NORTH SAILS BLOG

SUCCESS FOR NORTH CLIENTS AT J/80 UK NATIONALS North Sails Fuels Top of the Fleet in Lymington Jonny O’Dowd’s Jabs 📸 Shane Hughes Eleven boats fought through three days of light to medium conditions at the J/80 UK Nationals on Christchurch Bay, hosted by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. The top four finishers used North Sails; 3Di jibs won six out of seven races. North Sails Ireland’s Shane Hughes sailed onboard Nick and Annie Haigh’s Slightly Steamy, and the team posted consistent firsts and seconds in the first five races. But when Corinthian team No Regrets scored two bullets in races six and seven, they moved into the overall lead. With no sailable wind on the final day, Slightly Steamy did not have the opportunity to recapture the lead and finished just one point out of first. Despite this, sailing with the 2019 APi-1 3Di RAW and APi-2 3Di RAW jibs, Shane and the team had impressive speed throughout the regatta. Finishing third was Jabs, (Jonny O’Dowd, Ross McDonald, Patrick Good and Paul Quinn). Shane coached this team in the lead-up to the event and says ”it was clear that this talented group would be competitive in their debut J/80 National Championship. It will be great to see how this team develops; I’m sure there will be more top results to come.” Jonny adds, “As this is our first year sailing J/80’s, this was a key event to learn and evaluate our progress over the season. Using the North Sails Tuning Guide, we felt we were very much on the pace and hugely look forward to the 2020 season.” “As this is our first year sailing J/80’s, this was a key event to learn and evaluate our progress over the season. Using the North Sails Tuning Guide, we felt we were very much on the pace and hugely look forward to the 2020 season.” All three podium teams used the MR-5 Spinnaker and either the crosscut MAXM1 All Purpose or T-6R Radial-cut Mainsail. With our September One Design promotion, now is the time to refresh your sail inventory. You can also ask your local J/80 North expert about boat/rig set up and improving your results in 2020. READ MORE

Posada Marinović - Zelić najbolje na Split Snipe Pre-European Test Eventu Kombinacija znanja i sreće donijela je slatku pobjedu domaćoj posadi na regati za koja je bila uvertira za Europsko prvenstvo klase Šljuka koje je zakazano za točno godinu dana. Organizatori regate su članovi JK Split, može se reći trenutno najaktivniji po pitanju klase Šljuka u Hrvatskoj. Na ovoj regati su imali čak tri svoje posade od čega su se dvije popele na postolje! Ukupno je sudjelovalo 15 posada iz 6 Europskih država. Stvarno impresivan podataka s obzirom da je bila riječ o dvodnevnoj regati. Naime, planirano je bilo da su subota i nedjelja, 7. i 8. rujna, natjecateljski dani. Ali vrijeme nije baš bilo naklonjeno jedrenju, pa je subota prošla bez i jednog održanog plova. Lijepo sunčano vrijeme i nestabilan vjetar su jedino dozvolili sunčanje koje su spremno dočekale članice posada sa sjevera Europe. Zato je nedjeljna prognoza ispunjena u potpunosti i uvjeti na moru su riješili eventualne frustracije zbog izostajanja natjecateljskog segmenta prethodnog dana. Zapuhalo je jugo koje je dozvolilo jedrenje u Kaštelanskom zaljevu. Baza RO-a sa startnom linijom je postavljena ispred Kaštel Kambelovcai jedrilo se u kurso 160°, a snaga je oscilirala između desetak pa do 17-18 čvorova. Tijekom prve predstartne procedure jugo je vrlo brzo eskaliralo do svojih najjačih refula, a za vrijeme nastavka jedrenja je polako slabilo, da bi ponovno pojačalo za vrijeme trećeg plova, ali tada je stigao i oblak koji je donio pljusak koji je dosta ugušio vjetar. S obzirom na ove oscilacije postavljači regatnog polja su imali dosta posla s promjenama duljine regatnog polja, ali srećom dubine mora u ovoj zoni nisu pretjerane pa je taj posao bio obavljan na vrijeme. Što se tiče jedrenja na polju je dominirala španjolska posada Damian Borras - Jordy Triay Pons. Damian Borras je inače jedan od najboljih svjetskih jedriličara u Šljuci, a već je bio u Splitu početkom srpnja kad je bila organizirina klinika za naše jedriličare. Tada je svojim bogatim iskustvom i znanjem optimizirao sisteme na njihovim jedrilicama, poboljšavao postojeće sisteme, a također i treninzima na moru usavršavao njihove manevre i vještine. U nedjelju je na regatnom polju pokazao zašto je najbolji, ali u žaru borbe napravio je prijestup na drugom startu i unatoč dvije pobjede u preostala dva plova ipak ostao bez mjesta na postolju. Pobjednici regate, domaća posada Marko Marinović - Ana Zelić, svoj rezultat su ostvarili s jednim bodom prednosti ispred drugoplasirane i trećeplasirane posade koje su imale jednak broj bodova. Marko i Ana su najmanje bodova skupili u prva dva plova kad su završili na 2. i 3. mjestu, dok su u trećem plovu finiširali na 6. mjestu. Drugo i treće plasirani su imali po 12 bodova, pa je presudila pobjeda u drugom plovu posade Manli Hens - Maj Kristin Hansen Borgen. Na treće mjesto postolja popela se druga Splitova posada, Luka Jerčić - Josipa Prosinečki. U prvom plovu su imali najlošiji rezultat. Završili su ga kao 7. ali zato su u preostala dva plova u cilj ušli na 2. i 3. mjestu. Prva iduća naša posada je bila braća Grego iz YC Galeb, a zbog UFD-a u trećem plovu završavaju na 9. mjestu. Gdje su završili ostali, a ujedno i konačne rezultate regate, možete pronaći na ovom linku. Regata u Splitu je bila treća regata iz ciklusa 2019 Adriatic Snipe Series. Na početku godine su se još jedrile regate u Trstu i u Moščenićkoj Dragi, a njihovi zajednički rezultati su iznjedrili konačen pobjednike u posadi Jerčić - Prosinečki. Prigodno proglašenje je napravljeno u sklopu proglašenja pobjednika Split Snipe Pre-European Test Eventa. Uz klasu Šljuka, koju još nazivaju i malom Stellom, veže se i zanimljiv podataka s kojim možda nisu svi upućeni, a to je da se njihovi rezultati boduju vrednuju za globalnu ljestvicu koja se zajedno s ljestvicama nekih drugih klasa može pronaći na web stranicama Star Sailors League. Foto galerije s regate možete pronaći na ovom linku, a video izvještaj možete pronaći u video galeriji. READ MORE

INTRODUCING MARK ROBINS New Sales Expert in Western Australia Mark Robins Mark (“Skid”) Robins, a Sales Expert based in Western Australia, has been sailmaking since the mid 1980s. He started with Elvstrom Sails WA; when that closed in 1992 he started Robins Sails, and quickly claimed a healthy share of the Western Australian market. Mark started sailing as a junior at South Perth Yacht Club, which led to success at a state and national level in various dinghy classes. He won three consecutive Western Australian championships in the S80 class and represented Western Australia at a national level as crew and helm in the Ben Lexcen Cup. He also competed in the Australian keelboat championships in Victoria, sailed at Hamilton Island Race Week, and added his experience as both sailmaker and trimmer to a number of WA’s offshore racers. “I’m excited to be able to offer our customers the latest in sailmaking technology with the 3Di product,” Mark says. “I have seen sail construction evolve since the 1980s, and I’m looking forward to future developments with North Sails.” READ MORE

RACE TO VICTORY AT HOBIE 33 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS North Powered Rudie Takes It Home © Doug Haag North Sails expert Skip Dieball shares a recap of his winning weekend! The 2019 Hobie 33 North Americans were held at my home club on the North Cape the first weekend of September. The format was unique this year where windward/leeward courses were sailed on Friday and Sunday, with an 18-mile fixed course event on Saturday. The fleet completed seven races total. The racing on Saturday was tight as the wind was slowly dying throughout the day leading to an abandoned race in the afternoon. My team (consisting of George Sipel, Ernie Dieball, Mike Stark, Rob Fox and Dan Synowiec) put all of our little boat experience into play as we played the shifts and focused on good starts and clean roundings. The result for us was two bullets! We had very good battles with Al Michaud's Pink Panther from Monroe and Tim Arndrews's Holy Toledo from NCYC. "Straight out of the box, the 3Di sails were fast." Saturday's "medium distance" race was a lot of fun. The wind was, again, in the low teens as we started on a 6 mile run. Finding the puffs was hard in the morning sunlight, but we were able to beat Steve Attard's Viva Las Vegas to the government buoy, R18. Another six-mile fetch to Monroe's G1 buoy was uneventful, but quick. Speeds around 8 knots had us rounding for home well ahead of our projected early afternoon finish. Not much changed until the last mile of the beat home. The wind would shift 35-40* and the breeze would soften. Positions changed as Al Michaud nosed out my Rudie. The Hobie 33s took the top Overall in PHRF against a full field of boats ranging in size from 40' to 25'. © Doug Haag Sunday was overcast and brisk with breeze 8-12 out of the North, going East. Boatspeed was key. Our rehabbed speedster did not let us down. Fresh from the shop with new bulkheads and fresh North Sails 3Di 360 sails, the boat was dialed in. Strong tactical calls from Ernie Dieball and flawless crew work made this a day to remember for Rudie. Four races, four bullets. For the Hobie 33 class, as with other vintage OD keelboat classes, we struggled with attendance as the commitment to travel and time seemed to be the biggest obstacles. Midwinters were announced at the prize giving for February in conjunction with the St. Pete NOOD event. Make your plans now! I was asked often over the weekend what I thought of the sails and how we set the boat up. Straight out of the box, the 3Di sails were fast. With years of Hobie 33 design knowledge both within my office and with the design team at North, we zeroed in on a nice L/M genoa design that would go through the range of adjustment in the rig. We didn't have that much variability in the breeze, so we only stepped up one time on the rig. Most adjustments were via backstay. We were pretty constant on it and the headsail reacted to the tighter forestay perfectly. Matching the mast set up with that forestay tensioning was easy because the mainsail had perfect luff curve for a base setting, which yields about 2" of pre-bend. I thought I learned the most in the downwind legs. The boat fools you into wanting to sail it deep, but you can fall off the speed pretty quick as the pressure decreases, so you need to be pretty quick to heat up to maintain good speed. If you got caught too soft and too low for too long, you would lose boat lengths. For more info on H33 sails or set up, feel free to call or send an email. READ MORE

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS WITH HELIX J/145 Main Street Has A New Secret Weapon When J/145 owner Bill Schanen III was looking to gain that extra edge for racing this season he knew he wanted something cable-less. He contacted North Sails expert Tom Pease on what his options were. Lucky for him, Tom has just the thing; enter Helix, a new cable-less system from North Sails. Bill added a Code 75 Helix sail to his inventory with a Harken bottom up furler, which was delivered in time for the Queens Cup and Chicago Mac Races. Main Street finished 2nd in the Chicago Mac for section 2 and used their new Code 75 Helix extensively during the race. Tell us about the process in selecting the Code 75 Helix. Our boat, which is a 48 foot J/145 has an extremely long centerline spinnaker pole that's not supported by a stay to keep it firm. We've always wanted to have a Code Zero type sail, that we could fly from the end of the pole. We had others that we flew from other points, but to use the power that is inherent in our boat, we needed to get a Code Zero out on the end of the pole. But we didn't want one that had a torsion cable in it because it's extra weight and bother and plus we thought we couldn't get the luff tight enough to make it work. When we learned North Sails had developed a Helix system with a luff of a sail that makes it easy to furl, and that Harken had come up with a new generation of furlers to work with a sail like that, we just pushed the issue. I rang up Tom and said, look, we need to talk about this Helix sail and at the same time we touched base with folks that we know at Harken. We ordered the sail and Harken produced the furler . The best part of the story is that it worked great, and proved to be just what we expected it would be, which is a rather devastating weapon. You used it at the Queen's Cup and the Chicago Mac. Tell us what it was like. In the Chicago Mackinaw race. It was particularly effective there. We sail on a very competitive class and beginning of the race was sort of close reaching. We were doing okay with our North Genoa, but the wind just freed a little bit. And then we set that Code Zero slash 75 and immediately just zoomed to the head of the fleet. Everything made sense. The only question about it was really in this design of the sail. We had no problem with that. We figured that out long ago that that was going to be an effective weapon on our boat. But what was rewarding was the fact that the furling part of it worked. Frankly there were some skepticism about that, that it would furl in all conditions without a cable. And so that was the only question mark, we expected the sail to perform, but was it going to furl properly, when we needed it, and the answer to that is yes. "We figured that out long ago that that was going to be an effective weapon on our boat. But what was rewarding was the fact that the furling part of it worked." How long have you had this boat? It was actually one of the first J/145's, which is a carbon hulled boat, and we've had it since 2000. Tell us more about your crew. We have a crew of 12 and it just happens that a number of members of the crew are members of the family and that they're all terrific sailors. Some of them are sort of professional level almost. So that all fits in my daughter's husband, and my daughter and her husband are great sailors. My son is really, runs the boat and his wife is a terrific sailor and we've got some big strong grandsons who are here also. The crew is solid and we expect to do well, and often do. And these weapons, like the sail and the furling device make that easier. READ MORE

A MIX OF EVERYTHING: EYC OPEN 2019 North Sails and Etobicoke Yacht Club Join Forces To Focus On Sustainability And Sailing The weather treated the 2019 EYC Open quite well, with light air on Saturday and a heavier breeze on Sunday sailors had an opportunity to show their skills in both conditions. On the water, Notorious, Xoomer Xpress, Glenmorangie (EYC), Zingara, Hey Jude, Black Swann and Magic (EYC) all took home fleet titles. The rain stayed away and made for great après-sail activities on Saturday evening. With sights on fostering the next generation of sailor, the Saturday night entertainment took on a more modern feel with Big Furry Tractor playing songs from the 2000's with a dusting of 80's and 90's as well. This year’s EYC Open, with help from North Sails focused on encouraging sustainable practices in sailing. To do away with plastic water bottles EYC and North Sails partnered to ensure that competitors received steel bottles that they could refill throughout the event and reuse moving forward. The Regatta also served as an opportunity for sailors to find a second home for their less than race-worthy sails. North Sails was on site and collected sails to donate to not-for-profit organizations who use them for shelter, fishing and recreation such as sailing schools and racing. For many years EYC has used reusable plates and cutlery for the EYC Open and is now looking into ways to reduce the amount of single use plastics used at the bar. Leading up to the event, the number of posters produced to promote the event were reduced, while the club focused more on social media and web exposure in order to market the regatta. Posters that were used were printed with water-based ink on post-consumer recycled products. There’s still a long way to go in creating more environmentally friendly regattas. Copious paper copies of sailing instructions, amendments, results, scoresheets are still heavily relied upon in sailing, and EYC hopes to be a trend setter in helping to reduce the use of these products at events. While this year’s focus was on bottles and sails, moving forward, the regatta committee and EYC will continue to find ways to reduce regatta impact on the environment. With two marquee events in J-fest and EYC Open on the Horizon for 2020, you can expect that EYC will continue to work with North Sails and other partners to reduce the impact of regattas on the environment. Keep an eye on EYC and North Sails websites and social media to find out more about next season’s events and initiatives. READ MORE

THE BASICS OF SAILING THE IC37 2019 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup With more than 30 boats sold, the IC37 is officially the next big thing in one-design keelboat racing. This Mark Mills design is purpose-built for close racing in large fleets. Strict class rules that mandate mixed-gender, amateur crews and limit teams to one set of three one-design sails per year are intended to level the playing field and create a competitive environment where the team with the most talent and dedication and teamwork wins, rather than the one with the largest bank account. The first few years of a new class are always a time of tremendous learning and the IC37 class is no different. The winning techniques are evolving regatta by regatta. Here is a overview of the boat and the core maneuvers required to get around the racetrack. READ MORE

BE PREPARED. KNOW THE WEATHER Complimentary Forecasting For The 2019 NYYC Invitational Cup North Sails is offering complimentary weather forecasts to all teams competing in the 2019 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. Sign up today for your free daily forecast delivered right to your inbox, prepared by our expert friends at Sailing Weather Service. READ MORE

