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HEAVY WEATHER CREW TRAINING
PROFESSIONAL HEAVY WEATHER SAILING TIPS FROM PAUL EXNER When you’re deep within heavy weather, your crew is either ready, or not — a crew unprepared will suffer human injury and break gear at a considerably higher rate than experienced sailors…
CHRISTOPHER DRAGON WINS BLOCK ISLAND RACE
For the second year in a row, Andrew and Linda Weiss’s Italia 11.98 CHRISTOPHER DRAGON has won the Block Island Race overall under ORC. This year’s race was a tough, light air challenge that demanded constant crew work with scores…
OVERCOMING WAVE RESISTANCE
PROFESSIONAL HEAVY WEATHER SAILING TIPS FROM PAUL EXNER When the breeze fills-in, waves build-up to create a lumpy sea-surface that often impedes a boat’s upwind progress, especially when true wind blows 25-40 knots across open water. To sail efficiently in…
KING 40 CHECKMATE MOVES TO SYDNEY
That’s a wrap! They say the second happiest day for boat owners is when they buy a boat. The happiest, conversely, is when they sell it. While this saying points to the work, time, and expense that go into owing…
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: 5 TIPS FOR REVERSE PHRF RACING
Every dog has its day, and pursuit racing is an excellent way to make all competitors feel like they have skin in the game. Pursuit racing, commonly called reverse handicap racing, is a variant of PHRF racing where boats start…
SIREN WINS DOUBLEHANDED LIGHTSHIP RACE
This June, I am starting my second Singlehanded Transpac Race. As a lead-up event, a friend and I entered my Santa Cruz 33, SIREN, in the Doublehanded Lightship Race, a 25 mile course mostly outside of San Francisco Bay. We…
HISTORY AND HUMOR – BUTCH’S FIRST BERMUDA RACE
In this short clip, Charles “Butch” Ulmer talks about his first Newport to Bermuda Race. He took part in this race as a second-year student at the US Naval Academy in 1958 onboard a wooden Navy yawl. At the start…
WHISKEY JACK FIRST OVERALL AT THE 2023 ROLEX CHINA SEA RACE
Congratulations to Nick Southward for finishing first overall in IRC in the 565-mile 2023 China Sea Race sailing his J/109 WHISKEY JACK. This was the first time in five years the biennial race has been run. 16 boats finished the…
HOW TO WIN THE PIN
Many times in your racing career, you will find that the race committee has favored the port end of the line. The more the line is skewed, the more of a lead the boat at the pin will have once…
LESSONS LEARNED WITH SYLVAIN BARRIELLE
UK Sailmakers continues to produce new episodes of its Lesson’s Learned video and podcast series, sharing sailor stories and tips that everyonecan learn from. Tune in to Episode Six of the Lessons Learned Podcast by UK Sailmakers with Sylvain Barrielle,…
J/105 JENK DOMINATES AT BVI SPRING REGATTA
Remco van Dortmondt sailed his J/105 JENK, dominated Performance Cruiser Class B at the 2023 BVI Spring Regatta with five firsts and a third. JENK sails with an inventory of UK Sailmakers sails from the UK Sailmakers Miami loft including…
WESTERLY WINS 2023 PATOS ISLAND RACE
Congratulations to Stuart and Joy Dahlgren, who sailed their Santa Cruz 70 WESTERLY to first in Division 1 and first overall for the 67-mile Long Course in the 2023 Blackline Patos Island Race held this past weekend at Sidney North…
APPARENT WINDS SAILS WITH UK SAILMAKERS IN THEIR CORNER
UK Sailmakers is proud to partner with Apparent Winds, a global expedition dedicated environmental and cultural preservation while collecting marine research on their 75-foot Alden ketch RESILIENCE. UK Sailmakers is happy to support this team’s efforts to connect with others…
FLEXIBILITY IS THE KEY TO SEAMANSHIP
In a recent article in Sail Magazine’s Seamanship section, Andy Schell, the President of 59° North Sailing, wrote, “My friend and business partner, Nikki Henderson, likes to say that at sea, risk is ‘inversely proportional to flexibility’ — meaning the…
LEARNING BY WATCHING THE PROS
Professional sailors often race around the course in close quarters because there is relatively little difference in their skill levels than most Corinthians. Learning by watching the pros race offers plenty of lessons of their close quarter maneuvers. This recent…