Above is Alex Bennett’s Open 40 FUJIFILM in the 4340-mile doublehanded Transat Jacques Vabre race. Thirty boats participated in the Open 40 Class and FUJIFILM was an early favorite. The Open 40 Class is growing in leaps and bounds; get ready to see a lot more coverage of these speedy open ocean racers. UK-Halsey in Hamble, England, worked with Alex Bennett and his team to come up with sails that could take the abuse of two guys alone in a 40-footer who are trying to go as fast as possible no matter what the ocean is up to. After a strong first few days in the race, Bennett and his teammate, Ifor Pedley, pulled out of the race when they got to the Canary Islands because of a non-functioning alternator. We will have more from Alex about his boat and the race in a future issue of our Newsletter, but for now you can see videos from the race and read more about it at: http://www.alexbennett.co.uk/

The following is an excerpt from the latest news release on Bennett’s website.

“The feeling you get when you're pushing a boat to the limit is quite an awesome experience. I always think you know you're alive when you start to think - it's so windy we had better get these sails off the boat, but then it's getting way too dangerous to go up on the foredeck and take the sails down, but it's way too windy to keep them up. What do you do?!
“For us the decision was made when in the early hours just before we rounded Cape Finisterre, the tack line on the Code 5 blew apart during a particularly big gust. We were going very fast at the time and all of a sudden, bang! This was our cue to get the sail down. Trying to furl it in 35 knots with a baggy luff quickly proved impossible and with the whole show flogging itself and the boat to bits, we decided to drop it like a conventional spinnaker.
“As we barrelled downwind I could see Ifor on the foredeck undergoing a monumental battle with this code sail, which really needed six of us on the foredeck to tame the beast and subdue the power it was generating! There were only two of us though and I knew I had to go forward and get stuck in.
“Trouble was that I was hand steering at the time, keeping the boat on track. The size of the waves was such that there was a real danger of the boat being laid over and gybing while we were both in the foredeck. All these thoughts run wild through your mind in a split second when you're thinking the situation through. I was certainly relieved that we had Raymarine systems onboard with the new AST pilots as I pressed the auto button on the pilot control head. We were asking a lot of the automatic pilot system in those conditions, but I turned up the rudder response to maximum and went forward to help Ifor.
“Twenty minutes later the fight was under control and the code sail was safely stowed below. Ironically we were still averaging 12 knots or so with just the main up! An awesome night of sailing and under the cover of darkness we enjoyed some awesome surfing until the following morning."

According to Bennett, "Professional Ocean racing is a demanding sport, tough on both man and equipment. Life at sea provides one of the harshest environments for equipment to perform in. We require only the very best products to make the difference between success or failure.” FUJIFILM was equipped with a full inventory of UK-Halsey Sailmakers sails.

Dan Phelps/Spinsheet photo

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Nov. 9-11: After winning the last four races, Kerry Klingler came back strong to win the 33-boat J/80 North American Championship for the second year in a row. Seven races were sailed over three days giving the fleet a range of conditions. UK-Halsey was well represented at the regatta with six of the top ten places going to boats with UK-Halsey logos in their corners.
     The regatta started on Friday, November 9th, with a light southwesterly breeze. Unstable winds resulted in four general recalls before the committee let the fleet go. With big shifts and bad holes, only six boats finished before the time lime expired. The rest of the fleet ended up scored TLE, and eight of those also had a Z-Flag penalty to boot – including Kerry.
     The next day things looked up. After a front passed, a fresh northwester blew 10-15 with gusts higher. This was the day to get in a lot of races – four to be exact. The shifty, puffy breeze made tactics and placement on the course important. As it turned out, two past World Champions struggled for the lead —Glen Darden on Yoko won the first two races and Kerry Klingler on Lifted won the next two. At the same time Bruno Pasquinelli on Tiamo turned in a very consistent scores to hold onto the lead by one point. With only one point between the three top boats, things would be very interesting on the last day.
     The forecast was for light northly shifting through the east and ending up in the south by the end of the day. This was to be very challenging light air sailing. After reading all the internet forecasts, Klingler planned on the wind shifting right and therefore started at the committee boat, while Darden and Pasquinelli chose the pin. After two forty-degree shifts, Klingler was launched and won the race easily. Leading going into the last race, Klingler needed to finish within four places of Pasquinelli to win the regatta. With good starts and solid sailing up the first beat, Darden, Klingler and Pasquinelli rounded the windward mark 2, 3, and 4th. On the last run, Klingler split with Darden and Rick Schaffer sailing C’est Nasty who jibed and headed right, which had paid off upwind and downwind all day. Klingler bore off and went left seeing better wind. That choice paid off with a race and regatta win for Kerry and his team on Lifted.

