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| CLASS WINNER |
“It was not the blustery kind of Antigua Sailing Week that most are used to,” said UK-Halsey’s Mark Wood who sailed on Peter Morris’s Frers 43 JAGUAR from Trinidad. “In fact our brand new Tape-Drive No. 3 never came out of the bag.” JAGUAR finished third in Performance Cruising Class 1.
Pictured above is Antiguan Hugh Bailey’s Beneteau 456 HUGO B, which won the 15-boat Performance Cruising Class 2 and won overall Performance Cruising class.
Bailey’s boat got off to a good start by winning Sunday’s race around the island race. They continued to sail fast with their three year old Tape-Drive sails throughout the week accumulating eight points in the four races. "Our sails are still fast and we are very happy, but maybe we will do something new next year," said Bailey.
Chasing HUGO B in the photo is Carlo Falcone’s CACCIA ALLA VOPE with her Tape-Drive genoa. |
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| ROUNDING THE MARK FROM THE PORT TACK LAYLINE |
Photos by Allen Clark www.photoboat.com
The following series of pictures shows a good way to avoid the penalties imposed by Rule 18.3 Tacking When Approaching a Mark.
Although most sailors understand that approaching a mark on the port layline is not a good idea, it happens to the best of us. An unexpected lift, a missed call or being driven out by a windward boat are some of the ways we can end up in that unenviable spot. However the real problems start when you enter the zone on port tack because tacking in the zone is the equivalent of leading with your chin in a boxing match.
In the picture #1 of this sequence, sail # 18321 is in the zone on the port layline and about to reach the mark. As picture #2 shows, there is also a starboard tack boat approaching that is fetching the mark. While 18321 is crossing the starboard boat, she is not doing so with a large margin (picture #3).
Despite the temptation to tack and round the mark ahead of the starboard boat, 18321 correctly stays on port tack and crosses, allowing her (the starboard boat) to round the mark first (pictures 4, 5 & 6). By electing this course of action, 18321 has given up one boatlength of distance and avoided a sure losing protest.
Had she tacked right at the mark (picture #2) and directly in front of the starboard tack boat, 18321 would have opened herself to a no win situation under Rule 18.3. All the starboard boat has to do is put her bow up above a close hauled course to protest under 18.3 (a) or dive to leeward to claim mark-room under 18.3 (b). Since there is no question that 18321 tacked in the zone, her chances of prevailing in a protest hearing are close to non-existent.
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| ABBY SUNDERLAND STOPS, BUT WILL KEEP GOING AROUND THE WORLD |
Abby Sunderland just stopped at Cape Town, which ends her attempt to be the youngest to circumnavigate non-stop and unassisted. After sailing halfway around the world, she is stopping to fix her auto pilots and wind generators. This does not mean she is ending her voyage. The following is Abby’s account of what happen and what her plans are.
“I've sailed thousands of miles, in fact, I have sailed almost half way around the world without stopping once. My original goal in setting out was to sail around the world solo non-stop and unassisted and to be the youngest person ever to do it. It was something I had dreamed about for years, and finally at sixteen things began to fall into place. It took a lot of hard work and a lot of great people to help make my dream become reality. Right from the smallest sponsors, eager helpers, and not so small sponsors. I couldn't have made it this far with out every single one of them and all of their amazing support.
“UK-Halsey helped us out back in California to get the right sails on board WILD EYES. Of course with my trip planning to be non-stop, I needed sails that were going to last all the way around the world — a big job for any sails! UK-Halsey helped us choose, cut and tune the perfect sails for WILD EYES to go around the world and they have held up beautifully throughout everything. They still have half the world to go, but I am confident the will hold up just as well as they did in the first half.
“Recently I did have some mechanical failures on board WILD EYES. My auto pilot failed and my back up wasn't working well. My wind generators both stopped working causing me to have to recharge my battery banks by running the engine a lot and use more fuel then I had expected. This will mean that I will have to stop in Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs.
“This stop will end the non-stop and unassisted part of my trip, but I'm far from done with my trip. I will be continuing as soon as all the repairs are done. Who knows, maybe I can stop a few more times and see some of the world while I'm out here. I look on it all as a part of my incredible adventure.”