ON TOP OF THE J/70 WORLDS North Sails Power Past The Competition Team Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat – 2019 J/70 World Champions. 📸 Sportographytv Not one but two North-powered teams were named World Champions at the J/70 Darwin Escapes World Championship in Torquay, UK. Paul Ward’s Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat, sailing with Mario Trindade and North Sails experts Charlie Cumbley and Ruairidh Scott, collected the overall win, while Marshall King and the Soak Racing team found success in the Corinthian Division. All top 10 finishers had North Sails onboard. The core team on Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat has been together all season, and this Worlds win caps a 2019 victory list that includes Cowes Week, J-Cup, and the J/70 UK Nationals. “Our mindset heading into this event was really good,” says tactician Charlie Cumbley. “We were saying if we finished top 10 we’d be really pleased. It’s obviously gone way better than expected!” Winning Strategy Though they could be considered a “local” team because they were able to drive to the event, Charlie credits their level-headed approach to each race for the victory rather than any home field advantage. “Torquay is a different set of conditions to what UK J/70 fleets usually sail: less tidal, with offshore winds that drive the shifts. “We began the regatta conservatively,” he continues, “knowing the venue was shifty and playing it a bit safe on the first day. But after that we decided there were big gains to be made by committing to a side. We hung in the top 10, gradually picking people off rather than trying to go for a big gain. Without going too extreme, we upped the risk level each day.” People & Product Eat, Sleep, J Repeat used the flatter F-1 Mainsail to match their Selden mast, a J-6 High Clew Jib, and the AP-1 spinnaker. “The sails excelled through the wind range,” Charlie says. “They are truly all-purpose, and we were comfortable with whatever conditions came our way.” For more info, visit the J/70 Inventory page. Rather than any special boat setup, Charlie says the team “literally followed the North Tuning Guide. It shows you exactly how to set up the boat, and with that you’ve got a real chance.” Congratulations Paul, Charlie, Ruairidh and Mario! Full results 📸 Zerogradinord Starting line at the Darwin Escapes J/70 World Championship. 📸 Sportographytv READ MORE

ETCHELLS 2020 INVENTORY North Sails Announces Winning Inventory for the Upcoming Season North Sails is excited to announce a new Australian model line of sails for your Etchells program. At the 2019 Worlds in Corpus Christi, we learned a lot about various setups and we are happy to share the options and sail models that will help get you onto the podium in 2020. Whether you choose our time-tested standard designs or these new models, we are confident we have the best product line for the upcoming World Championship in Sydney. Tuning Philosophy Traditional tuning has centered around adjustments to forestay, mast butt, and shrouds. These time-tested settings are in our tuning guide and fit a lot of different styles. At the 2019 Worlds, we learned about a new tuning style that keeps the forestay and mast butt in a more static location and then tensions and moves the shrouds. The goal is a tighter forestay (and subsequently straighter jib luff), which helps keep the leech stays open even when you inhaul aggressively; that reduces sheeting angle and maintains a symmetrical slot between main and jib. Our new Australian jibs (LM-6R, MAL and GT) are designed for a tighter headstay, while working perfectly with our PC-FM mainsail. If you choose to stay with a more traditional tuning approach, our radial jibs are showing impressive longevity; they are built out of North Radian cloth, which is quite popular in the J/70 and other small keelboats. These jibs also provide a wider crossover through the wind range. Which jib will be right for your program depends on your tuning and sailing styles. Need help deciding? Just ask. Spinnakers in 2020 Our standard VMG and FR spinnakers are still available for 2020. To this time-tested lineup, we now proudly introduce the FR-2 running spinnaker. This sail won the 2019 Worlds and shows incredible versatility. Andrew Wills, the Etchells expert at North Sails New Zealand, is very impressed with how the sail sets up. “The range that the FR-2 has is incredible. In the past we would look to swap out to a VMG pretty quick as the wind died, but with the FR-2, we’ve got confidence along a bigger wind range.” Designing winning sails is only half the battle; we also want to help you choose the right sails that will match your team’s expertise and tuning. We are your speed consultants, so let us know how we can help you perform your best at the 2020 Worlds—or whatever regattas you plan to sail in 2020. READ MORE

NORTH SAILS CELEBRATES MILESTONE WITH EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND New AC75 Launches the Next Generation of Sailing Evolution 📸 EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND / Grant Triplow The defense of the next America’s Cup began the day Emirates Team New Zealand won the final race in Bermuda, and the team just passed a huge milestone with the launch of their new AC75. North Sails, Southern Spars, and Future Fibres are all working with Emirates Team New Zealand to bring the designers’ vision to life and to help power these boats up onto their foils. It’s a bold step forward, and the next Cup is going to be like nothing the world has ever seen. At North Sails, both our experts and our software have been on a development fast track to accurately model the twin skin mainsail and understand the mechanics of this new technology. “Historically, an America’s Cup cycle marks the next generation of sailing evolution,” North Sails President Ken Read says. “This time is no exception. We’re about to witness one of the biggest transformations our sport has ever seen.” The joint efforts of Emirates Team New Zealand and North sail designers, together with North in-house developers, has resulted in a leap forward for our proprietary North Design Suite software in order to model and design the twin skin mainsail. “How it twists, how it supports itself, how does the weather side affect the leeward side and vice versa,” Read explains. “And how does it adapt to the mast and rigging from Southern Spars? These boats are like nothing we’ve ever experienced.” Burns Fallow, the North sail designer who’s embedded with Emirates Team New Zealand, says it’s been great to finally get a full scale view of what’s been on their computer screens for eighteen months. “This is the most researched boat I have ever been involved with,” he says, adding that a huge number of simulations have been performed. “I am so grateful that North Sails put the effort in early on to develop the analysis tools I need (via Membrain) to test ideas for this new double-skinned mainsail system. It is an exciting time, and the next few weeks will be a process of verification and learning.” Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby agrees. “Without doubt, we are making history and pushing boundaries that were once thought impossible. The rig and aero package is already extremely well developed, but the learning curve will be near vertical for all of us over the next few weeks. I feel very comfortable with our pathway and the collaborative efforts of North Sails and Emirates Team New Zealand. The development work done by the rig and sail team has been immense, and I can’t wait to sheet on, in full scale, in the very near future.” All sails for Emirates Team New Zealand will be finished locally at the North loft in Auckland.“Our fantastic staff are certainly getting excited about the development of the boats and the trickle-down effect it could have,” comments Richard Bicknell, General Manager for North Sails New Zealand. “You can feel the buzz around the waterfront, knowing this is the first step of a couple of busy years.” The Cup will bring plenty of other work to the loft as well. “We’re expecting a lot of boats and a lot of people to come to New Zealand, and they will utilize the Kiwi ability to maintain, fix, and make their boats better,” Bicknell explains.”We’re already getting a lot of questions from owners of medium, large, and very large boats about what to expect in New Zealand. Whether it be new sails, sail upgrades, or service, North Sails are prepared to deliver a world class experience. And this extends to our other NTG brands as well, Southern Spars and Future Fibres. We know the entire marine industry in New Zealand is going to flourish because of this next Cup. And we are preparing daily to make sure that we are at the forefront of this movement.” Ken Read is excited about an even bigger picture. “The 36th America’s Cup has implications well beyond the sailing world,” he says, “because people stop and take notice of things outside the norm—and AC75 is going to be just that. Sailors and non-sailors alike will look at this next Cup and say, what the heck is going on with the sport of sailing? They’ll be wondering, “What’s going to happen? how is it going to fly?” “The bold companies are going to come out ahead,” Read predicts, “and when you come out ahead in the America’s Cup, you come out way ahead. The bold are going to win the next Cup, just like always. So at North Sails, we think Emirates Team New Zealand’s new design is a huge deal, and we’re excited at the opportunity of this next Cup cycle propelling North Sails innovation forward.” 📸 EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND / Grant Triplow READ MORE

Buba Pulek - prvak Hrvatske za 2019. Prvenstvo Hrvatske za klasu Optimist u apsolutnoj kategoriji, odjedreno je prošli vikend u Starom Gradu na Hvaru, a domaćini su bili članovi JK Helios. Flota se sastojala od 117 kadetkinja i kadeta podijeljenih u bijelu i crvenu skupinu, dok je regata trajala puna četiri dana. od četvrtka 29. kolovoza pa do nedjelje 1. rujna. Vremenska prognoza se svih dana pokazala točnom i jedrenja je bilo točno onoliko koliko ih se predvidjelo na prvom sastanku Regatnog odbora. NAjviše je puhalo prvog dana regate i tada su odjedrena maksimalna 3 dopuštena plova. Na moru je taj dan bilo fenomenalno vrijeme, sunčano, vjetrovito i jedini problem je bio s brodom na pinu koji je imao problema sa sidrenjem. Srećom tramuntane je bilo do 20 čvorova tako da je jedrenje išlo brzo, pa se vrijeme koje se trošilo na sidrenje brzo nadoknađivalo. Idući dan nije bio toliko sunčan, već je izmaglica najavila manje vjetra nego što je puhalo u četvrtak. Tako je i bilo, tramuntana je bila u rasponu od 6 do 18 čvorova, ali dovoljno da se odjedre i ovaj put maksimalna tri jedrenja. Subota, treći dan regate, donio je jugo koje nije okretalo na zapad. Na kraju se posljednji plov regate odjedrio po uvjetima za koje domaćini kažu da se rijetko kad desi u Starigradskom zaljevu, 90° okrenuto u lijevo u odnosu na prethodna dva dana. Dosta duže su mladi natjecatelji čekali da ih se pozove na more nego prethodnih dana. Na kraju je prvi start signaliziran oko 14 sati. Vjetra je bilo oko 10 čvorova i uspjela su se odjedriti još dva plova. I u principu to je bilo sve za ovo prvenstvo. Naime, u nedjelju, posljednjeg dana, posljednji mogući start je bio predviđen za u 14:30, ali sreće nije bilo. Flota je nakon 13 sati pozvana na more, ali vjetra ipak nije bilo dovoljno. Suma sumarum, 8 odjedrenih plovova uz dominaciju jednog jedinog jedriličara. Član JK Uljanik plovidbe iz Pule, Buba Pulek, odjedrio je maestralno i osvojio 7 prvih mjesta! Rezultatski najbliži mu je bio Omišanin Josip Tafra, 6 bodova iza, dok je treći na postolju, Bepo Duplančić iz Splitske Zente ujedno i najbolji jedriličar do 12 godina. Najbolja djevojčica je bila Mornarevka Petra Marendić koja je u generalnom plasmanu završila na 5. mjestu, dok je Bubina klupska kolegica Ema Grabar najbolja djevojčica do 12 godina. Pomalo škrt izvještaj, ali zato se puni doživljaj regate u Starom Gradu može osjetiti u foto galerijama na slijedećim linkovima: PH klase Optimist - prvi dan PH klase Optimist - drugi dan PH klase Optimist - treći dan PH klase Optimist - četvrti dan kao i u video izvješćima koje možete pronaći u video galeriji. READ MORE

Turo Nummi purjehtii 9.-16.9.Kiireellisissä asioissa yhteys Turun suuntaan 02 247 1000 tai mikko.rottluff@northsails.com READ MORE

NEW FLEET OF EXTREME 40 CATAMARANS IN AUSTRALIA Although the Extreme 40 is old-school compared to state-of-the-art multihull sailing, performance on windward/leeward courses is excellent. Airlie Beach Race Week 2019 📸 Andrea Francolini Back in 2016, I joined the Extreme 40 catamaran Boatworks for some local multihull racing in Brisbane. After watching videos of boats crashing and capsizing in the Extreme Sailing Series, I was surprised to find the boat more user-friendly than expected, and as we learned to sail it our speed turned quite a few heads. Although the Extreme 40 is old-school compared to state-of-the-art multihull sailing, performance on windward/leeward courses is excellent. When I raved about the simplicity of the boat and the relatively low entry costs, three of my customers expressed interest in owning a 40. We now find ourselves with four boats actively sailing in Australia, and we’ve just returned from some fantastic racing at Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island Race Weeks as part of the Multihull Racing fleet. Even though a couple of teams had very little opportunity to train beforehand, we came away with no capsizes. Over the past three years, we’ve seen only very minor breakages. The 40 has proved to be very robust, certainly capable of sailing in more open water than the boats were designed for. It’s also much less expensive to run than any of the full foiling catamarans. Best of all, it does not demand a full professional crew for owners to have some serious fun! Airlie Beach Race Week 2019 📸 Andrea Francolini Sail development Over the past three years, I’ve learned a lot about how to sail these boats and how to improve the sails to make them even more user-friendly. Before I started as mainsheet trimmer on Boatworks, I had assumed that the 1:1 hydraulic mainsheet had contributed to the many capsizes on the Extreme tour and expected it would be difficult to manage. To my surprise, I quickly learned that it’s very effective; both to achieve the required leech tension, and to dump power when required. Because the boats sail such tight apparent wind angles both upwind and downwind, the mainsheet is only eased significantly for bearaways or slow speed manoeuvres. Otherwise, the continuous traveler becomes the main control line. The original North mainsail design required reefing a little too early in the wind range and left us struggling for upwind speed if overpowered, due to the extra drag. We were also carrying additional weight (outboard, safety gear, a heavier crew) so the boat needed a little more horsepower downwind. And we weren’t as fast reaching against other multihulls optimised to the OMR Rating rule, since those boats had multiple forward sail options to cover all sailing angles. Not wishing to complicate the boat, we decided to ignore the reaching issue and focus on upwind and downwind improvements. I designed a new mainsail with increased head width and much less mid-leech roach, which helped improve leech twist control. That meant a less draggy feel in the higher wind ranges, and we could carry a full mainsail in more breeze. As the boats power up earlier than most, we felt sacrificing some light air performance was worth it for a more user-friendly wardrobe better suited to our east coast seabreezes. For the jib, we decided to keep the original geometry but added a little more depth. The Downwind Zero was given slightly more forward luff projection and depth, for increased and earlier downwind power. 📸 Andrea Francolini Heavy Air Jib Design for 2019 With four boats wanting to make the most of windy conditions up north, my project for this year was to develop a shorter hoist jib that would further increase our raceable wind range. Piggy-backing off the work North did with the AC45s and AC50s, we produced three paneled sails and one 3Di RAW jib. The new sails gave the boats great upwind speed with a lower center of effort, which reduced traveler movement. The other advantage was less power forward of the mast, giving the boats more control downwind even when wind against tide made for a challenging wave state. We used the heavy jib with both full and single-reefed mainsail configurations, something that will be tested further as we come into the summer months. 📸 Andrea Francolini Fleet Building From here we hope to continue building the fleet, working toward our own one design division with specialized courses at bigger events like Hamilton Island Race Week. We’d also like to continue racing in mixed Multihull events around the Asia Pacific region. All the Formula 40s come with their own 40ft container, so it would be fairly straightforward to attend regattas around the Pacific, and even get over the ditch to New Zealand. The current owners are now drafting a class constitution, and rules are being developed that will help keep a level playing field for new owners. There are four other boats for sale at various price points globally, and we are actively seeking new owners and crew to join the fleet. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch! Ben Kelly READ MORE

MELGES IC37: REEFING MADE EASY Step By Step With North Sails Ken Read 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats / Sarah Wilkinson for Beigel Sailing Media With just three sails for all conditions, the ability to reef both the main and jib of the IC37 is crucial to sailing the boat in heavier air. The best way to properly de-power your boat is to reef your sails, and North Sails has done everything possible to make this an easy adjustment. Class rules state that in 18-20 knots, the Race Committee can display code flags which mean you need to reef your sails before the starting sequence. From the time they hoist the “V” flag (which means reef your mainsail) or the “J” flag (which means reef your jib), you’ve got 10 minutes to reef before the start of the sequence. North Sails President Ken Read explains the process for reefing your sails on the IC37 in this latest how-to video. Learn how to do it and be comfortable setting it up so when the time comes, there is no question when you are out on the racecourse. See also: North Sails Tuning Guide for the IC37 Learn more about the North Sails products for the IC37 by Melges. READ MORE

2020 NORTH FINN INVENTORY Optimized Designs for Sailing Conditions, Mast and Sailor Weight 📸 Sailing Energy The 2020 North Finn inventory is customized to complement each and every mast individually. Our Finn Radial designs are manufactured from North Sails’ exclusive NLXi Technora laminate, while the Cross Cut sails are manufactured from Maxx Aramid laminate. Find below our sail selection charts which shows the sail that best suits your weight, mast and sailing conditions. WILKE & PATA MASTS WIND RANGE 5-10 knots 8-12 knots 10-16knots 14-30 knots All-Purpose Above 100 KG MB-1G MNX-1 95-100 KG MB-1G MHMNIX-1 90-95 KG MB-1G MB-1G Minus 85-90 KG MB-1G MB-1G Minus Below 85 KG MB-1G Minus HIT MASTS WIND RANGE 5-10 knots 8-12 knots 10-16knots 14-30 knots All-Purpose Above 100 KG LMMNX-1 MNX-1 95-100 KG LMMNX-1 MHMNX-1 90-95 KG MB-1G MB-1G Minus 85-90 KG MB-1G MB-1G Minus Below 85 KG MB-1G Minus Light/Medium LMMNX-1 NLXI-03 Technora Light/Medium MB-1G NLXI-03 Technora Medium/Heavy MHMNX-1 NLXI-03 Technora Medium/Heavy MB-1G Minus NLXI-03 Technora All Purpose MNX-1 Maxx 06 (Black) Standard Features: Class insignia, sail numbers, vision window, Epoxy battens, elastic batten pockets, plastic headboard, leech and trim tell tales, leech line, 7mm luff rope, long roll bag, World Sailing in-house measurement and class royalty label. Optional Features (additional cost): Carbon battens, carbon headboard, stick-on pockets, adjustable elasticated luff and country flag. For more information on the North Finn designs or to place an order please contact your local North loft. Please have your mast bend numbers available. READ MORE