The crew of Lifted consisted of Doug Lynn, Neil Bresnan, John Bowden, and Kerry Klingler. This victory was Klingler’s third North American Championship and second consecutive win. Kerry is also a world champion in the class and he is UK-Halsey’s sail designer for the J/80 one-design class.

Results are posted at:
http://regattaweb.net/j-80nas/j-80nas.html

TORTOLA, BVI -- Chicago-based Tartan 10 and Laser sailor Rick Strilky wasn't so sure he would be able to do much in the fleet of Sunsail 39s that were to be used by the seven confirmed teams for the 2007 Sperry Top-Sider Caribbean NOOD Regatta Championship in early November. He'd never driven a wheel boat before (never mind one with two wheels), and wasn't so sure the island-to-island racing that was planned for the week was much his style. But, oh boy, was he wrong on both accounts.

In the buoy racing on the opening day of the regatta, against six overall winners selected from nine of the 2007 NOOD regattas, Strilky and his team were masterful, and suddenly his outlook was beginning to change.

In the first of two windward/leeward races, Strilky's Team Chicago (also bent on beating Team Detroit…a Great Lakes rivalry of immense proportion) snuck away clean from the start while teams from Larchmont, Texas, Annapolis, San Diego, and Marblehead NOODs wrestled for clean air. Even with a broken mainsheet system they couldn't cough up their lead. And with a jury rig between races, they were back in business—well, sort of. Unable to coax their boat in the second race, they managed a fourth. Out ahead in this contest was Stephen Tedeschi's Larchmont NOOD-winning team, who'd only managed a sixth in the opener.

"I'd wish I known how competitive it would be," Tedeschi admitted later. "I wouldn't have started partying so early."

Regardless, Strilky wrapped up the day with a two-point lead before heading back to the Sunsail base for a mainsheet pit-stop repair. Everyone else headed to nearby Cooper Island and Manchioneel Bay for the first round of snorkeling and kicking back.

Click here to see the full article on the Sailing World Web Site.

Last year’s NOOD Regatta Champion was John Storck, Jr. and his all family crew. Sailing World magazine runs nine National Offshore One-Design (NOOD) regattas across the USA and Canada. The overall winners of each Sperry Topsider NOOD Regatta qualifies for a champion-of-champions regatta sailed the first week of November in the British Virgin Islands on identical Sunsail Charter boats.

When this webbing is new, it is more than strong enough to do the job required. However, as is also evident from this picture, the webbing on this clew block spends all day, everyday in the sun. Likewise the webbing loops on the head and tack of your jib. Sunlight rots and weakens synthetic webbing very quickly and the end result can be a webbing failure at exactly the wrong time e.g. when the wind is blowing hardest.

Another important thing to remember is that the farther south you live, the stronger the sun is. So if you keep your boat in Florida or the Caribbean, this is going to become a problem much sooner than on the Great Lakes or the coast of Maine.

We have two recommendations:
1. Have the webbing in the corners of your sails checked regularly by your sailmaker. If you live in a southern climate, the exposed webbing should be replaced at least every other season.
2. Where possible, have the corner webbing covered by your furling cover as shown in the second picture.

This is truly an area where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

SOLID COLORED POLO SHIRTS

UK-HALSEY SAILING GLOVES

D-Ring Belts

Code Flags and Key Float

UK-HALSEY SAILING GLOVES
These are perfect stocking stuffers for all the sailors in your family or on your crew. These three-quarter-fingered sailing gloves are made of synthetic suede with leather pads. Sizes range from XXS to XL. Price is $22.

D-Ring Belts
UK-Halsey’s cotton webbing belts have a vivid and crisp blue and white embroidered ribbon. Belts come in sizes 27, 30, 33, 36, and 39 inches. Each belt is 6.5” longer than the stated waist so that the end can be folded back and run through the rings. Price is $13

HOLIDAY SPECIAL. Spend more than $60 in the UK-Halsey online store and we will send you a floating key chain or International Code Flag sticker for free.

Visit the UK-Halsey online store for plenty of gift ideas. We will ship orders as soon as they come in to ensure that they are delivered in time for the holidays. The UK-Halsey store is stocked with duffel bags, back packs, clothing and educational CDs and DVDs. Click here to visit the secure store site.