Good for Abby to see a silver lining in everything that has happened to her. To find out more about Abby and her trip, read her blog at: www.abbysunderland.com
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| NEW RULES TOOL FROM UK-HALSEY |
In UK-Halsey’s continuing effort to help sailors learn the Racing Rules of Sailing, we have just posted a multiple choice rules test to our website. The test lets you fine-tune your understanding of the rules. It has detailed answers that can be reviewed after taking the test and seeing your score. Instead of trying to "catch” sailors with tricky questions, the test covers common race course scenarios. This way after you understand the rules covered in these situations, you will immediately know your rights and obligations in a similar situations. This will help you on the water where you have to apply the rules right away instead of taking time to think about them.
Take the test as many times as you want. Tell your crew and tell your friends! In another month we will post another test. There is no charge to take the test, but we do require you to log in. Your login is your e-mail address. For those who have not created a login with the UK-Halsey site, it is simple and we do not ask for much information. After signing up you will not get spammed, since UK-Halsey does not share your data with anyone.
You will find a link to the test right on our home page: www.ukhalsey.com
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| REEFING: A KEY DISTANCE RACING SKILL |
| If your boat is overpowered, it is slower because it is heeling too much. Excess heeling increases leeway and reduces tde efficiency of your boat’s keel and rudder. The boat goes slower because tde rudder is fighting increased weatder helm. To get tde boat back under control, sail area has to be reduced. There are two options for reducing sail area: change to a smaller genoa or reduce tde size of |
 the main by reefing. In around the buoys racing you can always change to a smaller genoa at the next turning mark, while flogging the main in between. In a distance race you’ll end up with a ripped main if you flog it too much. So when the next turning mark is hours or days away, reefing the main is the quickest and simplest way to reduce sail. A well-set-up boat can have two people tuck in a reef in a minute or two, compared to waking up the other watch to change genoas.
To get the most benefit from a mainsail area reduction (reefing), make sure that the reef outhaul and halyard are tensioned tight – bar tight. If those controls are loose, the sail will become too full, and full sails make you heel more when the wind is howling. |
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| LORA ANN reefed at the start of the 2006 Vineyard Race. |
Notice how flat the foot of sail is in Photo 1. Properly built sails are reinforced to take these strains.
In the 2006 Vineyard Race I sailed on Richard du Moulin’s Express 37 Lora Ann, and we had the second reef in the main for 24 hours as we sailed through the remains of Hurricane Ernesto. When we shook the reef, there was no deformation of the sail. That reef outhaul was cranked on TIGHT as we blasted through winds that grew from 30 knots at the start to 48 knots by the time we rounded the Buzzard’s Bay Tower. So go ahead and winch the reef outhaul hard.
To put in a reef, drop the main halyard far enough to set the reef tack. This is when things can get dicey if your sail has a bolt rope instead of slides because the mainsail luff has to come out of the mast as you lower it. In a lot of wind, controlling the loose sail can be difficult. Most boats have reef hooks on each side of the boom that catch the reef tack. You have to lower the mainsail enough to get the reef tack’s ring onto the hook. Once the reef tack is made, the halyard is re hoisted -- very tight. Next, pull and winch the reef outhaul tight. Remember to ease the mainsheet and vang or else you will not be able to get the reef outhaul tight. You will know the reef outhaul is tight enough when the reef clew is down to the boom and the mainsail |
 is pulled straight between the reef tack and reef clew.
Standing on the cabin top with the mainsail flogging makes it hard to get the reef tack onton the hook, and if the halyard does not get tensioned quickly, the tack can flog off the hook. A more secure method is shown in Photo 3. It involves a piece of low-stretch line that is attached to a pad eye on the mast with a snap shackle on the end. To set the reef tack, pass the shackle through the reef tackgrommet and then down to the pad eye on the opposite side of the mast. This method ensures that the reef tack is securely held in place. In the photo, the top of the strop for the second reef can just be seen on the pad eye.
Once the reef tack and clew have been set, there is loose sail that needs to be controlled. Just roll up the sail parallel to the boom and tie it in place with bungee cord. If you use a piece of line or a sail tie, you risk ripping the sail by shaking the reef with the ties still in place. This happens a lot at night. Sail ties can work well, because they are very visible and hard to miss when it is time to shake out the reef; see Photo 4.
