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Born from local Melbourne fishing boats, Couta boats are one of the most active racing fleets in Australia.
Shown above is Nigel Abbot's ROMY. Steb Fisher photo. |
Classic gaff-rigged Couta boats are one of the worlds largest heritage boat fleets as well as one of Australia’s largest active fleets. It started with a fish — the barracouta (Thyrsites atun). "Couta" as they are known, became the mainstay of the 'fish and chips' trade supplying Melbourne with an abundance of inexpensive fish. The first back to port got the best price and so began the development to build faster boats giving birth to the impressive performance they are known for.
When Tim Phillips first spotted MERMERUS sailing in Port Phillip Bay she was one of only two Couta boats remaining afloat. She was built in 1938 by Ken Lacco at Rosebud for the MacKinnon fishing family of Sorrento, who still own her today. This encounter was a turning point for Tim, who with considerable assistance from Ken Lacco, set about turning his building skills to the preservation and restoration of the Couta boat fleet of Port Phillip Bay. With a committed kernel of enthusiasts, the Couta Boat revival was started. The fleet now has over one hundred boats in three states of Australia.
Coutas are of course no longer fishing boats; new boats cost upward of $100,000. They attract people who either have a bit of money or who are absolutely passionate about the boats - often both. In any event, the fleet is very active. The sailing is of a high calibre - for example, Nigel Abbot, who owns ROMY C2003 is a past World and National Fireball Champion and America’s Cup winning skipper John Bertrand is sometimes to be seen at the helm of C03 DARNEY.
The boats vary in size with the big ones about 26' and they go down to about 18'. They are sailed in two divisions and have a handicapping system.
“Spars of wood and gloss varnish provide the frame work to fly a very large area of sail,” says Abbot. “With only a Jib and Mainsail the boats sail fast upwind and down. Historic references fade somewhat when the racing begins as sailors work luff sag, sheet angles and halyard tensions like an Etchell to produce sail shapes any trimmer would be proud of.”
Boats are crewed with a team of five or more working in an open cockpit without the aid of winches. Wooden cheeked blocks and basic tackle add the challenge of working these classics around the course. However at the end of it all the boat is a wonderful forum for a cold beer. There are a number of more social races, one of which is to sail across the bay to Queenscliff and have a BBQ of barracouta.
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| THE LATEST ONLINE SAILING RULES QUIZ HAS JUST BEEN POSTED AT UK-HALSEY SAILMAKERS’ WEB SITE. |
 UK-Halsey Sailmakers has just posted the 24th animated rules quiz to our web site. This series of animated, online quizzes has been acclaimed as the easiest way to learn the rules of sail boat racing. The newest quiz involves a port/starboard situation after rounding a windward mark.
UK-Halsey’s quizzes are based on common situations when sailboats come together on the race course. The questions are not about obscure, hard to repeat, situations; they present incidents that happen again and again on the race course. Since most of the quizzes have several related questions, the library of quizzes offers a lot of sailboat racing lessons.
What makes UK-Halsey’s quizzes a unique way to learn the rules of sailing is the use of animation, which allows viewers to get a much better understanding of the rule in question. The animations can be stopped and started and played over as many times as necessary for the viewer to come to their own conclusion before checking the answer. Viewers watch the boats move; spinnakers go up and come down; sails luff and are trimmed as well as move from side to side as the boats go around the racing marks.
Hot links are embedded in the answers when a rule or rule book defined term is mentioned so that the text of the rule or definition can be brought up in a separate window as a reference. The answers are presented in the same format a protest committee would publish a decision: First the facts found are presented followed by the rule or rules broken, concluded by the decision of who was at fault.
To see quiz24, click here.
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| AIRBATTENS AWARDED AT MIAMI BOAT SHOW |
MIAMI, February 14, 2008 - - Nine marine manufacturers were honored for innovative achievement by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and Boating Writers International (BWI) at the 67th Annual Miami International Boat Show.
