Welcome to the UK Sailmakers Update


Just Released New Rules Quiz!








Above is the animated movie that is part of UK Sailmakers's eleventh racing rules quiz. To read the situation and find out the answer, click on the provided link. This link will take you to Rules Quiz No. 11 as well as let you go to any of the previous rules quizzes. Using movies to teach the rules allows you to watch a situation as many times as you want while testing your knowledge of the rules. Only a movie makes understanding rules situations clear and UK Sailmakers is the only place you find this teaching aid.  Feel free to tell your friends about the UK Sailmakers quizzes.

THE UK SAILMAKERS REAL TIME RACING RULES CD

The best way to learn the Racing Rules of Sailing
just got better!

We hope you've enjoyed the rules quizzes on the UK Sailmakers web site. We think they are a great way to help sailors learn the racing rules.
Now we'd like to introduce the first edition of the UK Sailmakers Real Time Racing Rules CD. It has special features to help you analyze each quiz situation and the applicable rules in detail.

Along with all the animated quizzes, we've packed this CD with tools to make learning the racing rules easier yet! For instance, we've included all the Racing Rules of Sailing, all the definitions and most of the appendices along with hot links in the text of the answers for every rule or definition mentioned. The hot links enable users to open a separate box on the screen with the exact wording of the rule or definition referred to. This is much easier than thumbing through the pages of the rule book.

The CD allows you to play the animations full screen with a button to pause or resume the action as many times as you'd like. This lets you study the relative positions of the boats before trying to decide who is right and who is wrong.

This is our first edition of the Real Time Racing Rules CD. It is our intention to offer regular updates with new quizzes and new features. Sailors who have purchased a CD will receive a preferred rate on all updates.

To order a Real Time Racing Rules CD, go to the UK Sailmakers Online Store ator contact your local UK Loft. The cost is $40.

If you would like to sample the rules quizzes already posted on our web site, please click . We are certain that the quizzes combined with the rule book, hot links to the rules and the ability to start and stop the movies all bundled together on our Real Time Racing Rules CD creates the most innovative and easiest method to learn the racing rules of sailing.

SAFETY AT SEA FOR JUNIOR SAILORS

LARCHMONT, NY June 17 -- Over 170 junior sailors learned how to rescue a man overboard and were exposed to big boat sailing thanks the seventh annual Junior Safety at Sea Seminar run by the Storm Trysail Club and the Junior Sailing Association of Long Island Sound.

STC's Rear Commodore Richard duMoulin organized the event and lined up the 21 borrowed boats ranging from 33 to 44 feet for the seventh year in a row with the help of many and especially STC's Marcy Trenholm. Along with all the efforts it took to get boat owners to participate, the seminar organizers convinced experienced big boat sailors to act as coaches. Most boats had 2-3 coaches. Visiting coaches included Ralf Steitz, an America's Cup veteran and the offshore coach at the USMMA at King's Point, N.Y., and Jeff Neuberth, a watch captain on the maxi yacht BOOMERANG.

The event has become a massive under taking and Larchmont Yacht Club is an accommodating host. Extra launch drivers were needed to get all the students and coaches out to the boats after lunch. Trenholm compared the scene with the lanuches to the evacuation of British troops from Dunkerque during World War II.

The morning consisted of classroom sessions on safety, preparation and big sailing in general. One session was led by Rich Wilson who sailed the 53-foot trimaran GREAT AMERICAN with Bill Biewenga 15,000 miles from New York City to Melbourne, Australia besting the record set in 1855 by the clipper ship MANDARIN.

The kids spent the afternoon on the water where each boat practiced man overboard recoveries while sailing upwind and downwind. Coach Steitz said, "A drill at this level is invaluable; it's important that juniors make the recovery process second nature at an early age."

The course is a prerequisite for racing the in the JSA's two big boat events, including the Beach Point Yacht Club's overnight race.

 UK Sailmakers supports the seminar year after year by having UK International's General Manager Adam Loory participate as a coach with his Express 37 SOULMATES.

