Ullman Sails Newport Beach

2012-01-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the first Seminar of 2012 next Thursday evening at Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach. Balboa Yacht Club has their CDM to Cabo Race coming up in March so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to discuss Weather and Racing in SoCal in the Spring, i.e. the Cabo Race, Islands Race, PV Race, Border Run, Ensenada, etc... There will also be valuable tips on what to look for weather-wise if you prefer to race around the buoys or cruise the coastal waters.

Balboa Yacht Club has been gracious enough to offer us their facility so there will be cash bar to keep you from getting parched during the presentation.

So grab your crew, or skipper, and come on down for what promises to be a very informative evening. The season is here, let's go sailing!!!

Balboa Yacht Club
1801 Bayside Drive
Corona del Mar, CA
Bar opens at 1800, Seminar begins at 1900
Please RSVP to 714-432-1860

Tips From The Top

2012-01-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick tip you may not think of when preparing yourself, and your
crew, for getting better starts. It's very easy to practice and will help
improve your starts tremendously.

Time vs. Distance

How many times have you ended up 15 seconds early, or 10 late, when
approaching your desired spot on the line? And this small amount of time can
spell the difference between a great start and the dreaded second or third
row.

Did you tack too early, didn't accelerate fast enough, couldn't slow down,
etc... These are all very simple things to practice and you don't need a
second boat. Just your crew, a stopwatch, and a buoy or mooring.

1)      Find a "Mark". Locate a buoy or mooring with plenty of navigable
water around it so you can time approaches from all directions and angles.

2)      Shorten the sequence time. This will enable you to get in more
practice "Starts". I suggest 2-3 minutes.

3)      Now once in sequence, guess your time to the "Mark" and go for it.
This will vary widely depending on distance, do you have to Tack, or Gybe,
etc... Make sure you call out this "guess" of time. Keeps you and the crew
honest. You can even make it a competition to liven things up a bit.

4)      Repeat this exercise with both Tacks and Gybes involved. See how
close you can get to the "guesstimated" time.

5)      Another good exercise for when you find yourself very early is
stopping and reaccelerating the boat. Get the crew to completely ease sheets
and/or hold the boom out, then trim back in and get her going back up to
full speed. Observe what did this do to your relative position to the
"Mark". This maneuver requires a lot of concentration and communication
between he helmsmen and trimmers, but when done efficiently can be a great
weapon.

In just a short afternoon you'll be amazed how this simple exercise will
improve your starts. The start line is usually a crowded and intense place.
The last thing you need to worry about is if you're guessing your Time vs.
Distance calculation correctly.

That's it. Good luck and sail fast!

By Scott Poe

Viper 640 West Coast Championships #1

2012-01-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

Ullman Centerboard Regatta

Leukemia Cup

This past weekend Arizona Yacht Club played host to their annual Leukemia Cup regatta, also known as the Birthday Regatta. There was an added incentive this year as Ullman Sails Newport Beach sponsored Friday’s Centerboard Challenge. The Portsmouth, PHRF and Viper Fleets all turned up to do battle for centerboard dominance. The Viper fleet also included the day as part of their Leukemia Cup series. The wind was strong in the morning, but the afternoon included a 180-degree shift and light air, which made for an interesting and challenging racecourse. Results from the Ullman Centerboard Regatta are located here!

Saturday was the official beginning of the Leukemia Cup regatta and all the scores were reset to zero, excluding the Viper 640 fleet who were now halfway through their first stop on the Viper 640 West Coast Championship Series. Over 60 diverse boats participated in what turned out to be an amazing weekend. Buccaneer 18, Merit 25, Montgomery 17 and the Viper 640 all had one design fleets with individual starts.

Once again I was lucky enough to be racing a Viper with Jim Sears as we started our quest towards the West Coast Championship Trophy! Jim was not able to make it Friday as work commitments required his attention (someone has to pay for these adventures!) so I was fortunate enough (or so I thought) to skipper the boat for the day. A good start and top-three mark rounding followed by a malfunctioning spinnaker halyard quickly sent us back to the dock for repairs. With consistently good breeze on the lake, we missed two races fixing the halyard and were now more than 22 points behind the leaders. This is not how we imagined the start to our 2012 season. But back on the course and ready to go, we won the next start, rounded first and were looking good…until a 180-degree wind shift allowed the fleet to sail around us! Despite the bad luck, we salvaged a third place and headed to the dock to regroup for Saturday. Long-time Ullman customer and new Viper owner Ed Feo (previously owner of Andrews 45 “Locomotion”) used his experience to power into second place for the day and make a statement in his first regatta. And local lad Tony Chapman had an outstanding day, winning the first Ullman Sails Centerboard Regatta. Day One Results.

Jim was back on the boat Saturday and college sailor Evan (can’t remember his last name - sorry!) and I were ready for a fight-back. And fight back we did! Consistency was the name of the game and we settled into a groove of second and third place finishes. Both Tony and Greg Jackson were the guys to beat as local knowledge ruled the day. Boats were constantly changing position throughout the fleet, which was good for us as we continued to stay near the top. Ed had some trouble shifting gears in the light air and slipped back as the point totals started mounting up. We finished Saturday near the top of the leader board but knew it would be tough to win.

Sunday started poorly for us, but we beat the boats we needed to and started to realize we were in the mix for the overall win. Ed Feo got his rig tuned perfectly and won the day with boat speed and great tactics. Consistency was paying off for us and we were charging for the top. We just needed more races! Calculations told us we were tied with the leader (Greg Jackson), but would lose the tie breaker. Our confidence and boat speed were up and we had a feeling we could pull it out, but sadly the wind died and the regatta was over with no more racing to be had. The fight-back was good, but not good enough. Congratulations to Greg and his crew who won the regatta with solid finishes, especially on Saturday.

Thirteen total races were completed (11 for the Viper 640s) by an outstanding race committee and hosted by a friendly and fun yacht club. The lake has changed since I was there 15 years ago, but one thing remained the same – the passion for sailing is alive and well. Make sure you put this regatta on your calendar for next year!

FULL RESULTS

ROAD TRIP VIDEO

Keith Magnussen

Custom Axis Laminate

2012-01-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

Custom Axis Laminate (CAL) the Future in Cruising

High performance at Dacron prices
Tue, 25th Aug 2009
By Chuck Skewes

Custom Axis Laminate Sails are exceeding all expectations. The CAL Sails use Vectran Primary and Secondary load bearing threads, and Polyester fill threads, laminated between two durable light weight woven Dacron covers. This gives the Vectran 100% U.V. protection and makes a very strong low stretch sail that gives any boat extra performance.

The Process uses a 7 layer lamination and an asymmetric thread layout. The back of the sail has a different thread count than the front making the sail very low stretch and giving you the best performance. These sails have the similar performance as our racing designs but are much more durable. The CAL Sails shape last about 40% longer than a Dacron sail as well.

Performance may not seam like an issue with cruising sails but performance is efficiency. This means less healing, less weather helm, a wider wind range with the same sails, and easier to handle boat. This not only makes your cruising more enjoyable but makes it much safer by not having to leave the cockpit as much for reefing and having more control of the boat in higher winds.

The value in these sails is extremely high. Vectran Cruising Laminate sails are generally 30%-60% more than Dacron Sails. The CAL Sails are very close to the same price. Once customers try these sails they can not understand why everyone does not have them.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-27T19:01:00.000-08:00

Ullman Sails will be back on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

to work on your sails and projects.

If you need immediate sail assistance, please contact Bruce Cooper at

949-633-0536 or bcooper@ullmansails.com

CYA Champagne December Regatta

2011-12-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

The Champagne regatta is always a favorite year’s end event for the racers at CYA. This is my fifth time for this regatta and still cannot figure out if it is a fun race that racer’s take seriously or a serious race that racer’s sail for fun? I think a combination of both!

The Westerly winds forgot to arrive blowing into the Acapulco Bay, instead the slow Southerly wind showed up instead. Racers prefer the stronger Westerly wind for a fantastic spinnaker ride into Puerto Marquez and race to take down the spinnaker before the boats sail up onto the beach at high speed. That would not be happening at this year’s Champaign race.

The first leg to El Presidente was a combination headsail and spinnaker leg. Both A & B class had to choose whether to navigate the large cargo ship anchored in the middle of the bay by going higher than course with the headsail and then setting a spinnaker after the large ship or going low of course with the spinnaker hoisted early but possibly having to take the spinnaker down early if the wind changes more to the south. The low boats came in fast to the buoy reaching hard with good angle, paying dividends to the boats that stayed low toward the beach/Costera side.

The next buoy was at the upper end of the Boca Chica. At this point in the race, several of the boats had good position and were probably comfortable with their position against their competitors. The wind was blowing from the perfect Southerly direction to wreak havoc on the wind and boats trying to sail up the channel. The normal west wind funnels down the channel and provides good consistent wind, but today the wind was block by La Rocheta and the wind was anything but consistent! I think Knitissima and French Kiss that came through the channel without stopping or getting turned the wrong direction drifting looking for wind! Many changes in the leader board after that simple mile of sailing! This was “re-start” #1.

First to the inflatable buoy and making the turn back down the coast to the finish at Puerto Marquez was Vincitore followed by Patches by 3 boat lengths. The only other boat within minutes of the big boats was the orange Knitissima! Heading for the finish (and Champagne) Patches tried some moves to get by Vincitore, but both boats were very solid in trim and course going about 8.5 to 9 knots toward the finish.

As the big boats entered Puerto Marquez, only the orange hull of Knitissima could be detected, it looked good for the big boats against the smaller boats in A class! Then, restart #2! Vincitore sailed into the bay with a spinnaker low toward the center of the bay and Patches held the jib closer to the rocky cliffs on the right. Patches hoisted the light air spinnaker to drop down in front of Vincitore who found a huge hole of no wind which proceeded to swallow up both boats! The knot meters were pegged at zero knots! That translates to zero miles per hours and zero kilometers per hour! The rest of the fleet sailed into the bay with the same wind that Patches and Vincitore had just enjoyed 15 minutes earlier! Boats were going any direction with spinnakers and headsail trying to find the magic puff of wind to blow their boat to the finish and VICTORY! Patches found their puff of wind and crossed the finish line going .25 knots! It was amazing to see all the strategies of finding the wind and getting to finish. The boats sailed closest to the rocky cliffs (where Patches came in) and the boats that were all the way over to the Pichilingue side seemed to catch the wind better than the boats in the middle of the bay where Vincitore had entered. The boats in the middle of the bay seemed to be “stuck” between a southerly sea breeze and the northerly off shore breeze in a big cancellation “no wind” zone!

The big winners were Emilio Garcia’s Farr 50”BSM” in A class with Tania Fichtner helming and Robert Vulling’s Peterson 40 “Piet Hein” in B class. The nice thing about a race with a start, re-start #1 and re-start#2 was every boat was potentially winning the race at any of those moments! I am sure many crews were licking their lips with the taste of victory so close to their reach, but had to settle for only the taste of champagne after finishing behind BSM and Piet Hein. Many sailors drank the Moet & Chandon bubbly in victory and many drank it in celebration of “almost” winning the Champaign Race!

The tradition is to finish the race and anchor the boats together in the upper corner of Puerto Marquez at Pichilingue. Right on cue, all the boats came together and the fiesta began. Food, drink and fun started with the special delivery of champagne from the CYA support boats. For the boats that missed the race, you missed a great gathering of sailors, friends, family and good people celebrating a great year of sailing and competition. We hope to see you all at the next race on January 14-15 at CYA.

Habla Bien de Acapulco!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas,

Bruce Cooper Tomas Span Ricky Brockmann

The Genoa Staysail - Secret Weapon?

2011-12-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

The Genoa Staysail - Secret Weapon?

In the last few years I have learned more then I can remember when it comes to sailboat racing. One thing that keeps coming back is this lesson: Genoa Staysails can add speed to a lot of boats.

During a sail development program for a local Santa Cruz 50, we started to incorporate a Genoa Staysail into the inventory. With these ‘lighter’ boats that carry the apparent wind forward, the Genoa staysail proved more efficient than a spinnaker staysail in all conditions except true running conditions. We discovered that we could carry the Genoa staysail efficiently under the Code Zero, the #1 Genoa (when the outboard lead is used), the 1A Spinnaker and the 135% Jib Top! We witnessed speed gains of over a half of a knot.

Given the results of our testing, I started to use a Genoa Staysail on my Hobie 33. We even used it on shorter legs of the Hot Rum Series in San Diego like the last leg of race 3 under our Code Zero. It gave us enough speed to win overall and beat much faster boats. I believe we were the only boat to fly this sail! We saw the knot-meter increase by one to two-tenths after hoisting the Genoa Staysail. While this may not seem like much, it is a large percentage of the overall boat speed on a smaller boat.

Now consider larger, high profile race boats. If you look at some of the 24-hour Monohull speed records, you’ll notice that the majority of these boats did not achieve their records with spinnakers, but with smaller jib tops and Genoa staysails. Check out this video of the Volvo 70 ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ during the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBcfMFm6pns.

Here are some more of the technical benefits of the Genoa Staysail to consider:

Because the Genoa Staysail is generally smaller and flatter then a traditional spinnaker staysail, it doesn’t affect the trim of the sail behind it or take away its wind.
The Genoa staysail actually accelerates the wind through the slot between then main and the sail in front.
It provides balance to a boat that has a lot of ‘weather helm’ in heavier reaching conditions.
It moves the apparent wind forward as it flows through the mainsail. Thus the ‘apparent wind’ has less of a desire to push the boat over, which actually will have the effect of increased righting moment.

It is free sail area. It is easy to use. It is relatively inexpensive. Why don’t you have one?

Contact Ullman Sails Newport Beach for more information on these speedy sails.

www.UllmanSailsNewportBeach.com / Ullman@UllmanSails.com / 714-432-1860

Written by Erik Shampain – Ullman Sails Newport Beach / One Design Coordinator

HydraNet Voyager Sails from Ullman Sails

2011-12-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

Ullman Sails has a wide variety of cloths and constructions to cater to the specific use of each sailor in the world. HydraNet is a woven Polyester/Spectra/Dyneema blend that makes a low stretch extremely durable and long lasting cloth. Ullman Sails make the HydraNet sails in a radial configuration making the sails very strong and low stretch.

