RS aero Y&Y test

It is so easy to be partisan on any forum so I’ll try and keep it mostly factual !

Approx 30 of the original rigs sold (remember the Halo sail/rig were an option rig on the Blaze).  It was primarily targeted at the larger helm.    I think Dinghy magazine wanted something of a contrast to compare the D1 and 100 against.  The surprise to us at least was how much they liked the Halo version of the Blaze ... and we had thought we were just there to make up the numbers !   It was not a major development for us really but we subsequently sold about 30 of the rigs but we had also made a rod for our own backs in the design concept.   

The issue was that nearly every owner also sailed in Blaze mode when racing on the circuit, and it did not matter if they were new to the class or existing.  Not a bad thing in itself ... the real problem was that you needed a complete (longer) second mast for the sail and this obviously limited demand after the initial flurry of purchases for what most saw as an ‘option’ sail.  Later when the Blaze class approved the carbon mast development it further inhibited demand as very few indeed could ever justify having two carbon masts.     

 A year ago some of the pioneer Halo owners looked at this issue with us and ... to cut a long story short we re-worked the sail with input from Charlie C. of North.   Many iterations later and the resulting Halo sail is very slightly smaller than the original Halo (11.5m) and is now fully battened.  Critically it can now be set on ANY standard set of Blaze spars - alloy or carbon.   It was released as a standard production item just last month along with the smaller 8.8m ‘Fire’ sail.   Even prior to release we started receiving orders from both existing (Blaze/Halo) owners and to go with new boats.  

Blaze hulls / spars can now be used with three sizes of sail – Fire (8.8m), STANDARD Blaze (10.4m) and Halo (11.5m).  Each are primarily aimed at particular user groups, most of who will still also have a Blaze sail.

Perhaps Dougal would like another go? .... we are already talking about a test day for ‘Fire’ with Y&Y but perhaps he’d like to revisit Halo sometimel.   I’m absolutely sure it will not be to everyone’s taste and not be practical for all anyway  (it really does help to be on the larger side with Halo) but if you have the required attributes and approach it is a hell of a lot of fun.  Is it worth a try ?  What have you got to lose ?      

Mike L.

(Here is an original Halo ...)