Maine Sailing Partners

Code Zeros

Interest in code zero sails has grown steadily since they first appeared in the 1997/98 Whitbread as light air, close reaching sails.  Their relatively flat cross-sections and large overlap make them especially effective from about 45 to 75-degrees apparent wind angle.  No longer considered just a light air sail, a code zero can be used anytime the addition of more horse power can make the boat go faster.  This is a narrow niche for some boats, but there are many boats that can benefit from additional sail area when close reaching.

To prevent sailmakers from building oversized genoas, PHRF considers a code zero a spinnaker so the mid-girth must be at least 75% of the foot.  PHRF also penalizes boats that carry code zero sails - 6 seconds per mile for boats that carry genoas with LPs of less than 130% of J and 3 seconds per mile for 130% or greater.  This pretty much limits the usefulness of code zero sails to long reaching races where the improvement in performance overcomes the penalty.

It's a different story with cruising boats where there are no such restrictions or penalties.  Here we can take advantage of innovations in code zero laminates, continuous line furlers, and anti-torque luff ropes to make sails that don't comply with the racing rules and can't be penalized but are as easy to use as roller furling genoas and very effective windward reachers.

Finally, there is a loop hole if you race a classic yacht in CRF regattas like the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta.  Provided your boat is already rated for a spinnaker, these kinds of sails are treated as a spinnakers no matter what the cut and without penalty provided they aren't set on a permanent stay.  Such a sail could be devastatingly effective anytime it's too tight for a spinnaker but you need more power than you can get from the genoa. 

Yankee Ingenuity

From an Olson 30 customer in New Hampshire:

Rob,

   We finally got the mast stepped and measured. Couldn't get the crane to start , so we used a log truck. American loggers vs. sailboat. I'm not sure who won. Enclosed a pic.

Sail Maine PHRF Regatta

Sail Maine is for the first time sponsoring a PHRF regatta.  Coming June 6^th in Portland Harbor.  Press release is up on Facebook.  This is a new venture for Sail Maine, and proceeds will help support community sailing in Portland and beyond.  We hope everybody makes the effor to turn out for this one.  It also earns points for the GMORA seaseon.

J/24 Sails

This past weekend Heather Ambrose nosed out Carol Cronin to win the 2008 International J/24 Women's Open Championship at the Beverly Yacht Club with a full inventory of Sailing Partners sails.  Congratulations, Heather and crew.  Here thery are sporting their Vermont Sailing Partners T's.

   

Attention Race Committees

Not much for race committees to do in Maine this time of year, except maybe get a bunch of organizational details out of the way so you don't find you are missing an important piece of the puzzle  in the middle of your big summer regatta.  In addition to a good group of people, running races properly requires collecting a bunch of stuff.  The Desert Sea  - New Mexico Sailing blog has a pretty exhaustive list of what that stuff is. (Thanks to Scuttlebutt for the link)   If you are going to be running a regatta this year, you might want to make a copy of this list as a starting point for your own equipment check list.

Vermont Strikes Lightning

Jeff and Amy Linton and Jahn Tihanski just won the 2007 Lightning World Championship using a complete sail inventory from our sister loft, Vermont Sailing Partners.  Congratulations.  Now the world knows Bill Fastiggi builds the best Lightning sails anywhere.
 

Letter from Miami

Former Maine Sailing Partner Pete writes:

So, I am down here in Miami getting ready to sail the Mumm 30 Worlds with Barking Mad.  We were measuring our sails in today and our main and S2 didn't measure in.  So we went to the local UK loft with our coach, Coach Bill Shore (whom we were calling Dad in the West Marine to try and freak him out) and I got a chance to show off my sail making skillzzzzzzz.  Yep, stitch ripping, hand work, seizing, bolt ropes and the lot.  I wasn't able to get on a machine, only the loft owner did that.  There were three of us, Bill, myself and the tactician (who had never been in a loft before).  The loft owner only charged us for 2.5 people and unless Bill counted as 2, I am pretty sure I was not the 1/2 person.  Anyway, just thought I'd check in and let you guys know your patience on the floor didn't go TOTALLY wasted.  Oh yeah, and I'm engaged.  Other than that, not much is new.

 

Pete

Shipyard Cupdate

Here's a picture of Goshawk getting ready to start on Day 1, sporting her Cuben Fiber mainsail and Contender Maxx light genoa.  Contender salesman, who passed on the photo from Maine Coastal News' Jon Johanson, pointed out the dramatic different in the construction of the two sails - the Cuben main has 90 panels; the Maxx genoa has 20...

Shipyard Cup

During my cruise, I got the chance to participate in the Shipyard Cup, a race for yachts over 70 feet.  This regatta is hosted by Hodgdon Yachts, builder of gorgeous megayachts.  Event chairman is former Maine Sailing Partner and Points East yachtsman of the year Ted Smith, and he certainly puts on a show.

In addition to some great parties, the event consists of two races of about 20 miles around Boothbay and environs.  The handicaps are applied at the start so that the first boat to finish is the winner.  I sailed on the 76 foot Goshawk, designed by Bob Stephens and Built by Brooklin Boatyard.  We managed a very creditably 4, 1 for second place overall, but couldn't defeat the ILC maxi Captivity.  As someone commented bringing this boat to the Shipyard Cup was kind of like bringing a gun to a knife fight.

Another participant was this handsome schooner, shown about to take her start:

When she was under construction we were asked to bid on her sails, but demurred since we felt we could not adhere to the somewhat anachronistic specifications required by the owner.  Apparently, the owner has revised his views on appropriate technology as she was sporting a new radial main and fisherman staysail (not by MSP).  Unfortunately, it appears from this closeup that the fabrics chosen aren't really up to the task.

We hope the owner isn't put off modern sailmaking...

Frostbite

Rob and I have been participating in the Sail Maine Frostbite Series.  Eight teams sailing identical Ynglings on Sundays through the middle of December.  The weather has been very clement so far and the racing tight on short windward leeward courses.  A link to results is in our events sidebar.

There are also a few more photos here.