“This year, a total of 50 products were entered in eight different categories,” says Zuzana Prochazka, Miami Innovation Awards chair and member of the BWI Board of Directors. AirBattens from UK-Halsey Miami was the winner in the Consumer Installed Non-Electronic Hardware category According to the judges, AirBattens increase in-mast furling mainsail performance by improving sail shape.
The patented the AirBatten system allows the battens individually inflated after the sail rolls out of the mast and deflated in order to roll the sail back into the mast. By being able to inflate and deflate the battens individually, the sail can be reefed by deflating some of the battens and keeping others stiff. The Airbattens are stiff enough to support a mainsail with enough roach to overlap the backstay, while keeping the leech of the sail straight. Battens are inflated or deflated by a 12-volt control panel or manual pump.
Contact Mark Wood at UK-Halsey Miami for more information. E-mail miami@ukhalsey.com or call 305-858-3000
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| “THE WIND CAN’T READ THE LABEL ON THE SAILS, BUT SURELY DOES RECOGNIZE THE BEST ONES” |
 The headline is a quote from Toni Smerdelj after winning the first major regatta of the year in Croatia called the Uskrnja (Easter) Race with his X-362 Sport JANSKA X. Forty top boats and crews raced in three classes and JANSKA X won the small boat division. Seven races were sailed, with two being distance races. Toni reported his boat was very fast upwind even though most of his UK-Halsey Tape-Drive wardrobe is in it’s fourth season! This is more race course evidence that backs up our statement that Tape-Drive makes the most durable racing sails you can buy. During last six years, Mr. Smerdelj has purchased sails from different sailmakers and UK-Halsey Croatia is very happy that Mr. Smerdelj chosen us to build a full set of UK-Halsey Matrix sails for his new X-43 One-Design: endorsements don’t get any stronger.
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SAILING IS TRULY A LIFE-LONG SPORT, JUST ASK 90-YEAR OLD ERNIE RIDEOUT |
Imagine being 90 years old and still sailing competitively in a hot one-design fleet. Well, it’s reality for Ernie Rideout from Santa Cruz, California. In 2006, Ernie took overall National Championship honors sailing the trusty old hull #19 MAYBE. The event was hosted by the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club and sponsored by UK-Halsey Southern/Central Coast. The top prize was 50% off a new set of UK-Halsey Class sails designed by Luis Gianotti of the SoCal office. When Ernie heard what the prize was at the awards ceremony, he was most delighted and soon had his order in for the UK-Halsey sail for his 2007 campaign.
Outfitted with new UK-Halsey sails in 2007, Ernie dominated his local club events leading up to the Nationals, which were held on SF Bay in August. At the Nationals, Ernie maintained a competitive advantage during a ding-dong back-and-forth battle with BONITO on the first day with two seconds and a first. Sunday, the two boats remained tied for the overall win going into the last race. Alas, the local BONITO won the last race and took the championship – no storybook ending here.
In 2008, the Santana 22 Nationals will be held at Ernie’s homeport of Santa Cruz where he will be campaigning once again using UK-Halsey sails. Regardless of his age, he is expected to be one of, if not THE favorite to take overall honors. Stay tuned, the action gets underway July 25, 2008!
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NEWPORT TO BERMUDA RACE SAFETY EQUIPMENT LIST |
 Even if you are not doing the 630-mile race across the Gulf Stream this year, reading though this list will help you to prepare your boat for safer offshore passages. The list was prepared by Landfall Navigation, the USA’s leading specialist in offshore outfitting and onboard marine safety. For those doing the race, get your check list out and go through this PDF carefully because a) you need all this stuff to sail safely and b) the safety inspector will be looking for it all. Click here to download UK-Halsey/landfall navigation Bermuda Race safty equipment list.
For more information, go to http://www.landfallnavigation.com/
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THIS MONTH’S FEATURED LOFT:
UK-HALSEY SAILMAKERS ARGENTINA |
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| RACE COMMITTEE FLAGS AVAILABLE |
 UK-Halsey Sailmakers now offers a set of code flags made especially for Race Committees. These flags are large enough to be easily seen, light enough to fly in light air, and durable enough to stand up to Race Committee use. They are sewn flags not printed. Large grommets make attaching the flags to your halyards easy. These flags were designed by an active PRO for race committee use.