The HydraNet sails are ideal for blue water sailing and places with high temperatures and high humidity. Since it is woven and not laminated the life of these sails is unmatched.
When you need strength and durability these sails are unmatched. They are also a great for large Multi-Hulls, allowing more strength with less weight than most other options. Call or contact Ullman Sails for more information on HydraNet for your boat.

By: C. Skewes

Regata Copa Mexico Update (MEXORC)

2011-11-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

Off Shore Class ready for the Regatta Copa Mexico Olympic Edition 2012

· The Off Shore Class Warm Up for the Regatta Copa Mexico Olympic Edition 2012 took place on November 26th and 27th at the Acapulo Yatch Club.
· The courses were modified according to the scheme that will be held at Riviera Nayarit in 2012.

Acapulco, Guerrero, November 27th, 2011.- During November 26th and 27th, the boats and crews that race on MEXORC, practiced for Regatta Copa Mexico Olympic Edition 2012 at the Acapulco Yacht Club.
Ernesto Amtmann, Chairman of the Organizing Commitee of Regatta Copa Mexico Olympic Edition 2012, who is also Chairman of the MEXORC 2012, said “to really turn this competition in to a warm up for Regatta Copa Mexico Olympic Edition 2012 the circuits of the competition had to be modified in one short and one long course with the objective to have the same kind of races as in Regatta Copa Mexico”.
“The Off Shore teams have been training for Regatta Copa Mexico Olympic Edition 2012, this is the last important race of the class before Copa Mexico, so now the teams will have time to repair their boats and prepare them for the competition”, added Mr. Amtmann.
The Off Shore sailboats are special competition boats of different sizes and designs, ranging from 14 to 30 meters long, with an average of 15 crewmembers each. On Saturday and Sunday, 22 ships participated in the race, in which the following boats took the honors:
A CLASS
1. Flojito y Cooperando
2. Patches
3. French Kiss
B CLASS
1. Iemanja
2. Bandido
3. Veloce II

On Saturday evening, the winners of the last six months of competition received their trophies. Pablo Fernández, Public Relations and Media Officer of Regatta Copa Mexico, helmsman of the boat Iemanja, whose captain is Mr. Jorge Escalante, said "The wind conditions were favorable for the development of the race. It was very difficult to overtake the other boats, but we achieved the goal thanks to great crew work”.D
During the Off Shore Class Warm Up for the Regatta Copa Mexico Olympic Edition 2012 a meeting was held to disscuss “The Mazatlán Challenge”. Details of the event, were stated, which consisted in a competition with a boat to boat format, team racing and fleet racing, that will take place in that port in near future.

The Regatta Copa Mexico Olympic edition 2012 will take place from March 2nd to March 18th, 2012 at Bahia de Banderas, which is the main tourist venue of Riviera Nayarit, a leading destination in nautical activities in Mexico. It is expected to receive compeitors from all over the world and a 30% more affluence than in 2010.

The races of Regatta Copa México, Olympic Edition 2012, will be held in different courses, with distances proper to each class. The seven categories will be: Oceanic, J24, Laser, 420, Kitesurf, Windsurf and Optimist.

Regatta Copa México, in its Olympic Edition 2012, is a joint effort between the Mexican Government, the Government of the State of Nayarit and the Mexican Sailing Associations.

For more information please visit the website http://www.regatacopamexico.com/

About Regatta Copa Mexico, Olympic Edition 2012. It is a great international, perpetual and multiclass event, that will take place every two years throughout the coasts and ports of Mexico. The objective is to stimulate and support the sport of sailing and to promote the natural beauties and infrastructure of the coasts of Mexico, while generating the interest of tourism in our country. In this joined effort, where the right ingredients meet, the outcome promises one more time to be a spectacular and successful event of quality racing, friendship, color and fiesta.

PLEASE ASK FOR HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Paloma Foulkes
Public Relations and Media Coordinator
Regatta Copa Mexico, Olympic Edition 2012
Telephone (52-55) 1204-3523
palomaf@regattacopamexico.com

2011 Cal 25 Fleet V Championship

2011-11-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

2011 Cal 25 Fleet V Championship:

Melendres’ “One Time” shows rain can’t dampen winning effort

Written by: Rick Roberts

11/06/11

Long Beach, Calif.—Don’t let it be said that the local Cal 25 racers are not serious sailors. Sunday morning, the Cal 25 Fleet V Championship dawned cold and rainy, but they all came out and put on a closely-fought show ending the day with Art Melendres’, “One Time” as the winner on a tie-breaker.

“We’re really thankful the race committee saw fit to hold this regatta,” said Melendres. “It was a real dogfight from beginning to end. Everything you expect a Cal 25 regatta to be.”

The first race of the day the wind was a moderate 10-11 knots, but coming from the wrong direction… off the beach at Belmont Shore which is about 180 degrees from its normal southwesterly direction. Not that big of a challenge for the race committee but for the sailors, local knowledge and local experience was thrown overboard.

But when the rain quit and the skies cleared the wind clocked around to its normal direction for the last two races of the day and settled in at 9-11 knots.

“We had three completely different races,” Melendres said, “with three different winners… and it came down to a tie breaker in the last race. That’s pretty competitive racing.”

Second place honors went to Bob Daniel and his boat “Nemesis”.

“I love the one-design aspect of racing in the Cal 25 fleet,” Daniel said.

At the end of the day’s racing, there was a tie for first and only one point behind was “Nemesis”.

“We had a third in the last race,” said Daniel. “If we had gotten second, we would have won this. But, it was great racing and I had a great crew, especially my foredeck person Kristy who was terrific.”

Rick Sottile and Felix Basadre finished in third place with their co-owned Cal 25, “Tiburon”.

“It was a lot of work and strategy to out maneuver the rain and wind today,” said Sottile. “It took a lot of extra skill to find the wind lines.

“The last race of the day was great with all of the boats together. You really had to be on top of your game to win this one today.”

Putting a winning team together is a family matter on “One Time”. Melendres gives credit to his son Scott Melendres and daughter Monica Ouiedo.

“I owe this win to the fact that I have a great tactician [Scott] and a great driver [Monica],” said Melendres. “The team never quit. During one of the races our foredeck man fell and cut himself. But he got up and hung in there.

“When it got down to the last race, everyone on the boat stepped up and did their jobs.”

Final Results

1. Art Melendres, LBYC, “One Time”, 4-2-1, 7 points on tie-breaker

2. Bob Daniel, ABYC, “Nemesis”, 1-3-3, 7

3. Felix Basadre/Rick Sottile, SlBYC, “Tiburon”, 5-1-2, 8

4. Don Reiman, ABYC, “Rhyme N Reason”, 2-4-4, 10

5. Dennis Diem, LBYC, “The Iguana”, 3-5-5, 13

Complete results are available at www.lbyc.org

PRESS OFFICER

Rick Roberts

ricksoffice@sbcglobal.net

562.493.5173

Mobile: 310.367.9079

2011 Dana Point Harbor Championships

2011-10-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

2011 Dana Point Harbor Championships were held this past weekend. The battle for the Howard Trueba Memorial Trophy was won over 5 races by Jason Adamson's Olson 30 White Lightning. Jason and his crew beat out the likes of a J-125, Melges 32, Henderson 30's and a plethora of other highly competitive boats.

Saturday consisted of four windward/leeward races that started out in foggy light air conditions, perfect for the lighter sport-boats. Howard Lewis' Melges 32 Pendragon took the first race with Biff Bunny's Henderson 30 Powerpoint close by in second. Jason Adamson started his consistent weekend of sailing with a third place finish in the difficult and shifty conditions. Race two saw the wind settle and increase to a pleasurable 7-9kts. Once again White Lightning showed their good form and won race two with consistent boat speed and good tactics. Moving up the fleet was brian Doughery and his J-105 Legacy. Team Legacy pulled a third place finish and quickly showed the fleet that they were there to compete. Race 3 & 4 saw increasing wind velocity and some boats started switching to smaller headsails. At one point a 18kt puff rolled through the course much to the delight of the larger heavier boats.

Sunday's random leg race was looking like a long drifter as the boats floundered around the committee boat waiting for the wind to do something. It eventually filled in and the Race Committee picked a good course and sent the boats on their way. The first mark rounded was jam packed with most of the boats arriving at the same time. Legacy was looking strong and sailed a consistent race from the outset to finish the regatta with a victory and sew up a second overall as their nearest competitor Sedona were uncharacteristically positioned towards the back of the fleet. White Lightning once again showed their dominance with a great performance to get second in the race and essentially first overall.

Both White Lightning and Legacy are powered 100% by Ullman Sails.

Click here for full results!

Special thanks to Barry Senescue and his team on the Race Committee boat for their hard work in running a perfect regatta.

15% off U/V Cover Repair or Replacment!!

2011-10-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Tore a sail? Need a U/V Cover repaired or replaced? We can fix it! let Ullman Sails get you back out onto the water with our expert sail repair. You wouldn't believe some of the miracles we have performed on sails; damage repairs, UV covers, sail repairs we do it all!

There is no better time than now to get your U/V cover repaired as we are offering 15% discount on all U/V cover replacement or repair. Offer good through October 28th.

Give us a call today to get a quote for your application: 714-432-1860

Harvest Moon Regatta 2011

2011-10-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Harvest Moon Regatta was completed this past weekend in near perfect conditions. This years race was the polar opposite of last year when 200 boats battled winds up to 35kts on the nose and 12 foot seas. Fortunately we were treated to a downwind race in variable conditions ranging from 6-23kts.

The PHRF Spinnaker Class was well represented with everything from a Santa Cruz 50 to Navy 44. James Liston's J-120 Aeolus was running a new 3A and Staysail that helped power the boat down the coast. The race started in around 12-15kts of wind at about 130-135 TWA. Most boats elected to go with a Code 0 but Aeolus went right to the 3A which proved the correct call as they seemed to have better speed and direction towards the first mark at Freeport. The wind started to shift slightly and it was time to peel to the Max Runner. The Freeport Buoy was rapidly approaching and Aeolus was in great position as they rounded the mark 4th, right behind a King 40. A change back to the 3A and a little trouble on the King 40 saw the J-120 now sitting in third boat for boat and 2nd on corrected.

The game plan of staying inside and looking for more pressure paid off as they never saw under 10kts of wind and actually had a puff of 23 as they hit their top speed. Sunrise came and so did a jibe off the beach about 23 miles from Port Aransas. A wind shift to 60 degrees saw them right on lay-line and the outside boats now started to struggle to soak down to the entrance buoy. The King 40 was about a mile behind and the Santa Cruz 50 about 3 miles ahead. Aeolus rounded the turning buoy just as a tanker was emerging making for some difficult maneuvers in order to stay clear of the large vessel. This also delayed the spinnaker change and in turn cost the boat around 12 minutes of valuable time against the overall standings.

Third Monohull to finish, Second in Class and Third Overall was a great result in a highly competitive race. Check out the Full Results and watch the High Definition Video on Ullman Sails TV.

Ultimate 20 Pacific Coast Championships winner Michael Eisenberg gives his report

2011-10-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Toon Town won the PCC regatta with a 2,1,1 series tally. Toon Town was the only U20 using a full compliment of Ullman Sails (and maybe any Ullman Sails: there might have been one other Ullman spinnaker). Racing was typical SF summer type conditions, starting at 10 knts in the morning, topping out at 15-18 knots at the end of the day. The breezy conditions combined with an Ebb tide resulted in invigorating conditions up and down wind. Sustained downwind speeds of 12-13 knots on top of the Ebb current made for an exciting sail. Sunday's racing was cancelled due to lack of wind.

“LE TIGRE” LOCKS UP J/80 NORTH AMERICAN TITLE

2011-10-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the J/80 “Le Tigre” team who dominated the 2011 North American Championship last week! The team of Glenn Darden (helm), Karl Anderson (trim), Ullman Sails’ Max Skelley (tactics) and Reese Hillard (bow) earned their title with excellent teamwork and strong, consistent finishes throughout the 11-race series. Powered by Ullman Sails upwind inventory, they scored 5 bullets and three 2nd place finishes, ending the regatta with 29 total points – 11 points ahead of second place! “Le Tigre” has competed with Ullman Sails since 2006.

Glenn attributes their North American win to good speed and excellent crew work. “This team has been sailing for two years together and that really paid off. We got off to a very fast start and that was key to winning the regatta – building a big lead,” Glenn said. The team’s North American title caps off a stellar racing season for “Le Tigre”. Some of the major events on their 2011 scorecard include 1st place at Key West Race Week, which was also the J/80 Midwinter Championship. They took 2nd overall at the Swedish Nationals in preparation for the 2011 J/80 World Championship in Copenhagen, where they finished 5th overall.

The 2011 North American title marks the end of the team’s 2011 season, but they’re already focused on the 2012 J/80 schedule.

For complete results from the J/80 North American Championship hosted by Larchmont Yacht Club, September 28-October 2, 2011, click here.

SPORT BOATS EARN A PODIUM SWEEP + PCC TITLE

2011-10-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

Sport boats converged on San Diego’s South Bay last weekend for the 2011 Fall Sport Boat Regatta where Ullman Sails customers claimed the Flying Tiger 10 Pacific Coast Championships and a full sweep of the Viper 640 podium! Congratulations to Paul and Julie McPherson and their crew on the FT 10 “Niuhi” – they took charge early on Saturday and collected three straight bullets to open the event. “Niuhi” competed with 100% Ullman Sails onboard and sealed its PCC title Sunday in the 8-boat fleet.

Elsewhere on the racecourse, Chris Winnard and team on “Disaster Area” finished first overall with five bullets out of six total races in the Viper 640 fleet. James Sears and his crew, Keith Magnussen and Gina Liotta, on “The FNG” (pictured on right) finished in second overall, only three points behind "Disaster Area." Tim Carter’s “Viral” was third overall in the 8-boat fleet. The Viper 640 podium was fully powered by Ullman Sails!

Coronado Yacht Club hosted the 2011 Fall Sport Boat Regatta, formally Sailing Anarchy’s Sailing Festival. For complete results, click here.

Rolex Big Boat Series 2011

2011-09-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Rolex Big Boat Series staged it's 11th and final race today and brought to end one of the most memorable Big Boat Series in recent years. Some are even touting this as the best week of the events 47 year history. The demands of racing for four days in 20-30 knot winds took it's toll on the boats and the sailors, most of whom arrived days before the event in order to practice.