ROLEX BIG BOAT SERIES: NICO POPP’S BUCKET LIST San Francisco Sailor Explains His Goals To Win The Biggest Series On The Bay Nicolas Popp has a day job in tech and is not a professional sailor, but he says he started preparing his boat Invictus, a SunFast 3600, for the 2019 Rolex Big Boat Series as soon as the 2018 regatta ended. “We never stop in San Francisco, that’s the beauty,” he says. “We” is Nico and boat partner Jacques Benkoski. “I call him my girlfriend,” Nico jokes, “because right after I call my wife I call him next to ask, ‘When are we going to go sailing?’” Bucket List Like many San Francisco Bay sailors, winning the Big Boat Series is an important goal for Nico. “Even if it takes fifteen years, we’re going to keep at it. It’s the grail for us.” His team has been sailing together for a long time, but last year they brought North Sails expert Seadon Wijsen onboard as a coach to help them improve. “We needed a coach to take us to the next level—make us work better together, and maybe be more silent on the boat!” Nico laughs. “Everybody on the boat loves Seadon, and his coaching has made a tremendous difference, even now when we sail without him.” Once they recognized their improvement, the team recruited North Sails Brian Janney to sail on Invictus for this season. As Nico puts it, “We thought, ‘My goodness, it’s truly important.’ And then we noticed the other guys also had somebody to help! So we figure, ‘Let’s do that, because we’ll get better.’ It’s still a long roadway to go towards perfection, but the pace of improvement just accelerated.” Sail Changes “My dad used to say, ‘A third the sail, a third the boat, a third the crew,’” Nico remembers. They’ve improved the crew with coaching, and the boat will have a new bottom in time for the 2019 Rolex Big Boat Series. For sails, Invictus’ upwind inventory is 3Di RAW, purchased in 2018. “It’s such a difference,” Nico says. “The way they keep their shape, they’re easy to trim. In fact, even if you mis-drive they keep their shape, so they look good!” After the 2018 RBBS, they took Seadon’s advice to change out their asymmetric spinnaker. “He looked at the boat, he looked at us, and advised us to go with the symmetric. That made us way more competitive.” Their competition has noticed the team’s improvements. “We know these boats, we compete with them all the time. The last race Seadon wasn’t there, we got positive feedback from : ‘Wow, we’ve never seen you go that fast! What have you changed?’ That was great. And we felt it, we can see the progression, which is always good. We’re getting better.” The team has three goals, Nico says. “Number one, be safe; number two, have fun; number three, win—in that order. There’s a lot of enjoyment in performing better. It’s great to win, but if we sail better all the time, that’s a real motivation.” With all the pieces in place, there will be no excuses onboard Invictus this year. “We’re taking care of the sails, we’re taking care of the crew, we’re taking care of the boat.” And while having fun is a very important part of the mix, “it’s also important to win because it’s reinforcement that, okay, we’re getting better. Even when you win the Friday night races much more frequently, you can see that on average you are performing better, and that’s important. Everybody wants to get better.” “Number one, be safe; number two, have fun; number three, win—in that order.” Enjoying the Process Though Nico and team are working hard toward winning the Rolex Big Boat Series, he says he also really enjoys the learning. “I stopped windsurfing because I was not improving, and I think that’s the magic of sailing. There’s always the next thing to learn, and the little thing that makes the difference. It’s a process. We’re much better on upwind sail trim and crew coordination, and now we’re going to try to improve downwind. Whether it’s at positioning at the start, the laylines, the rig tuning, sail trimming… it’s like, ‘Okay, I think there are just a lot of things we can improve.’” They plan to continue working with a coach even after the RBBS. More Goals Nico says he’s also asked himself, “What happens if we win the Rolex? I don’t want to win it too early… because what’s going to be the next step?” He already has the answer. “We’re going to try the Caribbean next year. And probably when we win the Rolex, we’ll go do Les Voiles.” He lists the Giraglia as another bucket list item; “I absolutely have to go and do that race with the team.” So if and when they do win the Rolex, who’ll get the watch—Nico, or Jacques, his boat girlfriend? Nico has a plan for that too. “We’ll go buy another watch, exactly the same model, and then we’ll randomly put it in a box. We won’t know which one came first!” “It’s really the journey,” he concludes. “The Rolex is just one big milestone to being better, and we’re having fun doing that.” READ MORE

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OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF SORC North Sails To Support The 2019-2020 Edition North Sails is pleased to announce that it will join the prestigious Southern Ocean Racing Conference for the 2019-20 edition. The series consists of four distance races that draws a fleet from across the country and includes a range of yachts from super maxis to corinthian cruisers. The series prides itself on accessibility for a wide variety of sailors and offers storied races from South Florida to destinations like Key West, Nassau, Palm Beach, and Eleuthera. As the Official Performance Partner, North Sails will be working with participants to help them plan their races and optimize their sail inventories. We will be hosting a seminar where North Sails experts and race veterans will be on-hand to answer questions and discuss sail choices based on anticipated weather routing for the race. Our next seminar will be held in Palm Beach, FL. Sign up today! We look forward to seeing you there. October 23rd | Palm Beach Sailing Club | 6:oopm North Sails has a long history with the SORC Series, powering a huge number of boats including many to race victories. Most recently, Stu Hebb's Thin Ice carried a full North Sails inventory when she won the combined Islands in the Stream Series, and the Key West Race monohull race record holder Wizard was fully outfitted with North Sails when she set the bar in 2016. North Sails has more offshore miles, around the world records and ocean racing victories than all other sailmakers combined and prides itself on having the best sail solutions for boats across the spectrum. READ MORE

2019 MAXI YACHT ROLEX CUP Final Days of Prep in Porto Cervo 📸 ROLEX / Carlo Borlenghi Alessio Razeto is the North Sails Italy sales manager, and this week he is pulling double duty as he gears up to sail on SuperNikka in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. In fact, the whole North sales and service team in Italy is working hard to make sure our clients are fully prepared when they hit the start line in Porto Cervo. We spoke with Alessio in advance of Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and learned that the local team is busy with sail deliveries, inventory checks, and getting their head in the game for what he calls “a world yacht show.” “This is a special race,” he says, “because you have a collection of the biggest, most competitive sailing boats in the world. Onboard and on the docks you’ll see top industry boat designers, yard managers, boat captains, and pro sailors. “Yacht Club Costa Smeralda provides incredible hospitality and an exceptionally high standard of race management,” Alessio explains. Racing is set against the backdrop of the rocky coast and when the Mistral shows up it’s just the best possible conditions.” 📸 ROLEX / Carlo Borlenghi Asked for his predictions on results, Alessio shrugs. “There are many classes and it’s really difficult to predict a possible winner, especially racing under IRC where wind conditions are not affecting the handicap; if the wind increases or drops, the final score could be flipped upside down. This is a mixed regatta, both windward-leewards and coastal racing, so all the boats are set up to the lightest displacement and boat handling will be the key.” Sail selection is vital at Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Alessio adds. “We must have the boat set up for coastal racing and that means being strong all around; up and downwind as well as reaching angles. We will face quite long legs with 90-100 TWA if the Mistral comes, and carrying on the proper A0 or jib top can make a huge difference in speed. All the North Sails representatives are working with their teams, looking at best boat VPP in order to get the boat sailing at 110% of target polars.” The company invests a lot of time and resources to be at this event, he continues—as do our clients. Minor sail problems will be addressed to make sure customers are competing at full potential. “We’ve got 25 years of providing overnight regatta service in Porto Cervo, and North Sails will have a pop-up loft throughout event. We have a big temporary loft with a van outfitted with a crane to make sure we are able to properly service all the yachts. Maxi racing requires a maxi structure!” 📸 ROLEX / Carlo Borlenghi The days before the regatta is a madhouse, he says. “The North service team is working at full potential getting sails checked over and delivered. Sardinia is a big island and we’re 100% committed to making sure both new and repaired sails get to Porto Cervo in time so our clients are race ready.” With most of the racing starting off Porto Cervo and heading to Bonifacio between Maddalena and Caprera, there are huge variations in wind conditions during each leg. “You’ll see the fleet starting with a medium jib which they’ll stick with as the wind builds throughout the day,” Alessio predicts. “3Di is the perfect fit for this race as it carries through a wide wind range. Most of the North boats will not switch out their jib, and that is the biggest advantage of carrying a North sail because that maneuver and loss of boat speed comes at a huge cost.” With Helix sails such a hot topic, we asked what part they will play in Porto Cervo. “There are a lot of discussions about Helix and Load Sharing Technology on the dock,” says Alessio. “There is a clear advantage in terms of performance, weight saving, and the reduced load on tack and head. North 3Di technology gives the best potential benefit to push this concept to the limit and I expect it will be integrated into other sails in the near future.” Once racing starts, Alessio will be part of team SuperNikka, a Mills 62. “It’s my ‘baby’ as I have been involved since the boat was a drawing on white paper. Our team has been together for a long time. We are constantly looking at ways to improve, and all the small changes have led to a massive performance increase. Sails are one of those improvements, and our North Sails IRC rule inventory includes a 3Di RAW main, jib and A0. We are also planning to test some special features on a reaching sail. We really work together, and our consistent results over the past five years are proof.” Good luck to Alessio, his team SuperNikka, and all North Sails clients competing at 2019 Rolex Maxi Cup. 📸 SUPERNIKKA / Fabio Taccola READ MORE

MNR Series Delivers Enhanced Pointing And Ease Of Trim North Sails, the world leader in One Design, have added a new series of user friendly Optimist sails for the exciting dinghy class, completing their full range of diverse sail solutions for any Opti sailor. The new ‘all-around’ MNR Series delivers increased pointing ability from the radial bottom which allows the lower leech of the sail to stand up. Paired with the bi-radial design, the crosscut top allows the head to twist open ensuring boatspeed is maintained. As a result of the sail design delivering proper trim without constant attention, Opti sailors are able to look around for pressure and wind shifts, while maintaining speed throughout a wide range of conditions and tuning changes. North Sails Designer Mike Marshall says, “The new bi-radial MNR Series is the perfect Optimist sail for racers looking for a balance of pointing, speed, and keeping your head out of the boat. We wanted to create a sail that will give any Opti racer around the world a competitive advantage and the feedback from this sail has shown that sailors increase their pointing without sacrificing speed upwind or downwind. The sail overall is very dynamic and reacts well to all tuning options on the table in the Optimist Class. North Sails is committed to delivering the very best products, and we’re proud to give our young Opti sailors the best chance of succeeding on the water.” The new bi-radial MNR Series is the perfect Optimist sail for racers looking for a balance of pointing, speed, and keeping your head out of the boat. The sail is still very sensitive to sprit tension, offering Opti sailors the opportunity to make it fit any conditions. In light airs, or waves, where racers want a bit more speed, they can loosen the sprit as required. In flat water, or medium breeze, sailors can tighten the sprit and close the leech for extra pointing. The MNR-1 is the flattest sail in the bi-radial range, ideal for sailors below 34kg. The medium-depth MNR-2 is designed for sailors between 34-42kg. The MNR-3 is the deepest and most powerful, perfect for sailors over 42kg. Learn more about the North Sails Optimist products. READ MORE

CLIENTS WIN THE VIPER 640 WORLDS Boat Speed & Preparation Goes a Long Way The 2019 Viper 640 World Championships in Long Beach, CA, supplied sailors with varying conditions across the board in regards to both wind strength and wave state. The first two days were classic Long Beach: breezy with small swell. The third day proved to be quite different due to a weather pattern referred to as the “Catalina Eddy”, which brought lighter air and much choppier conditions. Jackson commented; “Keeping a Viper moving in those conditions was trying to say the least!” The fourth and final day of racing found sailors with a moderate to strong breeze and heavy chop, but only on port tack. North Sails expert Jackson Benvenutti joined the Eagen brothers on Cajun Underwriting and commented; “Our North Sails proved to be the fastest and most versatile sails in all of these conditions, giving us what we needed to win the regatta.” The team scored an impressive five bullets over the course of the regatta and was deemed unstoppable. Although the championship was just last weekend, for Cajun Underwriting it started way before they got to California. Marcus and Andrew Eagan, and Jackson Benvenutti made the Worlds their goal a year before it even happened. Planning ahead, they had a few different approaches to solidifying their strategy before the big regatta. Here’s where their journey started. The Viper Winter Series in Sarasota & practice days This was really where the team tested themselves against top-level competition in the class (except for the West Coast teams). They treated the winter series circuit events as serious regattas, but in doing so experimented with small setup changes and tests. Local regattas along the Gulf Coast The team made sure they sailed together as much as possible to maintain good communication flow. Sailing together also kept sailing the Viper fresh in their minds. The boat was always running well and in tip-top shape. Small improvements can be made at any event, whether it be upgrades, sailing styles, or small tweaks to sail trim. Enlisting a high-caliber coach Ed Adams, coached the team for a weekend with two other local boats (one of which became their tuning partner, Lee Eikel on Last Call). Throughout the weekend the team was able to develop a better sense of rig tuning, trim, and boat handling. “Coaches help a ton,” said Jackson. “If you’re really looking to up your game, then there’s no better way than to spend a day or two with a great coach. Being coached speeds up the learning process!” Countless hours of boat preparation The team went into the boat being 100% prepared. They went over every fitting, every line, every piece of hardware on the mast, and every single inch of the boat to make sure it was perfect. They spliced whipping into the sheets so they had settings for both the leeward jib sheet and the windward jib sheet. They replaced the halyards with high quality rigging from Gorilla Rigging and then trimmed and whipped the halyards to the perfect length. Every single piece of gear that wasn’t absolutely perfect was modified to run as smoothly and properly as possible. Not to mention polishing the boat for a few hours after it made the cross-country trek. “Our sails proved to be the fastest and most versatile sails in all of these conditions, giving us what we needed to win the regatta.” Teamwork They talked to each other a lot. Even when they didn’t have any immediate regattas or practices scheduled, they would end up chatting on the phone about some of the smallest things; fittings, sail trim, and rig tune. This kept the team excited and focused on all of the details that need to be attended to in order to win the world championship. Having a tactical mindset for a long event “Once the regatta was just about to get underway, the three of us knew it was going to be extremely important to be conservative at the beginning. The old saying, “You can’t win the regatta on the first day, but you certainly can lose it” comes to mind. We would make sure we had “safe” pings on the Velocitek, and also safe starting strategies,” said Jackson. We know the start is definitely the most risky part of the race and a really bad start can make or break an entire regatta, so they went about being conservative by always searching out the less-dense areas of the line that were fairly close the favorite end. “We wanted to start clean,” said Jackson. “We relied on our speed and established ourselves in the top group at each start. For example, if the pin was favored, we’d look to start about 1/3 up from the pin where we might find a little less density and get off the line easier than mixing it up trying to win the pin.” The team feels they may have actually been a little too conservative on the starting line the first two days of the regatta, but they couldn’t argue with that kind of mindset when it worked out the way it did. “A long event is a game of averages and avoiding the big mistakes,” said Jackson. If you do those two things well, you’ll generally end up in a pretty good spot at the end. Focus on the process and the results will come.” “We wanted to start clean. We relied on our speed and established ourselves in the top group at each start.” Alamitos Bay Yacht Club hosted an incredible regatta,” said Jackson. “Their local team of Ed “Spot” Spotskey and Tim Carter, and the support of the West Coast Fleet Captain Geoff Fargo, and Edward “Buttons” Padin of the Viper Class really made this event one for the record books. The next club that hosts this event has some seriously large shoes to fill! ABYC is certainly ‘The place to be!’” Client Tim Carter won the Sportsmanship Award, recently donated by the Kleinschrodt family. Congratulations Tim for the highly deserved award! North Sails powered teams finished 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10. Find out more on our championship-winning Viper sail designs. Full results READ MORE

#NSVICTORYLIST: HAMILTON ISLAND RACE WEEK 2019 Sun, Wind and Wins at Australia’s Largest Offshore Keelboat Regatta All Photos 📸 Crosbie Lorimer/ Bow Caddy Media Hamilton Island Race Week just completed its second-largest event in the race’s history, and both conditions and results were a sailor’s dream. 235 boats enjoyed several days of 25+ knots, and the race committee delivered a huge variety of courses over the six-day event. Our local team of certified service experts were kept busy all week, with over 100 sails repaired during the regatta. North clients controlled the scoreboard of this multi-class regatta, particularity in IRC where all classes were won with full North inventories. Marcus Blackmore’s TP52 Hooligan with North expert Rob Greenhalgh onboard also won boat of the week after their IRC 1 class victory. Wild Oats X was the winner in the Gunboat Trophy for the boat who collected the most line honors during the week. 📸 Crosbie Lorimer/ Bow Caddy Media Racing within the five PHS classes was close. John and Kim Clinton’s Holy Cow won PHS Yellow. And speaking of close, Holy Cow’s new gennaker was finished the day before the regatta and hand-delivered to Hamilton Island by Australian sales manager Alby Pratt. That’s North Sails support at its best! In the PHS pink Robert Green and the crew on Dream where the winners in a tight contest over Greg Glesson aboard Virago II with both boats using 3Di Endurance sails. North Sails multihull expert Ben Kelly was sailing on the Extreme40 Boatworks and says Hamilton Island Race week was some of the best multihull sailing he’s seen in Australia. “We had extreme conditions that push our limits. Karl Kwok on Beau Geste showed the power of his Mod 70 and regularly hit 40 knots. The local Extreme 40 class is looking strong, and we’re hoping to see more multis on the line next year.” 📸 Crosbie Lorimer/ Bow Caddy Media 📸 Crosbie Lorimer/ Bow Caddy Media 📸 Crosbie Lorimer/ Bow Caddy Media   READ MORE

