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LOFT
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A
NEWSLETTER FROM HAARSTICK SAILMAKERS
(800) 342-5033 (585) 342-5200
email: info@haarsticksailmakers.com
Web
site: www.haarsticksailmakers.com
This past winter Kirk Reynolds, Jon Faudree, and I began talking about
campaigning Kirk’s J24 and J22 together this summer, and hopefully combine our
efforts to develop faster sail shapes. We spent a lot of time on the phone, and
in the loft talking about sail shapes, looking at existing sails, and getting to
work on Kirk’s suggestions.
Kirk,
began his sailmaking career in the mid seventies at Haarstick Sailmakers,
The season has finally started!
The local J-24’s kicked off their season at Canandaigua with the “J-Daze”
regatta last weekend. Here is another excellent
regatta report by Jon Faudree:
I took care of assembling the crew and bringing the sails. The crew
consisted of myself, trimming the sails, Colin Ranney on the bow, Doug Burtner
our strategist, and Erin Harris our friend from
Twenty-Seven J/24’s competed in this years J-Daze regatta in
Races 2 and 3 were both good solid races with a 3rd and 6th. A major part
of being able to win, comes down to boat preparation; knowing that your boat is
ready to win. During Friday’s practice Kirk had mentioned that we might want
to replace the genoa halyard before racing started. Right after a great start in
race 4, we tacked to cross the fleet and get to the right side, when disaster
struck, the cover on the previously mentioned halyard exploded, and the genoa
came down, parking us on port tack. With all the confusion and scrambling to get
the sail up, no one saw the starboard boat that was now on a collision course
with us before it was to late. We flew our “I” flag, taking our 20% penalty,
and Colin did a great job tying the halyard off so we could continue racing. The
only problem was, we couldn’t get it down for the spinnaker legs, which made
for interesting jibes. Surprisingly, we battled our way back to a fourth place
finish. Unfortunately with our penalty it was scored an 8th.
In race 5, we finally found sixth gear! The breeze started with a solid fifteen knots! We set our rig up with 28 on the loose gauge for the uppers and 25 on the lowers, and our genoa leads 9 inches from the aft end the track. With the cars that far aft, we were able to flatten the bottom half of the sail, and open up the leech at the top to dump the extra power. Once we got of the line, we wailed on the vang and backstay to flatten the main sail. It proved to be very fast, and at the 1st weather mark we were in third. The Maxi-Runner loves the heavy air and by the leeward mark we had caught the two boats. As the puffs increased to around eighteen to twenty, Kirk did an amazing job driving, playing the backstay, while the two of us worked together easing and trimming both sails through the puffs. We extended our lead to around ten boat lengths by the 2nd windward mark, and after another great set and clear air down wind, finished in 1st with a solid 300 yard lead.
The wind lightened up slightly to 15 knots in the 6th race, and I made a big mistake by not moving the genoa cars forward. As a result, we didn’t find the elusive sixth gear for this race. We finished with a fourth, but it was enough to move us up to 5th overall.
The great thing about this sport is that you can really learn something new every time you go out on the water, and I actually learned a lot this weekend sailing with Kirk. One thing was assigning numbers to the pressure downwind. For years the discussion between the spinnaker trimmer and skipper on boats I sailed on was: “Good pressure,” or “No Pressure.” This weekend Kirk asked me to give numbers between 1 and 10 for how much wind I had in the chute. This gave him an accurate assessment of how deep or high he had to sail to keep the boat moving fast.
Over all the weekend was a success. Of course we would like to have finished 1st, but for the first time sailing together, and the first time (in a long time) in a J/24, new sails etc., we were pleased with the performance. Doug, Colin and Erin did a great job feeding information to the back of the boat, and every rounding, but one, was near perfect. With a couple minor changes to the boat and some more practice we are looking forward to the upcoming races this summer.
I’d like to thank Drew Tompkins and Greg Hunt, our shore crew, for showing up on Sunday with the all important beer, helping to unload and de-rig the boat and Erin Harris for making the long drive down from the frozen north to sail with us.
