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UK Sailmakers Update November, 2002
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KLINGLER
DOMINATES J/80 NORTH AMERICANS
Even though the fleet wasn't huge, the depth of talent was great. Kerry said, "We took a look at the competition and realized that we were in for a tough regatta. Jay Lutz was sailing with his brother Jody calling tactics. Geoff Pierini was sailing with help from Max Scully of Ullman Sails. Robert Miller assembled a great team with the help of Steve LeMay, with Alec Cutler steering. Kurt Muller also put together an impressive team on EMOTIONAL RESCUE. Antonio Mari chartered a boat from J-World and brought his well-traveled team from Puerto Rico to the event." Winning all the major regattas in the class that he's entered over the last two years, except for the 2002 Worlds, where he finished second, Kerry and his team was a target to be tacked on. But Kerry has a word to the wise about tacking on other boats. "On the second day of the regatta we had three key times when the second place boat tacked on us. Each time the boat tacking on us tacked onto the headed tack. Each time we tacked away, we tacked onto a lifted tack. The next time we crossed with that same boat, we always had a lead. In short, tacking on the competition is only helpful if you end up going the right way." We enjoyed a clear advantage in boat speed. This was achieved with the same sail shapes we used to win the 2001 World Championships. The key is that over time we have developed better tuning. Check our web site for more details. Go to the One-Design section and then click on the J/80 logo. COMPLETE RESULTS
For a complete report by Kerry Klingler about the North Americans and the boat preparation he did as well as some new tuning tips, go to the J/80 page at the UK Sailmakers One-Design site. You'll find this article and a similar one written by Kerry about the J/80 Worlds in France.
UK
J/24 SAILS WINNING AGAIN
On 5-6 October, the Galveston Bay Cruising Association (GBCA) hosted the annual Compass Bank Regatta on Galveston Bay. The event saw nearly 40 boats in 5 classes. Of note was the J/24 class that was won by Jim McPherson using a brand new set of UK Sailmakers sails. The boat was significantly faster than the other J/24s, especially in the very light air drifters that characterized the weekend of racing. The Tape-Drive genoa was particularly notable for its ability to keep its perfect aerodynamic shape in light and shifty breezes. Good sails may not win races - good sailors do. But, good sails with good sailors make for first place finishes -- three-plus minutes ahead of the competition on a four-mile course. --Brian Hawboldt 77-FOOT
JELIK TAKES ALL HONORS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA OCEAN RACE
CHINA Oct. 16, 2002 - Even though he didn't break the course record, Frank Pong is happy that JELIK has finally claimed not only line honors, but also the corrected honors in the 355 nm Hainan Island Race. The course runs from Hong Kong, southwest at 235 degrees along the south China coast to Hainan Island. While Frank's Tom Wylie-designed, and much modified by Juan Kouyoumdjian (designer of the Prada AC boats) slender 77 footer, didn't break the race record, she finished the race a massive 8 hours ahead of Sam Chan's Ffree Fire, a ULDB maxi -- the current record holder. Sweeter than that for Pong and crew was beating STELLA, a well-sailed Sydney 38 that JELIK owed 20 minutes an hour. STELLA came in over 13.5 hours later and corrected an hour and a half behind.