This special flag bag includes all the signals referenced in the rule book which are the following:
Numeral pennants 0 thru 9 (18” x 48”)
Code Flags A, C, H, I, L, M, N, P, S, X, Y, Z (24” x 24”)
Flag AP and First Substitute (18” x 48”)
Blue Flag and Black Flag (24” x 24”)
The UK-Halsey Flag Bag has six extra slots for other flags you may want to add. For instance, we have in stock the following flags for sale separately: F, Solid Yellow and Solid Blue. We also have replacement flags for the most commonly lost flags like C, M, S, AP, the first substitute and solid blue. The kit sells for $435 plus shipping. Single flags cost $15. All are available at the UK-Halsey online store.
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| J/22 ROAD WARROIR REPORT FROM THE MIDWINTERS |
 With short notice, Chad Wilson, Gray Rackley, and Alex Crowell made the top 10 in J/22 Midwinters with UK-Halsey sails. The following is a day-by-day report of their ups and downs.
3/13/08
Chad Wilson and I decided to attend the J/22 Midwinters a few days before the regatta, but we still needed a third. We were running down our lists when Chad found Gray Rackley and talked him in to going. We had never sailed as a team together but we knew we could make something of it. We made it to Rush Creek that night and stepped the mast. After that, we went inside and finished registration and found that we were 60-pounds. light on crew weight. This is a big deal on the J/22, but being light can be overcome with rig tension.
3/14/08
When we made it down to the boat, the first thing was getting the rig tuned right. I pulled out the tuning guide and started setting the rig for 0-5 knots thinking it was going to be a light air day. During the start the breeze picked up to 10-12 and we had no time to re-tune. In this situation you hope every one has the same issues and you go on. During the race the wind died off to about 8-10 and being 60 lbs light became an advantage with a light rig tune set up. We stuck to our weather report and followed the shifts. We rolled across the finish line in fourth and said there is nothing to it. Little did we know it would be downhill from there. In the next race we got trampled and hung out to dry by a shift and ended up 26th. The final result was not a reflection on our speed though.
Race three was very normal till the end. Great start good leg and second around the weather mark. We held in the top five till the end when we went left for clear air and breeze. After we tacked we looked good til out of no where the wind shifts 40 degree righty and mid fleet caught up; we ended up 15th.
3/15/08
Day two of the Midwinters was looking more promising with wind direction and breeze. Once again, wind is shifting to the right all day and building to 15mph. I have been working on the rig tuning guide changing numbers and marking halyards to give us a consistent speed around the course. We are confident in the numbers and are having an easy time with set up. We have a bad start in race four, but get clear. I look around and we are in good company, Terry below with Young and Johnston off our weather hip. Things are good till the shackle on the jib tack fails. We fix it to make it up the weather leg but lost six boat lengths plus two lanes to leeward. We grind back to 12th and the temporary fix blows out again and we finish 20th. This is what you get with a boat that hasn't sailed in three years. Race five goes as planned, perfect rig tune, great lanes, hit shifts and finished 6th. Race six went the same way just at the end we lost a pack of boats that took a flyer and ended up 11th.
3/16/08
Day three we had the boat figured out on to the numbers and all parts were working fine. In race seven, the boat was tuned dead on but we had a little too much jib halyard tension for the start. That hurt us up the first leg so we were back a little. In the next four legs we ground back to 7th putting us in 11th over all. We were counting boats to make sure of placement and did what we thought we could do. We came into race eight knowing that the chances of top 10 are not good. So we sailed fast and stayed between bow 5 and the finish. The race was all over the place and we recovered to a 14th. For sure we have 11th, but later on when found out we were 10th out of 40, we felt a whole lot better. This was a very competitive fleet. Everyone was fast and once you are back just a little you will be scraping for every inch back to the top. We were able to put the sails on the boat a go fast with no tuning or even testing prior to the regatta. That says something when it comes to sail design.
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