This year Speed Sails again showed superb consistancy through out the GP14 fleet. The nationals were held at Abersoch and the conditions were very varied proving a good test for all sailors.

Speed customers showed excellent pace as always and finished a very creditable 3rd in their new Duffin hull & NEW Speed mast, other Speed sailors sailing a Winder Hull finished 5th. Both boats were using Aeroweb. This year the fleet was very strong, helms and crews in the top 7 had either won a world, national or european title in various classes, this made for very close and exciting racing. Olympic hopefull Stuart Bithell crewed by Christian Birrell Finished on top of a very close fought week.

We are currently running a end of season offer to celebrate our championship victories, the offers ends on the 7th October and we are making just 10 sets of sails for each class at a very discounted offer. Be sure to make the most of the offer and call us for more details call us on 0845 50 40 600 or visit us at www.speedsails.co.uk

Speed Sails Wins OK Worlds & UK Nationals 2011 held at Largs in Scotland.

Here at Speed Sails we have put many hours into developing our OK sails, one of our Speed Sails sailmakers was the first British sailor to win the OK worlds back in 2004 by a huge 32 point margin and has worked closely with sailors to develop our latest radial mainsail.

The Worlds and UK Nationals were held at Largs in Scotland, the weather was very tricky with a light forecast through out both championships. 

Next Year the Worlds will be in Denmark for the 50th anniversary and we will be commited as ever to help our customers win this title.

Our new solo showed it can take on the competition at this years Solo Nationals which were held at Abersoch.

Speed Sails stepped in and without much practice this year showed great results throughout the week. Comments of the week were " The boat felt great down wind and seemed faster than others around me, there were many times i didn't have a great first beat, mostly due to lack of practice but by the leeward mark on the first lap I found myself in top 3 or top 5." 

Abersoch gave all conditions and really tested the sailors hard Speed Finished 3rd overall just 6 points off Matt Howard who won and four points from Charlie Cumberly in second.

We used the Speed Sails Radial Kevlar Mainsail with carbon battens, the same setup that Speed had been using pre-season.

A big thank you to Phil Milanes whose boat Speed Sails borrowed.

Alan Henry and Simon Reville in 14 / 125, Slipstream, won the 2011 IDRA National Championships at Galway Bay Sailing Club. Alan Carr and Ian McCormack in 14 / 38, Starfish, finished in second place. Third place went to Pat O'Neill and Jim O'Hara in 14 / 15 Delos II from CYBC.

Six races were held over three days In strong winds that reached force 6, with gusts over 25 knots, that led to many capsizes. 
Jim Lambkin and Wendy Rudd in 14 / 1, Error, (placed 6th) and Charles Sargent and Ed Fleming in 14 / 126, Smurfette, - both from SDC - (placed 15th) were among the few boats to remain upright throughout this challenging event.

SDC sailors have a strong track record at the IDRA nationals. This year was Alan Henry's 5th time to win the event and Alan Carr has won the IDRA nationals three times. Scorie Walls and Terry Harvey are two other SDC sailors whose names are engraved several times on the IDRA national championship trophy. 

The Solo Midland traveller event took place at Pitsford in light, variable winds.

Thirteen boats ventured out to a calm reservoir hoping for the breeze to fill in enough to start racing and after a short delay, a little wind did fill in allowing a small course to be set.

All three races were managed with victory for the new Speed Solo as well as a win for a Speed Sails sailmaker in his first solo open. In light winds he pulled away with an edge of boatspeed on the rest of the fleet, posting two firsts and a second from the days racing. Saying he was pleased with the win and hoped to do more Midlands Solo events in the future.

Speed customers using a Phantom Aeroweb mainsail won 2 races to take the Bartley Open Meeting and Neil Boneham also using Aeroweb finished second and took a race win.

Look out for Nick Craig this weekend also Using Aeroweb at this years Nationals, hopefully Nick will be able to defend his title at Lyme Regis.

Good Luck!

