UK-Halsey Texas�s Pedro Gianotti was copied on a letter one of his Soling customers sent to another Soling owner. The letter speaks volumes for the attention to detail made by UK-Halsey. This letter is reproduced with permission.
Dear Scot,
I am happy to give you the feedback you request. I sail at club level among a fleet of 20 Solings (Cercle de la Voile de Paris). Most of the guys are using Doyle sails and some North sails. My boat is by far the quickest of our fleet. She is a �94 Borensens Soling built for team "Dennis Conner". I'm real fast but this may be due to the boat as well! I have been using North, Doyle, Elvstr�m (jib only), Sobstad (kite only) and UK-Halsey Sails from Pedro.
First let me speak about the kite. Pedro's kite is fabulous - really fast in light air and easy to tune. The kite fills up immediately and holds up far beyond any other kite on the water. In comparison, the North kite I used before is a pain in the ass... actually I sold it. I am also using a Sobstad kite while training and I reckon Pedro's kite is better.
Sails are very nicely made and hold their shape very well. If I had to rate them against the other sails I used, I would rank them 5 out of 5. The depth of the sail is a good compromise and similar to the Doyle shape - I found the North shapes different from sail to sail (with one deeper than Doyle and another one really flatter).
Pedro's sails are very easy to tune - easier than North or Doyle. There are only three car positions instead of 5. The rest of the tuning parameters are pretty similar.
Bear in mind that I am also a keen 505 sailor - (Actually President for France of this International Dinghy class and International Vice President) - The 505 is a very competitive two-person dinghy with trapeze. I sail the 505 at club, regional, European levels mostly and I rank third out of 100 helmsmen France. If you've ever sailed such a dinghy you would know how tricky it is to tune this boat (much more complicated than the Soling). I have been using many sails made in American, UK, Denmark, Australian and France. Among sailmakers, American ones give the best finish (real good care at details) and Pedro's sails are of that standard.
Pedro delivers right on time - no issue with delivery. I simply regret I did not have them sent rolled instead of folded - I am a bit of a perfectionist I reckon. Pedro was also keen to figure out how I was doing with his sails and he did address all my questions regarding his sails and tuning tips. Frankly my next set will be from Pedro - not simply for the price, but for the speed and quality. I am sure you will like the sails too.
One thing I would like to mention is UK�s sail measurement tool called AccuMeasure. Simply take some shots from under the sail (at boom level) and load them on to your PC and then measure draft position. You can download the program for free from their web site (www.ukhalsey.com/download.asp). Playing with this tool is very useful to know what is going on up there better...It�s fun too.
Best regards,
Jean-Baptiste
|