PIOTR TARNACKI WINS MICRO WORLDS Eight-Nation Battle In Slovakia In Super Light Conditions Thirty-six crews from eight nations battled it out at the Worlds in Slovakia, hosted by Marina Liptov. With light wind conditions, the fleet could only complete five out of the fifteen planned races. Scoring 1,4,1,1,1 results POL 77, with Piotr Tarnacki at the helm, secured the Championship title – their 3rd World Champion title in a row, and 9th Micro Class World championship title for Piotr Tarnacki. Superb performance was also shown by second place POL 290 helmed by Marcin Celmerowski with 2,6,2,2,2 places. Special mention too for POL 15, who could only sail with a 2 person crew – Piotr Kowalewski and Rafał Trzciński, winning the Racer Division with a massive 23 point advantage. Maciej Grodzki took the Bronze medal in the Racer division on POL 80. North-Powered Boats: 1. POL 77 Piotr Tarnacki 2. POL 290 Marcin Celmerowski 4. RUS 174 Arkadiy Kistanov 5.POL 88 Maciej Twarowski Racer Divison : 1. POL 15 Piotr Kowalewski 3. POL 80 Maciej Grodzki North Sails powered teams used the new Super Light SS-1-0,5 Spinnaker and improved for 2019 Jib JK-1L with the MK-1 Mainsail. Learn more about our fast designs for the Micro class. READ MORE

EVENT SPOTLIGHT: EASTERN YACHTING CIRCUIT A July Gem Of A Regatta At North Sails, we don't forget the importance of supporting the club racers. The Eastern Yachting Circuit is a longstanding, friendly competition between ten Canadian and American clubs in Lake Ontario. EYC epitomizes what club racing is all about. Many of the sailors have lost count on how many EYC regattas they've attended. For some, they are the 2nd and even 3rd generation racing. It's a PHRF regatta with one-design classes, like the Sharks, getting their own start if numbers warrant. What began many years ago as a circuit like the Lake Erie Inter-club Cruise, has settled on one club hosting the regatta each year. Alternating between American and Canadian clubs, the 2019 edition hosted by Henderson Harbour Yacht Club lead by regatta chair Tom Tomlinson, Art Bronstein and their team of volunteers. A lovely understated club nestled in a well-protected cove in Henderson Bay, about 30 minutes southwest of Watertown NY. Henderson Harbour YC was to have hosted in 2017, yet high waters forced the last-minute change in venue to Oswego Yacht Club. It speaks to the camaraderie and spirit between clubs to step up and help each other out for the good of racing. The record-high waters returned in 2019, but the team at Henderson Harbour persevered. They made allowances and contingency plans so the show would go on. And it did! Everyone attending was from a club that was dealing with the same high-water issues. Enough said. Despite record-high water levels and the unpredictable weather of the spring season, nearly 30 boats came out to play. Henderson Bay so idyllic but it can be difficult to find lodging for crews and families. The solution for many is to travel with a 'mothership' or bunk boat. Not only does this add convenience but also provides a vibrancy on the docks before and after racing. This PHRF regatta is distinguished by a middle distance race of 20 to 30 miles on Thursday followed by two days of windward/leeward course racing. Small fleets of 5 or 6 boats get their own starts. The opening distance race provided a chance to see the local sailing waters; Association, Stony, Little Gallo and Calf Island to name a few while working out kinks and getting acquainted with new crew members. Old rivals duke it out. Newcomers jump right into the mix. The course racing was in the protected but windy waters of Henderson Bay. Of course, the competitive juices flow, yet it remains friendly. Protests were minimal with infractions settled by a quick circle, or later, a round off adult beverages bought by the offending crew. A number of North Sails clients found themselves at the top of the fleets, including Art Bronstein's Hambone, a well-trimmed C&C 35 and overall circuit winner, Tom Doran racing an immaculate J-24 Oz. As a sponsor to the regatta, North Sails, understands the importance of 'grassroots' regattas to sustaining our sport. The owners and crew want sails that are well built, fast that last more than a season or three. North Sails delivers every time. READ MORE

CANAM SERIES HEADS NORTH 2.4mR Great Lakes Regatta This past weekend, the 3rd regatta of the 2.4mR CanAm North Regatta Series was hosted by National Yacht Club. Participants travelled from Florida, Maryland, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Montreal and Ottawa to compete with the local NYC 2.4 fleet. The 15 boat fleet sailed 7 races to complete the regatta. In 3rd place was NYC’s Darrell Suderman, in 2nd place, Dee Smith of Annapolis, and in 1st place, NYC’s Allan Leibel. The 2.4mR Canadian Championship, hosted by NYC on Sept 7/8, will be the fourth and final regatta of the 2.4mR CanAm North Series. Initiated in Port Charlotte FL several years ago, the 2.4mR CanAm Series has been a fantastic venue for Canadian sailors to get competitive racing with minimal logistics over the winter months. This is the first year for the ‘North” version of the CanAm series. North Sails Toronto is proud to support such an interactive and vibrant fleet; congratulations to all participants! Full results READ MORE

SUPPORTING GIRLS ON THE WATER Broadreach Dazzles with Jilàsi for Girl's Regatta The Jilàsi for Girls regatta was held on Saturday August 10th at the Boulevard Club in Toronto, Ontario, with the generous support of North Sails. The regatta was in support of The Broad Reach Foundation’s commitment to further girls and women’s leadership in sailing, each boat being led by a female skipper. North Sails provided products that filled goodie bags for each attendee. After an incredibly joyful and rewarding day on the water, participants and attendees celebrated with drinks, dinner, and amicable bidding wars through a silent auction. North Sails generosity continued with their contribution of a gift basket and copy of the North Sails Story to the silent auction, raising $250 in support! All funds raised from the regatta through support of attendees, the silent auction, and the racers went directly into the Broad Reach Foundation’s programs engaging disadvantaged youth in the development of knowledge, skills and greater social belonging. The Broad Reach Foundation aims to increase responsibility, discipline, and teamwork by engaging youth in the sport, science and experience of sailing on Lake Ontario. Participating youth are from varying backgrounds and registered through community agencies across Toronto. Broad Reach provides youth an opportunity to learn and grow as a team members and leaders out on the water. Broad Reach’s work could not be as impactful without the help of our wonderfully supportive sponsors like North Sails, donors, and most importantly the sailing community. READ MORE

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT Saturday, 25 August 2018, was a significant day for prominent Hobart yachtsmen Stephen 'Rowdy' McCullum and Stewart Gray, and for worldwide sail makers, North Sails. McCullum has joined Gray as principals of 42ºSouth Marine which operates the Hobart loft of North Sales at Cambridge, (above Lewis Marine), combining their vast yachting, sail-making and business experience. In fact, when it comes to counting up sailing experience and expertise in the marine industry, in particular sail-making, it's hard to go past 'Rowdy' and Stewart. It's a combination that seems certain to benefit Tasmanian sailing, bringing the latest technology in making sails for types of boats, off-the-beach dinghies, one-design keelboats, ocean racers and cruising yachts. North Sails continue to be heavily involved in the America's Cup, the Volvo Race and international one-design yacht racing and are noted for ground-breaking design and sail construction technology, including the creation of 3Di™ moulded sails, claimed to be the world's fastest and most durable sails, for racing and cruising. Both 'Rowdy' and Stewart began their working lives as sail-making apprentices in Hobart and soon became involved in International racing campaigns that took them overseas for further design and sail-making projects, as well as expanding their sailing careers, mostly in maxis and America's Cup contenders. "As a sailmaker I later worked with Grant Simmer on America's Cup campaigns and with the late Graeme 'Frizzle' Freeman sailing on Windward Passage II," 'Rowdy' said on the eve of their commercial partnership coming into force yesterday, "The Windward Passage campaign took 'Frizzle' and myself to Europe and the USA to work with the Italian America's Cup challenge before returning to Tasmania to join Bob Clifford with the maxi ketch Tasmania which took line honours in the 50th Sydney Hobart," Rowdy added. McCullum, who is vice commodore of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, has competed as a key crew member including watch captain and sailing master, in 22 Sydney Hobarts Stewart Gray returned to Hobart six years ago after being involved as a professional yachtsman and sailmaker in two America's Cup campaigns and three Volvo Ocean Races. He also won two World Championships in Maxis and TP52's. "And like Rowdy, I did my apprenticeship as a sailmaker, but with Ian Ross at Hood Sails in Sandy Bay," he said. Back in Tasmania, I've owned my own business, 42ºSouth Marine, for the past six years, setting up the loft as a North Sails agency where we supply racing or cruising sails for anything from Optimists to maxi yachts. However, a big part of our business is making sail covers, canvas's and powerboat clears," Gray added. "By joining forces and combining our sailing and sail-making expertise, we plan to develop the business in line with the expansion of the sport of yachting, both in cruising and racing keelboats and in dinghy classes in Tasmania," McCullum said. "We will be in a greater position to not only supply a quality product, but to give an even greater level of advice and customer services to all areas of the marine industry," said Gray, expressing great confidence in the new partnership. North Sails, through its Worldwide resources and expertise can provide yacht owners with everything from cross cut dacron sails built from our in-house milled dacrons, through to 3Di™ sails. "3Di™ is the only sail like it on the market, it is stronger, lighter and more resistant to environmental factors than laminate string sails and we couldn't be more excited to bring it to the local market", emphasised Gray and McCullum. Written by Peter Campbell READ MORE

PODIUM SWEEP AT J/24 NATIONALS Will Welles’ Buckaroo Saddles-Up To Snatch The 2019 Title © Chris Howell Rochester Yacht Club hosted the J/24 Nationals on the beautiful waters of Lake Ontario, with 48-boats in attendance. North Sails clients had the upper hand on the competition, bringing their best game to the race course to take the fleet by storm with a full podium sweep. Congratulations to North Sails Will Bomar on team Bangor Packet for taking third overall, 2018 National Champion Robby Brown and team Angel Of Harlem for their second place finish, and first overall, now five-time National Champion, North Sails Will Welles and his power-house team of Chris and Monica Morgan, Jeff Linton, and Erik Rexford on Buckaroo. The weekend kicked off on Thursday with an official practice race with winds out of the WNW at 15 knots and 2-3 foot seas, which was a great way to warm up. The practice race however was completely different conditions than what competitors would experience for racing on Friday and Saturday. On the final day, a strong thermal filled in later in the morning from the East at around 15 knots. Staying in phase became even more valuable since there was pressure across the course. 2019 National Champion Will Welles shared some of his insights on how his team, from start to finish, put together a championship-winning regatta. “Having a good team that works well together is the key!” “First of all, it was great to be back in the boat with this team, we have a lot of fun on and off the water. I’ve been pretty lucky to sail on a few great teams like this one. Having a good team that works well together is the key! We focused on getting off the line and being able to sail in good lanes from the start so that we could place the boat in the pressure both upwind and downwind. Keeping the boat at maximum speed was very important. The first two days were pretty light with short steep chop so pinching upwind was not an option and the downwinds were even harder, if you sailed to low for too long and hit the back of a wave you just stopped. We found the key for optimum downwind speed was to focus on the biggest lanes we could to keep the bow up a touch more than normal and keep our speed on and the boat stable. We worked really hard to just stay in the pressure the best we could, our tactician Jeff Linton did a really good job at that!” Extremely tight racing in the top 10, with Will Welles (bow 44) finishing 1st Place, John Mollicone (bow 52) finishing 5th Place, and Robby Brown (Bow 22) finishing 2nd overall. © Chris Howell North Sails Mike Ingham on Nautalytics placed seventh overall, and provided his take on local knowledge prior to the regatta, which gave perspective as to what sailors could expect with the challenging conditions. Although there was a concept for ‘typical’ shift trends, Rochester, also known as ‘left-chester’ was still very unpredictable, and often presented irregular patterns that were not always easy to read. © Chris Howell Day one and two were similar, with trending wind directions from the NNW to ENE, with roughly 5-7 knots giving the left side of the race course the upper hand the majority of the time. The right side did pay off every now and then, but it depended on when you went right and ideally, you could do it and stay in phase to connect back with the left. The top women’s team, Sea Bags Sailing Team with skipper Erica Beck Spencer had a great regatta result, finishing 13th overall. “The biggest part of each race for us was the start,” said tactician Hillary Noble. “We had to get off the line, and we had to be at full speed. Prior to the gun, we would practice our approaches to the line. Knowing how long it would take to get up to full speed , allowed us to figure out what time we should make our final approach. A few times there was a righty at the start, which made it very tempting to work the right side of the course, but we found it safer to play the middle towards the bottom then connect to the left side.” The Sea Bags Women’s Sailing Team purchased new sails just prior to the event, and expressed how much of a difference it made in their overall boat speed. “Our sails were so fast. There were times where it felt like we were shot out of a cannon!” – Jessica Harris, bowman © Chris Howell North Sails Paul Abdullah trimmed for John Mollicone and North expert Tim Healy was the tactician on team Helly Hansen, who placed 5th overall. “It was a great weekend for Helly Hansen,” said Paul. “The conditions were extremely difficult on Friday and Saturday, but we were able to post consistent scores due to having good communication and boat speed. Trimming the genoa was non-stop upwind, and being sure to ease the sheet to keep the boat accelerating through the chop was very important. We wouldn’t try to point the boat upwind until we had good flow over the keel so the foils could work. Downwind was even more difficult, so we pretty much sailed with the pole forward to maintain any sense of boat speed.” Skipper of Bangor Packet, North Sails Will Bomar had some great takeaways to share. “The biggest key to a good result was keeping the boat moving by having the crew weight low, keeping the tales on the genoa streaming, and not chasing every lift, which was normally just increases in pressure. Not using the tiller to steer was also great to maintain speed. We used our body weight to steer the boat and manage our transitions. On Sunday when the thermal built to 15 knots, rig tune was the key to having a good result. Being able to keep the boat flat while sailing up wind in the pressure worked well for us.” North Sails Austin Powers also had some great takeaways from the regatta, serving as tactician for Will Bomar on Bangor Packet. “The key to sailing in the light and lumpy conditions were to find bigger lanes. The bigger lanes were especially important to leeward to give Will the room to steer through the waves, and maintain speed. Rochester lived up to the billing for most of the event with the left side generally winning out, but Sunday saw a much squarer course with boats coming off of both the left and the right with success. After debriefing with the team we thought that our boat speed came from constant weight adjustment as the breeze came in and out. Upwind the crew focused on weight placement shifting from “dogs in the house” to full hiking and everything in between.” Bangor Packet, skippered by North Sails Will Bomar, raced to third place overall © Chris Howell North Sails Ryan Lashaway on Rumming on Empty was also fighting to get off the starting line and break free of the traffic. He commented; “Getting to the top of the fleet required clean breeze, especially on the first upwind leg. The large fleet made it critical not to get caught in traffic in the middle of the course. You had to get to an edge and go fast. In choppy, light conditions the boat was sailing it’s fastest when we had clean breeze and the freedom to change gears as the boat needed it.” “We sailed with a full new set of North’s and felt we had speed in both choppy and flat conditions. Couldn’t be happier with how the boat and sails performed.” The top three teams at Nationals were powered by the Fathead Mainsail, and FR-2 spinnaker. First and second place finishers used the DX-7TT genoa, and 3rd place used the SD/TH genoa. Interested in Championship-winning sails? Check out our products and contact your local North expert today. Congratulations to North Sails clients for finishing 1,2,3,5,7,11,13,14,15 at the 2019 US Nationals in Rochester! #NSVictoryList Full Results READ MORE

NORTH SAILS PERFORMANCE SEMINAR Reserve Your Space Today | Portsmouth 10.25.19 | 1800-2000 As the Official Performance Partner, North Sails is hosting three seminars with ocean-racing expert Peter Isler, Race Meteorologist Chris Bedford, and local North Sails Experts to help prepare you for the Newport Bermuda Race. The North Performance Seminars focus on optimizing your sail inventories based on weather, navigation, racing strategies and beyond. Seminars are open to all competitors of the 2020 race. We look forward to seeing you at your local seminar soon in our Portsmouth loft. READ MORE