The wind started off from the northeast, then as the race progressed and the fleet headed south with asymmetrics just off the forestay, both direction and strength changed as predicted from 045 degrees to 210 degrees, and slowly died. In the fresh running conditions, JELIK flew a full size asymmetric specially built for this purpose. It's a deep 3/4 oz spinnaker that was carried with the pole cranked back 10-15 degrees off the forestay, which let the boat sail deep and fast. After the first day of racing, JELIK was on track to smash the two-year-old 29 hour 55 minute record, as she peeled back the miles in the 18-20 knot easterly breeze. Then the winds dropped to a calm 12-knot southeaster and then to 6 knots out of the south for the final slog to the finish. In the light conditions JELIK was hard on the wind. Trying to point in the left over swells and light winds was killing the boat speed, so the crew powered up the boat by easing the main outhaul and moving the jib cars forward and fell off five degrees. With the sails powered up and the boat footing, JELIK kept the pace and finished in slow but winning time. JELIK arrived at the finish line off Sanya on the southern coast of Hainan Island at 2:30 in the morning on Oct 18th, 38.5 hours after the start. JELIK's race winning inventory was made up of Tape-Drive sails made with Cuben fiber skins and carbon fiber tapes. She also carried a new asymmetrical runner that owner Frank Pong said, "Under 14 knots true breeze, the new green kite had not much advantage over our blue and grey AP asymmetric. Over 15 knots, it was very noticeably faster, we used it at 150 degrees true and speed was much higher, maybe over one knot faster than the AP asymmetric. It is a deep running cut! I will carry it at King's Cup. "
SE FLORIDA PHRF CHAMPIONSHIP
UK CUSTOMERS WIN 2 OUT OF 3 CLASSES MIAMI, FL Nov. 9-10: Five of the nine trophy winners in this year's SE Florida PHRF Championship were awarded to UK Sailmakers customers. The Coconut Grove Sailing Club ran a three-race series for 24 boats sailing in three classes on the crystal clear waters of Biscayne Bay. The sailing conditions put an emphasis on straight line boat speed. Winds were light to moderate, 7 to 12 knots with very few shifts. Coconut Grove Sailing Club race committee ran 2 windward/leewards and an Olympic triangle. Nine boats Class 2 raced in class two and after three races, the top three boats were tied. Craig Setzer sailing his Beneteau 35.5 MISTRAL won the tie breaker sailing with a brand new inventory to Tape-Drive carbon sails. Craig, the weatherman for the local CBS affiliate said, "We could not have had better weather conditions. Highs in the 80's, water temperature 81; steady winds out of the east -- just perfect. The series was a good tune up for us since we are planning to do KWRW." MISTRAL has the following new sails: AP No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, Powerhead Main and .75 oz Matrix spinnaker. Tom Seghi's S2 9.1 HAPPY APPLE was winning Class 2 going up the beat of the last race. But when a J/27 beat her across the line by a mere 2 seconds, Class 2 ended up in a three-way tie. HAPPY APPLE came out of the tie breaker on the short end and went from first to third. Class 3 was swept by three UK Sailmakers customers: First was the J/24 PJ HAMBURG, second was AVENGER, Winn Copper and Richard Mosca's Morgan 27 and third was Russ Horn's Morgan 27 MILD TO WILD. Congratulations to all.
THE UK SAILMAKERS REAL TIME RACING RULES CD The best way to learn the Racing Rules of Sailing just got better!  We
hope you've enjoyed the rules quizzes on the UK Sailmakers web site.
We think they are a great way to help sailors learn the racing rules.
Now we'd like to introduce the first edition of the UK Sailmakers Real Time Racing Rules CD. It has special features to help you analyze each quiz situation and the applicable rules in detail. Along with all the animated quizzes, we've packed this CD with tools to make learning the racing rules easier yet! For instance, we've included all the Racing Rules of Sailing, all the definitions and most of the appendices along with hot links in the text of the answers for every rule or definition mentioned. The hot links enable users to open a separate box on the screen with the exact wording of the rule or definition referred to. This is much easier than thumbing through the pages of the rule book. The CD allows you to play the animations full screen with a button to pause or resume the action as many times as you'd like. This lets you study the relative positions of the boats before trying to decide who is right and who is wrong.
This is our first edition of the Real Time Racing Rules CD. It is
our intention to offer regular updates with new quizzes and new
features. Sailors who have purchased a CD will receive a preferred
rate on all updates. If
you would like to sample the rules quizzes already posted on our
web site, please click CRUISING
SPINNAKER VIDEO
Another movie available from UK Sailmakers is our new 17-minute instructional video 
"The Cruising Spinnaker A-Z." The movie is a true "A-Z" treatment
because it teaches more than just how to jibe and trim the cruising
spinnaker. Viewers learn handy tips on how two people can hoist
and douse the cruising spinnaker, what kind of sheets work best,
what equipment is needed to use the sail, how to enlist the help
of the wind in moving the sail across the boat during jibes, how
to pack the sail into its bag so that it will launch easily, what
to look for when adjusting the height of the tack, and much, much
more.Sailors can buy "The Cruising Spinnaker A-Z" on VHS cassette or CD for $35 (shipping within the U.S.A. included) from the UK Sailmakers online store or they can get it free when they buy a new cruising spinnaker from their local UK Sailmakers loft. Click 
for a preview of the movie. BUY
HOLIDAY GIFTS AT THE UK SAILMAKERS ONLINE STORE
The UK Sailmakers online store if full of ideas for holiday presents.
Instructional items are The Real Time Racing Rules CD that includes
our animated rules quiz, the full text of the Racing Rules of Sailing
and more. This disk has been hailed as the easiest way to learn
the racing rules. For cruising sailors we have an instructional
video entitled The Cruising Spinnaker From A to Z, which is available
on VHS cassette or CD ROM.
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