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Some sails do not have the grommets (reef diamonds) between the reef tack and clew at the first reef because there is not enough sail loose to worry about. The sail in Photo 1 does not have reef diamonds.
If you are going to be reefed for a long period, good seamanship calls for rigging a safety line that goes through the reef clew and around the boom. This way, if your reef outhaul breaks or the clutch holding the reef outhaul opens, the sail won’t get ripped.
With practice, you will be able to set and shake a reef quickly, skills that are needed as the wind rises and falls during long races. Reefing is one more sail trim method that you need to know. It is no different than easing your sheets when the wind drops and then cranking them in as the wind builds. |
Adam Loory is General Manager of UK-Halsey Sailmakers International. He has been racing his Express 37 SOULMATES on Long Island Sound for 15 years and in 2008 he was a Watch Captain on the Beneteau 36.7 TENACIOUS, which won the Gibbs Hill Division of the Newport – Bermuda Race — another race in which a lot of reefing was done. |
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| GETTING A NEW BOAT FOR THE COST OF A NEW SET OF SAILS |
Cruising yachtsmen from around the world gather in George Town, Exumas in the Bahamas each winter for months of fun in the sun escaping the winter cold. Each year since 1980, for a week to ten days in February to March, they organize and hold the George Town Cruising Regatta.
This year Tom and Sandy Stefanic won the best overall series award with finishes of 3,1,2,2,3 sailing their Taswell 43 ANANIA. No one will confuse ANANIA for a stripped out racer. This center-cockpit cruiser with a roller-furling mast, sails to the Caribbean every winter and sails back to New York every summer. Two years ago they upgraded to a high quality tri-radial furling genoa made with Dimension/Polyant’s square weave Dacron – a premium cloth. They were amazed by the positive change in the boat’s performance. The following year they bought a new tri-radial in-mast roller/furling main also made out of DP’s square weave Dacron and again they were pleased with the boat’s increased performance. The Stefanic’s have owned their boat for years and now the boat sails better then it did when she was new so many years ago.
And they were not the only ones who noticed the boat going faster. The local PHRF committee hit their rating pretty hard after a sailor with a much faster boat complained how well ANANIA was going. |
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| NEW BENETEAU FIRST 40 GEARING UP |
Antoine Beysens photos: www.antoinebeysens.com
These photos are of the new Beneteau First 40 on her maiden voyage. She is the result of a partnership between SAYANN (Cyril Baille) and MADRACO (Christophe Charles). The latest generation of UK-Halsey Sails and Hall Spars rigging were the hands-down choice for optimal performance and service. Her working sails are Matrix Titanium made by UK-Halsey France and her massive chutes were designed in France and built by UK-Halsey Turkey.
In a chance encounter with a well-sailed Beneteau First 40.7, Cyril Baillie breathed a sign of relief as his new boat sailed 10 degrees closer to the wind and nearly one knot faster than this sistership to his old SAYANN. Before this dial-up, Cyril couldn’t help wondering if he might be chasing rainbows.
SAYANN-MADRACO initial speed testing places her right in the speed targets of the Archambault 40. With the new straight keel option and a mast rake respecting Bruce Farr's recommendations, the new First 40 has become a serious challenger. Other First 40s have won Spi Ouest 2010, 2009 Rolex Sydney-Hobart and the 2009 Cowes-Dinard race. |
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| AMERICAN YACHT CLUB’S SPRING SERIES: LONG ISLAND SOUND’S WAKE UP CALL |
Left:
Adam and Jenni Loory's Express 37 SOULMATES
Right: Tom Carroll's J/133 SIRENSONG
The 2010 big boat season officially started on Long Island Sound with the completion of the American Yacht Club’s Spring Series sailed the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May.
Tom Carroll’s J/133 SIRENSONG dominated the nine-boat IRC 40 class with seven firsts in nine races. The boat was powered by a brand new MatriX Titanium genoa. Helmsman Bob Morno couldn’t say enough good things about how fast and versatile the sail was. SIRENSONG’s winning ways earned her the Edward L Richards trophy for the best performance of the 27-boat IRC Division. Adam Loory’s Express 37 SOULMATES won the10-boat IRC 35 class using a full inventory of MatriX upwind sails. photoboat.com photos.
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