Saturday was especially brutal as the wind peaked at around 35kts. The TP52's were hit hard as more than a few had sail problems and boat issues. The J-125's were battling it out for the top four spot's in IRC 2. They were really showing their dominance amongst the other boats when Viggo Torbenson's J-125 Timeshaver broke their rudder. Consensus on the was that they hit something (the amazing part of this story was that they still managed to finish the race). Fellow competitor Tim Fuller, owner of the J-125 Resolute, had a back up close by in Richmond and generously let Viggo and his team borrow it. Andy Costello's Double Trouble ended up dominating the proceedings and had won before the final day.

We found ourselves in a tough class on the 100% Ullman Powered Tanton 73 Velos (picture credit © Rolex-Daniel Forster). After the near perfect performance in 2009 Team Velos was back, and looking for more silverware. This year we were matched up against four TP52's and local rockstars Criminal Mischief. Also in the mix was the 78 foot turbo sled Akela. Our best day came on Saturday in the big breeze as we were able to match the other boats upwind. Sailing Velos around a relatively small course is a chore and the crew worked tirelessly to keep the boat moving as fast as possible. Everything is more difficult. The huge weight and extreme loads takes their toll physically. The bow team were outstanding (our spinnaker pole is bigger than most boats) and shone in the tough conditions when things did not work out how we planned. Only casualty of the weekend was the 4A that had a small tear that quickly turned into an exploded spinnaker. Owner Kjeld Hestehave provided a great program and is highly competitive with his boat and a pleasure to sail with.

Michael Shlens took his Express 37 (shown here in one the more exciting moments) upstate to compete in the 9 boat one design class. Ullman rep Peter Wheelon was on board to help propel the 100% Ullman boat into second place for the regatta. The Express fleet were right at home in the heavy air and enjoyed extremely close racing and spectacular sailing all week.

Keith Magnussen

Full Results

Big Boat Series 2011

2011-09-09T20:18:00.001-07:00

Big Boat Series 2011 on the wildebeest Velos is in full effect and the day did not disappoint as we were treated to great wind and challenging racing. IRC A has a huge spread of boats with Akela the fastest and the Velos the slow boat in class. In between are a plethora of TP-52's and The Criminal. Racing could not even begin without some sort of drama and when one "unnamed" boat decided to protest the committee over the class breaks. That went back and forth but everything stayed the same and we actually did some sailing. Race 1 started in moderate air and we trucked upwind with the #2. This is our "fast" point of sail and it was important to make use of our advantage and keep close to the 52's. The loads on this boat are incredible and it is a chore to get it around the race course. We managed a great jibe set at the first mark and were in touching distance of the 52's and had a pretty good lead on Criminal. Well that all changed downwind as the performance factor shifted dramatically in favour of every other boat!

With 22 or so people on the boat (hopefully I know some names by the end of this adventure) and me doing upwind trim, I got to relax downwind and observe. The power of the 52's downwind is incredible and with almost as much sail area as us and a quarter of the weight they were gone. Then along came the Criminal who were exceptionally fast and equally impressive as the bigger brother's. Race 1 was pretty ordinary since we were sort of on our own. The 52's killed it and then came us Akela and the Criminal.

Race 2 was more exciting as Vespar lost a man at the start, recovered him, and still managed a third! The wind was on and boats were crashing all over the course. We had our issues with breakdowns and injuries but were still doing well over 9kts upwind. Unfortunately it was only a few more knots faster downwind. We rounded one weather mark with the J-125's and got to watch them plane past us like we were standing still. The Farr 30's were moving.. and crashing.. watched a nice J-125 round up, a Beneteau crash and the bow of Criminal not even touch water for the entire leg. Fun times as we plugged along at 13kts! Did one better in the race as we also beat Rebel Yell who seemed a little off the pace the entire day. Mayhem killed the day and were almost matching Akela at times, unreal!

St Francis does it right and really cater to the sailing with top notch facilities and great free food, just need way more of it!

Check out the results

2011 Ullman Offshore Series Results

2011-08-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Ullman Sails Offshore Series ended with the annual Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race. After four events the top boats were closer than ever. For the first time the series was not dominated by the big boys, and with the new scoring system everyone had a chance to shine. The Andrews 39 Bien Roulee went into the final race with a chance to get the overall elapsed and corrected honors. Bien Roulee has had one of their best seasons yet and after the scores were tabulated they claimed top honors for the overall corrected title. The Turbo Santa Cruz 70 OEX took the elapsed overall after they finished strong in the SB-KH race.

2011 marked a change in the scoring policy when classes were introduced based on boat size. The Viper 830 Plankton made a strong showing and won the 20-29 foot division as well as getting second in the corrected overall category.

J-120 Shenanigans dominated the 40-49 foot range with consistent finishing and a commitment to doing all the races.

Ullman Sails is looking forward to the 2012 Offshore Series and are expecting to add one more race to the lineup and hope to encourage more sailors to participate in these fun and challenging races.

For full results please visit the Offshore Series Home Page.

20 Questions with Joseph Hou 2011 Junior Sabot national Champion

2011-08-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

20 Questions with Joseph Hou, #9153

2011 Junior Sabot National Champion

***Joseph, Congratulations on winning the 2011 Junior Sabot Nationals!***

Pre Race:

1. What kind of sailing/training had you done in preparation for the 2011 Sabot Nationals?

Well, my mom makes me sail 24/7 whether I like it or not. Just kidding. I do attend most of

Practice clinics and racing regattas year round.

2. Who are the people and coaches that helped you prepare for the regatta?

Chris Segerblom, Mac Mace and Payson Infelise at NHYC have been coaching me this summer. I also worked with Freddie Stevens for a few weekends before the Nationals.

3. How do you prepare yourself the day of a large regatta such as Nationals?

I go into a large regatta such as the Nationals just as any other regattas.

4. What did you do to prepare your boat?

I washed and polished my boat on Monday since I did not have to race the qualifier. When I rig

My boat, I always triple check my rigging.

5. What do you like about your Ullman Sail that led you to choosing it to help you win the Nationals?

I first used Ullman Sail because it was recommended by Mr. Jim Otis who has won Nationals when he was younger. Now I have used it for the last two years, I really like it because I can use it in light air days and windy days.

6. How old are you and how old were you when you started sailing?

I am 11 and I started sailing when I was 9.

7. What sailors do you look up to and admire?

Chris Barnard because he is an awesome sailor who has won many Nationals all over the world.

Jim Otis who I know very well and he has taught me a lot about Sabot sailing.

8. Do you sail any other types of boats?

I am currently only sailing Sabot. But I would like to sail 420’s

9. When you are not on the water, what do you like to do?

I read books about sailing tactics or watch somebody sailing if I am there. I also like to

play video games when I am finished with all my homework.

The Race:

10. After winning the last race on Saturday, were you nervous one Sunday morning?

I was very nervous, but I got over it.

11. You were 4^th in the flight selection Series, did you change anything to win the regatta?

No. I stuck with what worked.

12. Tell is about the wind shifts and weather, Newport Beach can be a tricky place to sail.

Well, it was very shifty and one can be easily fooled. You have to be patient.

13. We know you can’t give away all of your speed secrets, but could you share just one with us? Tell us how to go fast…please?

Okay! One of my “speed tricks” is to keep my mainsheet in at the right spot. If it’s too tight, then Air won’t flow. If it’s too loose, the air will spill.

14. What piece of equipment do you relay on most when racing?

My sail and my boards.

15. The points were very tight going into the last race. Did this play into you decisions or did you just sail your own race?

A little bit of both. I knew what it takes to win so I sailed my own race. I would have been very

happy to finish in the top five of the Gold Fleet since I am racing against the best Sabot sailors.

Post Race:

16. How did it feel when you lifted the trophy knowing that you will be joining great names such as Earl Elms, Jeff Lenhart, and Bill Hardesty?

It felt great but oddly heavy.

17. What advice do you have for other young juniors out there who aspire to become Sabot Champions and more?

Patience. As my mom says “you have a chance of meeting your goal, you just have to go out

there, work hard and get it”.

18. What is the most important thing you learned during this regatta?

Sail you own race and be patient. Even if there is a sweet righty on the right and you are on the

left, stay patient.

19. What is the next big regatta for Joseph Hou?

Jr. Fall Invitational/North Series ¼ at ABYC

20. What is the next class you are going to attack?

Hopefully, if my mom let’s, me and I get a little bigger, 420’s.

Bonus Question: Do you have any “groupies” now that you are a National Champion?

NO. But sometimes that’s a good thing.

Thank you for your time Joseph, and thank you for flying with Ullman Sails

Erik Shampain
Ullman Naples Sabot Home Page

Fall Sport Boat Regatta September 24-25 2011

2011-08-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

The Anarchy Sport Boat Regatta has been canceled but you can still participate!! Log on to Coronado Yacht Club and sign up today!!

NOTICE OF RACE

Coronado Yacht Club

1631 Strand Way

Coronado, CA 92118

619-435-1848, coryclub@coronadoyc.org

extends an invitation to all skippers and crew to race the

FALL SPORT BOAT REGATTA

September 24-25, 2011

This one design series is sailed on the waters of South San Diego Bay, an area recognized for its superb racing conditions, flat water, no kelp. It consists of up to 7 challenging races on windward-leeward courses.

ELIGIBILITY

Entries are limited to sport boats. Skippers must be in good standing in yacht clubs or organizations recognized by US Sailing, SCYA, or SDAYC. As of August 16, FT10’s and Vipers are coming. What about YOUR fleet?

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Saturday: FOUR RACES Sunday: THREE RACES

1000: Skippers’ Meeting 1200: Start fifth race

1200: Start First Race 1600: Awards and Prizes, Beer and Food

1700: Beer/Soda and HOT FOOD at CYC (included)

ENTRY FEE - $55.00, less US Sailing $5 discount

REGISTRATION

Entry thru coronadoyc.org, “racing” button. Fleet inquiries please call Fred Hawes, PRO, 619-920-6661.

One discount applies. An early discount of $5 will be given when the regattanetwork.com computer identifies you as a current member of US Sailing. Persons completing the registration Saturday morning are eligible for the USSA discount. Registration closes at 10 AM Saturday morning.

Each boat shall check-in at the Registration Desk located on the front deck at CYC Saturday morning.

Indian Summer Sale!!

2011-08-16T11:13:00.001-07:00

There's still plenty of great sailing to be done this season. Whether racing or cruising, the SoCal season is just now entering it's best months. Why wait until Winter to get a new sail you won't use until Spring, when you can get it now and ENJOY IT NOW!

Order a sail by August 31st and get 25% Off with a delivery date of Sept. 30th!

Order a sail by Sept. 30th with a March 2012 delivery date and get 30% Off! 30% discount offer good on FiberPath, CAL and Dacron Sails only.

Call the loft today for a quote and details on our Indian Summer Sale 714-432-1860.

* Offer good for Ullman Sails Newport Beach and Long Beach customers only. Offer does NOT include One-Design sails

Ullman Sails perform at PHRF Championships

2011-08-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

The 2011 PHRF Championships were held this past weekend in Long Beach California and hosted by Seal Beach Yacht Club. 33 boats came for the weekend and the great turnout led into great racing. Ullman was well represented throughout the fleets with Erik Shampain on the Flying Tiger Mile High Klub, Keith Magnussen on the Farr 40 Temptress and Brian Dair on the J-120 Shenanigans.

Temptress sailed out to an early lead on Saturday winning both races in PHRF A1. Mile High Klub had a strong first race and then some mechanical issues turned the second race into a little bit of a fight. Mike Difede brought his little sport-boat Blitz up from Dana Point and was staying consistent in PHRF B with his full Ullman inventory.

Sunday was more of the same with light air dominating the day. The wind was really left and it was important to stay in the pressure. Temptress got off to a bad start in the first race and had to really recover for the final push in race four. A sail change to the 2S at the start proved effective and a second place was good enough for the overall victory.

Mile High Klub battled back with two bullets but was not enough to overhaul the winners on Shenanigans.

Blitz kept consistent and pulled out a third in their competitive class of seven boats.

Full Results

A CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE ON THE WAY TO THE FARR 30 WORLDS

2011-08-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Ullman Sails customer Bill Markel and his team on Farr 30 “Standard Deviation” not only sealed the Youngstown Level Regatta win, but also claimed the 2011 Great Lakes Championships in the process! Fully powered by Ullman Sails inventory, “Standard Deviation” finished on top of the podium with two bullets in a total of six races. The 2011 Great Lakes title is most definitely an honor, but the last weekend’s regatta was part of a bigger program – preparation for the 2011 Farr 30 World Championships this September in San Francisco. Markel’s team of seven (which includes Ullman Sails Cleveland’s Greg Koski onboard as tactician) has been working hard to prepare for the Worlds event, using several events to tune the boat and crew. Ullman Sails has also been working closely with the team to optimize the boat and sail inventory. The team now has one more month before pre-Worlds training on San Francisco Bay starts. Bill comments on the “Standard Deviation” preparation so far:

“The boat is doing the Farr 30 Worlds this year and has been using this event and Block Island Race Week as pre-World events to tune up for the Worlds. At this event under Greg Koski’s guidance the boat exhibited great boat speed and was starting to reach its potential. For the final event before the Worlds, it was a great confidence builder leading into an event that will see some of the best sailors in the world participating. The crew is looking forward to the Worlds.”

Dennis and Sharon Case claim the J-105 So Cal Championships!

2011-08-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Dennis and Sharon Case and their crew on “Wings” who claimed the J/105 Southern California Championships last weekend in San Diego! Powered by 100% Ullman Sails inventory, “Wings” secured the 2011 title with a total of 15 points in five races, including a first place in the opening race. Hosted by Coronado Yacht Club on July 30-31, the 13-boat fleet was treated to awesome conditions – flat water and 10-15 knots of breeze in San Diego’s South Bay. Of the 13 boats on the water, ten competed with Ullman sails onboard. Other top Ullman Sails customers included Rick Goebel’s “Sanity” who placed 4th overall with Ullman Sails spinnaker and Chris Logan’s “Pholly” in 5th overall with a complete Ullman wardrobe.

For complete results, click here.

