Hyde Sails enter Quarter Ton Class at AAM Cowes Week 2015

Hyde Sails enter the Quarter Ton Class at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week 2015 © Hyde Sails

Hyde Sails enter the Quarter Ton Class at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week 2015 © Hyde Sails

Hyde Sails enter the Quarter Ton Class at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week 2015 © Hyde Sails

Hyde Sails have acquired a Quarter Tonner to be used as a test bed to increase their market share of the Solent and South Coast yacht racing market. Over the past few years the Quarter Ton class has had a high profile and spectacular resurgence with many old boats being beautifully restored and now raced under IRC. The boats have extremely close racing with a lot of very accomplished teams all aiming to win the prestigious Quarter Ton Cup.

Hyde have bought a Faroux designed boat called Menace and will be sailing the boat at Cowes Week, with sail designer Richard Lovering, fresh from winning the Flying Fifteen Nationals, as helmsman for the first four days. After Cowes Week the Hyde team will set about further rig optimisation to attempt to develop fast upwind laminate sails for IRC racers as a Hamble based alternative to some of the very expensive membrane sails already out there. Downwind sails will be pushed to the maximum sizes and latest and best shapes for displacement boats with symmetrical spinnakers.

The boat will compete with the current non Hyde sails and existing set-up to establish a bench mark. Other changes will focus on increasing the rating towards the top end of the band currently winning in the class. Menace currently rates at.895 the goal is to sail the boat at.900 with a performance increase greater than the rating increase. Optimising the foretriangle, mainsail area and rig height are the focus. The hull and structure will not be altered but the keel may be changed as well as possibly the rudder design and position.

CEO Nigel Grogan says, "Our goal is to showcase our teams design, development and manufacturing expertise to showcase our products from our Hamble base and win the Quarter Ton Cup next year. The message to the Solent sailors will hopefully be that if they want excellent racing sails that can deliver the performance needed to win at prices that are sane and sensible, Hyde's can work with them to win. In our 50 year history we have shown we can win in dinghies,catamarans, keelboats and larger yachts as well as making cruising sails for all sectors of the market, our Quarter Tonner campaign is about revisiting IRC racing from a new angle."

www.hydesails.co.uk