It’s great to be back in the J/24 class. It’s full of wonderful people, and great sailors. I look forward to seeing a lot more of all of you this summer. Please feel free to call or e-mail me with any questions or comments.”
Jon Faudree
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The J-22 NOOD regatta in
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Also from the Annapolis NOOD,
we received this very nice e-mail from Melissa Currier, sailing her Alberg 30
"Infinity”:
"After forty years, Infinity (Alberg 30 #57), is still rolling along. And
now, with a new suit of Haarstick sails and the dedicated help of Steve Voorhis
at Haarstick Chesapeake, she ROCKS. In fact we collected 2 firsts and 5
seconds in very tight racing against the usually unstoppable patriarch of the
fleet during the Annapolis NOODs last weekend. Rolph Townshend (hull #550
from the early 80's with a Haarstick Main) collected the balance of the bullets
and seconds in the 7-race, 3-day regatta. Thanks for all of your help and your
support of Steve in helping us. Keep up the good work!"
This report in edited format
came from Steve Voorhis, our sales and service representative in
“I met the Currier's on their
boat on Thursday at about
That evening was a work party,
not a regatta party. During the course of the day's racing, we managed to rip
the starboard primary winch off the deck, and blow a pawl right through the side
of a halyard winch. C.B. got to work cutting and installing a new Norseman
fitting on the forward lower, while Sliom took the link plates off the backstay
home, and cut off two holes to shorten it up. I took an old, unused winch off
the mast and replaced the cabin top halyard winch. After which, we all tried to
figure out how to repair the fiberglass winch pedestal that had ripped off the
deck with the primary still attached. Fortunately, the winch was self-tacking,
so the whole thing was still attached to the sheet when it let go. (We finished
the race with the secondary.)
On Saturday, I re-tuned the
rig, Dave re-attached the backstay, while Melissa and C.B. got the boat
provisioned and organized. We welcomed the addition of Phil Evaul, a very fine
sailor to the crew (Phil is Chip’s brother, the former sales manager at
Haarstick Rochester). On this day, with a tuned rig and enough backstay tension,
we were clearly the faster boat. But Skybird
wasn't ready to pack it in. They managed to nip us at the downwind finish to win
the fifth race, leaving us with two firsts and a second for the day, with a
total of ten points against their eight.
Sunday was more of the same,
except that after several days of this southerly, the waves were a bit worse
than before. We had to put a boat between Skybird
and ourselves to win the regatta, but it was not to be. After a hard fought
race, with some excitement at the leeward mark, we ended up 2nd for
the last race, and 2nd for the series.
We all think that the many
hours the Curriers spent stripping, barrier coating, and fairing the bottom,
replacing the three blade prop with a two blade, replacing the genoa tracks,
etc. are finally starting to pay off. Dave Sliom also played a huge role in
helping bring the program along. I should also point out that Rolph Townshend is
still sailing with the main that came with his boat when he bought it nine years
ago from Bob DeYoung. He figures it is a Haarstick of at least eleven years old,
and still pretty darn fast. Haarstick sails were on the first and second place
boat in each of the seven Alberg 30 races.”
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With
our local PHRF races only weeks away, it is a good time to remind all our
readers to double check your rigs before you leave the dock for the first time.
Make absolutely sure that you have taped up ALL cotter pins, spreader tips
(Teflon tape preferred), Lifeline stanchions, baby stay fittings, in short,
EVERY sharp edge that can find the surface of your sails!
Laminate
sails are especially prone to tearing on sharp edges. No one’s sails are an
exception to this rule, regardless of what claims you may have heard. Kevlar,
Spectra, Carbon, and other high modulus fibers are extremely strong, but if they
are bonded into a film, where they can’t move around, they are prone to
breakage when impacted by a sharp edge. While these laminates have “static”
tear lest loads far exceeding Dacron woven sailcloth, they are in fact, more
prone to tearing with a dynamic impact. This is not a case of “defective”
cloth (we test all our cloth for tear strength), it is an unavoidable property
of low stretch materials when encapsulated in a film.
