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Pictured above, a crowded start at the 2010 China Cup International Regatta. In an effort to kick start keelboat racing in China, the Chinese Yachting Association bought a fleet of 30 Beneteau First 40.7s three years ago. The CYA chose racing sails for their fleet that would stand up to sailors of all levels, and the sails needed to perform in the high profile CCIR each year off Shenzhen where international sailors push the boats hard in tight fleet racing. So far the sails have stood up to three solid seasons of use. UK-Halsey’s Tape-Drive construction method makes the longest lasting racing sails – period.
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| PERFORMANCE SAILS THAT LAST... MATRIX TITANIUM |
 MatriX Titanium is UK-Halsey’s highest performance sail construction method and it is now available from any one of UK-Halsey’s 50 lofts and service centers. These sails are the result of a five year development program undertaken by our loft in southern France and are unique among the membrane genre for a couple of reasons.
First, the structural yarns are continuous running from head to clew, head to tack, tack to clew with no breaks or interruptions. The result is a truly one-piece sail with no load bearing seams. Yes, there are seams in the film but they are there simply to shape the membrane, nothing more. The aerodynamic loads are passed from corner to corner by the continuous, one-piece yarns. No need to worry about seam distortion, wrinkles or worse yet, seam failure. MatriX Titanium sails are smooth and wrinkle free.
Second, the sails stay laminated. In fact they're guaranteed against delamination for two years.
Third, MatriX Titanium sails are light. There is no excess glue on the film and the yarns are actually dry e.g. no adhesive coating. The result is a laminate that is extremely light, easy to handle and has a minimum of mechanical shrinkage. Corner patches are thin and flexible.
THE FAST LASTS
Take a look at this MatriX Titanium genoa on Tom Carroll's J/133 SIRENSONG. This AP#1 was delivered early last spring and her first races were in the American Yacht Club’s Spring Regatta in April. Coincidentally, her last races of the 2010 season took place in the AYC Fall Regatta, which ended in October.
Here's how things shook out:
In the spring event there were 9 races. SIRENSONG had 7 firsts, a fourth and a 6th. In the fall event, there were 11 races. SIRENSONG had 5 firsts, 5 seconds and 1 tie for second. Out of 20 races, she had 12 firsts, 5 seconds and a tie for second. She won the spring and fall events in her class; the point is that her MatriX Titanium genoa was as fast on the last day of the season as it was on the first.
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THE FAST LASTS.
A LITTLE HISTORY
MatriX Titanium sails are load path sails. They are a refinement of the original load path sails introduced by UK Sailmakers more than twenty years ago. Those original sails were (and still are) known as Tape-Drive. The load bearing members in a Tape-Drive sail are tapes made with bundles of high-strength yarns.
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| Tape-Drive sails in action |
The similarity between the yarn patterns in the Titanium sails and the tape patterns in the Tape-Drive sails is obvious and in both types of sails, the load bearing elements are continuous.
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BACK TO MATRIX TITANIUM
 At the beginning of this piece, I mentioned a five-year development program undertaken at UK-Halsey in southern France. Early successes in events like the Tour de France were dogged by the usual problem of a short life span but even then the benefits of the continuous yarns and one-piece construction were obvious. As time passed, the manufacturing and materials both improved and the sails started to take on the look and feel of what they are today. Race results and longevity both improved with the product.
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MATRIX TITANIUM DOWN UNDER
As Titanium sails proved their worth in the Mediterranean, more of the UK-Halsey lofts started giving them a try. This exposed the sails to different environments around the world, some being a lot more hostile than that of southern France. One such spot is Fremantle, Australia. Hot, strong sunlight, heavy air! Certainly, if Titanium sails could survive there, they could survive anywhere. To quote our loft owner, Geoff Bishop, "All the owners are very impressed with the longevity of the Titanium sails when compared to the other membrane sails they have used." |
Read more about MatriX Titanium ... |
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| SKILL BUILDING: HOW TO SAIL UP TO A MOORING |
Sailing is fun and sailing well leads to confidence, safety and more even more fun on the water. A great skill to practice is stopping your boat in a specific location. This skill is used when sailing up to a mooring, sailing along side a dock, or rescuing a man overboard. You need to be able to do these things without an engine for the obvious reason that sailboat engines are known for occupying the low end of the reliability scale.
Most people learn to stop their boat by heading up in to the wind and coasting to a stop. This method is perfect if you are not worried about where you coming to a stop. Coasting into the wind is also a recipe for visiting your sailmaker soon to buy a new genoa since luffing head-to-wind flogs the leech of the genoa against the mast and shrouds.