Ullman Sails Offshore Series #4: Santa Barbara to King Harbor

2011-07-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

The final stop in the Ullman Sails Offshore Series is slated for this weekend when 86 boats take off in the annual Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race. Three races have been completed and the standings are very tight especially in the overall Elapsed and Corrected categories. Bien Roulee is the small boat in the top 5 and have a chance for the overall in both areas. With most of the big boys still coming back from Hawaii it will be a perfect year for them to take top honors. They are also leading the 30-39ft class with Alpha Papa right on their heels.

Buoy Weather is predicting great conditions for Friday afternoon and should be decent as the sun drops below the horizon for the dreaded night fight into King Harbor.

Make sure you stick around for the trophy presentation as Ullman Sails will be handing out awards in all categories.

Each boat size has a chance for a trophy this year as Ullman Sails have created individual classes based on over length of the boat. This will continue next year so get your 20-30ft boat out there and join in the fun and challenging conditions that the Offshore Series brings to Southern California.

Ullman Sails 2011 Transpac Report

2011-07-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Transpac wrapped up on Friday night with the trophy presentations at the Shell in Honolulu. The bi-annual race was closely contested in almost every fleet and came down to the final day in most cases. Stories of hardships and adventure were rampant when the boats reached Hawaii but everyone was in high spirits as everyone there had achieved their goal of sailing over 2,000 miles in one of the oldest offshore races.

Ullman Sails was well represented with many of our team members on boats in almost every class. Loft owner, Bruce Cooper, was on board the TP52 Patches with JB Cianciarulo and Peter Wheelon. Patches led their class from the beginning and were overall leaders early on. A brand new Ullman Carbon Main and Redlina 2A Spinnaker were delivered only a few days before the race. A final push saw them run out as class winners and fifth overall!

Dave Ullman was in the highly competitive sled class on Holua. The racing was very tight with positions changing every day as the classic boats battled it out. Holua placed fourth in class and fourth overall. Holua is powered downwind by Ullman Sails Red Line Racing Asymmetrical Spinnakers.

Chuck Skewes had his usual fast ride on Alchemy. The Alchemy team has been tweaking the boat this way and that and are now a dominant force in both offshore and inshore racing. Chuck helped power the team to a third in class and third overall with a 100% Ullman Sails inventory!

Erik Shampain and Team Horizon (Pictured on Left) on the Santa Cruz 50 have been the boat to beat for some years now. They have had a great run up to this Transpac with a first overall and first in class in Pacific cup, followed by a first in class and first overall in the 2011 Newport to Cabo Race. They continued their impressive streak with a first in class for Santa Cruz 50's also using a 100% Ullman Inventory.

Scott Poe and Keith Magnussen were on the First 40 NAOS2. This was Scott Poe's tenth Pacific crossing and his experience shone on the boat as his leadership skills pulled the guys through and into second place in their division. NAOS2 was using a brand new 100% Ullman Inventory with new oversized spinnakers for the much larger spinnaker pole bought just for Transpac. They saw a top speed of 17.5 kts which is impressive for a "Turbo Camper."

Team Locomotion went with a mix of Transpac first timers and veterans. Viper 640 sailor and TV Celebrity Dr. Jim Sears was among the group of first timers and took some epic video that will soon be release on Ullman Sails TV. Locomotion uses a 100% Ullman Inventory.

Charlie Jenkins delivered a new Ullman Redline 3A to the J-145 Bad Pak. The new 3A helped them in the reaching conditions and paved a way for a first in class.

A very special thanks to the communications vessel Alska Eagle for all their hard work on the course. They came into the loft for repairs to their sails to ensure a safe passage to Hawaii.

Team Viral Reports after winning Long Beach Race Week and the Viper 640 Pacific Coast Championships

2011-06-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week was the perfect venue to kick off our EFG Pan American Pacific West Coast Championship. We had 15 Vipers on the line and some really great competition. We had several new boats, all sporting different colors from mint, yellow and purple.

Friday was a light air day, which made it key to catch all the shifts. We had poor starts and were over early in the second one, but managed to claw our way to the top and finish first in both races. We had Kevin Taugher on the boat, and he was amazing at keeping us in phase all day. Tim Carter was at the helm and he kept focused on making the boat go fast. I was constantly playing the jib during the shifts and puffs to keep us in gear.

The party Friday night was at ABYC and the Viper fleet made sure to close it down. Naturally, some shenanigans went down.

Saturday was a typical long beach day with lots of wind. Our main focus was to keep the boat flat, play the jib, and stay in phase. Our Ullman inventory allowed us to transfer through the velocity changes with ease and found our spinnaker very effective in the planing conditions. Our second race was by far our best race of the weekend. We were over early at the start and didn’t hear our number until a minute after and by that time we were 300 yards up and sandwiched in a snake pit. By the time we – re-started we were so far down that it almost felt impossible to get back up to the top. Luckily, we had 3 long legs and great crew work to land us a 2^nd place finish. New Viper owner Jim Sears had a great day with three top five finishes displaying his great driving in the windy conditions. Jim has big plans in the future and is already talking about an East Coast Tour. Jim enjoys the family aspect of the boat and has his girlfriend crew for him.

Sunday was another light wind day and extremely patchy. We managed to stay in the breeze, catch all the shifts, and change gears quickly on the first race. Our last race consisted of tacking and gybing duels all the way to the finish. Chris Winnard and his crew had great boat speed and tactics and finished in first. Overall, we ended the regatta with 5 bullets and 2 seconds. Please check out our video from the weekend. A big thanks to everyone who came out and made this such a great event. We had boats from Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix and San Diego. We hope to get the Gulf Coast and East Coast out next year!

From Rachel Ellis

Team Viral has a 100% Ullman Inventory on their Viper 640

Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week 2011

2011-06-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

The West Coast's largest keelboat regatta

United Kingdom, Mexico line up for Ullman Sails LBRW

LONG BEACH, Calif.

Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week is on its way to becoming as international as its continuing title sponsor, which now has lofts in 21 countries.

This year on the first weekend of summer, June 24-26, there will be well over 140 boats in 18 classes in the West Coast's largest keelboat regatta, hosted by the Long Beach and Alamitos Bay yacht clubs, including entries from Great Britain and Mexico, as well as the Western states.

They are drawn by the upscale competition and the prospect of exhilarating weather conditions and nightly parties. The online entry process includes payment of entry fees and arrangements for free docking or mooring for out-of-town boats.

A team from

Mexico

will join the strong Farr 40 fleet led by Jeff Janov's Dark Star that dominated the class's North American Championship on the same lively waters four weeks earlier.

Matt Ciesicki, who manages the Flojito y Cooperando sailing operations for Mergenthaler and Minkow, said, "We have three Farr 40s in Acapulco, so for us it's a good chance to see what we have to learn. Long Beach will have good racing and good breeze."

From another continent, Neil Martin and David Anderson of the South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club in the county ofCheshire in northwest

England

have charted a boat in the Catalina 37 fleet. They will christen it "Brits on Tour" for the occasion … and there's a connection here. Mark Townsend, the ABYC member who is the event's principal race officer, has British roots and is an old mate.

Martin said, "We are all friends and have known each other since we sailed together in Snipes in our teens."

Townsend's American wife, Robin, said, "He was our best man 28 years ago."

Martin: "I was last in Long Beach in 1979 when I came to watch Mark, Stuart Totten and Gary Lewis sail the Snipe Worlds. Mark met Robin and the rest is history."

Martin also noted, "We are coming with a full

United Kingdom

team."

Robin: "Should be fun with 10 houseguests for a week!"

Martin, the skipper of Brits on Tour, currently campaigns his J/133 Jammy Dodger around the

and Europe and has competed in Key West Race Week several times in his J/80 of the same name. He is a seven-time British Snipe national champion and consistently finishes in the trophies in the IRC class of Cork Week, Cowes Week and IRC Nationals.

Anderson, an accomplished businessman, has been sailing since school, competing in numerous dinghy and keelboat classes.

The Catalina 37s, best known for their presence in the Congressional Cup match racing classic for two decades, are still available for charter from the Long Beach Sailing Foundation and automatic participation in the Yacht Club Challenge as one of a club's three entries.

Ullman Sails is the title sponsor. Other sponsors and supporters are DISC Sports and Spine Center, Gladstone's Restaurant, West Marine, EFG Bank, Open Sailing USA, Ayres Hotel Seal Beach, Mount Gay Rum, The Pirates Lair, the Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine Bureau, and Long Beach the Aquatic Capital of America.

Entry List To Date

Complete 2010 results

High-resolution 2010 photo gallery

Ullman Sails Inshore Championship

MEDIA CONTACT

Rich Roberts

Press officer

310.835.2526

cell 310.766.6547

richsail@earthlink.net

http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_registrant_list.php?regatta_id=3673&custom_report_id=33

Ullman Sails Offshore #3 'Around Catalina Island Race'

2011-05-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

Dana Point Yacht Club and Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club hosted their annual Around Catalina Island Race this past weekend in what turned out to be near perfect conditions. Forecast experts were calling for gale force winds topping out at 40kts... The reality was 20+ with maybe a gust of 30. Unfortunately the wind experts did enough to make people second guess the race and drop out, or head down the coast in the cruising class.

13 boats decided to do the full course and were rewarded with a ride down the backside that will not be matched for many years to come. The PHRF spread was -42 to 114 and my money was originally on the beautiful Cal 40, No Parley, that came in as the only competitor in PHRF 4 that finished the race. Owner Dave Reed was thrilled and is now looking at doing a Costal Cup Race after seeing how well the old boat performed in the heavy winds.

I was happy to be on the Flying Tiger 10M Mile High Klub and anticipated some of the most fun sailing I have done in a long time. After a dismal start, 20 minutes late due to engine problems, we crossed the line just in front of Locomotion who was starting in PHRF 1........ the last fleet to get going. It was a little depressing watching our fleet sail out of Angels Gate while we were barely getting to the start. The anticipation of sailing down the backside in big breeze kept us going strong and we plugged along trying to get across the channel in as little time as possible. Our Ullman Carbon #4 was looking good until about half way when the breeze died off. I think it was a little calm before the storm type scenario because 30 minutes later we were approaching the island talking about putting a reef in.

The West End was finally within one tack and as I looked around I had a sinking feeling... we are really the last boat to go around. I was so happy to see the backside I almost forgot that every boat was on the horizon and we had work to do. We hoisted our AP spinnaker (easy choice because we only have one spinnaker to choose from) and started our journey. The wind was not cooperating and the waves were not allowing us to go as fast as we had anticipated. It was tough driving and I felt like we were not making up ground. 45 minutes into this the breeze finally started to really build and the boat really started to get out of the water.

We jibed in before the East end and were now hitting constant 14's with the occasional 17-18 burst. The boat was handling really well and for the first time it looked like we were starting to make a comeback. A few jibes off the East End and we were launched out on starboard tack with boats above and behind us. We watched the 1D35 crash and take down their spinnaker to recover and now knew we were in it. After planning past a J-120 I spotted the boat I was looking for. Matt Beattie's Henderson 30 Reach Around with all my good friends on it just off our port side.

It was here we got our second wind (no pun intended) and gave me the relief of knowing that we had made up for our poor preparation. I just wish I could have been on their boat as they tried to figure out who we were.

The push into Dana Point was interrupted by some light air for about 45 minutes. Once it filled back in we were on course for the finish doing constant 9-10's with surfing in the upper 12's. Approaching Dana Point at around 11:30pm we were anticipating more breeze and right shift... breeze came in too late and the shift never happened so we had to jibe to the finish. The well sailed J-120 Shenanigans just crossed us and essentially won the race with us crossing a minute behind for second place in class. A satisfactory finish to one of the most fun rounding's of Catalina I have experienced.

The full results saw the Andrews 45 Locomotion run out as overall winners... First to Finish, First in Class and First Overall Corrected. Locomotion uses a 100% Ullman Inventory and are preparing for the 2011 Transpac Race. They played the wall at Angels Gate and then headed out into the channel just short of the kelp beds at Point Fermin. I am sure the ride down the backside was fun and I am looking forward to hearing about it from friends that were on the boat.

Congratulations to everyone who participated.. I am sure everyone's stories are equally as exciting and anyone who went along will remember this forever.

Check out the GoPro Teaser Video.... Full length version available soon to followers of Ullman Sails TV so long on to YouTube today and start following our channel.

Keith Magnussen
Mile High Klub

Kevin Bednar Wins Single Handed Regatta in Galveston Bay

2011-05-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

Kevin Bednar walked away with a victory in the annual Galveston Bay Cruising Association's Single Handed Regatta. Kevin was borrowing his father's J-105 and Kevin was using his Ullman Jib to power him to two first place finishes. Congratulations to Kevin for his impressive win this past weekend. Galveston Bay Cruising Association has been putting life into the local sailing scene in Houston by hosting fun regattas that look to include everyone.

Up next in Texas is The Race To The Border which is a 240 mile sprint down the coast!

2011 Melges 24 Worlds Day 1

2011-05-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

A good day for Ullman Sails! With day 1 and two races finished, Ullman Sails powered boats won both races at the 2011 Melges 24 Worlds hosted by Corpus Christi Yacht Club.

Race 1 was won by Alan Field and Team WTF while race 2 was won by Kristen Lane and Team Brickhouse. Both teams are on a roll with Field’s team winning the most recent Melges 24 Nationals and Kristen’s Team winning the recent 45 boat Charleston Race Week.

Alan’s ‘WTF’ is powered by an all Ullman Sails inventory while Kristen’s ‘Brickhouse’ is powered by an all upwind Ullman Sails inventory.

Follow the exciting Worlds action at www.Sail22.com and www.SailingUpdates.com.

FT-10 "Likatiger" wins their division in the 2011 Brisbane to Gladstone race

2011-05-10T15:11:00.001-07:00

FT10 “LIKATIGER” GOES BIG IN 2011 BRISBANE TO GLADSTONE 

In the recent 2011 Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race along Australia’s coastline, David Turton and his crew on Flying Tiger 10 “Likatiger” proved their offshore racing prowess on their way to finishing first in their PHRF division and fifth overall in PHRF. Turton and his team sailed past boats twice their size off the start line in Brisbane and even had a few encounters with larger IRC competitors, including the iconic Australian 79” Maxi “Brindabella,” as they exited Moreton Bay 50nm into the race!