NORTH SAILS PERFORMANCE SEMINAR Reserve Your Space Today | Milford 10.26.19 | 1030-1230 As the Official Performance Partner, North Sails is hosting three seminars with ocean-racing expert Peter Isler, Race Meteorologist Chris Bedford, and local North Sails Experts to help prepare you for the Newport Bermuda Race. The North Performance Seminars focus on optimizing your sail inventories based on weather, navigation, racing strategies and beyond. Seminars are open to all competitors of the 2020 race. We look forward to seeing you at your local seminar in our Milford loft. READ MORE

Moth Dinghy expert Rob Greenhalgh introduces this extraordinary singlehanded foiling dinghy and describes the keys to sailing one fast. Who sails the foiling Moth Dinghy? The Moth class is for everyone—it’s so exciting, you don’t need to race it. Club sailors can get a huge buzz out of foiling, going fast around the bay, and learning to foil jibe and tack. They might enjoy it so much they never need to join a race. At the other end of the spectrum, there are sailors who have been in Moth Class for a decade or more and love the challenge of racing this exciting, complex craft.  Viewed from stern or bow, the foiling moth is a high-speed machine, clearly unlike other sailboats. What kind of sailors enjoy this challenge? Moths are development boats, not a strict one-design class, and that’s daunting for some. The technical and evolutionary side of Moth sailing requires a good understanding of how everything works—how the foils interact with the rig setup and how to balance both aspects. Over the last five years, there have been massive speed advancements, which will continue. To be at the top of the game, you have to enjoy the technical side. But you can buy equipment off the shelf and, if you practice and sail well, soon be up to pace. Though more technically oriented sailors often gain an edge for a while, there are also lots of people who will make changes that don’t help them, so it evens out. How physical is the sailing? When you are first getting into it, Moth sailing seems physically hard, but once you’ve done it a while, it’s not too bad. On a windy day with a lot of capsizing, it gets pretty tiring. But it’s a light boat, and the loads are not high. Anyone can do it if you can move quickly at times. There are plenty of Moth sailors in their 60s. New boats or used, which are better? My advice for the first-time or second-time buyer is to look for a good second-hand boat that you know will fly. This saves you a lot of effort, because even experienced Moth sailors need a few months to work up a new boat. Sure, it’s always a worry that you might not be getting good enough kit with a used boat, but in my experience, any modern Moth can be made fast. If you want to buy new, a standard boat from either of the two main builders—Exocet by Maguire Boats, or Mach 2 by MacDougall McConaghy—will quick enough for top 5. You can also have a look at the new Bieker Moth by LSF Composites. The Moth is a development class. What’s happening lately? At the top end of the class, mast lengths are getting shorter to lower the rig’s center of effort and improve performance. A shorter luff length results in a longer boom length. Rigs have progressively become lower over the last five years, and mast lengths have reduced from 5270mm or 5300mm to the current standard of 5100mm. The Vi-8 DS 3Di (on top) and Vi-8 LA 3DI feature the same sail area. The LA has more power in lighter winds to foil more quickly; the DS has less drag at high speeds. What sails do you recommend? North offers four different sails that meet the Moth sail-area limit of 8.25 square meters. (For more detail, read Four New 3Di Sails for Moth Sailors.) The choice of sails relates to your weight, expected wind speed, and another ongoing development in the class—deck-sweeping sails. Because of the class sail-area limitation, in 14 knots of wind we are always trying to shed horsepower and reduce aero-drag. The deck-sweeper sail is better at that, cleaning up areas of drag around the front of the mast, the boom, and the deck area. North’s Vi-8 DS 3Di sail is a decksweeper-style sail that reduces aerodrag. If you weigh less than 75kg, you can use the deck-sweeper the whole time. If you’re heavier, like me, in breeze less than 10 knots you’ll need the all-purpose sail’s extra horsepower to get up and foil. The deck-sweeper sail has less horsepower because its center of effort is lower and its shape is not quite as good in those low areas around the mast, boom and deck. 8LA-3Di provides extra power to get on foil. Which sails do you use? I use the North Vi 8LA 3Di and Vi-8 DS 3Di, as both fit my mast length of 5100mm. They can be used on both the Mach2 and Exocet. The decksweeper (Vi-8 DS 3Di) creates an endplate and lowers aero-drag. It is slightly faster once foiling. How does foil choice affect sail choice? Moths have two foils, a larger foil for lighter winds and a smaller foil for stronger, and that’s a choice you have to make on the beach. In my case, if I expect to be on my foils all day, I’ll choose the smaller foil and the deck-sweeper sail. If the winds are lighter or less reliable, I will often choose the big foil and the LA sail. And if I expect light air to start but a building breeze all day, I’ll likely choose the big foil with the deck-sweeper sail. Tuning the Moth Dinghy What are the keys to tuning a Moth? Generally speaking, you should set up your boat to carry as much rake as possible. How much is that? You’ll know it’s too much if you can’t get under the boom in tacks and jibes. This is not something you do underway, and if the boom is making boat handling more difficult, make the rig more upright until that smooths out. What other key adjustments do you make before launching a Moth? Batten tension is one. For Batten 1 (the top batten) down to Batten 5, just take the creases out of the batten pockets—don’t over-tighten them. For Batten 6, remove the crease and then add two more turns by twisting the batten key two full revolutions in a clockwise direction. For Batten 7, take the creases out and add three turns. The outhaul is also non-adjustable underway. Rig the boat ashore with the outhaul loose. Pull on max vang and max cunningham, and then pull the outhaul tight. This will give you a good all round setting. What other settings can you recommend? Here some of the numbers from my boat, but don’t worry if your measurements are different. Comparing measurements boat to boat may not matter at all. The important thing is to start recording them and experimenting. Front Prodder 340 (adjustable +/-50mm) Side Arm 410mm Deflection 220mm Shroud Base 1500mm Mast Length 5100mm (excluding plastic plugs top and bottom) Back of mast to clew ring 2340mm From mast length to shroud base, it's important to record all of your boat and rig measurements. You will change them over time. How do you set up your foils, actuator wand, and gearing? This could be the subject for an entire article, but here is an introduction. A Moth has main foils on the daggerboard and a wand in the bow that automatically adjusts the angle of the foils as you fly higher and lower. The rate at which your foils respond depends on how you set the gearing in the bow between your wand and the foils, and this is something you’ll adjust depending on your expectations for wind speed and wave conditions—the rougher it is, the more sensitive you want your gearing to be. Sailing in rougher water requires faster gearing between your actuator and main foils. Foil gearing is a critical control for waves; make sure it can be adjusted for rough waters. To get through waves you need faster gearing. You’ll also change foil size depending on the wind forecast. I have two sets of main foils and use the smaller one on windier days. However, if the wind is light for the first race and predicted to build, I’ll go with the larger foil because the speed penalty of not being able to fly with other boats can trumps all other considerations. Upwind Moth Sailing What is most important when sailing upwind? On any point of sail, the vang and cunningham are powerful controls, and need constant adjustment for different conditions. The goal is to generate power for low-riding and to get up on the foils, and then flatten the sail as the wind builds. One of the challenges of the Moth is it has a maximum 8.25 square meters of sail area, and upwind in most conditions, that’s more sail than you need. Downwind, you have the opposite problem; your speed reduces the apparent wind so much, you’re always starved for power. What is low-riding mode and how do you sail fast in light winds? In general you don’t race in winds when you can’t foil, but it may happen that the wind lightens up substantially during a race. Sailing in low-riding mode is an art in itself, something like balancing in a canoe because the hull is so narrow. I always recommend practicing sailing that way. What does it take to fly a Moth? To get on the foil, you’ll need a little windward heel to start. If you have marginal flying conditions, shift your weight just slightly farther aft to get more angle on the main foil. Your goal is to get to critical speed to get lift on the foil. Your rig can create vertical lift, so try to tip it over on top of you, but not too far. It’s a bit of a fine line. Heel the Moth to windward to keep the boat more stable and reduce leeway. Why do you tip the Moth to windward when flying? We sail with the rig always tipped to windward because it keeps the boat more stable and reduces leeway on the main foil. Use very subtle steering and trimming of the main. How do you trim the Moth sailing upwind? Correct trim is the absolute key to good boatspeed. It’s very easy to over-sheet and stall the front of the mainsail. Always have the inside tell tales lifting. A common mistake is sailing under-powered and over-trimmed. As the wind increases, flatten the main by tightening vang and cunningham to accommodate the higher apparent wind speeds. How do you adjust sail trim for gusty winds? You need your rig set-up to be user friendly. That means having enough vang and cunningham to straighten the sail. If twisted, the center of effort can move up and down the sail. It takes a certain level of confidence to get to the point where you can let go of the mainsheet to tighten the kicker and cunningham. Downwind Moth Sailing What is the key to good Moth speed downwind? Downwind we need a massive gear change as apparent wind speed reduces when you round the weather mark. Upwind, at speeds of 15 to 20 knots, you’ll be sailing in very high apparent wind speeds and fully depowering. Downwind, apparent wind speed is much lower. After bearing away, let the cunningham off completely, over-ease the vang and then ease the cunningham again. The over-eased vang really allows the cunningham to ease up the mast. I then bring some vang back on too avoid too much twist. People sometimes sail too twisted downwind, which makes the sail flat and less stable. I also pull on a tiny bit of cunningham to clean any creases, and as the wind builds, I bring on both controls slightly. Sailing downwind, be sure to maintain a big entry angle in the lower part of the sail and avoid over-trimming. What is your focus when trimming downwind? I focus closely on my lower tell tales, keeping them flying 100 percent and making sure I ease enough to keep the sail ‘hooked up’ with airflow attached. I look for a nice big entry angle on the bottom part of the sail and clean up any horizontal creases by subtly tightening the cunningham. From there, it’s a matter of very subtle trim and steering. If in doubt, ease the sheet and be sure you have good flow going around the front of the sail. If you run into a light patch, just head up to keep the flow going on the main. If needed, power up the main even more. Get the gearing really slow on your foils to minimize drag. The boat will go faster and apparent wind will increase, moving the wind forward and letting you trim harder. Especially when it’s a bit lighter downwind, be sure to pre-empt a drop in apparent wind by easing main and bringing the bow up! Moth Tacking, Jibing And Gear Changing How do you foil jibe a Moth? In all maneuvers, focus on where your body has to end up and getting your hand and foot positions correct. When jibing, think of the foils like they are an airplane; banking its wings is the only way it can turn. You need to tip the boat to leeward as you go into your jibe. As soon as the foils are banked, carve into the jibe with the rudder; the more heel you have, the harder you have to turn. Then move across the boat. Going into the jibe, I put my hand as far along the tiller extension as possible when I pass it across to the new side of the boat, and my body naturally follows. Lead your body with your arm and you’ll come out with the tiller behind your back where you want it and can do the hand transfer. Practice steering behind your back and quickly changing hands out of the jibe. Also, focus on trimming the main nicely out of the jibe so the sail ‘hooks up’ and you get power quickly. Jibing in light air can be hard but once you’ve got it, you can jibe just as easily in 10 knots or 20 knots. Sailing the boat downwind in all wind speeds is quite different. When it is windier, you tip the boat to windward more, move aft slightly, and don’t power up the sail as much. If you can’t foil jibe, it’s probably not windy enough to race. Keep in mind that it’s easier to jibe than tack. Sometimes when sailing upwind, we’ll jibe rather than tack to ensure we can stay on the foil. When foil tacking or jibing, you need to flatten the boat. For jibing, bank into the turn to leeward. You’ll turn the boat more aggressively when your body is ready to move across to the new wing. How do you foil tack a Moth? When tacking you have to move quickly, bringing the boat relatively flat once head to wind. Start luffing slowly, taking the edge off your speed; make sure the boat is flat when head to wind. As my body moves across the middle to the new wing, I’ll increase the rate of turn, steering quite aggressively through the eye of wind, but my body has to be ready to cross the boat and receive the power on the new tack. You need to come out tipped to windward. Here’s how I break it down: Ten seconds before tacking, consider slowing the boat slightly and sailing slightly higher. Plan for a slow luff head to wind, followed by a faster turn rate once confident that crew weight can be positioned correctly. Heel to windward before the tack but flatten the boat once head to wind. Move your weight inboard. It is important here to sheet the mainsheet on centerline so that it is not over the leeward wing when you pass underneath. As you move across the middle of the boat, pass the tiller extension around the back and into a position halfway along the leeward wing. When you are confident you can move to the new side, increase the rate of turn, landing on a wider than close-hauled course. There are a lot of G-forces during this period, so expected to get ejected a few times! Don’t try to piece the whole tack together immediately. Practice the first phase of luffing head to wind, getting your weight to center, and switching the tiller extension across. Remember to ease mainsheet out of the tack and have your hands positioned so that the sheet can be eased quickly. The sheet is more important than the tiller on exit. I set my mast rake to allow 70 to 75cm between the boom and the deck where I cross the boat. Tacking is important, so make sure you have room under the boom! For tacking practice, I recommend having the rig more upright. Don’t adjust any control lines right before or after tacks, unless it is very light and foiling is marginal. Name 5 key gear changes in a Moth To foil early in light air, power up by having the vang and cunningham as loose as possible. However, it is easy to over-deepen the front of the sail, requiring further bear-away to get good flow on the sail. Don’t overdo it. Downwind always requires a deeper sail shape than upwind, regardless of wind speed. Once foiling, immediately pull on vang to stabilize the sail and cunningham to clean the creases. Even though the wind is light, we are quickly doing 14/15kts. The AWS is high so we need to change sail shape to achieve good speeds. As the breeze builds, constantly increase vang and cunningham loads to achieve the desired sail shapes. Max vang should be achieved in 15 knots and max cunningham in 18 knots. The Moth gets overpowered quickly, and from 18 knots upwards a softer tip or different sail is required. North’s LA and DS designs have a slight variation in the luff rounds to cover the range, with the DS being aimed at 14 knots true wind speed. For lighter sailors, a softer-tip allows the mast to bend earlier and depower the sail. How do you start a race in a Moth? Starts are a bit chaotic. Even for long-time racers, a Moth start will be a new experience. People get up on their foils with about 25 seconds to go and do a big turn-up at about 3 seconds, crossing the lining at 20 knots. A key thing when you’re on your foils is to have the ability to slow down while maintaining control. You need to practice that. Getting to the pin too soon is dodgy, especially with boats starting on port tack. Why do so many Moths start on port tack? Moths travel at 15 to 18 knots upwind, so tacking is a very costly part of an upwind leg. Reducing the number of tacks during a beat is very efficient, although this depends somewhat on how well you tack and how confident you are in making your tacks. How many ways can you capsize a Moth? You will capsize a Moth every possible way when learning. But I can sail for days now without capsizing, unless it is windy and choppy. The key to recovering quickly is to get on the daggerboard and do a dry capsize, climbing back over the wing. Sometimes that’s hard to do, especially when you pitchpole and find yourself 20 meters out in front of that boat. What is the most common boat-handling mistake in a Moth? Capsizing! Foil tacking, in particular, is very difficult. A common mistake is trying to foil tack when it’s breezy. Drag is so high that as you go through head to wind, everything slows down and it’s easy to capsize. You may be better off planning to do a touch-and-go tack.  READ MORE

CLIENTS WIN MELGES 24 NORTH AMERICANS 3Di Raises the Stakes in the 41-Boat Fleet © IM4CA/©Bill Crawford,Harbor Pictures Company. North clients took two podium spots in the Open Division at the 2019 Melges 24 North American Championship in Traverse City, Michigan. Travis Weisleder’s Lucky Dog/Gill Race Team scored only one race out of the top 4 to win the regatta by one point. Kevin Welch’s Mikey finished third. In the Corinthian division, clients swept the podium. Fraser McMillan’s Sunnyvale won the division by 14 points and took 5th overall. In second place was Mike Dow’s Flying Toaster, and rounding out the podium was Marty Jensen’s Zig Zag. After light air the first two days, the breeze came on stronger for the last day but continued to be quite shifty. North Sails expert John Bowden, onboard Lucky Dog, has been sailing with Travis for six years, but only one team member had sailed in Traverse City before. “We focused on sailing our own race,” he explains, adding that a great boat, great sails, and a great team proved more important that local knowledge. “Travis does a good job of surrounding himself with talented sailors, and makes sure the boat and sails will never be an excuse for failure. It all led to a great result in the end.” © IM4CA/©Bill Crawford,Harbor Pictures Company The team keeps the North tuning guide handy, but they also pay attention to the feel of boat and helm. “If you’re overpowered, you’re probably not tight enough.” He also explains that their 3Di sails don’t stretch like paneled sails do, so they have to be trimmed a little bit tighter. “Other than that, everything else is the same.” The team used an Mi-1 and the new Ji-2, developed with North designers Mike Marshall and Per Andersen. “We really love them,” John says. “We were very happy with the AP-3 and J-7 paneled sails. They were certainly the standard for Melges 24’s. But there is always room for improvement. When we had the opportunity to switch to 3Di and help with the development process, we jumped at the chance. It’s nice to see all of the top teams running the 3Di sails. We have all been extremely happy with them.” © Bill Crawford, Harbor Pictures Company READ MORE

