| Home > Article |
FEATURED LOFT: ANDY HALSEY�S OWN LOFT UK-HALSEY MYSTIC, CONNECTICUT
|
It has been a busy year for UK-Halsey�s Mystic (CT) loft. In January the loft�s designer, John Fries, won his PHRF division at Key West Race Week and then followed up with a class win at Block Island Race Week sailing his Evelyn 32 REMEDY. His boat is an on-going test platform for new sail designs. At Block Island, the boat�s asymmetrical spinnakers proved to be race winners.
Not that the shapes were exactly the same, but the time John spent on the small boat�s spinnakers proved invaluable when he designed a handful of asymmetricals for the China Team�s America�s Cup challenger. Those sails were so well accepted that the loft made another handful of working sails for the boat including a massive square-topped mainsail that was completed in record time. Both Andy Halsey and John Fries traveled to Valencia, Spain, for Act 4 to watch the China Team sail with her new spinnakers. John helped the team out with trimming tips so that the chutes would achieve their designed shapes.
�Being able to design sails that incorporate incremental changes from informed feedback is priceless,� says Fries. �The Cup is one of the few places a sailmaker can learn and progress this way.�
Working on the AC sails helped Mystic become a close part of the UK group. Sailmakers from two different UK lofts came to help build sails over the summer. San Francisco sent sailmakers to help with the Cup sails and Rhode Island�s Dave Simmons helped on the massive No. 2 genoa for REBECCA, a 140-ketch. That sail ended up weighing over 1000 pounds of Cuben Fibre and has the area of two America�s Cup Class mainsails.
Both John and Andy went to Spain to sail on REBECCA. See Andy�s article in this newsletter.
In June, Robert Towbin�s SUMURUN won the Classic Division of the Rolex Trans Atlantic Challenge. Mystic made a full inventory of cream-colored classic Dacron sails for the 1914-built Fife-designed 94-foot ketch.
The loft is so busy that it is actively looking for an experienced sailmaker to be the new floor manager. This is a big job considering how big the floor is and how big the sails are they run through the loft.
|
|