David sent us a full report on his Flying Tiger and the Brisbane to Gladstone Race, covering some hairy moments in the race (a 19-knot wipeout in the black of night), the skill of his crew, his offshore schedule and the Ullman Sails inventory that helps make it happen: 

I’ve owned and raced “Likatiger” - a FT10 designed by Robert Perry - since new (coming up to 4 years). The design intent is for a fast, friendly day sailor but somehow over time the boat has morphed into a coastal classics racer and moved away from doing just day sailing regattas. Our offshore campaign season incorporates the Wolf Rock race 100nm, Surf to City 100nm, The Brisbane to Gladstone 308NM and the Brisbane to Keppel race 345nm. With the odd delivery thrown in, returning from Airlie Beach is over 600nm…  Since the outset Yancy and Bucky [Smith] from Ullman Sails Sunshine Coast have been involved in and supplied all the sails for the boat. The sail program also evolved from just the three sails supplied with the boat to 2 Mainsails (inshore & offshore), six various headsails including as big as we could fit on the boat – a new Light #1 for this year’s Brisbane to Gladstone race. We also have 2 code zeros and 4 spinnakers.

 One of the highlights of the inventory has been its durability.To date we haven’t replaced any of the sails supplied and more importantly have never required the sails to be repaired for any reason. We do push the boat pretty hard and during this year’s Brisbane to Gladstone, we had our big chute (138sqm) up in over 25 kts with reasonable swell, this whilst being very exhilarated hanging onto the boat when it surges towards 20kts and hangs onto 15-16kts… [We had one of these] moments while being over 100nm away from the nearest port hugging the windward shore of a sandbank shoal known as Breaksee Spit. One such moment was when the tack bolt sheared and we promptly had a 19knot wipeout, boat on its side with a full main, a jib top and the big chute all having a pretty big flap in 25 knots of air, all in the dark of night with no moon… After a bit of sorting out, jib top sheeted on, bow pulls away and then the tidy up, ten minutes later we are back up to 100% with the big chute back on. 

  The team

I’ve been very fortunate to have some excellent crew race on the boat and this year was no exception. The quality of the crew showed for the 1st stage of this year’s race, which is 50nm from the start to exiting Moreton Bay. This year was very light and variable with a building ebb tide. We started at the leeward end of the line, which was a bit lonely, but it meant we didn’t have to contend with bad air for the first three mile leg - a one tack beat. With the new Light#1, we were quick enough to hold off all the Farr 30s and all but one of the Farr40s. After 50nm of racing to the point of exiting the bay at NW4, we were the 6th boat out in front of all the Farr 40s. In fact, the first boat out under 49 feet! Needless to say, once in the ocean and with a bit of straight lining we were rolled by the bigger boats. The highlight of exiting the Bay for us had to be “Brindabella” an iconic Australian 79” Maxi ducking us after 4 hours of racing, then catching her again whilst beam reaching and having her hail us UP.

A big thanks and congratulations to the crew: Stork, Rattie, Mad Mick, Torps and Jabin. Thanks to the guys from Ullman for supplying and looking after sails that last, stay fast and don’t break despite torrid use and abuse.

Regards David

PHOTO CREDIT: Craig Greenhill - SALTWATERIMAGES

2011 Yachting Cup

2011-05-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

This years Yachting Cup was my first since I was about 16 and I raced on a NY 36. A lot has changed since then, boats are faster, sails are different, I have some grey hair and Yachting Cup was windy! The typical light wind venue was nothing of the sort as Saturday saw puffs in the 20kt range. 85 boats competed over 3 courses in their respective classes. The ocean hosted two courses and the south bay made held the third.

Saturday saw heavy winds, big seas, and lots of carnage. The ocean conjured up some great racing and wild mark roundings. Between shrimped, blown out, and twisted sails we actually got some racing in. Pendragon received the award for most unlucky when they caught an underwater cable after rounding the leeward mark. The TP 52's were strutting their stuff in the big wind and consistency paid off as Mayhem was quickly becoming the boat to beat. It's OK. Blue Blazes and Staghound were all closely situated for the final day.

The Farr 40 fleet was extremely close. Dark Star won the day and led Piranha going into Sunday's final two races. Flying Tiger's saw two Ullman boats leading the was as Niuhi and Mile High Klub were well ahead of the pace.

Sunday was slightly lighter and a little more friendly to the Southern California crowd. The exciting Flying Tiger Fleet came down to the last race as Mile High Klub finished the stronger of the two Ullman boats and beat Niuhi to the top of the podium. A bad start on Niuhi opened the door for Payson Infelise's MHK. He took full advantage of the mistake to sail into the lead and never looked back. Both Tigers use 100% Ullman inventory and are sporting the latest spinnaker design.

PHRF I was ever so tight as we came into the final two races. It's OK managed to hang on for the victory as Staghound finished second and Blue Blazes third.

J-120 fleet was dominated by the Ullman powered Caper as they cruised to an easy victory.

In the J-105 fleet Wings lost out in a nail biter to place second in the highly competitive fleet. Wings uses 100% Ullman inventory.

Schock 35 fleet was dominated by Ullman customers with Code Blue coming out on top of the classic fleet.

Great weekend, good weather and a fun party made this a memorable event for all who participated.

Thanks to Bronny Daniels for the pictures.

Around Catalina Race

2011-04-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

Sign up today for the Around Catalina Race, Ullman Sails Offshore Series #3! This a great race to tune up for the Transpac and iron out the final details with your crew.

Ullman Sails Melges 24 Sails Winning Across the Country

2011-04-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

Ullman Sails Melges 24 Sails Winning Across the Country

Brad and Traci Bradley on their way to winning the eleven race ‘Nanaimo Yacht Club spring series’ in PHRF. Racing in the cold north/west has it’s own challenges; the crew used Ullman Sails to help them get to the warm yacht club faster! Brad and Traci Bradley recently took ownership of the USA 539 from Kristen and Peter Lane and promptly traveled to Seattle to win the 2010 Puget Sound Sailing Championships.

Speaking of the Lane’s, Kristen Lane won the ultra competitive 2011 Charleston Race Week in the 45 boat Melges 24 class using an all Ullman upwind inventory. Even when Saturdays racing was canceled, this hard-core team joined 4 other Melges 24s on the water for some practice for the upcoming Melges 24 Worlds in windy Corpus Christi, Texas. Great photos and video of the windy ‘practice’ day can be found at Sail22.com and Sailing Anarchy’s ‘On The Water Anarchy’ forums.

Thank you to SailFastPhoto, Merideth Block, and Sailing Anarchy for the photos

Baja-HaHa Seminar

2011-04-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

2011 Charleston Race Week Report

2011-04-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Charleston Race Week concluded on Sunday with a huge awards ceremony where we got to see some very happy Ullman customers. Kristin Lane finished in the top spot of the hugely competitive Melges 24 class and Alan Field's 'WTF' claimed third place. The Melges 24 class is preparing for the Worlds in Corpus Christie and many teams took the opportunity to get some practice in the heavy air conditions that should mimic the South Texas town later this year.

Bryan Taylor and his Viper 830 'Rented Mule' brought me along and I was very happy to have the chance to experience some more East coast Sailing. The regatta started Friday in very windy conditions and big seas... Well big if you are on the Viper 830 that has about 1 foot of freeboard! After a brisk 1 hour motor into huge chop and 25kts of breeze we finally made it to the course. The Sport-boat fleet comprised of a Farr 30, Thompson 30 and 750, Allure 30 and our team on the Viper 830. The conditions very much favoured the Farr 30 and their dominance persisted throughout the weekend as they displayed what a good team can achieve on the water. It took us a few races to get our group working on all cylinders and by then we had dug ourselves a pretty big hole to climb out of.

Unfortunately between the second and third race the Thompson 30 found themselves hard aground in a shallow that forced them to retire early for the day. The Thompson 750 also retired from the regatta after the heavy conditions took their tole on the little boat. The third race on Friday saw us hitting speeds of 16+ kts downwind as was surfed past the Melges 30 on our way to a second place finish.

Saturday was canceled due to a storm that rolled in so sailors were left to roam around the town... that is unless you were a Melges 24 sailor that wanted to practice. Alan Block from On The Water Anarchy set up some practice races that yielded some great footage. Check out Block Sailing for the action.

Sunday was the polar opposite of the first two days as the race committee struggled to get off two races in the light shifty breeze. A 3,2 rounded out the regatta for us but it was not enough to recover from the first day's mishaps to get on the podium.

The regatta was a huge success and everyone left on Friday in good sprits already talking about next year. Be sure to log into Ullman Sails TV for regatta videos.

Ullman Update April 2011

2011-04-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy start to the season for Team Ullman. The racing season is in full swing and regatta stories are flooding in from all over the country.

San Diego NOOD was a huge success and the Ullman Viper 640 program is making huge strides in one of the most exciting boats around. Congratulations to Chris Winnard for winning the tough fleet and Tim Carter for earning himself a third place finish.
Ullman Sails was well represented with winners in many classes:

J-120: 1st Place John Laun "Caper" (Straight Bullets!!)

Santana 20: 1st Place Eric Kownacki "Alexa"

Flying Tiger 10M

1st Place Eric Schlageter "Ruckus"

2nd Place Paul McPherson "Nihui"

J-105

1st Place Gary Mozer "Current Obsession2"

3rd Place Chris Logan "Pholly"

Beneteau 36.7: 2nd Place Chick Pyle "Kea:

Etchells: 3rd Place Nico Landauer "Brassy"

Scott Poe, Kenny Cooper and Erik Shampain recently returned from The Newport To Cabo Race, all having started Friday, and were lucky to miss out on the violent conditions that plagued the A fleets. Jack Taylor's Ullman powered Santa Cruz 50 "Horizon" finished first in class and first overall. The Horizon crew have been visiting the podium on a regular basis this year and we look forward to them continuing their success in the Transpac.

Ullman Sails, Dimension Polyant and RBS Battens teamed up to give the 2011 Congressional Cup a boost when they sponsored brand new sails for the 11 Catalina 37's. Each boat was fitted with brand new Carbon GPPL sails that helped make this one of the most successful Con Cups in recent memory. The sailing was intense and the crowd were treated to some close action as boats went right up to the pier looking for advantages. Check out the awesome video, and congratulations to Ian Williams on the impressive victory.

The 2011 Ullman Sails Offshore Series underway and with the completion of The Border Run last weekend we are half way through it! Ullman Sails customers were out in full force and enjoyed a beautiful day on the water. Bryan Dier from Ullman Long Beach raced on the J-120 Shenanigans taking third place in class Light B on the Long Course. Keith Magnussen raced on Anarchy getting a 1,2 as they finished first in class and second overall on the Short Course. Congratulation to Ullman Customers for their results:

Brack Duker’s Santa Cruz 70 “Holua” first overall in ORR and first in class for ORR & PHRF

Alec Oberschmidt’s R/P 50 “Staghound” first PHRF Light A

John Staff’s Viper 830 “Plankton” first in PHRF Light B

James Conner on his Holder 20 won his class on the 14nm short sprint course

Keith Magnussen and Erik Shampain are on their way to South Carolina for the 2011 Charleston Race Week (CRW). CRW is quickly becoming one of the largest regattas in the USA. This year Erik and his Melges 24 team 'WTF' skippered by Alan Field will be competing as they train for the upcoming Melges 24 Worlds in Corpus Christie. Keith Magnussen will be on the Viper 830 'Rented Mule' as they try to improve on their third place finish there last year. Keep coming back to the website for daily updates and reports from Charleston!

Bruce Cooper is continuing his monthly excursions to Mexico where he races in Acapulco on the Farr 46 ILC 'Wasabi.' Bruce continues working with the Mexican Navy and their sailing program where he trains the team on the 1D48 'Trigarante.'

Make sure you join our FaceBook page for up do the minute reports from the water and the loft. Visit Ullman Sails TV where you can get a taste of the ocean by watching one of many regatta videos.

Thanks again and we look forward to servicing your sailing needs in 2011 and beyond!

Ullman Sails Offshore Series #2 "he Border Run Results

2011-04-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Ullman Sails Offshore Series in full swing after completion of the second race: The Border Run. In its second year of existence, the Ullman Offshore Series grew by one event when Randy Reynolds of XSRacing.org approached us to be part of one of the fastest growing events in the USA. We immediately jumped at the chance to be involved and were pleased to add the race to our offshore schedule.

We implemented the Border Run's motto of "inclusion" and moved to create more classes for the Offshore Series. We award first overall and corrected, as well as subcategories depending on boat size only: 20+, 30+, etc. And in keeping with our own criteria – all our races start and end in different harbors and include rounding an island – only the Border Run’s long course qualified for our Offshore Series. The long course covered 91nm, with competitors starting off the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach, CA, sailing to the Coronado Islands, leaving the small island (Coronado del Norte) to Port and finishing in San Diego.

Ullman Sails is proud to announce the winners for the Ullman Offshore Series #2, The Border Run:

Overall Elapsed & 50+ Elapsed:

John Maclaurin--Pendragon VI

Overall Corrected & 50+ Corrected:

Robert Lane--Medicine Man

40+ Elapsed:

Dr. Laura Schlessinger--Katana

40+ Corrected:

Glenn Highland--Bien Roulee

30+ Elapsed & Corrected:

George Moll--Misfit

20+ Elapsed & Corrected:

John Staff--Plankton

Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who participated. Get motivated for the third installment of the 2011 Ullman Sails Offshore Series, the Cabrillo Beach to Dana Point Race, May 28-29^th. Check out our promotional videos at Ullman Sails TV . There is still time to get involved and win your fleet by doing well, and of course...PARTICIPATING!!

CORINTHIAN M24 “VALKYRIE” REIGNS IN SAN DIEGO

2011-04-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

Ullman Sails customer Andy Rasdal and crew on Melges 24 “Valkyrie” claimed first overall as a Corinthian team last week at San Diego YC’s Melges Race Week! The local team mastered the racecourse and 13-boat fleet sailing in San Diego’s South Bay. And not only did Andy and his team place first overall, they had a secret weapon onboard – they were the only team competing with an Ullman main and jib! Powered by our main and jib, the “Valkyrie” team beat out professional and Corinthian teams with no worse than a 4th place finish over three days and eight races. In the first annual Melges Race Week, the fleet raced in breezes between 8-20 knots. Andy credits his win with great boat speed throughout the wind range. The team competed with Ullman Melges 24 with the Ullman Dacron “Shark” mainsail an Ullman jib.

