new UK-Halsey Matrix Carbon jib and A3 asymmetrical spinnaker.
Earlier testing in March (while at Antigua Race Week) had pointed to improved upwind performance with the new jib. This was validated while racing at “The Bucket”. Despite being one of the smaller entries, VIRAGO displayed superior upwind speed and height. Increased pointing ability was key to her first in class and second overall finish in Sunday’s race.
Sunday’s was essentially an “around the island” featuring two long beats in 18-20 knots of wind. The starts were staggered, which is typical of most Mega Yacht events. This reduces the chance of potentially dangerous encounters in boats ranging from 76 to 288 feet! The slowest boats start first and the faster boats later with the fastest boat starting last. This format can produce some very interesting finishes and spectacular mark roundings as the fleet compresses.
VIRAGO’s upwind performance was so good that we passed 95% of the fleet on the first two beats. The combination of a 100% Carbon high DPI yarn layout and CT inflatable battens produced a jib that could be trimmed much harder than normal for a Mega Yacht (due to it’s straight exit through a wide range of conditions). The new jib gave us a huge advantage. Going upwind between 11.0 and 11.6 knots with a solid edge in pointing, VIRAGO was on fire, and we made short work of the two long upwind legs!
 As the race continued, we held our own on a long jib reaching leg, potentially our weakest point of sail, VIRAGO being only 100 feet long…. At the next turning mark we gybe-set and squared back for the run into the finish. The new A3 spinnaker worked very well both as an AP cruising style spinnaker (flown from the bow) and as a pole-flown racing sail. Having a spinnaker pole proved to be a big advantage on this leg. We made large gains by being able to square back while the fleet was unable to match our line. While the spinnaker pole was a big advantage, its use had to be well orchestrated given a length of 38 feet! (see picture)
Contender Superkote 350 & 250 proved to be a solid choice of fabric. While many others broke downwind sails in the fresh conditions we had no issues with our A3. We chose not to use the new A3’s furling option since we had 20-plus crewmembers to handle takedowns. Crew work was another one of our strengths; the team performed exceptionally well in the challenging conditions.
At the end of the day the new UK-Halsey sails on VIRAGO proved to not only be fast but also durable. Throughout the three days of racing in strong winds and large seas we had no issues with the sails.
Editor’s Note. John Fries designs plenty of huge sails for the group. He created the sails for the 120-foot catamaran PLAY STATION, the 140-foot Frers ketch REBECCA as well as the China Team’s America’s Cup challenger in 2007. |
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| ONE SET OF SAILS FOR OCEAN PASSAGES, CRUISING AND FOR TAKING SECOND IN THE BVI SPRING REGATTA |
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| The crew of SAFIR III; Robert Radway is second from the left. |
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Above is a shot of SAFIR III's MatriX Endurance fully battened mainsail. |
Conditions were stuck on perfect at the annual BVI Spring Regatta, based out of Nanny Cay Marina on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. There was plenty of good sailing on courses that included windward/leewards and around the island courses. SAFIR III, an Arcona 460 from Chicago, raced in Performance Cruising A, and finished second. The Oyster 72 SPIRIT OF MONTPELIER won the 10-boat division that had boats ranging from 80 to 45 feet.
After being trucked 900 miles from Chicago to Charleston, S.C., SAFIR III sailed 1600 miles to the British Virgin Islands to escape the frigid Great Lakes winter. “On SAFIR III we raced primarily with the same No. 2 genoa that we used on the furler for the trip down here, and we also used that sail for a month of cruising since getting here,” said the boat’s owner Robert Radway. “I can truly report, that UK-Halsey delivered exactly what I asked for: high performance cruising sails!”
The boat made the non-stop trip from Charleston to St. Martin in a quick 10 days with only two people sailing: Ralph Godkin and Brigite Prud’homme. “Great sails – what more can I say!” says the pleased Radway, “We are hoping to do as well or better at Antigua Race Week – and yes, we will still be using those same sails!” UK-Halsey Chicago’s Mike Considine will be joining the crew for Antigua.
Mike led an international effort to get the sails right for SAFIR III. He tweaked the sail plan for typical summer sailing on Lake Michigan by consulting with the UK-Halsey loft in Sweden, which has been building sails for Acrona boats for years. They ended up setting up the boat with masthead spinnakers and a maximum-roached main. All the sails are carbon/aramid MatriX, while the main and No. 2 are MatriX Endurance that have a layer of Dacron taffeta on one side for extra durability.
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| IT’S NO JOKE: JUST A JOKE WINS AT ALASIO WEEK |
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Alberto Carmagnani photo
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Marcello Maresca of Genoa, Italy, sailing his Archambault 35 JUST A JOKE won the IRC3 division of Alasio Week (Settimana Internationale Vela d'Altura di Alassio - March 13-15) ahead of Francesco Soldini's M 37 COCONUT.