As
is often the case, sails that looked ok last fall, don’t look so good at the
start of the new racing season, and the need for a replacement sail seems
immediate. Remember, most sailmakers are very busy at this time of year, and we
are no exception. I believe, however, that we are the exception, when it comes
to promising you an accurate delivery date. It may not be the date you want, but
our track record over the past seasons for making the delivery dates we have
promised has been very good. Of course, there have been exceptions for many
reasons, but the one thing we will NOT do is to promise you a date that is
totally unrealistic, just to get your order! Our production schedule is based on
our available production hours each week versus the total hours required to
build the sails on the weekly schedule. We know, within 5%, the production hours
required to build each and every sail we make, before we make it. In addition,
we will never resort to shortcuts just to “get it out the door”. Every batch
of cloth will still go through our extensive testing program before we purchase
it. (Check out our web site for more information on our unique Impact Flutter
testing program). Every sail is inspected throughout its assembly process, and
is hung up in our loft for “final inspection” before it is deemed finished.
Every production detail that we would do in the fall and winter is included at
this time of year, no matter how busy we are. We are very proud of the quality
and performance of our sails, and will never take short cuts that would put our
product and its reputation at risk.
Finally,
a word about our service. We are ready and eager to get out on your boat to
evaluate your sails and assist you and your crew in their proper trim. (See last
month’s Newsletter for profiles of our service personnel). Please don’t
hesitate to call us if you have any questions about your new or existing sails,
or would like one of our service personnel to come out sailing with you. Our
service personnel are NOT going to pressure you into buying new sails!! They are
not paid by commission, but are paid to sail with you, period. Their mission is
to help you get the most out of whatever sails you are have. We will NOT
“trash talk” your brand X sails, how they were made, what they were made
from, nor will we purposely trim them so they look bad, in an attempt to
convince you to buy a new sail from us!! We will NOT make exaggerated claims and
promises!! We WILL discuss any problems we see in a rational, clear manner, and,
if possible, take pictures to document the problem. If the problem can be fixed,
we will fix it. If it can’t, only then will we recommend replacement. I
can’t stress this point enough. We have been an independent sailmaker in the
Upstate New York area since 1968, and know that the other behavior we have seen
from time to time does not build confidence and trust over the long term. Early
season is the busiest time of the year for service calls, so don’t wait to
call for a sailing appointment!
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We have received some very nice early season comments from our customers down south in the warmer weather areas of the country:
Craig
Olsen -Olson 30
“Doug,
We
flew our new Spin last weekend, it looks and flies great!”
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Subject:
NASS Spring Race on Saturday
”I got the recut mainsail and number 1 back and Steve Voorhis and I hoisted
the mainsail to look at it… It looked great when we hoisted the
mainsail, like a new sail.. Way to go Haarstick and Steve Voorhis who
recommended getting the recut. I know we will be even faster this
year, and with a second place in high points last year, we have only one place
to go this year if we want an improvement.”
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Marc
Bailey
Eric’s
Game
“I finally had the opportunity to use both new Haarstick sails this weekend and they performed magnificently. We took two bullets in our club PHRF A fleet races on Saturday. The wind was light (4-8kts) and variable but the Pentex 155% genoa and new Pentex main set beautifully and our performance was good enough to give us wins in both races; first to finish and first on time! We couldn’t have done it without you!
Thanks
for your excellent service and top quality sails!
I will be completing the replacement of my
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Charlie
Arasim
Freedom
21 #104
“Steve
These
sails are painted on the sky....they fit and trim perfectly.”…. “I'll
be glad to put your stickers on my truck....like I said there are some more
Freedoms down here and I'll promote your sails to them every chance I get.
The fit and finish of these sails will do all the talking....plus the
racing results......”