For full results from SDYC Melges Race Week, click here. For more information about Ullman Melges 24 sails, click here

2011 Baldwin Cup

2011-04-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

Newport harbor Yacht Club is welcoming nine teams and 72 sailors from across the country (and some from across the pond),Newport Harbor Yacht Club is looking forward to hosting the fourth annual Baldwin Cup Team Race. By the end of the week the club will be kicking off the international regatta with several returning teams along with some new faces. This year the selection process was tough and the teams coming are more than ready to bring their game faces to the event.

One such team is Larchmont Yacht Club hailing from New York. The team hopes to make a splash this year with the main motivation being returning to Baldwin Cup next year. “The event has become so competitive,” skipper Danny Pletsch said half jokingly, “that we have to win again this year just to ensure that we’ll be the sailors that Larchmont sends to Baldwin Cup next year.”

In the history of Baldwin Cup, the Larchmont team is sending it’s nationally competitive team racers out to the event. However they are up against stiff competition as there are several more teams traveling to Newport Beach with the same inspiration to make the list for next year. Many of the sailors traveling to the event might also be motivated to soak in the California sunshine, enjoy the NHYC atmosphere with friends, but are definitely looking forward to some high-action races. Whatever the reasons may be, all of these common factors are reasons to want to return to Baldwin Cup year after year.

Ullman Sails Claim Seven Classes at San Diego NOOD!

2011-04-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

In a mixed bag of conditions with little or too much wind, Ullman Sails customers were on deck for anything and won seven of the one design classes at the 2011 Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD, March 18-20, 2011.

In the Viper 640 Class, Ullman Sails Seattle’s Chris Winnard with crew Ryan Lorence and Ben Amen dominated the 13-boat fleet. Winnard’s Viper “Disaster Area” won seven of the ten races and didn’t have to sail the last race. Consistent starts, excellent crew work and fast sails made this a formidable team. Ullman Sails customer Tim Carter also had a solid performance, finishing third overall after strong sailing in the breeze on Sunday.

In the Catalina 36 class, Dave Flint's "Isle Run" took first in class, which also earned him the 2011 Southern California Championship. The Catalina 36 class raced Saturday and Sunday only, just in time for the big breeze Sunday.

Other top Ullman Sails finishers included:

J/120:
1st Place – John Laun “Caper” (with straight bullets!!)
Santana 20:
1st Place -- Eric Kownacki "Alexa"
Flying Tiger 10:
1st Place – Eric Schlageter “Ruckus”
2nd Place – Paul & Julie McPherson “Niuhi”
4th Place – Robert Wilson “BNastyR”
J/105:
1st Place – Gary Mozer “Current Obsession2”
3rd Place – Chris Logan “Pholly”
4th Place – Scott McDaniel “Off the Porch”
Beneteau 36.7:
2nd Place – Chick Pyle “Kea”
Etchells:
3rd Place – Nico Landauer “Brassy”

Ullman Sails Customers Sweep Up In Mexico

2011-04-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jack Taylor’s Santa Cruz 50 “Horizon” who claimed top honors last week in the 2011 Newport Harbor YC Cabo Race. After his clean sweep of last year’s Pacific Cup, Taylor won this race in similar fashion by claiming first in class and first overall! Ed Feo’s Andrews 45 “Locomotion” was the first boat in the fleet to cross the finish line in Cabo San Lucas and corrected to 4th in class behind “Horizon”. Charles Devanneaux's new Beneteau First 40 "NAOS 2” claimed 1st in class D and corrected to 2nd overall behind “Horizon”. “Naos 2” sailed with a brand new inventory of Ullman Red Line spinnakers and staysails. And Per Petersen’s Andrews 70 “Alchemy” was one of the few sleds to survive the storm that plagued the Saturday starters, finishing 2nd in Class B. All four boats were powered by Ullman Sails!

For complete results, click here.

**The larger boats that started a day later than the rest of the fleet (Saturday, March 19) hit a large depression straight on just south of the Mexican border. Chuck Skewes of Ullman Sails San Diego competed aboard Andrews 70 “Alchemy”. Below is his account of the nasty sea state and wind. The earlier starters on Friday were able to sail far enough south to avoid the storm:
Going into and preparing for this race we knew what we were in for and did the best to prepare for this event. We have a very experienced crew and most of us have sailed all over the world - a couple of us have sailed around the world, including a Whitbread. I have sailed in Force 10 and 11 in the English Chanel and fished in Alaska for 9 years. I am sure I have seen more bad weather than most, so I feel that I can speak with more experience than most.

The race started with a different weather pattern than predicted, but it was obvious that the depression rolling towards us was not a model but an actual living storm that was already developed and moving quickly. There was going to be no chance that it would dissipate and little chance that we could get south of it before it ran us over. With the wind light and upwind shortly after the start, we knew that we were going to be much further North than the routing showed and we were going to hit more of the wind.

As we headed south the wind built slowly all day. There was a large pacific swell running as well but in long periods, so at this point the ride was less than ideal since we were beating in a typical running race but it was good sailing and we were monitoring the shifts and racing hard. Around 3:30 am we put up the #3 and the wind waves were only a couple feet on the nose with a large westerly swell of 8-10’ on the beam.
As we travelled further south the wind increased and the waves built coming from the south. The wind settled in at a solid 28-30 with higher gust and now the boat was taking lots of waves over the bow and with the side swell, made a very confused square waves. As the hours ticked by the seas built more and more making it just plain uncomfortable. We were healed over with the rail in the water with sails stacked on the weather rail with many waves coming over the bow. The back sides of the waves were just plain square, there would be a silence for about 5 seconds and the boat would drop with a huge bang that send a reverberating vibration through the entire boat from bow to stern. It made moving around slow and tricky. It was very hard to sit and nearly impossible to stand. Going straight upwind in these conditions it is not possible to stay dry. The waves would hit you hard in the face and work all the way down into your boots. I grew up sailing in the Northwest and it brought back memories of smaller boats in the winter racing. The boat was doing 9 knots and although it sounded like it was coming apart it did not.

We continued to monitor weather and GRIB files looking for a right shift as the low went past. This meant spending more time on port tack which was by far the worse tack. The fun meter was pegged on 0 and we kept hearing of boats dropping out and as tracker reports from other boats showed them falling further behind we rightfully assumed they had dropped out as well. At 3:30 the following morning we hit a 90 degree right shift in 2 minutes without the wind velocity change. We went to an all hands tack to move the sail stack and get onto starboard and immediately were reaching still reefed but a much better angle to the waves. At this point we knew we were through the worst of it and had something to look forward to.

As the night wore on we shook out the reef and eventually were in a Jib Top and now reaching much bigger speed and headed straight down the race track. Within a few more hours we were into a spinnaker with 12 knots of breeze and much smoother sea state. It quickly was becoming a more typical Mexico race and the wind was increasing every hour until it was blowing 20 knots again, but this time from the direction that is much more desirable. We could see Grand Illusion and Mayhem on the horizon in the daylight hours and track Mayhem during the night with the tracker but lost track of our closest completion Grand Illusion when there tracker did not track during night hours on the last night. We finished right after day break in light wind with the wind slowly building it brought Mayhem and Grand Illusion in with a little more wind. We corrected 18 minutes out of first after a great race.

We did not break any gear or tear any sails. There are a lot of critics of the amount of boats that dropped out of the race, for boats that are supposed to be ocean going boats. I can tell you that it was definitely challenging, and for 36 hours just plain not fun. I think everyone that dropped out did the correct thing. We are in a recreational sport. We do it for fun and lots of the people on the boats have families and other jobs outside the sailing world. It is never a bad or poor choice to quit when it is no longer fun, or unsafe. We would have dropped out if we had problems that brought safety into question. We all take a certain amount of risk and that is what makes this a great sport. I know many of the sailors that dropped out and I respect their decision.

Newport To Cabo Race 2011

2011-03-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

Newport To Cabo Race 2011

As seen aboard Alchemy
Fri, 25th Mar 2011

By Chuck Skewes

Going into and preparing for this race we knew what we were in for and did the best to prepare for this event. We have a very experience crew and most of us have sailed all over the world including a couple of us that have sailed around the world including a Whitbread. I have sailed in Force 10 and 11 in the English Chanel and fished in Alaska for 9 years. I am sure I have seen more bad weather than most, so I feel that I can speak with more experience than most.

The race started with a different weather pattern than predicted but it was obvious that the depression rolling towards us was not a model but an actual living storm that was already developed and moving quickly. There was going to be no chance that it would dissipate and little chance that we could get south of it before it ran us over. With the wind light and upwind shortly after the start we knew that we were going to be much further North than the routing showed and we were going to hit more of the wind.
As we headed south the wind built slowly all day. There was a large pacific swell running as well but in long periods so at this point the ride was less than ideal since we were beating in a typical running race but it was good sailing and we were monitoring the shifts and racing hard. Around 3:30 am we put up the #3 and the wind waves were only a couple feet on the nose with a large westerly swell of 8-10’ on the beam.
As we travelled further south the wind increased and the waves built coming from the south. The wind settled in at a solid 28-30 with higher gust and now the boat was taking lots of waves over the bow and with the side swell, made a very confused square waves. As the hours ticked by the seas built more and more making it just plain uncomfortable. We were healed over with the rail in the water with sails stacked on the weather rail with many waves coming over the bow. The back sides of the waves were just plain square, there would be a silence for about 5 seconds and the boat would drop with a huge bang that send a reverberating vibration through the entire boat from bow to stern. It made moving around slow and tricky. It was very hard to sit and nearly impossible to stand. Going straight upwind in these conditions it is not possible to stay dry. The waves would hit you hard in the face and work all the way down into your boots. I grew up sailing in the Northwest and it brought back memories of smaller boats in the winter racing. The boat was doing 9 knots and although it sounded like it was coming apart it did not.
We continued to monitor weather and GRIB files looking for a right shift as the low went past. This meant spending more time on port tack which was by far the worse tack. The fun meter was pegged on 0 and we kept hearing of boats dropping out and as tracker reports from other boats showed them falling further behind we rightfully assumed they had dropped out as well. At 3:30 the following morning we hit a 90 degree right shift in 2 minutes without the wind velocity change. We went to an all hands tack to move the sail stack and get onto starboard and immediately were reaching still reefed but a much better angle to the waves. At this point we knew we were through the worst of it and had something to look forward to.
As the night wore on we shook out the reef and eventually were in a Jib Top and now reaching much bigger speed and headed straight down the race track. Within a few more hours we were into a spinnaker with 12 knots of breeze and much smoother sea state. It quickly was becoming a more typical Mexico race and the wind was increasing every hour until it was blowing 20 knots again, but this time from the direction that is much more desirable. We could see Grand Illusion and Mayhem on the horizon in the daylight hours and track Mayhem during the night with the tracker but lost track of our closest completion Grand Illusion when there tracker did not track during night hours on the last night. We finished right after day break in light wind with the wind slowly building it brought Mayhem and Grand Illusion in with a little more wind. We corrected 18 minutes out of first after a great race.
We did not break any gear or tear any sails. There are a lot of critics of the amount of boats that dropped out of the race, for boats that are supposed to be ocean going boats. I can tell you that it was definitely challenging, and for 36 hours just plain not fun. I think everyone that dropped out did the correct thing. We are in a recreational sport. We do it for fun and lots of the people on the boats have families and other jobs outside the sailing world. It is never a bad or poor choice to quit when it is no longer fun, or unsafe. We would have dropped out if we had problems that brought safety into question. We all take a certain amount of risk and that is what makes this a great sport. I know many of the sailors that dropped out and I respect their decision.

Newport to Cabo Update from Alchemy

2011-03-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

On board report....

It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. We were over early at the start. returned, set the code 0 and in an hour were lead boat. The wind completely shut off twice and then turned to upwind. We changed to the 3 at 3:30am and are now pounding to weather in 20 knots. The boat is shuttering and the wind is predicted to increase to 30 +. Hard to type because we are so healed and the vibration is making my eyes blurry.

Chuck Skewes

2011 Ullman Offshore Series #1, The Islands Race is in the books

2011-03-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

This past weekend saw the second annual running of the NHYC/SDYC Islands Race. The Islands Race is also the first event in the Ullman Offshore Series. 51 boats entered and 50 started the race with high expectations for a fun quick race. Buoyweather supplied us with a very accurate model for the race and we were greeted with a pleasant start in moderate breeze. The trip out Angels Gate was fast with a plethora of boats making their way to what they thought was the best line towards Catalina. A continuous right shift favored the boats that set up a little low and lifted them around the west end of Catalina. As the larger boats converged at the West End a huge fog back rolled in a smothered everyones visibility. Reports of crash tacks were rampant as navi-guessers tried to cut it close to the island. After getting through the thick fog boats were greeted with a close reach to San Clemente Island with a magnificent sky that was littered with shooting stars in a moonless night. Boats started pointing high of San Clemente Island which proved to be a good tactic as the wind shadow behind the island was enormous. Some boats chose to go close like Locomotion and an unlucky SC-50 that actually ended up on a rock, everyone including the boat made it off safely! Ullman Team Member Scott Poe was on Locomotion and reported seeing the mast dip into the water twice as the SC-50 teetered on the top of a rock.

The boats that made it through the lee of the island first were then launched into fresh breeze and a spinnaker reach to San Diego. Bruce Cooper, JB Cianciarulo, Kenny Cooper and Peter Wheelon were on the TP-52 Patches and fought well to earn a second place in IRC and third overall. Scott Poe on Locomotion finished third in PHRF 1. Full Results are posted for the regatta and log on to the Ullman Offshore site for results in the series. Thanks to all the racers who participated and thanks to JoySailing for the amazing pictures.

February Acapulco Regatta Report

2011-03-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

Team Ullman Members, Bruce Cooper and Keith Magnussen, traveled to Acapulco this February to participate in the monthly regatta at Club de Yates Acapulco. This months theme was "Habla Bien de Acapulco." This, being Keith's second time to Acapulco, and Bruce's 1000th+ time, the Ullman team has always had nothing but fantastic words to say about the city and the hospitality of everyone involved at Club de Yates Acapulco. The racing is getting more and more exciting with new and old boats getting in the race scene. Farr 40's now have three boats and there is one new TP-52 Vincitore and Iemanja and Persephone with new masts!

