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Spindrift Sails: IOM Sails

Site by Redcat Design

Copyright 2008 Spindrift Sails, All Rights Reserved. 83 Trevethan Rd, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 2AT. Tel: 07788 665672 email: simon@spindriftsails.co.uk

History is perhaps a little grand a word for a company very much in its infancy. Started in early 2008 after damaging yet another suit of sails in a coming together with another boat I decided to take the plunge and try to create my own. After hours of internet research, picking the brains of sail making friends not to mention close scrutiny of a number of leading manufacturers, the mk. 1 was born. To my surprise I was not far off the pace at their first outing and realised I might be onto something!! Since then there have been numerous tweaks and refinements to both the draught of the sails and the plan shape resulting in sails that have proved to hold their own in all conditions and at a high level of competition.

Personal Profile

I don't want to bore you with too much bumf about me, but for those of you considering buying sails from me for the first time I thought it might be reassuring to out line my personal sailing credentials and experience.

Growing up on the edge of Poole harbour needless to say sailing has always been an integral part of my life and I very much have my parents to thank for getting me involved. All school holidays were spent cruising around the solent, Brittany and the Channel Islands towing our Mirror dinghy. My teenage years were spent sailing Toppers and later Lasers which is when I started to develop my interest in the more technical side of the sport.

An outdoor education degree followed at Chichester University where I developed my interest in coaching. Qualifications under my belt I set off on my travels to ply my trade in warmer climes, settling for periods in both Sydney and Auckland. On returning to the UK I landed my present Job at Falmouth Marine School where I am in charge of the college's sailing programme, training instructors for the watersports industry. I've recently been put in charge of the college's elite sailing squad within which are a number of talented youngsters who have aspirations of making the 2012 olympic team.

Living in Falmouth I am privileged to be a member of the South West Radio Sailing Club. Not only have I found it to be one of the friendliest clubs I have visited, with experienced helmsman happy to share their knowledge and expertise, but also one of the most competitive. We rarely have fewer than eight boats on the water and sometimes up to 16 making racing exciting, not to mention tactically challenging!!! With the standard of sailing so high it has provided the perfect development conditions for a number of successful designs most notably the ‘Isis’ - designed by Barry Chisam and winner of the 2005 worlds, the ‘Wotsit’ (Bill Curtis) and the ‘Sloth’ (Richard Wills).

The close racing has also served as an ideal testing ground for new sails. With a number of the clubs skippers now owning a suit of Spindrift sails and achieving some excellent results with them I now feel confident that I have a product that stands up favourably against the big names in the business.

Sail Information

Battens All battens are tapered not only in shape but using three different thicknesses of glass

Seams There is no stitching on spindrift sails quality 10mm tape is used for all seams apart from on 35 micron ‘A’ suit jibs where 5mm tape is used instead.

Leach Spindrift Sails are supplied with no leach tape as standard; in my humble opinion this is an unnecessary addition. My theory is that like the underside of your boat, any friction on the release edge will cause turbulence and in turn slow you down. Bearing this in mind it is essential that main sails are stored with the kicker off (standard practice I know). Also when rigging the sails, ensure that the topping lift on the jib boom is on before fully tensioning the backstay to prevent stretching the jib leech. Having said that, leach tape can be added on request at no extra cost if required.

Luff Luff tubes will be supplied in white although other colours are available depending on availability. A luff tube for a jack line can be added to main sails at an additional cost - please see price list for details.

Corner Patches All sails are supplied with standard triangular corner patches in a colour of your choice (depending on availability). Finger patches are available at an additional cost.

Spindrift’s philosophy is simple; to produce competitive performance sails at an affordable price.

Hints and Tips

Storage for a pre-bent mast I used to tie my sails to the mast, but when I started pre-bending my masts found I was damaging sails when they were stored. Initially, I cured this by putting an extra clip in my sail box to hold the mast straight, but found over time my mast straightened slightly and needed re-bending. When discussing this with a friend at the club he suggested using sail rings and detaching them for storage, allowing the mast to be stored bent without distorting the sails. This is even easier if you use a jack stay as you can reduce the amount of attachment points (I only have three, on the seams) SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark rounding One of the best pieces of advice I had when I first started was to do with mark rounding. I know everyone has problems with depth perception at first but I was terrible, either over shooting the mark by miles or turning a good few boat lengths before it. A club mate suggested watching my wake and turning when that touched the mark, which really seemed to help. Obviously this only works in flat water, but it really helped me. I still miss the odd mark unlike some of the more experienced guys who seem to use “the force” or some other mystical sixth sense, but I’m getting better.

Using waves This is something I was taught during my Laser sailing days. When sailing in swell it can be very frustrating to keep getting passed downwind by people who seem to be surfing the same wave from the windward mark to the leeward without losing speed. They are not cheating, nor is it luck, they are making the waves work for them! In flat water the fastest way to the leeward mark is often a straight line depending on the design of your boat, in waves more often than not this is not the case. You will feel your boat accelerate as wave picks you up and begin to shoot down it, if you do not alter course you will run into the back of the next wave and lose speed. The trick is to turn along the wave meaning you stay on the face whilst maintaining speed until the wave backs off. This will mean that you are moving laterally as well as down wind and may mean you have to put in a gybe, but the extra distance you will travel will more than be made up for by the increased speed you will have. With practice you will start looking for waves and be the one surfing from windward to leeward!!

An idea for spreader placement Try clip - on spreaders on rigs one and two, as the wind increases lower the spreaders on the mast, this will make the mast tip more flexible and will fall off to leeward, this inturn will open the mainsail leach, which will in turn put in more twist and therefore reduce heeling whist still driving the boat on the lower part of the mainsail. Conversly if the rig is used at the bottom wind strengh for the rig higher spreaders will stiffen mast allowing rig to use all possible power.

Worried about Weight? If you have a boat over weight consider AAA battery pack , its half the weight of a standard AA pack!

Affordable Shroud wire! Consider using s/steel wire used for traces available at angling stores. I use 60lb strength for both standing and runnig rigging. It costs about two / three pounds for 8 metres much cheaper than from model stores. Don't forget to strip the plastic coating off the section where the crimp will be or it may slip under pressure.

Steering Rod Movable corrector weights- I recently saw in a friends boat an ingenious method for adjusting where his corrector weights were secured. He was using sticky backed Velcro the kind available from most dress making stores. This enabled him to easily move the weights according to the conditions.

On the last boat I built I had real problems getting the steering rod exactly the right length. It was suggested that I put a ‘V’ in the rod which would allow me to micro adjust it after it was fitted, it worked really well.

An alternative sheet adjustment system It occurred to me that drilling lots of fiddly adjustment holes in both the Jib and Main booms was probably weakening them, especially Jib booms which if using lots of pre bend are under quite a lot of tension. My solution was to drill one hole for a hook and attach the main sheet directly to it on a bowsie system. The sheets stay on the booms and attach directly to a toggle on the sheeting loop making it very easy to change rigs. It also gives you infinite sheeting adjustment, which can’t be a bad thing!!