New Developments at Speed Sails

The past 6 weeks at Speed Sails have been extremely busy as the business has adapted to the loss of Richard. Ben has been gradually increasing his involvement with the day to day running of the business and in the mean time there have been some new (and old) arrivals. Andy Farmer, a successful Enterprise and Flying 15 sailor, has recently joined the company to help with mail order and the online shop. At the same time Tom Jeffcoate, who worked at Speed Sails from 2005 – 2008, has also returned to help in the office.

With the new staff in place Speed Sails are looking to move forward and are pleased to offer a summer sale on all our championship winning sails. For the next 2 weeks all Speed sails are available online or over the phone with 10% off. Lead time is currently 2-3 weeks giving you plenty of time order now ready for the main summer season and all sails come ready to win. A wide range of tuning guides are available online to help you get the most from your new sails or, alternatively, we are happy to offer any advice and information we can on 01922 455503 or in person.

Speed sails have had successful spring already winning events in classes ranging from the Mirrors through to Merlin Rockets. 

Speed Sails have been working closely with Mirror sailors Tom Lovesey and Milly Pugh over the last year and 2009 has seen the pair performing well. After winning the Eric Twiname Championships and reporting good downwind speed (read Tom’s report here) they recently finished 2nd on count back at the Western Championships held at Looe SC after a last beat decider.

In the Solo fleet Andy (sponsored by Gill) has once again been on the pace following his domination of the Welsh Championships with 2nd place finishes at the Scottish and Spring Championships. 2 other Speed powered boats claimed top 5 positions as well.

This spring has seen victory for Speed GP14 sails at 2 area championships already. Mike  and Luke Shaw won the Welsh Areas in Aberdovey ahead of 3 other Speed powered boats and then followed it up by claiming the Midland Areas title at Staunton. The last week in May saw an early Fireball Nationals to allow time in the calendar for the 2 week European and World Championships in La Rochelle this Summer. DJ Edwards and Simon Potts discarded a 5th place in the 65 boat fleet as they finished 3rd overall. Speed Sails / Gill race team sailors Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan were also regulars at the front of the fleet as they finished 9th overall.

The Merlin Inlands saw 2 Speed sails boats in the top 5 as they continue their impressive form after winning at Rutland the week before. William Warren and Chris Robinson led after the first couple of races but struggled in the fluky conditions on the Sunday. Matt Biggs and Andy showed good speed throughout to finish 2nd and 5th respectively.

Speed Miracle sails development has moved on significantly in recent years. Following a 3rd at the North East championships, the Puddleduck trophy at Girton saw Gemma and Tracy Amos claim their first championship win of the season just weeks after receiving their new Speed sails. With other strong performances at Delph and open meeting at victory at Taplow in 2009 Speed Miracle sails are becoming the sails to beat.

In the Scorpion class the new Speed laminate main has made a real difference for Andy Mckee and Tarren Jones. Just weeks after claiming their maiden open meeting victory in the class at Shotwick Lake they claimed their 2nd at Bala over the bank holiday weekend. Andy was really impressed with the extra pointing ability they had compared with their old sails without any loss in boat speed.

And finally back off the water, before Richard passed away, www.speedsails.co.uk were working on updating the online shopping process to make things easier for our customers. This is in the process of being finalised and should soon include clear information regarding postage costs, with accurate stock level information and delivery times for customer orders to follow later this year. We would still however welcome any thoughts and feedback our customers can provide as we try to make the new process as user friendly as possible.