“It’s been a good start of the season,” said Maresca. “Alassio is the traditional season opener in the Ligurian Sea. The weekend was not particularly windy. In the two out of three races that JUST A JOKE won, we finished well ahead a fleet of some 30 other boats in our division that was scored under IRC and ORC (some of which had big sponsors)! An unfortunate PMS and a big wind shift and dying breeze resulted in a sixth place in the second race.”
“For sure a big advantage to our top finishes was due to the brand new excellent set of sails made at UK-Halsey France that were delivered on the eve of the first race. In particular the Gennaker is perfect in wind up to 10 knots.”
Alberto Carmagnani photo |
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| INAUGURAL CARIBBEAN 600 |
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The Mumm 36 CAFE AMERICANO HIGH TENSION during the Caribbean 600. Tim Wright photo
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The inaugural RORC Caribbean 600 Offshore Race was designed to create a world-class ocean race in the warm waters of the Caribbean. The course is roughly the same distance as the three top ocean races of the world: the Newport to Bermuda Race, the Fastnet Race and the Sydney – Hobart Race. The following is the text of an e-mail sent to UK-Halsey Miami’s Mark Wood from Bernie Evan-Wong, the owner of the Mumm 36 CAFÉ AMERICANO HIGH TENSION.
“We managed to win our class in the inaugural RORC Caribbean 600 offshore race last week. We took Best Caribbean Yacht and Best Antiguan Yacht as well. In fact we were in first overall until the last 24 hours, but because we knew we were ahead in our class we relaxed somewhat at the end, not knowing we could have won overall! The race was quite hard and I fell and broke a rib the second night, but it is getting better now [Bernie sailed the last two days with a broken rib – it must have been painful. eds]. We are now getting ready for the Heineken Regatta in St Maarten.” He ended his message with a request for a sail quote.
Stan Pearson, one of the Caribbean sailors who conceived the race said, “We wanted to set a course which showcased the Caribbean, giving the competitors some stunning scenery but also we wanted it to be a challenge. The feedback we are getting says that we have achieved both of those things. The course is also extremely tactical. A lot of the time the conditions are influenced by land and being able to read those signs and taking action, makes a big difference in performance.” |
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| HAPPY DANCE WITH UK-HALSEY SAILMAKERS |
 Corey Harding won his first major J/24 regatta when he won the first stop on the Texas Circuit, which was sailed at Corpus Christi March 20-21. “We didn’t buy new sails this year because of the economy and all that crap,” said Harding. “But that didn’t hold us back one bit. Running last year’s genoa, we were faster than boats with new genoas. The kite was new at the end of last year and this was the first time we had it up in a strong breeze. Downwind, we were the fastest boat. I passed more boats downwind than I ever had. That was impressive. Pedro Gianotti's UK-Halsey Texas loft makes fantastic J/24 sails.” Harding went on to say that the second place boat also sailed with year-old UK-Halsey sails. Congrats to Doug Weakly and his crew.
Eleven J/24s participated in what can be called the “Corpus Christi Experience.” The anticipated weather called for temperatures in the 70s and 80s and winds projected from 12 to 25 knots. Saturday’s first race began with light winds of about 8 knots, but as the day progressed, the winds picked up. By the end of Race No. 4, winds were holding at about 16 knots. On Sunday the first race started in about 12 knots of wind and by the end of Race No. 6, winds were a breezy 18 to 20 knots.
Harding said the win was very exciting for him and his regular crew. “The best we’d ever done, My best finish before this was a third, and that was with hot shots. We don’t sail with hot shots any more.” He pointed to another impressive fact. The last regatta of the 2008 Texas Circuit was won by Stuart Lindow, who also sailed with UK-Halsey sails. Harding is glad to be creating a streak. |
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| TCHIN-TCHIN AND AQUARIUS WIN AT THE MASSILIA CUP IN MARSEILLE |
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The Archambault 35 TCHIN-TCHIN won the IRC division of the Massilia Cup in Marseille, beating 21 other boats, including five other A35s. She was a notch faster than the rest of the fleet. TCHIN-TCHIN’s owner, Jean-Claude Bertrand keeps saying the reason the boat is so fast is because of the sails!
Nicolas Pietra's AQUARIUS took an immediate lead and held on to win the 13-boat First 31.7 one-design division, scoring three firsts and three seconds.
Congratulations to Jean-Claude Bertrand's and Nicolas Pietra's crews.
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| SAN FERNANDO RACE 2009: ZENA IS EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE |
The brand new X Yachts 55 ZENA, owned by Peter Forsythe, stormed to victory in IRC Premier Cruising class and second over all in IRC in the 480-mile Hong Kong to San Fernando (Philippines). The win was extra rewarding since Forsythe took delivery of the brand new ZENA just two weeks before the start of the race. Her new UK-Halsey Tapre-Drive sails made by UK-Halsey Hong Kong powered the boat to victory without a single problem, right off the mark.
Other boats that stood out in the race were the Ben. First 44.7 WALAWALA, owned by Steve Manning, which finished third in the IRC racing division; and Ben. First 50 BLAUWVOET, owned by Marcel Ledits.
The first 48 hours brought a fresh breeze with a close reach. Winds began to drop as the fleet got closer to the Philippines. |
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