“I
took 4 1st's and 1 3rd out of the five races we had. I had the 1st race in
the bag and was even out ahead of an Etchell (beat the whole fleet on the
start). I was getting my Spinnaker pole set and fouled him on Starboard
tack, so I ended up taking 3rd. But I won the Regatta in the Portsmouth
Class.”
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Fair Winds,
Steven Cooke
J/22 Geronimo #398
“Hi Doug,
Well we broke out the arsenal for the Regatta. No one knew about the sails because we kept it quiet and got it on board the boat at night. Needless to say, all eyes were on us. The reinforcements are perfect, the sails are absolutely beautiful and set well. Much to the annoyance of the boat that usually cleans up, our results for the Cruiser Championship Trophy were 1-1-1-1-2-2. Thanks for making me look good.”
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The following report was sent
to us by Kevin Piper, owner of the Haarstick-Baysails loft in
The last week has been very
busy. My wife Sonya and I had twin girls last Thursday (March 25th),
and I have had to change my sleep patterns to accommodate their appetite, and
still be able to get the loft through the spring backlog. Helping out with
the girls in the middle of the night has given me time to look around the house
and notice that our china cabinet and framed pictures seem to be dominated by
sailing stuff. On the mantle is a great photo of our last regatta in
my old
My brother, who is a yacht broker at Bridge Yachts in Port Dover, called me early in the week to ask me if Bedlam was for sale, and that he had an offer on it. We hadn't really thought about selling Bedlam, except I hadn't sailed her at all that season, since most of my time was spent at the loft or working on my recently acquired Shark. The offer was too good to pass up, but only on condition that my old crew could get together and give a serious stab at winning Bedlam's final regatta.
Our old crew consisted of myself, my wife Sonya working the pit, and Bill Lawrence.
We are real lightweights, except for Bill (more of a middle weight), and could use a few hundred more pounds on the rail if the breeze comes up, but we sail well together and don't have to say very much to make things happen. Besides, there is never any wind at the Levels!
Saturday was typical
Race 2: A boat from the prior start decided to hang out in our start area and ran us over at the gun. We survived but had to do some hard work to get back into our fleet. We managed to get into 2nd on the first beat but I didn't anticipate the current and fouled the mark. Hard work got us back to 2nd once again, but I managed to catch a coiled up bunt of a tetrahedron's rode in the rudder. Bedlam took a remarkably good 4th with Runaway", "Eyedidit", and "Dragon Lady" in front.
Sunday was breezy, and would have been a great day to have my dad (a healthy addition to the rail!) with us, but we couldn't have planned the 30+ knot gusts at YYC Levels. Definitely what people call a sailmaker's day, when J-24's and J-22's are wiping out left and right and lots of spinnakers getting shredded. The first race had the most breeze and we sailed very conservatively upwind, but pulled off a tricky gybe set at the offset mark. Our heavy air spinnaker handling got us away from our fleet as they did delayed sets and began a “swan lake” impression with flogging spinnakers and airborne keels.
For Race 3, the waves built and
the wind dropped to 24 knots. We played tack and cover with Dragon Lady
who had lots of legs on the rail, and blasted away from them downwind with our
big shouldered AIRX Maxi Runner. It was truly an awesome
last sail with Bedlam, planing away at 12+ knots our knotmeter came out of the
water after that), and winning our last Levels with 1,4,1,1.
1st Bedlam *
2nd Runaway
3rd Dragon Lady
4th Eyedidit*
5th Irish Wake*
*Haarstick
Sail Inventory
I hope my new daughters Charlotte and Petronella share Sonya and my enthusiasm
for sailing. I'm already making room for their sailing pictures on the
mantle, and hopefully some day we can enjoy sailing a regatta like the 2002
Levels with a family crew. Goodbye to Bedlam, and hello to new adventures.
(905) 529-7245
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That’s it for the May Newsletter. It is a little longer than I planned, but
lots of things are going on now after a long winter. If you do not want to
receive this newsletter, respond with “Remove” in the subject box.
Steve Haarstick