The Long Island Sound’s traditional end-of-the-year distance race is Stamford Yacht Club’s Vineyard Race sailed over the Labor Day weekend. For the second consecutive year, light wind forecasts convinced the organizers to opt for the shorter Seaflower Reef course (143 nm staying within the Sound) vs. the longer full Vineyard course. Despite the light air forecast materializing, it didn’t deter 90 boats from participating.

When the dust settled Saturday night, two boats belonging to long-time UK Sailmakers customers had won their Vineyard Race division as well as major ocean racing trophies.

Racing within and winning Class 9 PHRF was Kurt Locher’s J/42 ATALANTA, while Andrew and Linda Weiss’ Italia 11.98 CHRISTOPHER DRAGON closed out its distance racing season winning Class 10 ORC. The significance of these two wins is that both boats won their respective ocean racing series.

For years, Stamford has sponsored the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy (NORT) for ORC yachts and the New England Lighthouse Series (NELS) for boats that race under PHRF. Both series require that you sail in the Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race and the Vineyard Race. In addition, you must sail an additional ocean race from a selected list. This being a non-Bermuda Race year, both boats opted to sail the Marblehead-to-Halifax race. The combined scores in the three races determine the overall winners. DRAGON won its Division in the Halifax Race and ATALANTA finished second in hers while DRAGON won the Block Island Race overall. That was all it took for DRAGON and ATALANTA to receive the NORT and NELS, respectively.

Sailing the Sunflower Reef course, it’s hard to get too far away from the Connecticut shoreline. DRAGON rounded the half-way mark at midnight Friday with a foul current. They hugged the northern shore to get out of the current, allowing DRAGON to get past the rest of the boats in their class.

Weiss’ Italia has a full suit of Titanium® upwind sails and Matrix® spinnakers. Interestingly, DRAGON carries a UK A3 rather than a Code 0 finding that the performance is comparable, while avoiding the hit to their rating.

Weiss further noted that this is his third NORT win (2011 and 2022) but more important to him was winning the Olin Stephens Trophy signifying the best combined performance in the 2022 Bermuda Race and the 2023 Halifax Race. “That was our objective going into the season. After winning our division in last year’s Bermuda Race finishing second overall, we sailed this year with the objective of earning the Olin Stephens Trophy. Thanks to a great crew, that objective was realized.

Locher’s ATALANTA is a vintage J/42 that he “turboed” by adding a spinnaker prod, upgrading from cruising to racing electronics, and updating the interior. Sailing now with asymmetrical spinnakers and code zeros, ATALANTA won her division in the local Thursday night Can One series, too. Kurt credits much of his success to advice he received from both UK Sailmakers’ Butch Ulmer on reconfiguring his vintage cruising boat. “Under Butch’s tutelage, we upgraded our sail inventory and converted a cruising boat into a racing boat,” said Locher. “We converted to racing and started competing about three years ago. We’ve built our program and have enjoyed our recent success.”

See here Vineyard Results and here Marblehead-to-Halifax Results for the results.

UK: You do a lot of shorthanded ocean racing, but how much singlehanded racing do you do?

NC: I used to do a lot of singlehanded races, but there aren’t that many around these days. This was my first one for a while.

UK: What was the boat you sailed?

NC: It was my Figaro 2. I had the boat trucked across the country from the west coast for this race. The Figaro 2 is a twin-rudder tiller boat with both symmetrical and asymmetrical spinnakers.

UK: How were the conditions during the race?

NC: It was as if there were three different races. We started in light winds coming out of Narragansett Bay only to have fog set in and the wind die. It was a drift fest for a while, but it was sort of fun as all the boats were still close together and there was a lot of VHF chatter.

The wind remained light up to the edge of the Stream but then the conditions became very different. I saw between 25 and 35 knots but it wasn’t gusty, so I didn’t constantly have to adjust the trim. It was a tight reach allowing me to sail near the rhumb line with a difficult sea state as the wind was against the current. The waves were steep and close together lifting the boat while at the same time breaking over the deck. The whole boat was wet! Close reaching with waves you could surf was fantastic. When you go from 9 to 14 knots that’s huge. I had a reefed main throughout this part of the race.

