Andy Davis Archives

November 10, 2015August 2, 2016

Golden Solo Sail

After the 2014 season I felt it was time to try some changes to the Solo. We had been closely watching the Finn fleet since the 2012 games and the Golden sails that were being used certainly caught our eye.

Last winter I spoke with Dave Winder and decided to buy two Mk2 bare hulls and fit them out myself. I wanted set one up with standard kit (Complete Winder boat with HD Radial Laminate mainsail) and the other with modifications. This way I could get a real understanding by two boat tuning of what was working and what wasn’t. Continue reading “Golden Solo Sail”

April 24, 2013January 8, 2014

Merlin & GP14 Round Up

So far in the Merlin Silver Tiller HD Sails have had a great start. The last five open meetings including the Thames and Midland series, HD Sails have taken the win.

HD Sails had 1st,2nd and 3rd at Wembley which saw Jon Gorringe & Toby Lewis win from Andy Davis & Tom Pygall and Matt Biggs & John Hackett.

After Wembley it was the journey to the Merlin Mecca Salcombe. Matt Biggs & John Hackett showed great pace on the saturday to take the overnight lead, Sunday unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be for Matt & John, even though leading in the first race they became becalmed and then passed by 6 boats, quite easily done at Salcombe. Going into the last John Gorringe & Toby Lewis held there nerve and powered to victory winning the last race which gave them the open meeting, Matt & John ended up 3rd overall.

Banbury saw a very fresh breeze with gusts up to 36 knots, this was going to be a battle of who could stay upright. Matt Biggs & John Hackett stormed to victory with two firsts but before that John decided to press the eject button in the first race and miss the toe straps which gave Matt his first swimming lesson of the year. 3rd place went to Chris Martin & Tom White also using HD Sails, Chris & Tom were one of only a few that didn’t capsize, well done lads.

Last weekend two Merlin events took place, the Cookham Shield and Trent Valley. Duncan & Harriet Salmon got in the groove early and won the first two races with their new HD Sails at Cookham, HD Sails also took 3rd with Andy Jones & Jilly Blake and 4th with Alan Braodbent & Russell Hall.

Matt Biggs & John Hackett won all three races at Trent Valley, sadly for Matt he got T-boned in the first race and suffered major damage to the port side, thankfully with it being a Winder boat Matt was able to carry on for the rest of the day. Hopefully he will have it fixed for Hayling this weekend.

GP14 Midland Areas were held at Staunton Harold, Mike & Liz Senior showed consistency taking the win over the 6 race series. A special mention must go to Eleanor Davis & James Croxford who won the Silver fleet using HD Sails, not only did they win the Silver fleet but also finished 9th overall, well done!

Next for the GP14 is the Inland Championships, this year they are held by Burton sailing club over the May bank holiday. Will HD Sails be able to retain their Inland title?

April 8, 2013January 8, 2014

HD Sails Makes Front Cover Of Y&Y

This months Yachts and Yachting has Andy Davis sailing his Solo at the 2012 National Championships on the front cover. A great photo with the Mount in the background.
Andy went on to win the week with a race to spare in his Winder MK2 hull, Selden D+ rig and HD Radial laminate Mainsail.

This Weekend saw the Solo fleet descend onto Farmoor Reservoir for the Spring Championships. It was still cold but at least the sun was out.

The forecast gave out 8-10 knots from the north east, the wind was up and down but probably from nearly every direction, it certainly made difficult sailing conditions and surely gave the race officer a headache with the amount of general recalls.

With the sailing similar to snakes and ladders it went down to the last race between a number of sailors, Charlie Cumbley went on to take the win with Andy Davis second, John Clarke third and John Blundell 4th.

Another good regatta for HD Sails with two sails in the top four and good to see John Blundell in his new Winder MK2 going quick straight out of the box.

January 20, 2013January 8, 2014

2013 Off And Running

2013 has started off nice and busy. Not only are we busy making lovely new sails but we’ve also been out sailing at the winter events and working on new designs.

Delivery dates for new sails are pushing further into 2013, so if you are looking at having new sails for the start of the season get your order in asap so to save on disappointment.

Development certainly hasn’t stopped since the summer. One of our latest projects has been working with Osprey Inland Champions Chris Gould & Nick Broomhall and National Champions Gareth Caldwell & John Gibbons to develop our Osprey sails.

For 2013 we have designed sails for the 420 and using the sails will be 2012 Optimist National Champion Martin Wrigley steering and crewed by Sam Smith, watch this space pictures will follow.

The Bloody Mary saw the Merlins descend as the biggest fleet with 31 boats, HD Sails took first, second and fourth out of the Merlin fleet. Unfortunately this year the course certainly favoured the trapeze boats and the Foiling Moths which were certainly impressive to watch. Jon Gorringe & Tobytastic was the first Merlin and managed to get to 12th overall, second Merlin was Andy Davis & Pippa Taylor who managed 23rd overall.

Next big winter event will be the Stevie Nicholson memorial race at Northampton Sailing club, Both Jim and Andy will be there sailing.