MELGES IC37 EXCELS AT COWES WEEK The First IC37 in Europe Debuts With a Win 📸 North Sails / James Tomlinson After making one design waves in North America with a full summer of events, the first IC37 delivered to Europe won IRC class 1 at Cowes Week with conviction— Kanreki finished first in four of six races. Such impressive IRC results from a boat originally drawn as a one design concept are a nice by-product of the tight collaboration between North Sails/Southern Spars, Melges, and boat designer Mark Mills. North Sails expert Pete Redmond was onboard for Cowes Week and experienced firsthand how this fun, modern 37-foot race boat performed under IRC. “The IC37 had the advantage of planing speeds, especially in breeze where boat lengths can be gained quickly,” Pete explained. He was also impressed by the IRC-adapted sail inventory. “The sails fit perfectly out of the bag. “We used the standard one-design tuning and our IRC inventory included a slighter smaller mainsail, full-sized jibs that were purpose-built for Cowes Week, and a North Helix Code Sail, which we easily flew off the bowsprit with no modifications needed. Finishing off the inventory we had two A sails for lighter and heavier breezes.” 📸 North Sails / James Tomlinson IRC is very popular in the UK. Pete feels the IC37 is a great contender, as it is suited for a wide range of sailing styles. “The boat is set up very simply, and everything runs well. Anyone will be able to get this boat around the corners, and switching between modes isn’t hard either.” Kanreki’s crew, a mix of family and friends, was able to get the boat up to speed quickly, even though they hadn’t actually sailed the boat together before the first race. “They found racing the IC37 to be a lot of fun,” Pete added, “and that’s the only reason they wanted to sail Cowes Week – to have fun.” Sam Pearson, class leader of the IC37 for the UK, was also impressed by Kanreki’s performance and optimistic about the future. “Although it was never our intention to focus on IRC when launching this new one design circuit, we knew we had to keep it in the back of our minds. If we wanted to see one design flourish, the design had to appeal to a broader audience. With these wins straight off the bat, the IC37 is 100% the weapon of choice to re-energize big boat one design racing in the UK.” 📸 North Sails / James Tomlinson READ MORE

Još jedan trijumf Sirotice U Betini, kolijevci drvene brodogradnje otoka Murtera, u nedjelju 18. kolovoza odjedrena je 17. regata za dušu i tilo. Riječ je o posljednjoj regati ciklusa regata latinskog idra pred veliko finale koje će se odjedriti u susjednom Murteru za mjesec dana. I ove godine se okupila slična flota kao i lani, ukupno preko 30 leutgajeta i kaića. NAravno, gajete su i na ovoj regati dominirale po broju, ali kako se kasnije pokazalo za vrijeme jedrenja nisu se ni ostali modeli tek tako predavali! Vremenski uvjeti u Betini su bili idealni. Lijep sunčan dan uz lagani maestral koji je puhao s oko desetak čvorova, omogučili su dosta brzu regatu bez stresnih situacija praćenih s lomom opreme i paranjem jedara kao što je to bio slučaj prošle godine. Start je bio postavljen "na lancanu", premda su brodovi bili vezani za rivu, ali to je taj princip. Regatno polje je bilo identično lanjskom, a to konkretno znači da je prva bova bila postavljena u kanalu na oko pola puta prema Tisnom, zatim se morao obići otočić Sustipanac, potom druga bova koja je bila postavljena ispred rta Gradina (na ulazu u Murtersku luku) i za kraj je ostavljen sprint prema Betini. Vjerojatno najzanimljiviji dio regate je ovaj put bio sam start, odnosno predstartna procedura. Regatni odbor je odredio da će biti dan pripremni signal, zatim upozorenje na jednu minutu do starta i zatim start. Međutim, nekoliko gajeta postavljenih s lijeve strane startne linije je signal minute do starta shvatila kao signal za start i krenulo s povlačenjem po konopu od sidra. 10-20 sekundi su svi ostali gledali što se dešava i hoće li im kolege shvatiti da su malo požurili, ali kako već u takvim situacijama bude lančano su krenuli i svi ostali za njima. U principu ovo je najvažniji dio regate jer ako je sidro uhvatilo dovoljno jako da se po njemu može povlačiti svom snagom i da kad ga se prođe da ga se bez problema može izvaditi, onda se može osvojiti dosta dobra pozicija za nastavak jedrenja. Početna gužva koja je nastala u prvih stotinjak metar regate ubrzo se počela rijediti i najbrži se izdvajati ispred ostatka flote. Već od samog starta najuspješnija u tome je bila ekipa Sirotice. Već na prvoj bovi su bili na čelu cijele flote, a kasnije su tu razliku samo povećavali. Za kompletnu rutu im je trebalo točno dva sata jedrenja, a poredak ostalih najboljih po grupama je slijedeći: GAJETE: 1. Damir Čorkalo – MU 485 – Murter – SIROTICA 2. Hrvoje Jadrešić – MU 520 – Betina – CVITA 3. Ante Davor Turčinov – MU 887 – Murter – ILKA KAIĆI: 1. Ivan Čobanov – MU 906 – Betina – MARINKA 2. Ivan Crljenko – MU 790 – Betina – Bez imena 3. Šime Šoić – MU 186 – Murter – MARIJA LEUTI: 1. Grgo Jerat – MU 111 – Murter – JARUH 2. Dieter Schelinger – MU 84 – Murter – ORLIĆ 3. Tonko Skračić – MU 85 – Betina – GUŠTE Foto galeriju s ove regate možete pronaći na ovom linku. Dok video izvještaj možete pogledati u video galeriji za 2019. godinu. READ MORE

"FORMSTABILITETEN ÄR NOG DET SOM IMPONERAR MEST" Patrik Helgegren om sina tre år gamla 3Di NORDAC-segel NORDAC-segel 3Di NORDAC är ett bakat kompositsegel speciellt utvecklat för cruisingbåtar upp till cirka 40 fot. Det byggs på exakt samma sätt som världens mest avancerade kappseglingssegel, men det är baserat på polyester istället för på kevlar eller kolfiber. Resultatet blir ett segel med samma slitstyrka och livslängd som ett traditionellt dacronsegel, men med avsevärt bättre prestanda. 3Di NORDAC lanserades 1 juni 2017 och en av de allra första i Sverige att hoppa på tåget var Patrik Helgegren i Göteborg. Han och hans familj seglar en Nord 120, en bastant fyrtiofots långfärdsbåt ritad av Olle Enderlein. Familjen Helgegrens Nordac-garderob består av storsegel och rullgenua, och båda dessa segel är uppe i ur och skur under hela säsongen. Frågan man ställer sig är: Hur de står sig idag, efter nästan tre hela säsonger? Vi låter frågan gå till Patrik: "Formstabiliteten är nog det som imponerar mest. Jag kan inte se att formen har förändrats ett dugg på tre säsonger. Att de skulle vara slitstarka hade jag räknat med. Det är ju ändå en sorts dacronsegel." Nyfiken på våra revolutionerande cruisingsegel? Besök oss på båtmässan så berättar vi mer! Läs mer om 3Di NORDAC READ MORE

Otvoreno PH u ekipnom jedrenju za klasu Optimist Foto: JK Marina Kaštela Izvrsna jedrenja u proljetnom dijelu sezone i vrhunski plasmani jedriličara iz puležanskog JK Uljanik plovidbe nastavila su se i na ovogodišnjem Prvenstvu Hrvatske u ekipnom jedrenju za klasu Optimist. Jedriličarski klub Marina Kaštela je u svom novom impozantnom jedriličarskom domu ugostio 15 ekipa iz Hrvatske i susjedne nam Crne Gore, a jedrilo se za vikend 16-18. kolovoza. Unatoč popriličnom broju ekipa odziv klubova nije bio u jednakom broju, već su neki klubovi imali po nekoliko ekipa, a jedna ekipa je bila sastavljena i od jedriličara iz četiri različita kluba. Najbrojniji su bili članovi JK Uljanik plovidba koji su na natjecanju imali čak tri svoje ekipe! Idući najbroniji klub je bio JK Split s dvije ekipe, a po jedan tim su poslali iz riječkog Galeba, Sv. Nikola iz Zagreba, splitski JK Mornar, još jedan klub iz Pule - JK Vega, zatim JK Briva iz Biograda, zadarski Uskok i JK Spinut iz Splita. Međunarodni karakter natjecanju dale su ekipe JK Juga i ekipa Brius, a u taj otvoreni dio natjecanja svoj obol je dala i ekipa imena Pilići, a u kojoj su jedrili članovi JK Jugo, Zente, Omiša i Labuda. Program regate je predvidio jedrenje jednog Round Robina, sustava jedrenja svih ekipa jednih protiv drugih, kao i u dvobojskom jedrenju, a nakon toga najbolji su se susreli u polufinalu i finalu. Zahvaljujući izvrsnim vremenskim uvjetima tih dana program je realiziran sa 100 postotnim učinkom. Konkretno, da bi se odjedrio potpuni Round Robin za 15 ekipa potrebno je završiti čak 105 plovova! U petak je Regatni odbor kompletirao 56 jedrenja, dok su u subotu još i preostalih 49. Što se tiče nedjelje tada su odjedreno još 19 plovova da bi se dobili ovogodišnji prvaci Hrvatske, a evo što je o regati izjavio predstavnik domaćina: Sve u svemu imali smo sreće s vjetrom. Odjedren je puni Round Robin, odnosno dva prvenstva - zatvoreno i otvoreno PH, koja su se bodova odvojena. Pobjedu je odnijela jedna od ekipa Uljanik plovdbe čiji trener je Dario Kliba. Ta skupina je bila daleko ispred svih ostalih tako da su potpuno zasluženo odnijeli pobjedu, kako u otvorenom, tako i u zatvorenom dijelu prvenstva. Svaki dan je puhao maestral od 10-14 čvorova. Izašli bi na more oko podne, uvjeti za regatavanje bi se uspostavili oko 13 sati, a jedrilo bi se do 18-19. Polje je svaki dan bilo postavljeno ispred Slatina na otoku Čiovu i pozicija je bila stvarno dobra jer nije bilo valova, dok je vjetar bio konstantan i stabilan. Armano Zekan, JK Marina Kaštela Sustav ekipnog jedrenja je u principu flotna regata jer se na regatnom polju istovremeno nalazi 8 optimista. Za plasman u pojedinom matchu uzimaju se rezultati svih sudionika i prevagu odnosi konačna suma svih članova ekipe. Ovo je dosta zanimljiv element jer dozvoljava različite kombinacije poretka u cilju, tako da natjecatelji osim jedriličarskih vještina moraju pokazati i određenu dozu kombinatorike. Uglavnom, u Round Robinu je apsolutnu dominaciju u svim tim elementima pokazala ekipa Uljanik plovidbe 3. Oni su pobijedili u svih 14 matcheva. Najbliži su im bili sugrađani iz Vege. Oni su završili kao drugoplasirani s 12 pobjeda, a s jednom pobjedom manje treće mjesto zauzima miješana ekipa Pilića. S obzirom na karaktere otvorenog i zatvorenog PH u završne stadije natjecanja ušle su još ekipe Uljanika 2 i Mornara koje su imale jednak broj bodova, ali je Uljanik 2 imao bolji ishod u međusobnom matchu. Konkretan raspored, odnosno međusobne rezultate možete pronaći na ovom linku za zatvoreno PH, dok su na ovom linku rezultati za otvoreni dio regate. I polufinala i finala su se jedrila na tri pobjede s tim da su prvo odrađeni kompletni setovi za zatvoreni dio regate. U polufinalu su jedni protiv drugih jedrili Vega i Uljanik 2, a konačni rezultat je 3:1 za Vegu. Drugi polufinalni par je bio Uljanik 3 i Mornar, a ovdje je glatka pobjeda Uljanika 3 s 3:0. U finale su otišli Uljanik 3 i Vega, a konačni rezultat je 3:0 za Uljanik 3 koji tako postaje ekipni prvak Hrvatske za 2019. godinu. S drugim mjestom se moraju zadovoljiti članovi JK Vega, dok je u malom finalu pobjeda također otišla u ruke članova JK Vega. Nakon ove serije regata odjedren je i završni set otvorenog dijela PH. Ovaj put nije bilo polufinala i finala, već su se jedrile tri flighta sa po dva matcha svatko protiv svakog. Uljanik 3 je u sva tri odjedrena matcha bolji i tako se ovjenčao s dvostrukom krunom! Pobjednička ekipa je bila u sastavu Buba Pulek, Mija Močinić, Tristan Tol i Edi Jurman. A kako su bili posloženi ostali sudionici završnice možete pronaći u finalnim rezultatima, dok foto galeriju s regate možete pronaći na web stranicama regate. Iduća velika regata kojoj je domaćin JK Marina Kaštela je Prvenstvo Hrvatske za neolimpijske klase, a jedrit će se od 13-15. rujna. READ MORE

LIGHTNING LEGEND WINS 6th NORTH AMERICAN TITLE Ched Proctor Bests a 72-Boat Fleet 2019 Lightning NA champions Ched Proctor, Chris Morgan, and Monica Morgan 📸 Art Petrosemolo nauticalphotography.us According to the dictionary, “legend” is a person or thing that inspires. According to sailors, it describes a sailor who has performed and contributed to the point of being incomparable. After winning his sixth Lightning North American Championship last week, Ched Proctor has cemented his place as a “legend” under both definitions. With teammates Monica Morgan and Sam Blouin, he bested a fleet of 72 boats at the Buffalo Canoe Club in Crystal Beach, ONT, a week after winning the Masters North Americans with Chris and Monica Morgan. Ched won his first North Americans in 1993, when he was in his 40s. Since then he’s won two International Masters Championships, 2 Canadian Opens, 7 Southern Circuits, and 4 Midwinters—along with dozens of wins in other one design classes. Womens, Masters, Juniors NAs The 11 day gathering brought teams from around the country. First up was the Women’s, Masters, and Junior Championships. On day one, a strong westerly sidelined all the fleets, so many teams headed to Niagara Falls. Day two’s fresh breeze allowed each fleet to get in two races. Day three saw lighter breezes but still in the mid-teens; Masters and Women’s teams each got in two races, while the Juniors snuck in a third before the deadline. Women’s NAs champions: Deborah Probst, Monica Jones, and daughter Allie Jones 📸 Art Petrosemolo nauticalphotography.us 10 Women’s teams came from as far away as South Carolina and Florida. Regatta Chair Debbie Probst, with Monica and Allie Jones, bested Boat Grant recipient Christine Maloney with crew Grace Woodcock and Anna Flaherty by two points. Joy MacDonald grabbed the final podium spot with Kathryn Maloney and her sister Julieanne, a clean sweep for the BCC teams. Doug Wake and his team (Noah Bartlett and Lars Osell) found the heavy air to their liking and won 4 of the 5 races to dominate the fleet. Parker Coluntuano/Jackie Morrison/Ben Markert had a solid last day and moved up from 6th to 2nd. Locals Robbie Robinson and brothers Gunnar and Garrett Grenauer finished third. Meanwhile, Ched the legend won three of the four Masters races, beating 5-time World Champion Tito Gonzales, who was sailing with son Alberto and Rodrigo Zuazola, by six points. Tom Allen, the ILCA MVP, put together his NAs winning team from 1989 (!) of John Humphrey and Bill Pictor, and he used their “maturity” to finish just one point behind Tito’s team. Juniors NAs champions Douglas Wake, Noah Bartelt, and Lars Osell 📸 Art Petrosemolo nauticalphotography.us North American Championships The NAs started with four qualifying races over two days to determine the 34 boat Championship Division. The qualifying races are often called the toughest regatta of the year, as your chances to be the North American Champion rest upon sailing well enough to “make the cut.” After the final race Tuesday, the line was drawn right below John Birkett and his team from Ecuador, with 25 points earning them the Tom Fallon Trophy as “the last one in.” An easterly breeze dominated the first day of the championship series. The locals said this was the most unpredictable and challenging breeze direction, and they were certainly right!! The three race winners were Adam MacDonald, David Starck and Tim Scanlon, and most teams had scores that looked like they belonged on a Bingo card. David Starck took the overall lead with a 2,1,18, while Ched and team opened the series with a 15, 11, 3. The next morning’s breezes mimicking the previous day and it was another tricky day to be consistent. Jim Barnash won the first race of the day. Bob Martin, after a 25 the previous day, hit the consistency button with a 4,4,5,4 to bring his team into the hunt. Overnight leader David Starck opened the day with another 2nd, but a 15 in the second race allowed Ched’s more consistent 3,1 to take over the lead. Friday dawned as predicted: a beautiful sunny day with not a whisper of wind. Once the RC cancelled racing for the day, Ched, Monica and Sam were the 2019 North American Champions. Regatta Chair David Starck, with Jody Lutz and Dylan Farrell, finished 5 points back. Bob Martin, with Steve Hunt and Diego Escobar, won the “regatta of the final 4 races,” but without a discard they had to settle for 3rd overall. Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup became the “Allen Family Cup” this year as Jim Allen, with daughter Abby and sister Jane, bested older brother Tom Allen IV, with his daughter Shelby and Jim’s son Tyler. Third was Sjoerd-Jan Vanderhorst with his wife Kathy and Laurie Dieball guiding him around the course. Lightning experts Skip Dieball and Brian Hayes running morning tips READ MORE