Initially, when the wind picked up approaching the Stream, I had up my reacher set from the sprit; but following the rhumb line didn’t get me to the surfing angle I wanted. I changed from my reacher to a jib and headed up. I had full water ballast helping with stability. I saw 14-16 knots of boat speed (surfing). which we don’t see regularly. Going through the Stream was fantastic. I even saw 18 knots of bsp. I thought this would be a very fast run, but then the conditions changed.

UK: What happened in the final portion of the race?

NC: Once I got through the Stream, everything turned to s–t. Within two hours, I went from 25 knots of breeze to 1. I was staying west of the rhumb line for the surfing conditions, and I was looking for a fast reach to bring me back to the rhumb line towards the finish. The router wanted me the other side of the rhumb because of positive current, but I didn’t think the pressure would merit that.

In those drifting conditions, I had up the windseeker because I couldn’t keep the spinnaker full. I spent 18 hours on sail trim to get the boat moving towards the finish covering only about 25 miles during that time. That was probably the toughest part of the race. The big winds were consistent making trimming easier, but the fickle light winds required constant adjustment. The wave train was pretty steady and, from a singlehanded perspective, that’s the best condition for racing because you can set up the boat and go to sleep. But that wasn’t the case towards the end.

UK: How much of the time do you steer vs. use the auto pilot?

NC: I spent very little time steering. I steered a bit at the beginning but after that I would steer only to set up sail trim and to get a feel for the boat. After the start, I shifted to the auto pilot quickly because you can’t steer as accurately and as responsively as the auto pilot over the long run. I did spend a lot of time optimizing the auto steering, but after that only needed to fine-tune the pilot. You really can’t drive and trim because every time I’d do both, the steering went bad. I really only steered in the transition phases when you had to make a lot of changes. Especially with the spinnaker up at the end because that was just fun.

UK: What spinnakers did you use?
NC: I used the A2 as the wind died toward the end before hoisting the windseeker and then the regular symmetrical spinnaker to make a beeline to the finish. It was a much better VMG with the traditional chute. In heavier air, the symmetrical is easier to sail because the boat is better balanced. The next fastest boat was using an asymmetrical, but he had to sail a further distance as I soaked allowing me to beat him.

UK: Who do you work with on your sail package?
NC: I work with Sylvain Barrielle in the UK Sailmakers San Francisco Loft. All my sails are from UK with the exception of a small spinnaker I rarely use and that came with the boat. The upwind sails are Titanium and the spinnakers Matrix sails. Sylvain advised us on the windseeker and that was definitely the money sail during the light stuff.

UK: On the 15^th, you and Blake will start the doublehanded return leg. What differences do you anticipate from your singlehanded leg?

NC: For the return, the conditions may be very different. Probably not much spinnaker work and the weather patterns are still uncertain (at the time of the interview). With two, however, we will keep optimizing trim because with two, you don’t have to worry about getting overtired because you can sleep. On the second, there will likely be more current issues. Coming down, there were three models for the Stream, and they didn’t agree, so I just played the wind. On the way back, we’ll probably be more against the current, so I’ll have to spend more time on the Stream’s location and direction.

Learn more about Nathalie Criou Racing at http://www.nathaliecriouracing.com.

Learn more about UK Sailmakers Titanium and Matrix sails at https://www.uksailmakers.com

Now the weather patterns are more precise and it looks like a tight windy reach at the start, followed by a reach in medium air and then some tricky light air sailing in changing systems closer to Newport. fyi

They say the second happiest day for boat owners is when they buy a boat. The happiest, conversely, is when they sell it. While this saying points to the work, time, and expense that go into owing and campaigning a boat, for most it is a bittersweet moment when, for the final time, you step off a boat you’ve loved and cared for over many years. Such a bittersweet moment occurred recently for Geoff Bishop, owner of the UK Sailmakers Fremantle loft in Australia.