The junior team from Norwalk Yacht Club getting ready for a tack. During the safety at seminar these juniors learned the importance of wearing shoes while racing big boats.
Cheryll Kerr/regattaphotos.com
The most practiced man overboard procedure was the Quick Stop. The primary benefit of the Quick Stop is that you don't get out of site of the victim. To stop your boat near the person in the water, simply put the helm hard over. The sharper you turn, the faster the boat stops. In fact, the weekend after the seminar, duMoulin had an unplanned man overboard during Larchmont Race Week. As soon as his jib trimmer went over the side, duMoulin turned the tiller hard over, jibed and came back to leeward of the man in the water. Quick thinking crewmembers tied bowlines in the end of sheets so that the man in the water had a loop to grab hold of and then they pulled him aboard. Since the crew was well practiced, the victim was recovered in 45 seconds.




 
Downwind Quick Stop
At the seminar, students learned how to do a quick stop with a spinnaker up -- something that all racing crews should practice. The steps are the following:

1. The person who sees the victim go over the side yells "MAN OVERBOARD!" and then becomes the lookout. That person only looks and points at the victim with his or her arm extended.

2. Throw a floatation device in the water for the victim.

3. Have someone hit the MOB button on the boat's GPS.

4. The helmsman turns the helm hard over so that the boat rounds up into the wind. All crewmembers should expect this maneuver and should be holding on from the moment "Man Overboard" is called.

5. As the boat turns into the wind, the spinnaker after guy needs to be eased until the pole gets to the headstay. Once the pole is at the headstay, the after guy is cleated and the spinnaker pole downhaul gets tightened in order to lock the pole in position.

6. With the spinnaker luffing over the boat, tighten the spinnaker sheet and drop the spinnaker onto the deck.

7. Check that all lines are on deck, then start the engine and maneuver to the victim. The trick is getting the spinnaker pole to the headstay and then cleating the guy before the halyard is released. This way the sail will fall on the boat. If the guy gets eased too far, the sail will fall behind the boat making a real mess.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CUSTOMERS: THEY DOMINATED THE 2002 PORT HURON TO MACKINAC RACE:

 Congratulations to our customers for an incredible performance in this year's Mackinac Race. UK powered boats finished first or second in all 18 classes in the 2002 Bacardi Bayview Yacht Club Mackinac Race. Thirteen of the 18 class winners had full inventories of UK sails. In the other five classes, UK boats finished second. The following is a summary of our customers' performance. As you can imagine, we are very proud of them.

2002 Bacardi Bayview Yacht Club Mackinac Race
UK Customer Results
PHRF A Dolphin Larry Ruhland Second
PHRF B Power Trip Paul and Jim Kraft First
Saralysia Chester Kolascz Third
PHRF C Epic Ray and Winnie Adams First
PHRF D Pandora Dave Bauermeister and Todd Riley First
Hellion Dane Christy Second
PHRF E Jubille Allen and Jay Gillespie First
George Bill Thomas Third
PHRF F Eliminator Paul Van Tol and Bruce Vandevusse First
Hurricane David Caracci Second
Seraphim Diane Malesko Third
PHRF G Jewel Bob Moak First
PHRF H Freedom Nat Towle First
Karma Steve Selander and Bruce Shelby Second
Stella Maris Jim Hudnut Third
PHRF I Chippewa Bob Wall First
Cruising A Dog Dayz Dan VandenBossche First
The Great Whisper Todd Jones Second
Insatiable Norm Silverman Third
Cruising B Valkyrie Chris Behler First
Scrimshaw Rick Rumon Second
Blind Squirrel Howard Hardesty Third
Cruising C Yare John Tipp First
Slainte Joseph Kar Third
C&C 35 Contender Gary Graham First
J 105 DeTour Chuck Stormes First
J 35 Dark Star Lance Smotherman Second
J 120 Night Moves Henry Mistele Second
Multi Hull High Priority Dave Shneider Second
GL 70 Colt 45 Allan Fletcher Second

The following boats primarily work with other sailmakers but had some UK sails aboard:
J 35 Wild Ride Bill Wildner First
Asymmetric Spinnaker
PHRF A Insatiable Tom Ritter Third
Asymmetric Spinnaker, Windseeker
PHRF C Burden Burt Jones Third
Asymmetric Spinnaker

Inclusion of these boat would put UK sails on boats winning 14 of the 18 classes and taking 35 of the 54 first, second and third place trophies.

