P&B South Summer News

by Ben McGrane, P&B 7 Sep 2014 15:09 BST 7 September 2014

P&B SOUTH SUMMER NEWS!

It’s been a busy few weeks through the summer and the last month has flown by with new products being introduced and more than a few sailing events thrown into the mix. So what have we been up to?

JP SOLO
We have completed the first in-house produced JP Solo and I’m really pleased with it. A lot of time has gone into making sure that between Ian, Darren and myself we have tackled all the key points to make sure the boat is manufactured as best as possible and I’m confident the boat will continue to perform as one of the leading designs within the class. Gordon Barclay measured the boat which passed with flying colours. The first hull is now up with Northampton for fit out and trials and production of the next boat is under way.

Producing in-house has given us great freedom of control to make the boat exactly how we want and will also make the boat more readily available over the coming months. For more information on the JP solo contact Oli Wells via email

FOILS
The P&B t-foils are becoming increasing popular in both the I14 & N12, feedback has been positive and in particular Richard Bone & Chris Rodway who sailed a great POW race to finish 3^rd have been impressed with the improved performance of their B5 I14.

All I can say is that the foil did transform the boat in performance, hitting high 13’s and popping up to 14knots upwind was immense. – Richard Bone.

Ben will be sporting the first P&B Merlin rudder at Parkstone at the end of this month so watch this space for more information in the coming weeks.

Rodway Rudder!

For more information on P&B foils contact Ben McGrane via ben@pinbax.com.

PARAGON COMPOSITES
With the first shipment of masts arriving from Heathrow today, we are going to be working hard to get finished masts in stock and readily available.

The Merlin mast fulfilled all expectations filling the top 2 places at the nationals, Olly Turner after a last minute breakage of his Chipstow in the run up to the event sailed with a new Paragon showing improvements all week, recording his best nationals race results and overall position.

The first Paragon single spreader rig made its way to POW without any practice on a new Ovi/P&B B6 and combined with the latest radial design P&B sails Martin & Neale Jones were straight in the mix at the front end of the fleet. One to watch for next season!

Paragon carbon spars are now available for the Merlin, Contender and I14 with plans to introduce products for additional classes over the winter. If you are looking to purchase a new carbon spar contact Ben McGrane via ben@pinbax.com for a quotation.

TESTING DEVELOPMENTS
Having just spent a week looking at new kit for the I14 in Weymouth I thought I would share a few thoughts on how to go about testing to make sure you get clear results. I’ve hardly had time to sail the I14 this year, a couple of silly failures have cost us the chance to compete for overall wins in the events we have done but I’m pleased we are looking like one of the boats who will be in the fight come the Worlds in January. At the POW last week we had two clear goals, to get racing again having not done so since Easter and to test all our new gear. With only 3 days practice this season we knew we wouldn’t be racing at the same level as we were last year but across the week we could get good hours on the water against some top teams to get ourselves back up to speed. We took the decision to go to Weymouth early to get an extra couple of days looking at new sails and to get used to our new daggerboard before racing.

Testing new kit is always a challenge but getting the best from kit requires structured training and goals.

OUTLINE THE GOAL
We wanted more light wind speed in the I14 this year, Melbourne is sold as a windy venue but having followed a few events sailed there and looked at the wind data it’s like any other venue I have ever been to, capable of pretty much anything. We know that sub 12 knots our package could be quicker, over 15 knots last year we were always quick.

To overcome this we have looked to improve the boat, adding a foredeck for better jib performance in the base of the sail, reduced foil drag and brought weight into the centre of the boat where possible. Work to the boat has been done to improve performance in all conditions.

We have looked to reduce the weight of sails with reduced cloth weights and radial construction to give a more stable sail for better performance in light winds. We have tried different mainsail battens to change the draft and increase fullness combined with a jib with great depth and more leach. The P&B standard spinnaker is still a firm favourite of mine as an all-round performer but we also wanted to test a new P&B design with more area to see the benefits in the light and any negatives in the breeze.

SESSION OBJECTIVE
Going sailing with a plan in place means your time on the water will be a lot more productive. My preference is to look at one aspect at a time and to make that the goal for the session, for example last week to look at our 2 jibs we did 4 long beats going in after each beat to change just the jib before sailing upwind again against the same group of boats, in the same wind allowing us to make direct comparisons. That filled our morning but give us results where we could see direct performance differences. When looking at new kit it is crucial to only change one item at a time, making sure the boat is setup the same is critical and that you sail the boat in the same way is vital.

COACH
While it always seems an expensive option our greatest asset last week was taking a RIB and coach for the 2 days before the event to give us eyes from outside the boat and photos to review after sailing. Without this our time would have been far less productive. 2 jibs that look very similar from in the boat looked entirely different from the RIB, with this feedback we quickly figured out how to change the sheeting angle and how far inboard to come to get the maximum from our new design, this would have taken us days otherwise. Photos tell you everything and you quickly notice differences from one sail to another or one boat to another. Having the involvement of another person also presents new questions and gives another view point, Ian who worked with us last week was ideal for what we were doing, his view was impartial and having never sailed a modern I14 he wasn’t there to tell us how to sail the boat. His strengths came in the form of being a professional photographer who has previously worked as a mast designer and sailed himself at a very high level, he was able to give a view point on what he saw, capture images of what we needed to see and help us analyse results. When picking a coach look to have someone who is good at what you need to improve and set them clear goals of what you want to achieve from the session.

TUNNING BUDIES
Always work with a benchmark, in some classes where settings are established and using the same kit is common it is easy to work with another boat to see how differing setting or a different sail increases or reduces speed. In the I14 class every boat is different so this doesn’t work, either way working with guys you know are a good benchmark and can line up a good tuning run will give you a reference. Always work with someone you can have an open discussion with afterwards, when one boat makes a jump and doesn’t share why the partnership quickly becomes undermined.

TESTING WITH RACING
This requires going out and not worrying about the result which is how we had to approach Weymouth, I wanted to know exactly how our new daggerboard and sails worked across the wind range so when it was 20 knots and I knew we would probably be quicker with 2013 designs with proven setting we still used 2014 test kit to work out the best setting and see the effect on our boat speed. For me using kit while racing is the only way you can really gauge its performance, your competitors are sailing to win, you get to test again the best in the fleet and you learn what a new development does to your speed on every angle of sailing, during manoeuvres and starting. You get the full picture.

WHERE CAN WE GO WRONG?
Test new kit is a frustrating process especially in a racing environment. The most important thing is to give all new kit a fair chance, use it across the wind range and be aware that how you set up your old kit may not work for your new purchase. Speak to your sail maker, boat builder or whoever has sold you the kit as if you aren’t the first person to use it someone should be able to tell you good settings and give you a starting point.

If you are looking to get a bit more speed from your boat this winter then contact your P&B class representative to learn about the latest kit developments. We offer coaching services, supplying tuning guides for all our sail and rig packages and are here to help. For more information on class representatives visit www.pinbax.com

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