This year the GP14 Leinster Championships were held at Sutton Dinghy Club. Shane McCarthy this time sailing with ex pro and GP14 Veteran Damian Bracken topped the poddium with two firsts and two seconds.Shane was using a Aeroweb mainsail for the first time in Ireland and showing great speed. Runners up were John and Doanl McGuiness. 

Well done guys!

The Merlins arrived at Hayling joint with the Solo's, unfortunately it was a bit two windy for the Merlins and sat it out, instead everyone watched the few Solo's race around in the harbour in the 25 knot plus wind.

Sunday began a different day and the first race was dinghy sailing at its best with the eighteen knot south westerly meaning lots of surfing and exciting downwind rides. Geoff Carveth and Graham Williamson led around the windward mark chased closely by Speed Sails sailors Andy & Tom, Andy & Tom managed to pass Geoff & Graham down wind to lead. John Gorringe & Toby Lewis gave a hard chase, Geoff and Graham managed to pass Andy & Tom up the last beat and held it until the finish. 

For the second race of the day the wind had increased and despite following Chris Martin and Ben Hendon into the first mark, William Warren and Chris Robinson won, Gorringe/Lewis had worked their way up the fleet to second. Third place was taken by Simon Lytton and Jackie Lytton, newcomers to the fleet who sailed an absolute blinder closely followed by Andy & Tom on a late charge.

It was at this point that the RO Roger Palmer received a BrambleMet wind reading of thirty knots plus and wisely decided to abandon racing for the rest of the day. It was consistency that won the day; as Gorringe and Lewis, who hadn’t left the top three throughout the competition, came first overall. Warren and Robinson took second with Andy and Tom in third place tying on points.

Speed Race Team won the first day blast at the Hayling Island SC Solo Open Meeting for the Tyler Trophy and completed his weekend with a win in the first race on the second day and then a second place behind Matt Howard to take the event, when the third race was cancelled as the weather strengthened again.

Sailing the first boat off the Speed Sails new mould, held off the challenge of Howard and local helm, David Macgregor, and also a charging Charlie Cumberly. Cumberly who had missed the Saturday race, needed all three races to be sailed on Sunday to be in with a chance, but it was not to be.

Saturday started with the wind howling across the dinghy park and the promise of more to come. A course was laid in the harbour and 16 boats, including two with Brigs, launched to run to the start. At the windward mark David Macgregor was closely followed by Speed Sails. These two diced down the reach to an incident packed gybe mark. McGregor recovered first but Matt Howard had caught them and the three fought it out to the lee mark. At the end of the second beat, Howard sailed over Speed Sails as they both over stood the mark. McGregor bore off in a lull, then a ferocious 35 knot gust laid him over. The leading pair fought it out to the finish at the end of the next beat with Speed Sails just ahead of Howard. Tim Polglase had sailed a steady race to take third from McGregor and Andrew Bonsey.

On Sunday, the wind was around 20 knots for the start of Race 2 which was held in Hayling Bay with 23 starters. Speed Sails chose to go left out to sea and rounded the windward mark in the lead. Charlie Cumbley, who had had gear problems yesterday, was next just ahead of Howard. With decent waves rolling across the bay, the down wind legs enabled the experts to demonstrate their skills. The leaders maintained their order to the finish and pulled away from the fleet. The wind shifted, delaying the start to the next race and increased to 25 knots. The same trio took the leading slots without changing as they rounded the course, although this time the order was Howard, Cumbley and then Speed Sails. McGregor improved to fourth. With the third race of the day cancelled, this left Speed Sails winning the Tyler Trophy with Howard second and McGregor third.

Overall Results: (top ten)

This year saw Salcombe provide excellent weather, Jon Gorringe & Toby Lewis put up a strong battle finishing second in every race. Simon Blake & Alex Jackson managed to defend there title and come out champions once again.

Again another great performance for Speed Sails Jon & Toby, Matt & Ben and Rich & Chris all using Speed Sails and finishing in the top 6.

Check out the link below for the full results.

Full Results

Photo Courtesy of John Murrell.