The February regatta saw fantastic weather and great wind for the two races. Saturday was an ocean race that saw winds of up to 20 kts, very good for the usually light wind Acapulco. The upwind leg to the ocean buoy was difficult in the wind chop and the boats that went hard left received better wind pressure and favourable currents giving them a sizable lead at the mark. The reward for a 12 mile battle upwind was a cool downwind run into Acapulco Bay to the finish under the cliffs at Las Brisas. Winner's for the day were Flojito y Cooperando and Iemanja who respectively won their classes.

Saturday evening was the traditional bar-b-que at the club and spirits were high as the overall winners from 2010 were honored with awards for their achievements.

Sunday was a traditional Sunday race around the bay and La Roqueta in 8-12kt wind conditions and sunny near perfect temperatures. The start was exciting as the boats hoisted their spinnakers right as the gun went off. Most boats jibed out early to gain favourable positions on starboard to the left side of the course near the beach. Wasabi was looking powerful in A fleet as they were one of the first to head to the beach and the better jibe angle to the mark. The B fleet was led around the course by Piet Hein who sailed very consistently all weekend and were rewarded with a first place on Sunday. Wasabi maintained their dominance in the race to finish first in A fleet.

Ullman Sails would like to thank Club de Yates Acapulco for their hospitality and all the sailors for making these fantastic events happen. Please log on and follow Ullman Sails TV to view the High Definition video of the weekend festivities.

Mehmet Ali Yelkenbicer has joined the group as Ullman Sails Turkey!

2011-03-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

We are excited to announce that Mehmet Ali Yelkenbicer has joined the group as Ullman Sails Turkey!

M.Ali’s sailmaking business – Yelkenbicer Sailmakers – is a full service production loft in Izmir where he builds one design, dinghy and all types of cruising sails. His primary market is in Izmir and Istanbul, and he has an extensive dealer network throughout Turkey. The Yelkenbicer family has a long tradition of sailmaking in Turkey (“Yelkenbicer” means sailmaker) starting with M.Ali’s great-grandfather over 100 years ago. M.Ali formally took partnership of the loft with his father in 1994. I have attached a very interesting history of the Yelkenbicer family and their involvement in both sailmaking and sailboat racing in Turkey.

M.Ali joined the Ullman Sails group in early February, but has been working tirelessly to expand and upgrade his loft for a start date of March 1. His original loft space is 300 sqm with a 60 sqm balcony for the office. He has also acquired a new space next door, which will serve as a workshop. He recently combined the two spaces by building a wide door between the two lofts. The new loft space has a 200 sqm working area, a 60 sqm balcony and 100 sqm parking lot. M. Ali would like to use this new area for plotting sails and sail repairs. Recent pictures of his loft are attached.

You can reach M.Ali through the contact details below:

Ullman Sails Turkey

M.Ali Yelkenbicer

info@ullmansails-turkiye.com

Skype: yelkenbicersails

Phone: +90 (232) 2576341

Metal isl.San.Sit.2.Cad.No 131

Kisikkoy-Menderes

Izmir/TURKIYE

35473

MBYC Mid-Winters.... The Viper 640 Report

2011-02-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

We experienced everything from 4-6 foot confused seas 1/2 mile off the beach to the billiard table flat water of inside Mission Bay. For breeze, mostly light except for the beginning of the 3rd race when we had a 25+kt squall came through... unfortunately it did not last long enough. ;)

We truly enjoyed the clinic on Viper sailing by Seattle's Chris Winnard. He followed up on his convincing win at the ISAF regatta with strong dominance to put it mildly, with 6 bullets in 7 races and almost losing his boat in the other. I'll let him elaborate, but he got hung up on the ground tackle of the starting pin and almost ended up on the beach with a 6+ storm swell.

Great crew work by new owner Jim Sears and my ever dependable Rachel Ellis. Thanks again folks. A big welcome to Kevin and Garrett Brown, the new owners of #38 and it did not take them anytime at all to learn how to get the boat around the course. Now I will watch while they make the baby keel put on his big-boy pants.

Final results

1. Winnard
2. Brown/Brown
3. Carter
4. Vanheel
5. Young
6. Hill

Tim Carter

Weekend Re-Cap

2011-02-14T16:25:00.000-08:00

This past weekend in Southern California saw beautiful warm weather, amazing sunsets, plenty of sailboat racing and NO wind! The Dana Point Series #2 was held in less than desirable drifting conditions. The boats participated in a Random Leg Course that proved very difficult in the light air. Congratulations to Pendragon (partial Ullman Inventory), Cruzan Time (100% Ullman) and Carrerra (100% Ullman)for their respective class wins. Bruce Cooper on Legacy Placed Third in class B. For a full list of results please visit Dana Point Series Results.

Ullman Sails Team Members Scott Poe and Keith Magnussen sailed in the Around Catalina Race on the Andrews 45 Locomotion this weekend. The high pressure over the Pacific gave some spectacular views of San Clemnte Island and the coast but failed to deliver any wind. After witnessing a special sunrise we decided to cut our time on the water and motor in.

In Texas James Liston used his new 3A to great effect and placed third in the GBCA Icicle Series.

Congratulations to everyone on the water! We are looking forward to a jam packed weekend coming up with the annual SCYA Midwinter Regattas all over Southern California.

2011-01-26T10:18:00.000-08:00

The Ullman Sails Inshore Championship (USIC) started in 2005 as the premiere series in PHRF racing in Southern California. Encompassing the four biggest and best regattas in Southern California, the USIC links class rating breaks and handicaps between all the regattas. Each regatta scores its own champion, with every boat’s regatta finish position carrying to the USIC and is calculated with their finish position at the next regatta.

The goal of the USIC is to have three high competitive classes; The Fast 50+ Class, the Fast 40 Class and the Sport/Sprit Boat Class crown a season champion who has the lowest score after the completion of all four regattas. The USIC has no throw outs, so participation at each regatta is a must!

The USIC uses PHRF Buoy Handicaps established by PHRF of Southern California but uses Time on Time Scoring (ToT) instead of the traditional Time on Distance Scoring. The ToT Scoring creates a balance between boats with large handicap deltas within a class to score better against each other in a variety of wind conditions. This format has been gaining great acceptance among the grand prix racers at the USIC.

NANUQ FINISHES 2ND IN QUICK RIDE TO KEY WEST

2011-01-25T09:41:00.000-08:00

NANUQ FINISHES 2ND IN QUICK RIDE TO KEY WEST
1/15/2011

Congratulations to Ullman Sails customer Glenn Doncaster and his crew who took 2nd Overall in the PHRF Division A of the Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race, January 12-14. Glenn’s Sabre 426 “NANUQ,” is based out of Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville, Virginia. Glenn and his crew decided to take NANUQ down to Florida only five weeks before the start of the race.

In order to get the boat down south, the team broke up the delivery into three legs, arriving in Fort Lauderdale three days before the start. As a well-appointed cruiser, NANUQ lived up to her reputation and the delivery crew was treated to reverse cycle heat, hot water, a generator, a dinghy on davits and full canvas finishing. Once in Ft. Lauderdale, the crew spent two days turning NANUQ from a cruiser to racer, including changing over the mainsail, removing the furling drum and loading a full inventory of race headsails. Several new sails were delivered for the race included a new S3 heavy reacher and a GPL IT Carbon #2 genoa, both of which worked beautifully in the heavy reaching conditions.

The race itself proved to be a quick one. Here’s an onboard report from the crew:

"It was fairly light at the start 8-10 and built throughout the race, becoming quite windy during the night. Top wind speeds were about 34 knots. It blew out of the north the whole race. We started with the .6 runner and were slightly slower than the lighter displacement boats. As the wind built we got on pace with the fleet and started to make gains toward nightfall. At dusk we switched to the new S3 heavy reaching chute and as we rounded the bottom of Florida the angle tightened and we progressively made gains. Around midnight the wind had built significantly and the apparent wind angle closed so we changed down to a #2 genoa. We beam-reached with the #2 and full main through the night surfing at 10-13 knots of consistent boat speed. The final leg was a beat up the shipping channel into Key West harbor with gusts in the high 20s”.

NANUQ finished in just under 20 hours, correcting to second in class! On arrival in Key West and after a number of celebratory rum drinks and a good night’s sleep, the crew turned NANUQ back into a cruiser. She will spend the rest of the winter in Florida and then Glenn will bring her back to the Chesapeake for more racing this summer

2011-01-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

New Columbia 32 Available Now!

Duncan Cameron's Soverell 33 "Trust Me" wins Malibu & Return Race, 1st in Class and 1st Overall.

2011-01-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I was fortunate to be on the winning crew of Duncan Cameron’s Soverell 33 “Trust Me” in Del Rey Yacht Club’s Malibu & Return Race. We were 1^st in class and 1^st overall in PHRF in this very well attended first race of the Berger/Stein Series. Unfortunately Duncan could not be with us that day because he was busy skiing in Canada. It was a pleasure to sail on a boat that is so meticulously prepared as Duncan’s. Last year with the help of Mike George he had the boat totally overhauled. The boat is beautiful and looks like it is brand new.

“Trust Me” was untouchable in the light shifty breeze that day. At the start we cleared the fleet on port tack and things just kept getting better for us from there. The new Ullman Sails were extremely quick and made our job pretty easy. Even our skipper Mike George was surprised at how quickly we left our class and sailed into the class ahead of us which had started fifteen minutes ahead of us. It seemed as if we were passing boats much newer and supposedly faster all day!

Mike got so used to blowing by any boat near us, that he became a little frustrated on the way back when we could not pass a certain trimaran on reach! I tried my best to convince him that multihulls can be fast too sometimes! He was relieved to later learn at the club that the certain trimaran was very well sailed and won the ORCA class.

All in all it was a fun day and I hope to get invited back on “Trust Me” very soon.

Thank you,
Kenny Dair

Cal 20's in the Pacific North West!

2011-01-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

Tacoma Yacht Club Community Outreach

Tue, 7th Dec 2010

By Jon Thompson

The Tacoma yacht Club is putting together a community sailing project and starting up the Cal 20 fleet. Here is a message from the new Fleet Captain.
Announcing the formation the new Tacoma Cal 20 fleet 8, based out of Tacoma Yacht Club. With active fleets in Portland OR, Victoria BC, Vancouver BC., Southern and Northern California. The Tacoma fleet 8 will be a great addition to the class.

The Cal 20 was designed by William Lapworth in 1960 and went into production in 1961. It quickly became the most popular of the Cal fiberglass sailboats, 1945 boats were built. Cal 20's were (and still are) inexpensive to buy, own and maintain. The average price of a good Cal 20 is between $1500 to $3500 usually including a trailer. Today the Cal 20 enjoys popularity throughout North America and Canada as a competitive and fun one design racer as well as a stable and forgiving day sailor. The beauty of the Cal 20 is its simplicity, stability and comfort. It can be raced with just two people in lighter air and three people in moderate to heavier winds. The affordability and simplicity of the boat makes for a fun boat to day sail with the family or race with your family and friends, the Cal 20 is easy to trailer and can be towed by most small SUV’s and minivans.
I have been racing around this area most of my life and have watched a steady decline in our sport. When I talk to some sailors that don’t race much anymore the common remarks I hear are “it cost too much” or “it’s too hard to find and keep crew.” With the low cost of a Cal 20 and the need for only two or three people to sail I think this boat will be the answer to get people back on the race course or just out sailing.
Fleet 8 is looking for anyone that is interested in sailing this great little boat. We are putting together plans for future sailing and racing events. For information about joining our fleet, or help finding a Cal 20, call Fleet Captain Jon Thompson at (253) 732 0911 or email at jthomp055@yahoo.com. Yacht Club membership is NOT required to become a member of Fleet 8.
Join us for our first race of the “Hot Buttered Rum Series.” The format will be short course buoy racing. We will be holding it in conjunction with the TYC “Gov Teats” race February 27th in Quartermaster Harbor. The following two races in the series will be on March 27th and April 24th . All one design and PHRF classes our welcome. To register for the Hot Rum Series go to Tacoma Yacht Club or contact Jon Thompson at (253)732-0911or Burr Hope at (253) 761-1276.

Cal 20 Fleet 8, Fleet Captain Jon Thompson

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from Ullman Sails Newport Beach. We are back at the loft full time making sails and getting ready for the 2011 season. Enjoy this video of the Hobie 33 "Still Crazy" sailing from Newport to San Diego last week hitting speeds of 20+ KTS!!!

Hobie 33 Video

Happy Holidays from Ullman Sails

2010-12-25T05:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays from Ullman Sails Newport Beach

Enjoy the Holiday Season with family and friends, we look forward to helping you with your sail and boat needs in the New Year!
closed December 24 - January 2, 2011
open January 3, 2011

2011 Farr 30 Worlds In San Francisco California

2010-12-21T11:15:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas From La Paz!

2010-12-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

Mike Borer and his family are cruising Mexico this Christmas after joining the Baha-Ha-Ha this year. Keep in touch with Mike on his Blog from his boat So Inclined. Merry Christmas from everyone at Ullman Sails Newport Beach!

Ullman's Bruce Cooper Talks J-105 Sails with Fleet 6

2010-12-14T11:24:00.000-08:00

Bruce Cooper, the J-105 specialist at Ullman Sails, is a long-time innovator in the class. He's worked for Ullman for more than 25 years and in 2006 purchased the Newport Beach & Long Beach Ullman Sails franchises. During his sailmaking career, he's developed skills that range from handwork to running the plotter to designing. Although Bruce has raced in virtually every type of sailboat, he has a soft spot for the J-105. The home page of his Newport Beach loft's web site (http://ullmansailsnewportbeach.blogspot.com) features a 105 blasting through the Southern California surf. This dedication to the class has paid off: Ullman Sails rule 105 racing in Southern California. An interview with Bruce (conducted via email) follows:

Question: Is there really that much room for improvement left in the design of J105 sails? The class has been around for 20 years now. Surely everything has been tried before. No?
Answer: There is always room for improvement. I have been sailing J-105s for over 14 years and have seen much of the refinement with the sails, rig tuning and how we sail the boats change in that time. I explain to customers that the sail making world makes about 95% the same sail compared to each other. Virtually all racing sails are limited to size, weight and rigging considerations. So, in essence we all have the same canvas to create our master piece on. It's what the sail maker does in the last 5% that separates good designs and top quality sails with a back of the pack sails..... Read on at the J-105 Fleet 6 Website!!

