Speed Sails have put together this Mirror tuning 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.

Speed Sails Mirror Tuning Guide

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..

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 are 2007 Mirror World Champions! Anna Mackenzie and  Anna Mackenzie use Speed sails to dominate the 2007 years worlds and claimed victory with a day to spare. Throughout 2006 extensive testing was carried out using the new Bermudan rig creating an all round package which provides unrivalled boat speed. The testing conducted on the Bermudan rigs also led to improvements for the gaff rigged sail.

Since winning the 2007 Worlds Speed Sails have been working closely with several top Mirror sailors to continue development within this class. This work has produced superb results over the last 2 years including victories at various regional championships and more top 5 performances at both National and International level.

For a closer look at the latest Speed Mirror sails please see Simon or Tom Lovesey at the next circuit event or, for more information visit us at www.speedsails.co.uk

SAILS:            

Mainsail: 4.46oz Contender Polykote; Sail comes complete with sail numbers, sail bags, tapered battens. 

Jib: 4.46oz Contender Polykote; Jib provides maximum height upwind while still maintaining sufficient power to drive the flat bow through a sharp chop. Comes complete with velcro hanks, jib window as standard and sail bag. 

Spinnaker: AirX 700; Excellent all round sail gives outstanding performance both reaching & running. Panels are sewn to provide extra durability. Sail comes complete (in any colour combination) with sail bag & sail numbers. 

To design your own Mirror spinnaker click the link below:

http://www.speedsails.co.uk/docs/designaspinnaker-mirror.doc

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

Mirror tuning guide

Speed Sails have put together this tuning 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 Mirror Tuning Guide

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.

Fireball Europeans at Nieuwpoort

Speed / Gill race team sailors Tom Jeffcoate and Dave Hynes have won the Fireball European Championships.

Merlin Rockets Salcombe Week

Speed / Gill race team members Andy and Ellie have won Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week.

GP14 Welsh Areas

Speed Sails claimed another GP14 area title in 2008 with a 1,2 finish for both the hulls and sails at Neyland. In the last major event before the World Championships at Abersoch Richard Instone and Steve Parker (sponsored by Gill) added the Welsh Areas to the Southern Areas they won at Poole last month. In an extremely close finish they won the event ahead of Carl Jeffs and Jim Toothill courtesy of victory in the final race.

Miracle Southerns at Margate

After a 3 month break from racing Tracy and Gemma Amos were straight back on the pace as they finished 2nd overall at the recent Miracle Southern Area Championships. Using a complete set of Speed Miracle sails the pair showed good speed in both the strong breezes on the Saturday and the lighter winds on the Sunday.

Enterprise Open at Notts County

Jonathan Woodward and Alex Halliwell ran out convincing winners of the recent Enterprise open meeting at Notts County SC. Using a complete set of Speed Enterprise sails and also trialling the new flyaway jib stick system they

reported excellent boat speed both up and down wind. The flyaway jib stick is currently under development and is legal for open meetings but not the Nationals and Area Championships. Jonathan Woodward is working with Speed Sails to develop a simple conversion kit for people wishing to try the system for themselves and this should be available from August onwards.

Mirror Irish Westerns

Speed Mirror sails have added another major title to the UK Eastern and Eric Twiname championship titles already claimed in 2008 with victory at the Irish Western Championships. The sails have also seen strong performances at the Southern, Scottish and National Championships after development on the 2007 World Championship winning sails was conducted over the winter and throughout the spring.