David Ames and PJ Buhler lead the way at the 2026 Flying Scot Midwinters. Photo © Jennifer Joy Walker Photography.
Sarasota (FL) Sailing Squadron hosted the Flying Scot class’s 2026 Midwinter Championship over the March 6-8 weekend. Seventy boats sailed in the regatta divided into Championship (42 boats) and Challenger (29 boats) divisions. With the sun out all three days, each division ran eight races with winds in the 5-10 knot range. As always, SSS ran an exceptional championship both on the water and ashore.
In the end, it was Floridians David Ames and PJ Buhler who dominated the Championship Division. Starting the series with a fifth, the duo’s win in the second race put them atop the leaderboard where they remained until the end. And, with their 5-1-1-4-1-1-5-3 scoreline, their lead over second place finishers Tyler and Carrie Andrews continued to grow. In the end, David and PJ had 21 points, a 28-point lead over the Andrews’ 49 points.
Ames and Buhler are no strangers to the Flying Scot podium having won the class’s 2025 National Championship and other class regattas. While they believed their results were good overall, as a comparatively heavy team they found that they had to sail more bow-down than they would have liked to keep up speed in light air races.
They had some ideas on how to improve a Flying Scot’s jib sail shape and were looking for a sailmaker who would work with them to refine their design ideas. They reached out to Mike Considine from UK Sailmakers Chicago who they had competed against in the class.
2026 Flying Scot Midwinters. Photos © Jennifer Joy Walker Photography.
UK Chicago sent their existing demo sails for David and PJ to evaluate. They tested those sails on the water and used drone footage to capture the sail shapes. While evaluating the drone footage on a Zoom call, UK Sailmakers Lead Designer Pat Considine, Mike, David, and PJ agreed that the existing UK Sailmaker’s Scot main and spinnaker designs were fast. They focused on the jib.
They discussed small changes that could be made to open up the upper section of the jib design. Pat ran a full FSI (Fluid–Structure Interaction) analysis on David and PJ’s design ideas and made small design tweaks to the jib. The end result was a headsail with a subtly different leach shape that produced dramatic gains.
UK Sailmakers’ Flying Scot sails are computer designed and performance optimised with FSI (Fluid-Structure Interaction) analysis. Read more about our one design sail development process here.
The proof of those gains was a dominant win in the 2026 Midwinters. David said, “These new UK Sailmakers’ sails worked ‘beyond excellent.’ While we were still one of the heavier teams in this light-moderate air regatta, we were able to maintain our point and, literally, couldn’t stall the jib. The combination of the new jib with the UK class mainsail gave us a versatility advantage because the sails had a wider range than any other brand of sails we have used in the past. This allowed us to change gears smoothly and effectively transition from point mode to speed mode.”
PJ added, “We’ve won before…but never by such a huge margin!”
Mike Considine went on to note, “UK Sailmakers’ one-design sails have had a lot of success in various classes, and we are continuously working with our customers to develop faster one-design sails that can win in all conditions.”
If you’re interested in improving your one-design performance, contact UK Sailmakers. Whether you’re racing with a full crew of three or enjoying a daysail, the combination of performance, durability, and ease of handling makes UK Sailmakers a trusted choice for Flying Scot sailors looking to move up the fleet.
David Ames and PJ Buhler at the 2026 Flying Scot Midwinters. Photo © Jennifer Joy Walker Photography. Full Midwinter Championship results available here.