Those of you who have followed UK Sailmakers through our newsletter, social media, instructional videos, and website, have had ample opportunity to see Geoff and his crew at work on CHECKMATE, a King 40. As Geoff will admit, his crew and fellow UK Sailmakers mates worked continuously to fine-tune CHECKMATE into the winning racing machine she is today. One of their first moves was to convert from symmetrical to asymmetrical spinnakers. With that change came evolving deck layout and running rigging configurations. Then there were the sails.

As you would imagine, Geoff has designed and built fast and durable sails for CHECKMATE. His upwind sails are UK’s Titanium^® loadpath sails and UK’s Matrix^® spinnakers complimented by a Code 0 and a spinnaker staysail that doubles as a wind seeker. Just because he’s in the sailmaking business, however, doesn’t mean he has a container of sails in his back yard from which he can select what to use that day. He’s an independent business owner who has to manage the cost of his sail inventory just like the rest of us. He did do a considerable amount of product and design development before actually building his latest racing sails.

In terms of that sail development and testing, Geoff shared, “When we purchased Checkmate, the first thing we did was to get a trial IRC certificate to see what would happen if we: 1) removed the spinnaker pole, 2) extend the bowsprit fully out (1.60m in front of the forestay), and 3) placed the largest workable asymmentrical onboard (adding an extra 28 sqm) over what the yacht currently had. The new rating came down by 0.001 of a point. Before our first race we added a new A2, A4, A1, A5, plus we had to replace the J3 and J4 as the current sails where not fit for racing. The first season we used what we had, got to learn the boat, and work out what areas needed improvement. The UK group had done some sail testing on inhauling sail designs with the J/109, and for the second sailing season we used this knowledge to build a new J1, J2 to allow us to inhaul further than we could before. A new mainsail was optimized for IRC and our rating further improved. During the second season we needed to improve the two sail reaching performance. This is the only area where we were being beaten by yachts of similar size. A new X-Drive jib top was added and a structured luff Code 0. Both of these sails achieved our goal of keeping us in front of our competition. The jib top worked when the winds were above 14 knots tight reaching. The Code 0 was our real weapon in light winds up to 12 knots allowing it to be deployed earlier than our rivals and could be carried at very tight wind angles. For the next three seasons, these sails allowed us to be competitive .

CHECKMATE’s race inventory is limited to a Titanium main, J1, J2, J3, J4 and jib top, spinnakers limited to an A1, A2, A4, A5 plus a Code 0 plus storm sails The proper sails but not the extensive inventory of back-up sails that some of his competition sails with.

That said, beyond being an exceptional sail designer and sailmaker, Geoff is a world class sailor in his own right. Were you to talk with him about sailing downwind in big offshore seas, for example, you’d surely pick up some subtle tricks on both driving and sail trim. And, when it comes to flawless boat handling by a crew intimate with how THIS SPECIFIC boat sails best, the CHECKMATE crew is at the top of that game, too.

That brings us to the new life for CHECKMATE. A sailor in Sydney has recently bought Bishop’s King 40 and plans to race her on Australia’s east coast. The new owner recognized that it will take time for his crew and him to get up-to-speed on racing CHECKMATE. He could have hired a coach to help, but instead, he’s having Geoff and some of his regular crew to come race with them in Sydney. Only after seeing the choreography of how Bishop’s crew has sailed the boat will they truly be able to meet their new-boat performance expectations.

Geoff’s final season with CHECKMATE was another successful one. One of Western Australia’s offshore champions is headed to her new home. Offshore WA’s media coverage noted, “This Saturday’s Roland Smith Race marks the final outing in WA for the Bishop Family’s CHECKMATE. A stalwart of Offshore Sailing for the past five years, CHECKMATE seldom missed a race and was usually on the podium. Second in the 2020/21 Coveted Siska Trophy and third in 2021/2022. She will be missed!”

Geoff, in that final, bittersweet moment added, “Thank you everyone who has sailed onboard and those that we raced against. It has been fun. Today we hand over the keys to the new team. Hope they have the same fun and success as we have had.”