Ullman Sails Inshore/Offshore Dates!

2010-12-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Michael Lawler returns from a 3 year circumnavigation on his Ullman Powered North Wind 47!

2010-11-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

'The world is a big, big place'

November 11, 2010|By TERYL ZARNOW

Michael Lawler says a semester spent at sea, when he was a student at USC nearly 40 years ago, opened his eyes to adventure.

That's when the notion of sailing his own boat around the world took root in his mind.

But you know how it is: The young have grand ideas, but no money. The mature have money, but no time and, often, outgrow their big ideas.

Sometimes a dream deferred is nothing but an irritant, best ignored.

But, once in a long while, it creates a pearl.

Lawler deferred his dream through law school, marriage and three children. He'd imagine routes he might take, the ship he might buy.

Eventually, his law career was established, the kids grown, the marriage ended. In 2005, he met fellow sailor and future girlfriend Barbara Burdick, and the timing was suddenly right.

In July of 2007 they sailed the Traveler from Newport Harbor, starting in the Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii. Click here to read on!!!

Also be sure to read his Blog about this amazing trip!

2010-11-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

Ullman Sails teams up with XS Racing to bring the Border Run into the Ullman Sails Offshore Championship series!!!

Ullman Sails Wins Again!

2010-11-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Ullman Sails Win Again
Mon, 25th Oct 2010
By Chuck Skewes

Image Credit: Bronny Joy Daniels

Alchemy 2010 Campbell Cup

The Campbell Cup 2010 named after the late Mike Campbell from Long Beach Yacht Club, a long time maxi sled racer, was held October 24th and 25th out of LBYC. This event is designed for the Maxi Sled fleet now West Coast 70’ fleet along with the Farr 40 fleet.
This year the conditions came in better than predicted with winds from 7-11 knots and mostly sunny skies. The race committee got off 3 races with tight racing. After day 1 OEX was in the lead and Alchemy was in 2nd followed by Grand Illusion in 3rd.

The second day the wind was out of the standard westerly direction and blowing a little harder than the previous day. Alchemy took off to a commanding lead in the first race only to get caught on corrected time by Grand Illusion when the wind filled in from behind on the last down wind leg to the finish. OEX had a bad start and could not recover well giving Alchemy the lead in the series. The last race was very similar to the first but with OEX pushing Alchemy around the course narrowly beating them across the line but giving Alchemy a 2nd and enough to become the 2010 Campbell Cup Champions. Per Peterson the owner of Alchemy was very pleased to win his first West Coast 70’ Championship since he started campaigning the boat 3 years ago. Per Peterson and the crew on Alchemy have had a great year coming off wins in the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race and MEXORC.
Alchemy now is heading off to do the Long Beach to Cabo Race on November 6th.

Tisdale wins 2010 Benneteau 36.7 North Americans

2010-11-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

TISDALE WINS 2010 BENETEAU 36.7 NA TITLE
10/24/2010

After a strong racing season, Gary Tisdale and team on “First Today” hit their stride last weekend in Annapolis to claim the 2010 Beneteau 36.7 North American Championship. Fully powered by Ullman Sails, the team secured their title by nine points. Tisdale compliments his tactician Adam Burns and crew for outstanding work as they won four races and placed outside of the top four only once in 11 total races. The team competed with a new genoa, which Tisdale said was “the best I’ve seen. It provided the speed and point we needed to get to the shifts first.” The NA title followed great season that included second place finishes at the Youngstown Levels Regatta and the Great Lake Championships.

Complete results for the North Americans are here . The NAs were hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club with a total of 16 boats competing over four days, October 21-24, 2010.

2010-10-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

Every October hundreds of boats in Texas gear up for the annual Harvest Moon Regatta which is a 150 mile sprint from Galveston to Port Aransas. The regatta website claims "offwind sailing for maximum speed" and beautiful weather along the Texas Gulf Coast. I lived in Texas for over ten years and never had the time to participate in the event but this year James Liston brought me out to race on his J-120 Aeolus.

I arrived in Houston to some pretty nice, but hot, weather, and a forecast of 15-30 kts of wind from the South-South East. Well there goes the "offwind sailing for maximum speed" scenario! The race started in less than 8-kts of wind in beautiful weather and flat seas, maybe the website was right? After struggling to get out of the bad air that 200 boats starting in front of you leave we decided to hoist the Ullman Code 0 and started to really pick off some boats. Not many people in point to point races these days have a code 0 and that is surprising because it can be such a valuable piece of inventory to have!

I knew we could only hold the 0 up to about 13kts of wind but were gaining so much ground it was hard to get my mind to switch gears. It was not until God decided to switch gears for us and brought it down. The fitting

on the end of the pole finally gave way we lost the tack of the sail. Kudos to the crew as we had the sail down quickly and were now jib reaching towards the Freeport Buoy.

As night started to close in on us the wind moved forward and the waves increased in size. We switched out to the blade and were now at such an awkward angle to the waves that is was making it a little difficult to drive. Waves were now continually breaking over the boat and the wind was picking up to 25+kts. This is when you really get to see the true colors of the crew. For the most part, our crew was white in the face! I finally took a nap and when I woke up a 1/3 of the crew was incapacitated with extreme sea-sickness. Made it really roomy down below as no one wanted to get off the deck for fear of catching the bug. Doesn't bother me though, I like to get out of the cold for 20 minutes and get some coffee!

Day broke and we were quickly closing in on PA and as we got closer the wave sequences increased as did the confusion of the seas. It gets really shallow and the dozens of tankers leaving the area do not help either. We rounded the PA buoy at around 11am and headed to the finish line in 30kts TWS. I took a quick glance to the horizon and saw a slew of boats behind us and knew we were in the first group of finishers. 6th monohull to finish and third place overall corrected time in ORC B.

I was exhausted and so was everyone else at this point, put it did not deter us from having some stiff drinks and a good time at the Sandcastle Condo Resort! Interesting little town and a lot different than what I was used to. Lakewood Yacht Club did a fantastic job organizing and GBCA came out in full force to support the functions. The Houston Yacht Club organized a nice shrimp boil at the Sandcastle while the Bacardi Party got set up.

Big thanks to James Liston for having me out

and all the crew for the hard work on a tough regatta. Check out the Video and I look forward to the next Harvest Moon Regatta!

Ullman Sails Newport Beach Seminar Schedule

2010-10-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Little Ensenada on the Anarchy

2010-10-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Southwestern Yacht Club hosted their showcase event The Little Ensenada. The weather forecast was looking grim and I was not expecting to get into my hotel room at an early hour.

Sailing on the Anarchy is always a good time and regardless of the wind predictions I was looking forward to racing with friends. We drifted around the start line for an hour or so in postponement waiting for any sign of wind. We finally got off and started down the coast to Mexico with the two other spotrboats Mile high Klub and the Cheetah 30 Super Fly. Every time I do a point-to-point race on a Fyling Tiger 10M I ask myself the same question, “Why don’t more people race these boats??”

We had tight racing with MHK until the quit off Rosarito Beach. Unfortunately for them this is where the race got good! The FT is such a good boat in light air downwind that it is hard to imagine what boat this size will challenge it in the conditions we see in S. California. As the wind picked up to about 8kts we wereable to keep the boatspeed at almost the same velocity as the wind!!

We kept ourselves about 2 miles offshore and avoided the temptation to go further out. We thought that boats offshore would have trouble soaking down to the finish line (and I think we were spot on with that prediction).

As we approached Ensenada we saw some tall masts coming across on the opposite jibe. It was this point that we knew we were in the running for the overall. We had sailed the boat really hard and now we could see the rewards. With the finish line about ¼ mile from us the wind shut off!! This is so typical of Ensenada and its bias towards the larger boats. The Santa Cruz 50 Horizon motored past us and let us know that they just finished and we were probably going to win. I just laughed because I knew we were at the point of drifting for the next 45 minutes as we tried to cover 300 yards. So frustrating

When we finally finished it was 1:24am and the last push was not enough for the overall. 1^st in class and 5^th overall was not to shabby on a 30ft boat made in China and probably an 1/8^th of the cost of the boats that barely beat us (I think it was like 25 minutes of corrected time). It was a pleasure to wake up in the morning and watch, from my hotel balcony, boats the same size and bigger finish more than 8 hours after us.

Once again I came away from a weekend of Flying Tiger sailing with a smile on my face and a huge amount of satisfaction. Hopefully people will start to realize the potential of the boat and start buying and racing them in more events like this.

I have to say thank you to Scott Tempesta for another fantastic race and a great time in Ensenada. The crew Todd McGuire, Eva Rummel and Ed McCoy made the trip that much faster with the hard work and relaxed attitudes.

Keith Magnussen

Cal 25 Nationals

2010-09-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

This year the Cal 25 Nationals were held over the Labor Day weekend in Annapolis, MD and in conjunction with Annapolis Race Week. I am told this is the largest regatta in the world and after surveying all the competitors on three racing circles I am in no position to dispute that claim. The format consisted of three races on Saturday, three on Sunday and two on Monday. Hurricane Earl was blowing through the area and though it didn't bring rain to the Chesapeake Bay it certainly brought an abundance of wind.

On Saturday the wind was blowing at twenty-two to twenty-five knots with gusts as high as thirty-three on the bottom of the course, approximately fifteen knots in the middle and (get this) only about seven at the windward mark. Go figure. Cal 25s are old boats and all of us were wondering whether they would hold up in such a brisk breeze. They held up just fine. Although I'm sure most of us wouldn't have complained had the races been postponed, absolutely nobody dropped out. Cal 25 racers are made of sturdy stock. The high winds were kind to us and at the end of the day we found ourselves solidly positioned in second place. This was beginning to look easy.

Sunday's wind dropped off significantly to about five knots. I'm told this is normal for this time of year. The lighter winds were shifty (a gross understatement) and the sea was lumpy. Because of the light winds the famed Chesapeake Bay current was now in play. Though we were newcomers on the block it was somewhat satisfying to hear the locals also complain about having to deal with the current. Driving in such conditions was a new experience for me and as a result our scores suffered significantly. All of sudden not so easy.

Monday's wind was more to our liking. The velocity was good all day and climbed to about seventeen knots for the day's final race. This was right in our "go fast" range and we made the most out of it by getting our second bullet of the weekend and thus were able to finish the regatta on a high note.

When the dust cleared the champion was once again "Draco" (their fifth championship) from Bay View Yacht Club, Detroit,MI. They won because they sailed more consistently than everyone else. An Annapolis boat named "Upchuck" finished a very close second, a mere one point behind. We took third place. Not what we wanted but pretty satisfying nonetheless. Especially when considering that we were racing a "loaner" boat in unfamiliar waters against stiff competition.
In the final analysis it was three days of great racing with numerous conditions thrown our way and against sixteen very tough competitors. What a sport!

Report from Art Melendres

Farr 40 Audi Cup

2010-09-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

Dana Point Yacht Club played host to the Audi Cup for the second year running. Audi, in conjunction with the Richard Henry Dana Charity Regatta and the Tall Ship Festival, sponsored the regatta in order to bring a world class sailing event to Southern California. This year the Farr 40 class and the J-24 class were invited to participate and compete for not only bragging rights but also a new F40/J24 Spinnaker made by Ullman Sails Newport Beach and donated by Audi Mission Viejo.

Twelve J-24’s and six Farr 40’s arrived in Dana Point Harbor and were treated to some of the best sailing of the summer. The normal conditions for Dana Point (light and choppy) never arrived and we were instead greeted with a nice 15kt breeze. The Farr 40 fleet was out early and practicing long before the other fleets started to materialize. I was fortunate enough to race on Ray Godwin’s “Temptress” and we took the practice time to get familiar with each other as most of us had never sailed together before.

Race one started in near perfect conditions and after a good start we played the right side of the course, got the right shift and were first around the weather mark. The racing was extremely close and Oscar Krinski’s “Chayah” was within 2 boat-length’s of us. We had a good downwind leg, error free crew-work and from there out covered well and won race 1. Chayah was a close second and David Voss on “Piranha” was third.

The wind was shifting further right as the day went on and we were seeing puffs in the upper teens. Race two was a little more eventful for us and we were quickly reminded of how tough the fleet is and that one or two mistakes is all that is needed to send you to the back of the fleet. After a mediocre start we came to a crossing situation with Piranha. It was close but we fouled Piranha (port/starboard) and were forced to take our penalty turn. This put us in the back of the fleet and unfortunately never really recovered. Chayah won the race and it was apparent that they were finding their groove and were going to be hard to beat. Piranha was second and displaying their consistency that would be a deciding factor for the weekend.

We managed two more races for Saturday and the consensus was that this was one of the best regattas of the season and that Dana Point might just be the new Hurricane Gulch. Chayah raced well grabbing another first but Piranha’s bullet on the fourth race was a sign of what was to come.

Sunday started out as the typical 5-8kt day in Dana Point but was quickly transformed into another windy affair. With three races scheduled for the day it was still anyone’s regatta. Piranha and Chayah were tied on points and Temptress was 4 points back. Race five saw Piranha and Chayah jump out to early leads and then turned the race into two-boat affair. Piranha edged out Chayah to take a slim one point lead into the sixth race. Race six was eventful and Chayah had to settle for a sixth after some problems on the boat. Unfortunately Oscar Krinski had some health issues and Chayah had to withdraw from the final race.

Piranha won the sixth and seventh race and with four bullets they took top honors at the 2010 Audi Cup. Ray Godwin’s Temptress was second and Oscar Krinski’s Chayah still got third after withdrawing on Sunday.

The atmosphere surrounding the event was spectacular and the racing venue was near perfect. Dana Point Yacht Club hosted a fantastic event and with a corporate giant like Audi’s backing this should be a must on everyone’s regatta schedule next year. Be sure you are ready for your next regatta and all major events by purchasing Ullman Sails. We are currently in the middle of our fall discount program.

Keith Magnussen