More news on our development will follow, we have more news on Merlins, Solo, OK and Phantom.

November 8, 2012January 8, 2014

Blithfield Barrel

This Sunday the Blithfield Barrel kicks off, with over 80 odd entries last year we hope this year is going to be even bigger.

For those that don’t know the Barrel takes place once a month, the first starting this Sunday 11th November at 12:00 o’clock with two handicap races, the others are 9th December, 13th January and the 17th February.

Both Jim and I will be attending, Jim will be in his 505 with Norman Bryd and I’ll be sailing my Merlin, we hope to see you there.

How to Find the Sailing Club

Blithfield is in the heart of rural Staffordshire, above the M6 and below the A50. We located between Burton’s Breweries, Lichfield’s Cathedral and Uttoxeter’s Race Course.

From the B5014, turn into Seedcroft Lane (there is a signpost to BSC here). Follow Seedcroft Lane for about 3/4 mile and you will come to a left turn (Waters Road) signposted to BSC. Take this turn, continue through the gates past South Staffs Water Buildings then turn right into BSC as soon as you reach the dam.

If you get lost try ringing the club: 01283 840464
Our full address is: Blithfield Sailing Club, Waters Lane, Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, WS15 3DU.

September 24, 2012January 12, 2022

Closer Than Close @ The Merlin Nationals

The Merlin Nationals at Lyme Regis 2012

HD Sails came within a whisker of winning the Merlin Nationals Lyme Regis 2012

Andy Davis and Tom Pygall went in to the week as defending champions and certainly put up a good fight. Throughout the week it became clear that it was going to be a two horse race between Andy & Tom and Olympic 470 silver medalist Stuart Bithell crewed by Christian Birrell.

The strong south westerly wind brought big seas, this gave perfect conditions for the majority of the week. Unfortunately, too much wind and huge waves resulted in sailing being cancelled on Monday and Wednesday.

Throughout the week the two boats matched each other point for point resulting in a tie going in to the last day. Andy and Tom had been more consistent with a score card of 2,2,3,2,2, compared to Stuart and Christian’s 1,1,5,1,dnf. The Merlin Rocket Class sail 6 races with one discard, so going into the last day Andy had to stop Stuart from finishing in the top 4.

Race 6 started with the a force 2-3 in the south west. The race was looking as if the right hand side would pay, Andy was covering Stuart and forcing him down the line, Andy forced Stuart out to the left hand side with the majority of the fleet going right, unfortunately half way up the first beat the wind shifted 35 degrees to the left, favouring Stuart, but both boats rounded the windward mark in the top 7 with Stuart just ahead. From then there wasn’t much Andy could do as Stuart was covering. The two boats sailed through to second and third, giving Stuart the title by a point.

Geoff Carveth and Graham Williamson finshed third on 25 points, Richard Whitworth and Sarah Bines finished fourth on 37 points.

Certainly another great championship, superbly run by Lyme Regis Sailing Club.

September 3, 2012January 8, 2014

HD Solo Champions!

Andy Davis wins the Solo Nationals with a race to spare at Mounts Bay Sailing Club.

The week started off with a light on shore breeze, Andy using the Radial Laminate mainsail with HD custom carbon battens won the start and lead to the windward mark, Andy then went on to win the first race by a comfortable margin, a great starter for the series.

Andy showed great consistency throughout the rest of the week with only having two races out of the top of 4, as the week progressed so did the wind, on the last day Andy only needed to finish within four places of Charlie Cumbley. In the penultimate race Andy rounded the windward mark in the early teens, using superb pace Andy sailed through to 2nd over the three lap race in a 20 knots. This gave Andy the 2012 title, this is the second time Andy has won the Solo Nationals.

A big thank you to Winder Boats for lending Andy a Solo, Andy used the Winder mark 2 Solo and Selden D+ mast.

Check out our You Tube Chanel for video taken by Will Loy at the event.

For more information on our HD Solo sails please contact Andy or Jim on 0121 356 2175

June 20, 2012January 8, 2014

Clean sweep at GP14 Leinster Championships

Current Irish National Champions Shane MacCarthy and Andy Davis won all three races at the Leinster Championships. This year the Leinster’s were held at Greystones. 6 races were scheduled but only three completed, Saturday started off with quite light winds but built later in the afternoon to give superb flat out reaches. Sunday the forecast was not so great, the race officer tried to start a race but with very light wind and tide in the same direction it certainly made it difficult to get over the start line, only a handful of boats managed to make it over line and with that the race officer canned the race and the day.

Shane has now won the Leinster’s 3 years in a row and showing great boat speed is certainly looking forward to the World Championships in August.

If you are thinking of GP sails for this years Worlds please don’t hesitate and get your order in soon so you don’t miss out, order slots are filling up fast!

May 7, 2012January 8, 2014

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.

March 16, 2012January 8, 2014

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;

jim@hdsails.com

andy@hdsails.com

Many thanks

Andy & Jim