July 2021 Newsletter

Customer Spotlight - Tom Mitchell 

Southeast Sailboats customer Tom Mitchell has had a great start to 2021, winning the UKLA’s 50th Anniversary Regatta at Stokes Bay in the 60+ strong ILCA6 fleet.

Tom’s home club is Royal Tay Yacht Club in Scotland, with his first taste of sailing on his 5th birthday on his father Grant’s Unicorn catamaran ... he was definitely thrown in at the deep end!  After a brief spell in a Mirror and RS Tera, Tom moved to the Topper, where he was selected for the Scottish Topper Development Team and a place in the top tier of the RYA GBR Junior Topper Squad.  In the 2019 Topper World Championships in Medemblik, Holland, Tom scored three race wins on the opening day against 220 boats and proudly led the Worlds for the first half of the event.  Later that year, at the British Topper National Championships in Largs, Tom finished 2nd overall and 1st Scottish boat in the 190 boat fleet.

Tom then moved into the ILCA6, and is a member of the RYA Scotland Elite Squad.  Based on his successes, Tom has recently been called up to the British Youth Performance Sailing Squad.

Tom uses Southeast Sailboats 8:1 downhaul system, kicker system, double puller outhaul system, ProMAX-99 traveller, along with our unique tie-on Harken 29mm deck blocks.

With COVID restrictions making travel to overseas championships difficult, the big events this year for Tom are the back to back Youth Nationals at Plymouth and the ILCA 6 Nationals at Weymouth in August.  Southeast Sailboats wishes Tom all the best for 2021 and beyond!

Micky Beckett's tips for the standard rig at the Tokyo Olympics

With the Olympics less than a week away, this great article by Micky Beckett gives a rare insight and his take on who could come away with the medals in the men's category.  

Micky Beckett writes.....

"This Olympics will be riveting, for a myriad of reasons there has never been one quite like it. The event will consist of a ten-race series plus medal race spread over up to eight days, with just one discard. Racing will take place in Enoshima, a small peninsula in the middle of the South-facing Sagami bay. Even in summer the bay can produce a lethal swell as the seabed shelves from nearly a kilometre deep up to the shallow depths near the coast. Not many events contain a provision in the sailing instructions for a tsunami, let alone an Olympics. The sailors can expect an uncomfortably high humidity on top of a sweaty 35 degrees. During the dates of the Olympics the wind has historically always been onshore with a reasonable groundswell underneath, with anything from a fickle 4kt to a booming 25kt. Throw in a few random currents that don’t correlate with the tides in the slightest, the venue has ample supply of transparent curveballs.

Taking a step back from the event itself, allow me to paint a picture of the ILCA 7 fleet as it currently stands, so you know to expect. The fleet is regularly described by the sailors who it comprises of as ‘stacked’ - allow me to explain.

How to tie your traveller for optimum performance

I am continually amazed at how many people don't rig their traveller correctly. Southeast Sailboats spent a few days at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy catching up with our sponsored sailors and doing a few videos.  In this video, GBR Team sailor Micky Beckett shows how to tie your traveller for optimum performance.

We sell two travellers. The 5mm D12 traveller used in this video that we have been selling for a number of years, and our new ProMAX-99.

Zhik hiking straps back in stock

Zhik hiking straps are back in stock.  We have both the normal and the ZhikGripII available for immediate dispatch. 

Matilda Nicholls talks about the 'top of kicker' 6:1 Cunningham

In this video, Radial Youth World Champion Matilda Nicholls talks about the 6:1 downhaul/Cunningham and why she uses the 'top of kicker' version that is available as an option on all our systems.

Shipments to the European Union - Latest Update

As a result of BREXIT there is an added a level of complexity to sales between the UK and the EU (and visa-versa).   Southeast Sailboat prices to the European Union are currently free of 20% Value Added Tax (VAT).  If you see prices on the website in Euros (or any currency other than GBP) you are seeing the tax-free price, but when your order reaches your country you will have to pay your local VAT and a handling charge. This may change in the next few months.

