UK
- Q&A
Top Racing News from John Brinkers at the
Hamble Loft
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| 'Bear
of Britain' seen racing in the Solent Summer
2001 © Andreas Hanakamp |
Q: More top race boats
seem to be carrying UK sails in Britain and achieving
excellent results. What do you put this down to?
A: R & D, the most appropriate design
and exactly the right fabric to make exactly the right
sail for the boat. Technology has come a long way
in the last few years in terms of design and fabric
in sailmaking, and we are constantly evolving the
methods we use and putting endless hours into more
research over the winter months and collecting data
for analysis throughout the Summer.
Just this last Winter, Des McWilliam and
Joe English collected and collated endless data to
upgrade our spinnaker designs, which have been proven
faster on the race course on boats such as Terry and
Sue Robinson's Swan 48, Assuage, Kit Hobday and Tim
Louis' Farr 52 Bear of Britain, Peter Harrison's Farr
52 Chernikeeff 2 and Peter Morton's Mills 50 Mandrake.
The other vital ingredient is the relationship
between the owner and his sailmaker. We want that
relationship to work and therefore are really happy
to spend time with our customers, discussing every
single minute detail for their wardrobe for their
boat.
This, in turn, gives a platform for an exchange
of ideas. Nobody knows the boat better than the owner
and crew that sail it and their input is vital to
us being able to produce exactly the right sail to
do the right job. I know within the UK McWilliam group,
we would be extremely disappointed if an owner felt
he couldn't pick up the phone to share his thoughts
and views or highs and lows with us.
Q: So the Farr
52s in particular have been a huge success story for
you in Britain. What do you feel made the difference
to these boats?
A: Obviously Kit Hobday's Bear of Britain
and Peter Harrison's Chernikeeff 2 are extremely well
sailed boats and to be involved with these types of
project from the beginning is extremely important.
That way, we can have essential input before deck
layouts and ratings are set in concrete.
Bear of Britain in particular has been spending
a vast amount of time on the water this year, going
through a crew selection process and without doubt
this has paid dividends for them.
We produced a new 0.9oz asymmetric spinnaker
for them, as well as a new Tape Drive Carbon Code
2 Jib for the 2002 season. This has already brought
her a second overall in the hotly contested Round
the Island Race as well as winning a very competitive
division last weekend at the IRC Nationals run by
the Royal Ocean Racing Club from Portsmouth.
In addition, her consistency and race winning
form has secured her the large boat slot for the English
Commodore's Cup Team. Our congratulations and thanks
have to go to Kit Hobday for putting together such
a successful campaign.
During Cowes Week last year, Bear won the
New York Challenge Trophy, with Chernikeeff 2 taking
the coveted Britannia Cup. Maintaining their outstanding
performance over the week, Bear of Britain then finished
2nd overall, with Chernikeeff 3rd in Division Zero.
Building on her success during Cowes Week,
Bear of Britain then went on to become overall winner
in the America's Cup Jubilee taking the King's Cup
Royal Yacht Squadron Regatta 1923 Trophy, along with
the RORC Trophy and the UNCL Aile Noire Trophy for
IRC Modern Division 2.
We knew that Chernikeeff's cuben fibre asymmetric
spinnaker was likely to be a race winner and she flew
this to achieve her win of the Britannia Cup.
Q: So what next
for UK Sails?
A: We will be supporting our owners in Cork
Week. I will be sailing on Doug Flynn's Beneteau 47.7
'Kirribilli' and Tom will be sailing on the Farr 52,
Chernikeeff. Des McWilliam will be running an overnight
repair service for the racing fleets. A thankless
task with many hours of midnight oil to be burnt,
if it turns out to be a windy series!
It will be great to meet up with our customers
and friends during the event, which we always look
forward to.
The season will then go on towards Cowes
Week and the Commodore's Cup in Cowes, followed by
the Swan World Championships in Porto Cervo in Sardinia.
We wish all our owners every success over
the coming months and look forward to seeing them
on the race course somewhere soon.
Thank you to John Brinkers from UK Sailmakers
in Hamble.
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