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Merlins at Parkstone

HD Sails showed excellent pace over the weekend winning all 6 races.

Saturday saw 30 Merlins venture outside Poole harbour to race around an olympic course. It was a beautiful sunny sky with a wind around 18 knots and gusts of 26 knots, only 12 Merlins ended up finishing the third race. Andy Davis lead the first race being the only one to fly his kite down the first reach, unfortunately on the last lap he capsized, Jon Gorringe & Toby Lewis came through the fleet after a bad start and went on to win. Second race saw Andy Davis & Ellie Bremer Lead round the windward mark, once again it came to the last lap and Andy capsized at the gybe mark. Jon Gorringe having sat in second all the way round went on to take the win with Andy in second.  In the final race is was Jon Gorringe to lead around the windward mark with John Ibbotson second and Andy in third. Jon Gorringe built up a substantial lead down the first reach. John Ibbotson capsized at the gybe mark which allowed Andy to move into second. Showing great upwind pace Andy caught Jon Gorringe up and with a tacking battle up the last beat saw Jon just pip Andy by quarter of a boat length.

Unfortunately we used all the good weather up and Sunday brought drizzly rain but also wind. This time three races were held inside the harbour with racing around the cans. Thankfully we had a lead boat to guide us around. Richard Whitworth was first around the windward mark followed by Andy & Ellie and Jon Gorringe & Toby Lewis. Richard built up a lead around the back of Brownsie Island but using his local knowledge managed to sail the wrong way around the mark and had to double back on himelf, this then allowed Jon and Andy through. Jon went on to take the win with Andy second and Richard third. In the Second Andy Davis lead around the windward with a substantial lead which was never challenged, new sailors to the fleet Ben and Roz Mcgrane sailing their new boat for the second time sailed round in second but being pushed hard by Dave Hayes & Johnny Radcliffe. Dave managed to pass Ben up the beat so finished second with Ben third. In the third and final race of the weekend Andy Davis was blacked flagged and pulled out up the first beat, Ben Mcgrane lead around the windward mark. Jon Gorringe rounded the windward mark in fifth and manged to show excellent pace downwind to take the win from Steve Leney.

All in all a great weekend with varied conditions and HD Sails showed superb pace through out all the wind ranges, Overall Jon Gorringe & Toby Lewis finished on top with Andy Davis & Ellie Bremer in second.

 

 

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HD Sails Going To Optimist Worlds

Congratulations to Martin Wrigley for making the Optimist Worlds Team.

WPNSA played host to the Optimist Selection Trials, one of the most important Optimist events of the year which was held over the bank holiday weekend.

The top 86 Optimist sailors in the country, completed a 15 race series over 4 days in Portland Harbour and in Weymouth Bay, for the honour of representing GBR in this year’s World and European’s and Development teams, the Flanders team and training in Greece. Only the top 5 GBR sailors are able to qualify to compete in the worlds, and 7 including the top 3 girls in the Europeans.

Martin finished 3rd overall and showed excellent pace in all conditions throughout the weekend, Martin will be flying out to the Dominican Republic in July.

Congratulations also go to Josh Haynes who finished 16th and made the development squad.

Optimist Worlds Team
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GP14 Inland Champions

HD Sails Win the GP14 2012 Inland Championships.

Northampton Sailing Club hosted the GP14’s over the May bank holiday, 8 races were sailed in total and HD won 5 of them!

Andy Davis & Andy Hateley topped the podium, Mike Senior & Chris White also using HD Sails finished second. Both boats tied on points and it was the two Andy’s with three race wins that gave them the Title.

Well done to both boats.

 

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A Wet & Windy Weekend

Last weekend saw plenty of wind and rain. The forecast tried very hard to put people off but we fought the weather and yet again we got our quota of sailing in.

HD Sailor Nick Craig Won the Enterprise inlands with HD Sailor John Woodward in second, having taken delivery of their new sails the weekend before. It was a tad to windy to put up the new sails, so they used their old Jim Hunt designed sails proving quick around blustery Rutland. Their New Enterprise Sails now have a radial clew in the mainsail to provide more stability and minimal stretch, look out for them at the next open meeting.

The Merlins headed to Hayling Island and had two races in the estuary. HD Sails finished first and second, Jon Gorringe won both races showing excellent pace in the windy stuff. Matt Biggs finished second.
Matt was using the Selden mast and Jon was using a Chipstow, here at HD we have been working on all our designs and making sure our sails fit all the different selections of masts available on the market.

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HD Scorpions 2nd and 3rd at Inland Championships

The Scorpion inlands at Grafham saw strong performances for the latest HD Scorpion sails as Tom Jeffcoate & Mark Hogan finished 2nd and Andy Mckee & Tarren Jones finished 3rd overall winning half of the races between them. Shifty and gusty conditions greeted a very strong fleet of 24 for 6 very close races in testing conditions. Saturday saw the 2 HD sails boats in dominant form scoring 1,3,1 and 3,1,2 respectively to occupy the top 2 spots overnight. Some missed shifts in the first 2 races on Sunday allowed 2 other boats into the mix and going into the last race Tom & Mark were tied with Tom Gillard & Andy Thompson with Andy & Tarren 1 point behind and with former National Champions Dave Wade & Ben Rayner a further point back. Tom & Mark and Tom & Andy broke clear from the rest of the fleet and after 4 laps with barely more than a couple of boat lengths between them it was Tom & Andy who just managed to get water at the last mark and hold on to win by less than 1/2 a boat length and take the inland title. 4th for Andy & Tarren in the last race was enough to secure 3rd spot overall. Overall another successful event for HD sails with some great boat speed only let down by the occassional driver error creating plenty of optimism for the next open at Chew Valley in 3 weekends time.