ATLANTIC NATIONALS TAKEAWAYS Experts Tim Healy and Rodrigo Meireles Share Key Tips 📸 Cedar Point Yacht Club The 2019 Atlantic Nationals took place at Cedar Point Yacht Club in Connecticut with twenty-seven teams attending the three day regatta. 6-12 knots from east to southeast with moderate to heavy chop made for intense competition in these classic boats, followed by great hospitality ashore. After the first day of racing, North Sails expert Tim Healy led a debrief with Dave Peck, Bill Healy, Steve Benjamin and Morgan Trubovich on the panel (representing skippers, trimmers and tacticians). The crowd had a lot of good questions and sailors found the panel very helpful. David Peck from Niantic, CT won the regatta convincingly, posting only seven points after six races and a drop. Steven Benjamin finished second with 14 points and Rodrigo Meireles finished third with 19 points. We are happy to report that the top twenty teams used North Sails. The top five boats all used the FRC mainsail, AP Jib and V-2 spinnaker. Tim and Rodrigo’s Takeaways JIB SETUP Set the height of the jib so that the foot overlaps on the deck by 1″ max. In light air, move it down as low as ⅛”. This will prove a good deck seal to trap the wind from going under the sail, which will maximize its power. Never let the upper jib leech tell tale stall. Find max trim by trimming so it just stalls, then easing just enough so it is flowing 100% of the time. CHECK PREBEND At the base setting for your rig, it should be about 1.75-2″ for speed in a range of conditions. (The fastest boats at CPYC use 2.5-2.75”, as they sail mostly in 5-8 knots.) DOWNWIND TIP Work hard to separate the spinnaker from the mainsail. The main is so big that it easily shadows the spinnaker. Be careful not to pull the guy back too far or set pole too low. You can even try easing the halyard up to 6″. HEEL ANGLE Try to keep the upwind heel angle as constant as possible. Crew weight adjustment is key. Full results 📸 Cedar Point Yacht Club Rodrigo Meireles and team Elan sailing fast. 📸 Cedar Point Yacht Club READ MORE

COUNTDOWN TO ROLEX TP52 WORLDS North Sails Designer Mickey Ickert’s Insight on the Next Big Event 📸 52 Super Series / Martinez Studio The 2019 52 Super Series has been one of the most competitive to date. At T-minus one week to the Worlds, there are just 17 points separating first from fifth after three of five events, and not one team is clearly running away with the big prize right now. Nine of the eleven boats competing are powered by North sails, including Azzurra who is currently at the top of the leaderboard. We’re excited to see how this final event unfolds. Mickey Ickert is a veteran North Sails designer who specializes in Grand Prix sail design with a specific focus on TP52 development. We sat down with Mickey to get his take on who’s who, how the fleet is sailing, and where we should place our bets next week. What are your crystal ball predictions for the Worlds? Palma is very well known and was the location of the first pre-season event. The familiarity with Palma will require teams to focus on subtle differences and fine-tuning. The fleet is so close this year that any of the top five boats could win the 2019 Worlds. The one wildcard could be Sled, who had an impressive pre-season showing at Palma Vela in May. How do you see the North sails stacking up for the expected conditions in Palma? Speed is king for getting off the start line to the first shift, and our 2019 3Di structures are proving to have an edge. Typical Palma conditions will call for using the light main with the light-medium jib. We’ve been focusing on pushing the sail weight down to maximize the advantages of 3Di against string sails, and maximizing the crossovers between the light and AP mains. Jib-wise, the new Raw 890 light-medium jib should excel through all the puffs and lulls. 📸 52 Super Series / Martinez Studio People, product and practice are all factors that play into a successful season. What do you see as the game changers in 2019? People are a real game-changer this level of sailing. Provezza’s new afterguard gelled well and sailed the most pre-season, giving them confidence. Bronenosec is winning races with the addition of Sîme Fantela as the strategist. My observation is the younger sailors in the fleet are pushing the boats harder, racing is more dynamic, reaction times are faster, and sail changes are happening more quickly. Product-wise, I am expecting the newly developed 3Di Raw 890 has given our teams more sail card options through the Worlds and then heading into the final event of the season. So far it’s hitting our design targets; better shape-holding, and cleaner aesthetics. What’s 2020 going to be like? The new venues have already been announced and we know South Africa will be more breeze. We’ll fully review that plan at our global design meeting in November, but for now, all eyes are focused on the 2019 Worlds—and after that, the final Super Series event in Porto Cervo. 📸 52 Super Series / Martinez Studio READ MORE

EVENT SPOTLIGHT: NATIONAL YACHT CLUB OPEN Big Breeze Shakes Up NYC Open The 4th annual NYC Open Regatta took place on one of the most beautiful summer days we’ve had this year and featured great sailing winds ranging from a short AP in the morning until to winds filled to strong shifty and gusty conditions challenging the most experienced of skippers! Thanks to North Sails for providing the skippers and the Race Officers with a needed accurate Weather Forecasting via SailFlow. The RO’s and volunteers managed to get four races off despite ever-changing conditions. The post-race Garden Party sponsored Beau’s proved to be a wonderful afternoon venue with great entertainment from Jenny Braund and band. Almost 100 participants joined in on the dinner and it did not disappoint. NYC’s F&B team presented an amazing Tandoori BBQ chicken and all the fixings. Compliments to NYC’s F&B abound for the awesome meal as well as the Beau’s Five for $20 draft! The party went on till dark with live entertainment and then shifted to members playlists continuing until the wee hours… With a 12% increase in participation of boats over last, this year’s regatta hosted 58 boats in seven competitive divisions. The majority of boats were One Design as we observe a continued shift towards smaller crews and tighter fleets. We also saw an uptick in participation in the NYC membership returning to numbers seen several years back, maybe due to the Humber Bay Challenge that we put out between EYC and us. The Rigging Shoppe generously contributed gift cards to the appreciative 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. Congratulations to all our winners: Mandate J 105 RCYC Terry McLaughlin/ Rod Wilmer Zingara Beneteau First 36.7 NYC Richard Reid Surprise Melges 24 NYC Dan Berezin Lifted J80 NYC Christopher Hobbs Wild deuces VX One RCYC Paul Currie Three's Company J 22 NYC Paul Davignon Warington Kirby 23 QCYC John Woolsey For the overall regatta results, visit www.lorc.org On Sunday, many raced in the first race of the AHMEN/PHRF Fall Series, hosted by NYC and raced for the Argosy Rose Bowl. For overall results, please visit www.ahmen.ca Thank you to our participants, volunteers as well as to the Rigging Shoppe, North Sails and Beau’s and to all sponsors who helped to make the LORC series a success! Lawrence Alexander Vice Commodore – Fleet National Yacht Club – Toronto READ MORE

SPINNAKER SNUFFER INSTALLATION GUIDE Making Your Downwinds More Easy and Enjoyable © Amory Ross North Sails cruising spinnakers and Gennakers™ equipped with Snuffer Plus™ spinnaker snuffers make downwind sailing faster and more enjoyable, while saving much of the aggravation normally associated with off-the-wind sailing. When used properly, a cruising spinnaker can add miles to your daily runs. Cruising spinnakers can be quite simple to deploy, even with a short-handed crew. Step 1: Attach the clew and foot On a dry, clean, open area), secure the head of the sail to a post and run the leech and luff making sure that it is free of any twists or tangles. Step 2: Laying out the Snuffer Plus™ In the same way that the spinnaker was straightened, attach the “head”of the Snuffer Plus™ to a solid point and pull the sleeve out making sure it isn’t twisted. Use the colored stripe on the sleeve as a guide. Step 3: Prepare the Snuffer Plus Once the spinnaker and the snuffer have been laid out straight, use the internal retrieval line to pull the cone of the snuffer all the way to the head exposing the swivel Step 4: Attaching the sail Attach the head ring of the sail to the swivel inside the snuffer. Make sure that the screw or shackle is as tight as possible. Step 5: “Snuff” the sail Once the head of the sail is attached, pull the Snuffer sleeve down over the sail making sure neither the sail nor sleeve is twisted. NOTE: On Gennakers™, the cone will not cover the entire sail and should end approximately one foot from the clew. Allowing the clew to go into the sleeve could risk damaging the cone when the sail is deployed underway. Battens can be taken apart by removing the tape and while holding the back section of the splice connector, flexing the front end up and down while exerting pressure in the opposite direction as the arrow. Step 6: Loading the sail into the EZ Launch & Store™ Box Turtle When the sail is ready to be placed In its turtle, lay the turtle out as shown, attaching the tack ring to the green Velcro tab and the clew ring to the red Velcro tab. Insert the cone of the Snuffer into the bag first. Flake the sail into the bag leaving the head of the snuffer on the top. Use the Velcro tab at the center of the bag to secure the head and Velcro the bag shut. Finally, use the straps on the bag to cinch the bag shut. READ MORE

DO GOOD. DONATE YOUR OLD SAILS. Putting Your Used Sails To Work North Sails and Etibicoke Yacht Club have partnered to help promote the recycling and re-purposing of used sails. Bring your old sails to the EYC Open and we will organize the donation of them to Friends Of Ile-a-Vache Haiti, where they will be re-purposed to benefit the lives of the local community. Questions? Talk to our team and find out more about this program. READ MORE

SPEED READING: J/111 PRE-WORLDS Preparing For The Grand Finale Tough racing conditions at the Verve Cup / J/111 Pre worlds © Sara Proctor North Experts Seadon Wijsen on Skeleton Key and Allan Terhune on Velocity sailed the Verve Cup, which was also the J/111 Pre-Worlds. After three days and eight races, both teams had plenty of takeaway lessons. Here’s what they had to share. “The racing conditions were typical for Chicago,” says Seadon. “Light and lumpy, and extremely challenging at times. Our light air speed and technique was top priority.” Allan agrees. “There were bands of wind that came down the course, forcing you to connect the dots and stay in the pressure as long as possible. Light air boat speed was definitely a big factor, but it soon became apparent to us that getting clean starts were going to be the key to this event.” Lessons learned from Pre-Worlds The fleet got eight races in, a chance for both boats to experiment with settings in the search for better light air speed. Seadon’s team played with jib halyard, jib leads, and in-haulers to help transition through the wind ranges. They also tried a looser rig. “It helped our accelerations, but didn’t make much of a difference in our straight-line speed. Moving the jib lead forward helped, so maybe we were just carrying the lead too far aft in general before.” Allan says Seadon was able to help his team with an off-the-boat observation. “We learned from Seadon that we had too much inhauler on in the light stuff. I had this inclination that if the crew was on the rail hiking, we’d need to pull the inhauler in all the way. What it actually did was close the slot and create stall, which was easy to do in the light air. Onboard we couldn’t see it, but Seadon noticed from off the boat. Too much inhaul was deadly.” Both sailors agree that the most important thing for J/111 boat speed is keeping the boat in the right mode. You don’t want to pinch, especially if there is chop. “You need to keep an open mind on every leg. It’s easy to doubt yourself, so you can’t focus too much on the fleet, rather sail your own race and focus on what you think will have the best outcome.” In the light air, it was easy to over-trim the sails. “That was slow, and we had to be super sensitive to this,” said Seadon. Allan added that course corrections had to be very subtle as well. “When we felt slow, we’d put the bow down to help build speed, but if we went too far, this caused us to stall.” Racing in Chicago, Seadon says, it’s hard to find any consistent pattern to the wind. “You need to keep an open mind on every leg. It’s easy to doubt yourself, so you can’t focus too much on the fleet, rather sail your own race and focus on what you think will have the best outcome.” Allan has sailed out of Monroe Harbor in many different classes, and he agrees. “It is very easy to think that it will always do this, or it will be this way—and it most definitely does the opposite.” © Sara Proctor What to work on Seadon has been racing with Skeleton Key for four years and says his team’s consistency is what’s led to their success. “Our rig tune, sail selections, and techniques through the wind ranges are all the same as they usually are. We don’t try to change much last minute, and we usually improve each time we sail.” In the short gap between the pre-Worlds and Worlds, they have a list of things to work on. “We need to improve our leeward mark roundings. We can do that by discussing the planned maneuver, and weight placement. We are also going to look at different batten combinations for light air and windier conditions. “The key for us is to try to improve the things we are lacking, but also focus on what works; we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.” On Velocity, Allan says they will primarily be looking at their acceleration off the starting line, the leeward mark, and speed out of tacks.” Looking ahead to the Worlds, Seadon admits Chicago is one of the toughest places to race—and they face some great competition. “We will have to be mentally tougher. I think we will be better in the lighter air conditions this time around. We are hoping to have a nice range of different conditions throughout the regatta, and maybe even some breeze.” Both teams plan to sail as much as they can, and want to line up with as many boats as possible. As Allan puts it, “It’s about getting as much data as you can before the regatta starts.” Skeleton Key initiating a jibe in tough light air conditions © Sara Proctor / Verve Cup 2019 Have questions about tuning? Check out our J/111 Tuning Guide Click here to view all of our products J/111 inventory READ MORE

Get The Most From Your J/105 The 2019 J/105 British Virgin Islands North Americans in Marblehead is just around the corner. Is your team ready? Our J/105 Tool Kit will help. Created just for J/105 sailors, by our expert team. #NSVictoryList There is no better performance test of a one design sail than the results it produces. In 2018 alone, North Sails J/105 inventories helped teams win regattas all over the US. Tips From The Champ Champion Terry McLaughlin shares some tips that helped team Mandate win the 2018 North Americans. Downwind Tips & Tricks How to sail as deep as possible while still keeping your speed up. Before your next regatta, read this downwind manual from expert Will Keyworth. Define Your Speed Pulling all the pieces together can be challenging. Our J/105 Speed Guide will help you leverage our expertise to make the most of your sailing. Fine Tune With North Find your groove. Get your numbers. Be confident in all wind conditions. After countless hours of sailing, sail testing, and competing in the J/105, our championship winning sails will get you up to speed quickly. Working With The Best Our J/105 sails deliver the best results for our clients. Contact your local expert and join us at the front of the pack. READ MORE

J/24 US NATIONALS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE North Sails Expert Mike Ingham Explains What To Expect in Rochester They call Rochester “Leftchester”. But of course it is not always that simple! We asked North Sails expert and Rochester local Mike Ingham what sailors should expect when they leave the docks at the 2019 J/24 US Nationals. First, some basics: The predominant winds are in the West quadrant (WSW to NW). More often than not, systems come from the West quadrant, most often WSW The thermal is NNE The Genesee River flows North to the lake passing through Downtown Rochester before dropping considerably in altitude, passing RYC and emptying it’s silt into the lake The racing area is typically straight North or NE from the river. It’s not quite in a bay, but the land does indent like a very open bay, so there is land from West through South to East. From West through North to East is largely exposed The Lake is large and deep. It is around 350 miles long and 70 miles wide. The Niagara River flows into the lake on the SW corner and that water empties into the Atlantic by way of the St. Lawrence River in the NE corner Here are some thoughts for each direction: South Quadrant: It’s shifty in all of the South directions. The city of Rochester is ~8 miles up the Genesee and over 400 feet above the lake. That means the wind coming down that long hit is really unstable as it tries to mix in with the air below Heads up puffy lake sailing. Since the wind comes down that long hill, sometimes the puffs don’t hit the water so you don’t see them coming. Need to look and try and connect the puffs, but also need to be ready to react to whatever comes your way. Top of the course is the most shifty because it is closer to land making the last move to the weather mark and the first move out of it pretty critical All S directions (system driven) Flat water SOUTHEAST Can happen, but is not common. Almost always associated with some rain and storm coming, but not always Can get a lift off the right shore, but not consistently Not a sustainable direction, it is unlikely to lock into the SE for more than half a day before something changes it Will rarely turn into a thermal because it is associated with bad weather disrupting any land convection. SOUTH Relatively common system breeze Often warm clear weather Super shifty Rarely any geographic pattern (like get to a shore) because relatively square to the land SOUTHWEST Relatively common system breeze Can be nice clear warm weather, or can be humid with t-storms rumbling through especially in the afternoon Can be very windy, but is relatively flat Very shifty puffy – heads up! West Quadrant Common System driven Often windy, clear Relatively steady compared to the S winds, but still some shifts Can have T-storms associated, especially late in the day Out further in the lake, there can be big waves, but where we race there is a shore to the West, so that cuts down on big wave. Still choppy though. Often very favored left because of a lift off shore and flatter water North, Northwest System N or NW System breeze about once a month lasting a few days (when it is windy) Cold wind from the North Often windy BIG steep waves (up to 10 foot) In the spring and summer, this is an oscillating breeze, so play the longer shifts, could be 5 min + oscillations But in the fall, since the lake is warm and the air cold, mixing makes for big holes and puffs Northeast System Rare Unstable often rainy and stormy Does not last long Play shifts, but don’t expect a solid pattern Can be big waves if it does last a while because it has a very long fetch from the East end of the lake. But often does not last long enough to build up the really big waves Northeast Thermal Almost always a Thermal Sea breeze Lite. It rarely gets into double digits Like any other thermal, need a temperature differential. The lake peaks at around 65deg so it can happen even on a cool day. The lake can “turn over”. Only the surface is warm and if the lower cool water mixes, it can get cool overnight to the mid 50’s Flat water Even though it is coming from the lake, it only goes out a few miles and does not have time/ distance to build up much chop Once filled in, left seems to work more than not Current Surprisingly for a lake, you could see up to 1.5kts of current. Usually W to E parallel to the shore (but occasionally it inexplicably goes the other way –some kind of eddy). You can’t predict it but can easily tell which way and how strong by watching which way the river silt exits the river on your way out. It is caused by the bathtub effect, plus the flow of Niagara Falls (W to E). The lake is 300+ miles long and a low pressure system at one end or the other will suck the water that way, then when that pressure system goes away, the water “sloshes” back. It is relatively even over the race course, there is rarely any local eddy or current relief anywhere because the lake gets deep quickly. You have to go right near shore and we don’t typically race there. READ MORE