When you try to stop by luffing directly into the wind, you are in an all-or-nothing position. If you made your turn into the wind too far from the mooring, you’ll stop short and have to make another attempt. If you approach too fast, you’ll sail right by the mooring; even if you manage to grab the mooring’s pick-up stick, it will either pull out of your hands or you’ll end up riding over the mooring chain, which will chew up your bottom paint and the leading edge of your keel. Neither of these situations are ideal.
If you want to come to a stop at a specific location, approach on a close reach. To slow down, release the sheets so that the sails luff completely (If you are two wide of a reach, you will not be able to luff the main enough since the shrouds will prevent the main from luffing completely). If you find the boat slowing down too much, trim one or both sails slightly to so that the aft end of the sails are drawing. This will give you some speed but keep the boat from accelerating to full speed. If you are moving too fast, let the sails luff again. By luffing and trimming slightly you can constantly fine-tune your speed as approach the mooring ball.
By practicing with a mooring ball, you’ll be much better prepared to rescue a crewmember who has fallen overboard. With someone in the water, the last thing you want to do is make several attempts to get back to him or her. Also, don’t forget to view UK-Halsey’s safety at sea videos, which show how to rescue a crew overboard as well as how to get them back on the boat once you make that perfect approach to them in the water. Click here to get to the library of videos. |
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| SAILING IN ITALY, VISIT OUR NEW LOFT |
 Maurizio Gorini, founder of Rozzo Pulcino Sailmakers in Venturina, just south of Livorno on the west coast of Italy is the newest loft to join the UK-Halsey worldwide group. Maurizio started his company Rozzo Pulcino, choosing that offbeat name (“Rough Chick”) not because it has anything to do with sailing or the sea…but we’ll save the story of the name for another time. The loft is a modern 600 square meter facility that is equipped with an Autometrix plotter as well as sewing machines to handle any sized sail.
Maurizio said, “The passion I have for this job pushes me to improve, to learn and to keep up with what is new. Now I’m finally part of a glorious group (UK-Halsey). Behind this brand there is a great team, which is an honor to be part of. Everything in the sailmaking world is evolving so fast and research is improving day by day; only big brands have the potential to improve materials and find out new methods of construction. To represent the UK-Halsey in Italy is a lot of responsibility and I look forward to being able to provide my customers with world class sails.”
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| HOBART RACE MATRIX MINI MAXIS |
UK-Halsey’s MatriX sails proved their mantle on two 60-footers in this year’s Sydney-Hobart race. The Volvo 60 MERIT, received a new A2 spinnaker and a MatriX Titanium Code 4 jib the week before the start. They felt the older Code 5 would not survive in the windy stuff, so they pushed on with the new Code 4. They loved the sail so much that as the wind built they dropped the mainsail completely and pushed on with the Code 4. When they got the chance to put the spinnaker up they always chose the new A2. MERIT finished 2nd in PHS Division 1 and was 18th across the line in 3 days 9 hours and 19 minutes.
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| MERIT flying her UK-Halsey A2 with its Whitsundays Islands inlay. RIGHT: The 66-foot DODO showing her MatriX main. |
DODO, the ex-BROOMSTICK, sailed her second Hobart race with the same MatriX mainsail. Their no-so-great finish was because they stopped in the middle of the race to drop off a crewmember who suffered a broken arm.
Also of note in the Hobart Race, the Beneteau First 40 PACA finished first in Division 3 IRC. She carried a UK-Halsey Code 0 and Spinnaker Staysail. Sailing master Philippe Peche said that he was very happy with both sails, they powered away at the start with the Code 0 up and used it three times during the race with great success.
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| JUNIOR SAILORS BENEFIT FROM WORLDWIDE SAIL DEVELOPMENT |
In 2010, UK-Halsey lofts around the world started working to develop championship winning Optimist sails and the results are promising. In Mexico the sails won a major championship after three short months of development. The sail was used by the winner of the Copa Mexico where there was an international fleet of 52 boats.
“For the summer of 2010 we designed a better sail yet and had 10 sailors using it,” said Yon Belausteguigoitia of UK-Halsey Mexico. “It was the official sail for the Mexican team in the North American Championship in Kingston, Canada. Hector Guzman finished 21st in the 196-boat fleet. At the NAs he won a race and had four top 10 finishes in the 12-race regatta.”
Hector went on to finish 21st again at the World Championship in Langkawi, Malaysia, in December. He finished third in one race, had three fourths and two ninths in the 15-race regatta, which proves that the design is fast.
Half a world away, UK-Halsey Hong Kong is working with local sailor Clara Krantz to develop the Mega 2 Optimist design. UK-Halsey Hong Kong’s Opti development shows the loft’s commitment to both the development of the Optimist sail and the training of youth sailors. UKH HK will continue to develop the sails with Clara and her two coaches, Nick Hollis and Richard Knight of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.