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HD Scorpion sails win at Dovestone.

Using the latest HD sail design Andy Mckee & Tarren Jones scored a clean sweep at the first Scorpion open meeting of the year. Held at Dovestone SC on the 1st April they won all 3 races ahead of 2 other boats also using sails made by Andy Davis. Afterwards Andy Mckee confessed to feeling a bit rusty on the boat handling side but said the sails felt quick and they had some devastating downwind pace.

This is already the 2nd success for the HD Scorpion sails after they also triumphed at the Tiger Trophy in February and expectations will be high for the upcoming events at Grafham and Chew Valley where both Andy Mckee and Tom Jeffcoate will be aiming to keep up the winning ways. For help on getting the most from your new Scorpion sails we have put together a tuning guide, this will be available online soon, in the mean time please call Andy Davis at the loft or feel free to ask Andy Mckee or Tom Jeffcoate any questions you may have out on the circuit.”

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Website Updates

As you may have noticed on certain classes we haven’t quite updated the pages yet. We are very busy producing sails and we hope to have the class pages updated very soon!

If you don’t see your class there or you would like information on a class please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0121 356 2175 or email us;

[email protected]

[email protected]

Many thanks

Andy & Jim

 

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Blithfield & Midland this weekend

This weekend we are off to Blithfield on Saturday and Midland on Sunday for the Merlin Silver Tiller opens. Lets hope we get plenty of wind and sunshine but i think the forecast is looking doubtful for that.

Chris Gould (Creation Covers) will be there to if your thinking of a new cover or tapered sheets.

Anyhow if your going see you there!

Andy

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HD Optimist Sailor Martin Wrigley

Martin why have you chosen HD Sails for your final years Optimist Campaign?

 

I have had my sails made by Andy Davis since 2006 when my grandad bought my first sail. After using it for a while my coach felt it was a bit too powerful and Andy suggested a flatter cut which I used at local regattas with great success. Over the last few years I have progressed through Zone squad, Intermediate Squad and National Squad with the sail recommended by Andy. Andy has been supportive throughout this period and he is a top level sailor himself. I know that my sail is made by someone as passionate about sailing as me. I have always been made very welcome at the loft and always had a personal message of support from the person who has made my sail when I have done well.

Martin Wrigley

 

Sailing Curriculum Vitae

Name: Martin Ian Charles Wrigley

Age: 15

Sailing Club: Cardiff Bay Yacht Club

Class: International Optimist

 

Results

2011

  • 4th Winter Championships
  • 1st Bowmoor Open
  • 9th Optimist Spring Championships

2010

  • 3rd Optimist Winter Championships
  • 3rd Optimist End of Seasons Championships
  • 17th Welsh Optimist championships
  • 17th GBR boat Optimist National Championships
  • 2nd Barnt Green Open
  • 16th Optimist Spring Championship
  • 11th Gold fleet Burghfield Open
  • 1st New Years Day LLSC pursuit race

2009

  • 8th Joint Squads National & National Intermediate WPNSA
  • 26th Optimist Winter Championships
  • 1st West Zone Championships
  • 1st Welsh Youth Regatta

 

Squads

Selected to represent RYA team GBR at the Trofeo Marcello Campobasso Naples 2012

Selected for RYA National Squad 2011 the top 24 nationally ranked sailors

Selected for RYA National Squad 2010 the top 30 nationally ranked sailors

Selected to represent RYA team GBR at the French Nationals at La Rochelle 2010

Selected for the RYA National Intermediate Squad 2009 for sailors nationally ranked 30 to 60

Selected for the RYA West Zone Squad 2008 top 12 sailors in the West of England

 

Sponsorship & Awards

Sponsored a Laser Vapor XD Optimist by Speedsails for the 2011 season

Awarded a bursary from Ready Steady Win 2011

Member of the IExcel a program designed to help young athletes still at school who are competing at national level

Halo Elite Member – Awarded to nationally competing atheletes which allows use of all gym and sports facilities in Herefordshire

Awarded Highly Commended Junior Male Sports Personality of the Year 2009

 

Additional information

I am fully supported by my family who help me participate in all National and International events that I am able to attend. I am supported fully by my school who have placed me on gifted and talented register for sport.

Here at HD Sails we wish Martin the best of look for the forth coming season!
Optimist Sail
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2012 Dinghy Show This Weekend

This weekend we’re off to  Alexandra Palace for the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show. Both Jim and Andy will be wondering around the show visiting the class stands, if you would like to book a meeting with either of them please call the loft to arrange a time.

This year we have sails on the GP14 stand (Being Shown on Paintcraft’s new Duffin), the Allen Stand (Being Shown on a Winder Solo), Paintcraft Stand (Being shown a Paintcraft Scorpion) and the Merlin stand (Being shown on Jon Turners New Merlin).

Look forward to seeing you down there.

Andy & Jim