Five boats, sails, masts, chandlery and clothing for P&B at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show
by Mark Jardine 1 Mar 2017 15:01 GMT
4-5 March 2017
The P&B Team busy getting ready for the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show © P&B
The week before the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show is always a busy one for the team at P&B, but for 2017 they have pulled out all the stops, with no less than five boats showcased, and sails on a range of boats throughout the show. They'll also have a massive range of chandlery available to buy, basically moving their Northampton store to Alexandra Palace for the weekend! We spoke to Dave Wade to get the details...
First up is the re-launch of the JP / P&B Solo, which is being made by highly experienced and respected boat builder Richard Wagstaff. Dave explained some of the differences: "It has a finer nose than some of the designs and the stern is flatter, with the aim of making it quick to tack, faster through the chop and promoting earlier planing. It will be on display on the National Solo Class Association stand (B46 in the Great Hall) with a P&B sail together with a foil choice from DEM Foils."
The P&B Optimist on display on the IOCA UK stand (G46 in the West Hall) will be fitted out to exactly the same standard as the P&B / Winner Race Team boats.
Ian Pinnell's new 505 will be on display on the International 505 Class Association stand (B34 in the Great Hall). The foils which we talked to Ian about this time last year have been selling exceptionally well in the UK, America, Australia & Europe.
The P&B Fireball which will be displayed on the UK Fireball Association stand (C31 in the Great Hall) has a new mainsheet system which Dave explains the details of: "We've had a standard aft bridle system for years and years. With Winder I've developed a system where you can crank it over to windward by 20mm, similar to the bridle system on a Merlin Rocket. I first fitted this to my boat, but we've now fine-tuned the system. We have also developed a rudder for the Fireball which uses what we've learnt from the 505 foils."
The Flying Fifteen - which is currently celebrating its 70th Anniversary and the World Championship taking place in Napier, New Zealand - has a new jib design which will be used straight after this Worlds. Dave describes the main differences and why the class has made the change: "The class have shortened the foot and increased the luff length so that the sheet loads are lighter and it's easier to handle. This will really help the mixed teams in the class. Ian Pinnell's boat (which is Alan Bax's old boat) will be on display on the UK Flying Fifteen Association stand (C2 in the Great Hall) with all the tweaks that you'd expect from a P&B boat."
On the sails front, P&B will be displaying their new Osprey sails which have a zip luff on the jib and Ian Pinnell will be giving a talk on how to tune the boat (Saturday 3.30pm, Stand A4 in the Great Hall).
The Merlin Rocket class (Stand B16 in the Great Hall) is going from strength to strength and P&B make both sails and masts for the class. Dave says, "We've made some tweaks, especially around the head of the mainsail, and on the Paragon mast we've tweaked the spreader bracket, the track and the construction technique."
Another class enjoying a resurgence is the Streaker (Stand C52 in the Great Hall), and P&B will have their championship winning sails on display. Dave commented on why the class is proving so popular, "It's singlehanded, which is proving popular at the moment, and caters for helms in the 11 stone range, whereas many other designs don't suit the lighter weight helms."
Moving onto the heavyweights, P&B won the 2016 Phantom Nationals with their sail and their Paragon mast, which they made for the first time. Dave says, "Our cross-cut sail won the championship and our radial sail finished second."
The P&B Team will all be available to talk, with chandlery galore, on stands A10 & B48 in the Great Hall. They will have a massive range of Dinghy Clothing for sale, as well as being the only retailer at the show with the new Musto Dinghy Range.
P&B are also be selling the Red Paddleboard range at the show, for those who fancy doing something slightly different on the water!