On the 1st July 2021 the European Union released a new protocol - Import One-Stop Shop  (IOSS) - for web-shops such as Southeast Sailboats to add the appropriate VAT for the destination EU country, to enable more rapid delivery to customers. This will mean that for orders up to Euro150, you will pay a taxed price (as you did up to 1st January 2021), and packages will be ‘fast tracked’ on arrival in the destination country as no VAT will be due.  Although the new protocol has been implemented by the EU, it will take a few months for this to actually be workable as there are required changes to the Shopify e-commerce platform, and IOSS registration, and we want these to be properly established and reliable before we consider implementing IOSS. When this is implemented we will send out a newsletter to advise customers of the change.  Note that orders above Euro150 are not covered by IOSS and will be tax free at checkout, with taxes having to be paid by you on arrival.

We continue to monitor shipments and the time that it is taking. Some shipments are getting to European customers in as little as 2 days, others are taking longer (even using UPS) due to customs delays, depending on the destination country.

Typical Delivery Times - based on tracked shipments (which we can see when they are delivered), below is the latest guidance on postal and UPS delivery times to Europe, and other destinations:

Austria (via UPS) – 2 days

Republic of Ireland – typically 3-4 days

France - typically 3-4 days

Belgium - typically 4 days

Netherlands - typically 6-14 days

Spain – typically 6-10 days

Italy – UPS typically 4 days.  Post typically 28 days.  

Greece – typically 9-11 days

Poland – typically 10 days

Hungary – 10 days

Sweden – typically 10-14 days

Germany - 14 days

Portugal – approx. 28 days 

Other destinations:

Switzerland -2 days (via UPS)

USA - UPS 2 days.  Post typically 6-8 days. 

Japan – 6 days

Singapore – 7 days

Canada – UPS 2 days. Post typically 12 days.

Norway – typically 14 days

Southeast Sailboats 'Away Dates'

Southeast Sailboats competes at events in the UK, Europe and the USA.  As a result, occasionally the 'away sailing' banner is put up on the website.  Sadly COVID restrictions mean that we are unable to attend the Masters Europeans in July.  Our next away week is the UK Nationals at Weymouth in August and I will be running a very limited service from the 13th-18th August, focusing on sailors at the event.  We will put a banner up on the website making it clear that we are ‘closed’ during that week.  COVID travel restrictions permitting,  I will be at the Masters Worlds in Barcelona and we will be closed from 15th-27th September.  As a ‘heads-up’ I intend to have a longer three week break in January and the store will be closed during that period.

Traveller Wear Protectors

Our traveller wear protectors are proving very popular - now over 900 sets sold!

Based on our own design concept these class legal traveller pads have been turned into reality by dinghy fittings company Allen.  Our protection pads are injection moulded for durability. They also feature three distinct features:

• No overhang over the gunwhale that could otherwise get snagged. Our neat design clips into place and the traveller line itself ensures it can’t get dislodged.
• Minimal 2mm thickness to keep the traveller and block as close as possible to the deck level whilst providing durable protection.
• A smooth transition from deck level to ensure that the traveller block rides over the pad easily.

The traveller wear protectors are available by themselves or a part of a cost saving wear protection bundle.

ILCA 6 Carbon Lower section in stock - UK delivery only

The new carbon lower section for the ILCA 6 (Radial) is now available and class legal for events.   Contact us for pricing.  Please note that due to the size we can only deliver this item in the UK Mainland/Northern Ireland.

Popular upgrades

The following continue to be some of our most popular upgrades....

Harken 29mm bolt-on deck blocks.  Easy to fit, these blocks instantly improve your Laser. Available as the blocks by themselves or as an assembly including the block plate.

Our signature 8:1 downhaul/cunningham system.  We have built/shipped hundreds of these systems to sailors all over the world.  An essential upgrade if you are using the MKII standard sail, and also if you are struggling to pull on enough downhaul on your Radial or 4.7 rig.  Each system shipped is custom made using blocks from Harken, Allen and Ronstan, with options including rig type, termination and secondary lines types/colours. 

Transform your kicker/vang system with our range of great free-running block/key assemblies using blocks from Harken, Allen and Ronstan and stronger kicker keys.  Whether you are using a 15:1 or 12:1 setup, lower friction in your system makes it easier to pull on, leaving you with more energy to focus on sailing/hiking!