Speed Sails Merlin Rocket Caught Speeding at Merlin Rocket Nationals Lyme

Congratulations to Stuart Bithell and Christian Birrell sailing the Speed Sails Speed Machine.

"They sailed off into a commanding lead ahead of some of the country's best dinghy sailors." Tim Fells Y+Y

"Thanks guys, collected the fully complete boat on Thursday - won the first race Saturday - Just amazed with the speed out of the box!" Stuart Bithell 

Overall, the level of performance shown by the leading two teams in dominating such a star studded fleet was something special. Stu / Christian regained the title they held in 2010 with a score line of 1,1,1,2,5 to narrowly beat the 2011 champions Taxi / Tom who scored 2,2,2,2,3. Geoff Carveth and Graham Williamson rounded out a high quality top three overall.

Lyme Regis Sailing Club have put on a fantastic week for the Merlin Rockets. Despite challenging conditions the racing has been superb and Jerry Rook and his race and rescue teams deserve the highest praise. For a small club an event of this size was a real challenge but they have delivered a week that will live long in the class's memory.

Results

Sailboats/Gul/Speedsails Race Team also sponsored by Craft Insure

Do You Want To Be Caught Speeding Like Stuart and Christian were - contact us now to discuss your new sails, spars and complete boat package for this coming autumn and next year.

Sign up to the Speed Sunday Offers Newsletter, The Newsletter is a weekly event with all the Offers being Online Exclusives only and most running for a Week Only.  Featured in the Newsletter will be primarily Offers we have on certain lines, New Products coming into stock, Offers on Sails, Covers, Class Spares etc..

Congratulations to Matt & Ben, they have shown great skill and speed in all the large winter events to top the Global Warm Up, they have also been testing Aeroweb and it's fair to say they have had some varied conditions which has been great for testing.

Matt has said "The sails have always looked nice and smooth in all conditions and are really holding up well considering the battering they had at the windy Tiger Trophy". Matt also went on to mention that due to the sails being much lighter in weight than the current x-cut laminates he feels the whole rig is much more responsive and the boat accelerates better. 

We will have a set of Aeroweb sails on the Merlin stand at the Alexandra Palace Dinghy Show in March, please come and have a chat with us if you have any questions.

Photo by Paul Burton

We kicked off the new season with great results!

One of our customers won the single handed class in his Phantom at the Grafham Grand Prix and leads the Sail Juice series. Matt Biggs & Ben Hollis sailing their Merlin also won the medium fleet at the Grand Prix and lie 4th in the Sail juice series.

He is currently testing the Aeroweb Merlin sails and will be sailing at the Bloody Mary, Steve Nicholson Memorial and the Tiger Trophy. Our Phantom Sailor will be soon using the Aeroweb mainsail on his Phantom.

Please feel free to contact us with questions that you would like our view on and we will get them posted on the blog for all to read.

We wish all good luck for 2011 and hope to see you out and around the various classes.

A light northerly shifting breeze made for tough sailing for handicap racing sponsored by Speed Sails, 2 races were sailed with the fleet split into Fast and Slow fleet starts.

In the first race the 3 Merlin Rockets and the Phantom of Mike Tustin romped ahead leaving the Slow Fleet trailing far behind as the breeze died. Matt Biggs crewed by Ben Hollis in his Merlin established a 3 minute lead over Andy and Richie Adams whilst Richard Dee and Chris duelled with Mike Tustin in his Phantom. The Albacore of Neville Herbert finished 4th on handicap.

The slow fleet had a closer tussle between the Bartley Streaker of Debbie Degge leading the Solo’s of Brian Stammers and Graham Robinson over the line.

The second race started in a reasonable breeze and Matt Biggs tussled with Andy enjoyed another Merlin benefit with a very close finish and Richard Dee followed in 3rd place. The Albacore again came through on handicap in 4th place.

The slow fleet slide further back as the wind faded after Fast Fleet leaders finished their race. This led to more mixed results in the fleet with Solo’s leading the way on handicap with Dave Brand winning race 2 from Trevor Thomas but Debbie Degge scraped in to win overall from Brian Stammers and Graham Robinson.

Mike Biggs won overall with 2 first places after a very good display of light weather sailing.

The Junior Fleet was led home by Crispin Beaumont and Nick Wilson sailing a Feva whose race included 2 Feva’s starting on an advantageous port tack on a busy start line in the first race and nearly succeeding in clearing the fleet in a slower boat. Crispin and Nick finished a creditable 8th overall.

Overall Results:

Slow Fleet

Fast Fleet

Speed Sails were recently the proud sponsors of the 2010 Miracle Inland Championships at Draycote Water Sailing Club.  For full details of the event please the link below

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=153900

Photo ©: Geoff Huett

2007 saw the introduction of the new Speed Miracle sails and they have made an impressive start. 3 of the top 6 at the 2007 Nationals including the Ladies National Champion used the sails which also won the Southern Championships and finished 3rd at the Inland Championships.

Over the last 2 years Speed Sails have continued development on their Miracle sails and, by working closely with top Miracle sailors Dave Southwell, Tracy Amos and Gemma Amos, this has led to the current sails regularly winning events of all sizes. This continued interaction keeps our sails at the front of the fleet and helps all our customers receive the fastest possible Miracle sails.

SAILS:

Main sail – 3.8oz Ripstop Polykote; Sails come complete with window, tell tales, battens, sail numbers and sail bags.

Jib – 3.55oz Ripstop Polykote; the Speed Miracle jib comes complete with luff wire, tell tales and sail bag.

Spinnaker - AirX 700; Seams are glued & sewn for to provide extra durability for chute systems. Sail comes complete with sail bag & sail numbers. 

For more Sails Visit us online at www.speedsails.co.uk

Miracle tuning guide

Speed Sails have put together this rigging guide to help you set your boat up close to its ideal settings. These settings should be regarded as a starting point for fine tuning as individual boats and crews may need to alter them slightly for best performance. When you have your boat set up, remember to mark everything so that the settings can be reproduced quickly.

Speedsails Miracle Tuning Guide