2019 TRANSPAC TALES Race Aficionado Patrick Murray Talks About His Favorite Offshore Event 📸Sharon Green / ultimatesailing.com We caught up with Local North Sails expert and Transpac aficionado Patrick Murray to get his personal download on the race. What makes this race so special to you and other sailors who keep coming back? This race has become my favorite race by far, globally, anywhere. 2019 was the fifth time I've sailed it and now on five different boats. So that’s five different styles and different teams every time. Every time I get more respect for what it takes to do the race, and the preparation that goes into being ready for the race. The Transpac is a small version of what the people in the Volvo talk about where, if you ask some crews on day three when they're heading out, it's cold and you're smashing upwind, and there's probably a few people that are not feeling all that well on the boat, you'd probably think they would never want to do it again. But in total, you get to Hawaii, the experience of finishing at Diamond Head, and the downwind sailing for days on end, of just ripping along, people want to do it again for sure. I think as far as this race goes, the results are one thing, but it's really just an accomplishment to be prepared and be at sea for nearly two weeks, handle all the conditions, the squalls, everything that gets thrown out at you out there. It's not your everyday race, and to see guys like Paul really excited at the finish, and the culmination of all the work, effort, and training, its extremely rewarding. How was this years race for you? The light air start didn’t favor breaking records but the conditions were nearly perfect; nice pressure, perfect reaching, and powered up sailing conditions the whole way. I think if you were to go through the fleet, it was a pretty windy and maybe just the tick above averages, in terms of how much wind. So it was a really proper offshore race and a proper offshore sail, that it put a few boats in tough situations and other boats and in a situation that they could thrive in really nice, heavy air conditions. I was on a Swan 60, Good Call. We started on Friday and had a perfect sail over to Catalina. Essentially we never had to tack, fetched on starboard tack, and made our way around Catalina, and then it was just beautifully windy the whole way across. 📸Sharon Green / ultimatesailing.com And on that note, how did you prepare your clients for this race? One thing I think people don't necessarily really think through or know if they haven't done the race, is that the beginning portion of the race is very hard, and it's more upwind and tight reaching. You have about 400 miles, and maybe up to 500 miles of pretty tight, cold, rough sailing, where you really have to earn that really beautiful downwind trade wind sailing. It's very different than the beautiful pictures we see with boats planing downwind off Diamond Head at the finish. You start upwind and it's a beat, medium to light air beat to Catalina, and then it's just off the wind, close reaching for some part of a 12 - 24 hour period. And then the breeze slowly goes from some version of west 270 and clocks through northwest. This is when you start seeing the wind up near zero out of the north and you're working through a full reaching inventory. That portion of the race is really critical, and which sail you use, and how you use them to get to different portions of the chart, is hugely important. What did you do personally and with your team to prepare for this race? On our boat, one of the things we did was try to eliminate having to carry too many sails. We would use our upwind sail and kind of an all-purpose upwind sail and heavier 3Di that could be used in heavy air. Then we were able to use a higher clew and a second clew, and a second configuration for that sail, so that we could use it as a reaching sail as well, which really helps in terms of gear management. You have to take so much stuff on this race, but if you can eliminate any of it, especially the upwind that goes away pretty quickly and then just turns into weight that you're carrying. On Good Call, we spent a lot of time working on the boat and getting everything ready, a lot of sailing time to work on those reaching configurations to see where they're the most efficient. How did you prepare your clients for this race? I had six clients in the race, in six boats that I worked with very closely in terms of preparation in their sail plans, and then just in sailing and preparation for the race, as well. That was the approach that we worked on with multiple boats so that we could keep the inventory as neat and clean, and efficient as possible, without having too many sails that you have to carry the whole way. And that's one of the benefits of 3Di, is that we were able to use those sails in a wider wind range, and also dual purpose uses in terms of a bit of a reaching sail, a Blast Reacher or Jib Top in some cases. With some of the other teams, I spent a lot of time with a few crews that were doing this race for the first time, working on their inventories in terms of what sails they had, and how to utilize them, but then also many hours out on the water coaching them. 📸Sharon Green / ultimatesailing.com READ MORE

WIZARD’S WINNING RECIPE A Methodical Approach to Setup, Schedule, and Sail Choices Peter and David Askew are on a hot streak with their VO70 Wizard in this year’s Atlantic Ocean Racing Series. They’ve won three of the five events in the series so far; RORC Caribbean 600, 2019 Transatlantic Race, and Rolex Fastnet Race. Their chance to complete the season with a sweep comes on October 19th, when the Rolex Middle Sea Race starts. Winning ocean races is why the brothers purchased Wizard (the VO70 that won the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, as Groupama) in 2017. As Peter puts it, “Our entire program has been deliberately focused on winning.” That program started with a core team that raced a custom-built Reichel/Pugh 74 on the Great Lakes and won the Transpac Barn Door in 2013. Once the brothers set their sights on the Transatlantic Race, though, they knew they needed a canting keeler. Groupama, then sailing as Giacomo, was for sale in Sydney, Australia after winning overall honors in the 2016 Sydney Hobart Race. “Chris Larson from North Sails helped us put a group together to get the boat to the starting line of the 2017 Sydney Hobart Race, where we won our class,” Peter explains. “We then brought the boat back to the USA, did the 2018 Newport Bermuda Race, and won the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division.” Next, boat captain Chris Maxted took apart and overhauled all the major components and systems, while the sailing team returned to the Great Lakes for another successful season on the R/P 74. Once the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 concluded, Charlie Enright and Phil Harmer rejoined the team. “It was at that point,” Peter explains, “that we decided to go after the AORS events, starting with the Caribbean 600 in February 2019. David and I knew full well we had a weapon with Wizard, and the right people in place.” A combination of ocean-ready boat and crew, plus all their planning and preparation, is why they’ve posted such an impressive string of victories, he adds. “You have to go pretty far back in sailing history to find another boat that has been as successful as this particular Volvo 70. Maybe Dorade, but in the last 30 years, I don’t recall a boat being this dominant in the world’s most challenging ocean races. Over its life this won the Volvo Ocean Race as Groupama, the Sydney Hobart Race as Giacomo, and Newport-Bermuda Race, Caribbean 600, Transatlantic and Fastnet with our Wizard team. It’s an amazing run and the next challenge is the Middle Sea Race.” “Are we pleasantly surprised by the string of victories?” Peter asks. “Of course, but we never set out to be second or third. Our goal of having a competitive program has been very deliberate. David and I are competitive guys, and we always play to win.” Charlie Enright has worked closely with the Askews to methodically build a program that could handle a heavy schedule of offshore racing. “Most races are won before they even start,” Charlie reminds us. “Wizard’s off-season and pre-race approach are to leave no stone unturned and to be efficient and rational with our decision-making. Chris Maxted does an exceptional job making sure the boat is ready to race.” The experienced crew includes Will Oxley, Rob Greenhalgh, Phil Harmer, and Mitch White; Phil won the VOR on the boat, and Mitch sailed a lot of miles under the Giacomo name. “We have good sailors on our team,” Charlie continues, “but so do most of the other boats. The important thing is that we work well together. The boat is 75% American and 25% international, which is cool and somewhat rare.” And Team Wizard is only twelve people, while other similarly sized boats might have 20 crew. “A consistent, tight-knit group is key,” Charlie says. “When that gun does go off, we feel confident that we have as good a chance to win as anybody.” Winning still takes sailing well and some good luck, he admits, “but the results are pretty consistent over the past year, regardless of what conditions we’ve been sailing in.” The boat had done a lot of miles by the time the Askews bought her, but Charlie says they also used a methodical approach to replacing the inventory, initially a mix of 3Di Endurance and 3Di RAW. “Some programs take delivery, look at the year in which a particular sail was built, and just start replacing things sight unseen.” Instead, the team has been replacing “about one new sail an event,” which allows for learning and conceptual changes. For example, they’re now using a whisker pole reaching with the J0, a concept they took from the VO65s. The sail’s versatility allows the team to leave some other sails behind, Charlie adds. “It can take the place of the G1 in a pinch upwind. It comes at a rating hit because of its luff length, but we only really use it in events where there’s no real VMG.” Putting together the best sail package isn’t “voodoo,” Charlie laughs. “We just try to think logically about what we’re doing and the best sail package to get there.” For the 2019 Fastnet, Wizard added a Helix Code Zero to power them through the light spots. “We used it to VMG downwind off of Start Point,” Charlie says, “and then used the same sail to help us upwind in the light spot east of the Scilly Islands.” Designer Max Tringale worked on Wizard’s Code Zero. “The size target was similar to the boat’s older style cabled sail, with the goal to not reduce the area or change the sheeting location. By combining Helix with Load-Sharing Technology, we were able to design a lighter, flatter sail that works across a wider wind range.” Over the past year, Max continues, there’s been “a tremendous amount of collaboration within the North Sails Design Team to develop our latest Helix mold shapes, allowing us to build the flattest and most efficient sail possible. The flying shapes produced, along with Load Sharing between a small luff cord and the sail itself, allows the luff of the sail to project away from the boat, instead of sagging aft and leeward like traditional cabled sails.” Charlie confirms that the Helix sail can be carried through a wider range of conditions. “It’s lighter, and the luff is not constrained by the cable. We’re learning how to optimize adjustments, not only with the sheet and the tweaker but also with the tack line. The self-supporting sail structure for sure reduces tack load for a given flying shape.” Charlie predicts that Wizard will see even more benefit from the Helix, once they upgrade the 2015 mast that came with the boat. “That said, we have definitely seen a performance bump by adding the Helix sail.”It’s also easier to put in the bag, and lighter to carry around. “Peter and David like this kind of sailing because every race is different,” Charlie concludes. They’re really good about picking a goal, picking a tool, and surrounding themselves with the right people. That’s why they’ve been able to achieve such good results in the last couple of years. I’m proud of what we have accomplished—we’ve got a good thing going.” Peter agrees, and he’s optimistic that their hard work will continue to pay off in the Rolex Middle Sea Race. “ We will approach the final AORS event as we have the others, and see where it shakes out.” READ MORE

NEWPORT INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW RSVP & Get Your Ticket Free RSVP by September 9th and include your favorite summer sailing 📸. We'll pick our favorite 50 and the winners will receive a North Sails hat and a ticket to the Newport International Boat Show. READ MORE

Dvije trećine sezone su gotove Srpanj, kolovoz i rujan su tri ljetna mjeseca rezervirana za sve ljubitelje tradicijskih brodica i jedrenja na način koji je vezan uz latinsko jedro. Ove godine prva regata/smotra tradicijskih jedrilica u Dalmaciji je bila 14. srpnja na 8. Ugriniću, okupljanju koje se organizira na otoku Pašmanu pod imenom "Đir po konalu". Nakon toga je organizirana prva od tri regate na otoku Murteru. Domaćini su bili Jezerani, također po 8. put kao i kolege im s Pašmana. Njihova regata je poznata pod nazivom "Lantina", a ovogodišnji termin održavanja je bio 21. srpnja. Slijedeća regata je bila najjužnija i održala se na otoku Krapnju pod nazivom Krapanjsko idro, a termin održavanja je bio 2. kolovoza. Zatim karavana kreće prema sjeveru i prva iduća je regata koja se odjedrila na Zlarinu, "13. Latinskim idrom na kureja". Prvi termin koji je bio predviđen za Zlarinsku smotru je 27. srpnja, ali zbog vrlo lošeg vremena čiji dolazak je najavljen na vrijeme dolazi do izmjene termina na 5. kolovoza. U principu riječ je bila o jedinom razumnom terminu, a da se regata ne odgodi na bar nekoliko tjedana, samo što je 4. kolovoza već odavno rezerviran za "Žensku veslačku regatu" u Betini. Iz logističkih razloga armavanja brodova koji za Betinsku regatu nisu trebali jarbole i ostatak opute, a i pratećeg efekta prigodne fešte, izostao je dolazak većeg broja sudionika s Murtera. Dvadesetak posada iz Brodarice, Zlarina, Prvića, Vodica i Murtera ipak je osiguralo kontinuitet održavanja, a ove godine su uspjeli startati "na lancanu" i dosta brzo prejedriti zadanu rutu unatoč laganim uvjetima koji su vladali na regatnom polju. Nakon starta flota je trebala lijevim bokom ostaviti plič Roženik, kao i hrid Galijola i vratiti se natrag u Zlarin. Puhao je lagani oštrin koji je omogućio spomenutu proceduru starta, a za one neupućene to je princip u kojem se svi sudionici vežu krmom jer su postavljeni niz vjetar i kad se signalizira start otvaraju se jedra i kreće se s regatom. Ovisno o portu iz kojeg se kreće i eventualnim dricevima koji bi mogli izazvati probleme u ovoj početnoj fazi jedrenja, u more se mogu baciti i sidra po kojima se natjecatelji povlače nakon što je dan signal starta. Osim ovog starta u primjeni je i klasični "leteći" start kao na ostalim regatama, ali to je nešto što nije baš najbolje rješenje za ovaj tip brodova i regata, prvenstveno zbog manevarskih sposobnosti ove vrste plovila. Konkretno tu je najveći problem naglo i često mijenjanje smjera, što iziskuje posebne manevre u kojima nerijetko je nužna upotreba vesla. Što se same regate na Zlarinu tiče, već nakon starta se izdvojila ekipa gajete Sirotica i svoju lidersku poziciju nisu ispuštali sve do kraja regate. Kako to obično biva na regatama, vodeći imaju malo više sreće s vjetrom, a ostali su upali u malo veće probleme u zoni između Roženika i Galijole gdje su se osim s bezvjetricom morali nadmudrivati i s vrlo neugodnim južnim kurentom. U svakom slučaju predviđene 3.5 NM svi uspijevaju proći za par sati i nastaviti se družiti u srcu Zlarinskog porta. Već krajem tog tjedna, u nedjelju 11. kolovoza nastavak je putovanja karavane prema sjeveru. Luka okupljanja je u Prvić Šepurini pod imenom "13. Burtiž". Termin regate nije mijenjan zbog vremenskih ili nekih drugih razloga, pa je i odziv sudionika bio dosta velik. Ukupno je jedrilo 35 kaića, gajeta i leuta. Puhalo je SW-W od oko 13-14 čvorova. Smjer vjetra i konfiguracija porta u kombinaciji s brojem sudionika zahtijevao je zadavanje starta letećom metodom, a nakon prelaska startne linije jedrilo se prema bovi postavljenoj ispred jugoistočnog rta otoka Tijata, rta Gaćice. Slijedeća točka obaveznog obilaska je bila još jedna bova, ovog puta ispred Logorunskih vrata, a nakon toga flota se trebala vratiti u Šepurine. Sunčan dan i vjetra taman koliko treba, stvorilo je impresivnu sliku tradicionalnih jedrilica u svoj njihovoj raskoši punih jedara i bijelih brazda. I ovog puta na čelu flote je bila Sirotica i tu svoju poziciju je suvereno držala do druge bove.tada se dešavaju dvije jedriličarske triler situacije. U stopu ju je pratio kaić Marinka koji je uspio održati pravu kombinaciju kuta i brzine i zahvaljujući tome što je Sirotica morala virati ispred bove da bi je mogla obići, Marinka preuzima vodstvo i bez opasnosti odnosi pobjedu na regati. Ali da bi sve bilo još zanimljivije, s desne strane regatnog polja, za vrijeme ove situacije na bovi, stiže još jedna gajeta, Baba Ivanica. Ona iskorištava to što je Sirotica trebala napraviti dvije vire da bi pravilno obišla bovu i s malom prednošću preuzima drugo mjesto u generalnom poretku. Međutim, iskusna ekipa Sirotice ne odustaje i uspijeva sustići Babu Ivanicu i s jednom dužinom prednosti ući u cilj ipak kao drugoplasirani. Iduća regata latinskog idra je na rasporedu u nedjelju 18. kolovoza u Betini, a nakon nje u rujnu slijedi veliko finale s najmasovnijom i najstarijom regatom koja se održava u Murteru. READ MORE