A Big thank you to our customers for making us look so good!
After 9 of 18 races, Tom Lewin's new Beneteau 36.7 HAMMERTIME is currently in the lead for Boat of the Year series in Buffalo, N.Y. We have won three of the first six Wednesday night races. Our sails are Cuben Fiber Tape-Drive with Carbon Fiber Tapes. The sails are great and we have been very pleasantly surprised with our successes right out of the box. -- Peter Davis

TAMPA BAY NEWS

UK Tampa Bay is proud to announce the addition of Mark Shepard as Production Manager. Mark was previously the Production Manager for Sabre Sails and before that the production manager for Nuclear Sails. Nuclear suffered after his departure.
     
Mark has an extensive racing experience and was instrumental in putting together Nuclear's racing team that had respectable results in the annual Sailmakers Challenge run by Sailing World magazine during the Annapolis Boat Show.
     
Mark's background is in the sewing trade; his father owns one of the most respected canvas shops in the Tampa Bay area. According to Tom Barry, owner of UK Tampa Bay, "Mark has already made a huge difference in our shop and is a great addition to the UK team. The loft is running much smoother and we are able to deliver sails even faster yet."

Mark Shepard (left) is not new to the winners circle.

BILL WARD: NEW ASSISTANT MANAGER AT UK ANNAPOLIS

UK Sailmakers Annapolis has appointed Bill Ward as Sail Consultant and Assistant Business Manager.

UK Sailmakers Annapolis President Scott Allan welcomes Bill to the management team in Annapolis. "Bill brings his education, sailing and coaching background to a position that he fits in well both personally and for UK Sailmakers Annapolis."

Bill is a native of Southern California, now living in Annapolis. A graduate of Georgetown University Business School in 1996 and with a Master's in History from Washington College, Bill completed a successful tour as Head Sailing Coach at Washington College.


At Georgetown, Bill was an Honorable Mention All-American and Captain of the Sailing Team, leading them to high rankings among College Sailing. As a Junior Sailor, Bill was the North American Double-Handed Champion for the Bemis Trophy, and National Champion in both the Sabot and Flying Junior Classes.

CRYSTAL CLEAR VICTORY IN RTIA REGATTA

JULY 5-11, 2002, Abacos, Bahamas -- Oliver Liddell's Beneteau 42s7 FURTHER FOLLY and Dr. Steven Horwitz's
J/30 STARLIGHT EXPRESS finished first and second in PHRF B in the Regatta Time In the Abacos (RTIA). The regatta is scheduled to take advantage of the USA July 4th holiday and the July 10th Bahamian independence day.

"A more ideal regatta is hard to find," said UK Miami's Mark Wood who sailed on FURTHER FOLLY. "The water is gin-clear; you can see starfish 20 feet down." Five races were sailed in moderate conditions; three windward/leeward courses and two point to point races around the "Isles of June."

FURTHER FOLLY easily won her fleet with four firsts and a third. Her genoas are Kevlar Tape-Drive and her new mainsail is Spectra with Kevlar tapes (Platinum-Drive). Owner Oliver Liddell said, "The fourth time is the charm; this is the first time we won the regatta in four tries. I love my new main; it's magical."

The regatta drew 54 boats sailing in four divisions; 8 sport boats in PHRF A, 9 boats in PHRF B, 30 boats in the Mother Tub division (non-spinnaker) and seven multihulls.
CRUISING SPINNAKER VIDEO

Another movie available from UK Sailmakers is our new 17-minute instructional video "The Cruising Spinnaker A-Z." The movie is a true "A-Z" treatment because it teaches more than just how to jibe and trim the cruising spinnaker. Viewers learn handy tips on how two people can hoist and douse the cruising spinnaker, what kind of sheets work best, what equipment is needed to use the sail, how to enlist the help of the wind in moving the sail across the boat during jibes, how to pack the sail into its bag so that it will launch easily, what to look for when adjusting the height of the tack, and much, much more.

Sailors can buy "The Cruising Spinnaker A-Z" on VHS cassette or CD for $35 (shipping within the U.S.A. included) from the UK Sailmakers online store or they can get it free when they buy a new cruising spinnaker from their local UK Sailmakers loft.
Click for a preview of the movie.