In Brazil, Mauricio Santa Cruz’s loft has also be tackling the Opti as well. Maruricio designed and built sails that he used to win the J/24 Worlds three times and he is taking the lead in UK-Halsey’s One-Desgin development. “Our Optimist sail debuted very well in the Brazilian Championship where 156 boats competed,” said Mauricio. Sailors using our sails finished 7th, 12th, 16th and 18th. Rodrigo Luz finished seventh and the top female finisher was Julia Correia, who finished 16th overall. She won the 13th race of the series and had eight top-ten finishes.
The UK-Halsey group will continue to exchange designs and information in an effort to come up with the fastest Opti sails.
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| NEW RULES QUIZ COMING SOON
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 Within a week, UK-Halsey will be completing its latest animated Rules Quiz. Owners of the Rules Quiz program will be able to get this quiz for free by clicking on the update button. To get the new three-part quiz covering situations related to Rule 19.2, click here to buy the Rules Quiz program for $55.
What makes UK-Halsey’s quizzes a unique way to learn the rules of sailing is the use of animation, which allows viewers to get a much better understanding of the rule in question. The animations can be stopped and started and played over as many times as necessary for the viewer to come to their own conclusion before checking the answer. Viewers watch the boats move; spinnakers go up and come down; sails luff and are trimmed as well as move from side to side as the boats go around the racing marks.
The program offers much more than just 29 quizzes, many of which have multiple situations. It also includes a section called The Lifted Tack that has videos from rules seminars as well as a 30-question interactive rules test.
The program is a download, which allows UK-Halsey to keep adding quizzes, videos and more, which improves the value of the original purchase price.
Don’t just take our word for how helpful this program is. Jos Spikerman wrote in his rules newsletter LOOK TO WINDWARD, “A good tool to test your knowledge and understanding of the rules. With the correct answers, a comprehensive and clear explanation is provided. So you learn from your mistakes. For those of you who are serious in learning the RRS, the UK-Halsey Rules Quiz program is very good tool.”
To buy the program, click here. To see a short video about the program click here and to see a sample of the detailed test answers, click here.
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CRUISING SAILORS MAKE BETTER RACERS?
RULE 14 EXPLAINED
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If you start racing keel boats from a cruising background, you’ll have one big advantage over those who started racing in dinghies because you will be less apt to get into a collision. Cruising sailors hate to get close to other boats; if a boat comes within a few boatlengths, that skipper will get a stern look that means, “Why the heck are you coming so close?” Dinghy sailors, on the other hand, are used to coming within inches of each other; if they touch, there are no serious consequences since the boats are so light.
Well there is almost never a collision without damage when keel boats come together and that’s why the rule writers created Rule 14. It says that if there is a collision that results in damage or injury, a right of way boat that failed to avoid contact can be penalized as well as the boat that was found to be breaking a rule. To be clear, if you are on starboard tack and a port tacker does not get out of your way and you end up hitting the port tack boat and causing damage or an injury, you, the starboard tacker, can be thrown out along with the port tacker that did not keep clear.
 If you think of sailboat racing in terms of driving your car, you’ll understand the thinking of the rule writers. If you are driving through an intersection and see someone run a stop sign, do you intentionally hit him? Of course not, you slam on your breaks and if necessary swerve out of the way. Then you honk your horn, shake your fist and yell out the window. The honking, gesticulating and yelling is like yelling protest. Slowing and swerving is your effort to avoid contact when it is clear that the other is not keeping clear.
And remember, saying that you did not see the other guy until it was too late is no excuse. Protest committees expect you to keep a good look out at all times.
So remember, sail like you drive! A good driver is looking all around constantly and always makes an effort to avoid collisions.
For your information, here is the full text of Rule 14 of the Racing Rules of Sailing.
| 14 AVOIDING CONTACT |
| A boat shall avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible.
However, a right-of-way boat or one entitled to room or mark-room
(a) need not act to avoid contact until it is clear that the other boat
is not keeping clear or giving room or mark-room, and
(b) shall not be penalized under this rule unless there is contact
that causes damage or injury. |
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| A CHRISTMAS SAIL |
 Last Christmas, Ed Remillard, III, and the rest of the family-crew of the Beneteau 35 RUFFIAN gave the ultimate Christmas present -- a new sail. They bought Dad (Ed Remilard, Jr.) a new racing genoa. “With all that my father has provided us over the years, it was time to show some appreciation and give a little something back!” said Ed. And boy was his father surprised. Click here to see him opening the box by the Christmas tree.
Like all good presents, there is a great story behind it. Jeff Tyrrel of UK-Halsey New York picks up the story:
Click here to read it ...
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| UK-Halsey International, 175 City Ave., City Island NY 10464 |
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