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.

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 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)

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Sailing the new Solo for the first time one of our sailmakers decided to head up to Midland to do the solo open. 15 boats turned up to a grey and rainy day at Edgbaston, this certainly didn't put off the enthusiasm showed by Midland. Mike Anslow the OOD put on 3 good courses in the difficult shifty conditions. Race one was won by Stuart Hydon. After after a fantastic cooked lunch Speed Sailmaker remembered how to sail a Solo and went on to win the next to races showing superb speed in the gusty and shifty conditions.

This is a great result for the new Solo which had a lot of interest by sailors, comments from the weekend were "the boat feels light, responsive and stiff, if it's that quick straight out of the box then I'm certainly looking forward to getting back in the Solo next year".

We put the new Speed Solo to the test at the Pre-champs Reggatta held at the Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy.

Speed Team had a consistent set of results (2,2,3,3,1) to finish second to Matt Howard. Conitions were brilliant, perfect sunshine at 12-15 knots on the Saturday. On Sunday the wind was a bit more of a handful, 30 knot gusts were recorded over the commitee boat. These conditions were excellent for testing the new Solo, Saturday racing was held outside of the harbour which gave competitors good sea sailing conditions, Sunday saw racing take part inside the harbour.

The boat stood up well to the test, we certainly felt the boat planed earlier than any other Solo he has sailed before, he also mentioned that it felt stiff and responsive. using the same rig setup that he used last year at the nationals to finish 3rd but this time using the New Speed Hull, he felt he was a lot closer to Matt Howard and was able to give him a good race compared to last year. Matt being the current Finn coach and an ex member of the GB Finn squad has certainly moved the bench mark up in the Solos, last year Matt dominated at the nationals showing excellent down wind speed which nobody could hang onto, I suppose hours of training in his Finn over the years has helped him to have great downwind technique. So we certainly felt that the boat is something special and was certainly up beat having pushed Matt hard around the race course.

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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