November 2020 NewsletterIn this newsletter we have a look at some solutions to reducing wear, and in a great and engaging article Micky Beckett looks back at 2020. Some great deals on sails and the new Radial carbon lower section, but first a quick summary of the last month for our sponsored sailors. A great October for our sponsored sailors Weymouth Autumn qualifier - photo credit Georgie Altham Our sponsored sailors Jon Emmett, Matilda Nicholls and Micky Beckett have had a great month. Jon won the Masters Europeans held in Andora, Italy. Matilda Nicholls won her first senior event at the Autumn Qualifier at Weymouth, and Micky Beckett came a fantastic second at the Europeans in Poland. More from Micky in his great article later in this newsletter - make sure you get to it! Improved kicker/vang fairlead from Harken In our June newsletter you may have seen these images of a badly worn kicker/vang bullseye fairlead when we talked about rope wear. Because the fairlead is tucked away behind the cleat it doesn’t get looked at very often – as apparent from the photos below! Although you can simply switch the fairlead around as wear only occurs on the aft facing side, or replace it, once the shiny surface is eroded the wear seems to happen quite quickly, increasing friction in your system and the wear on your control line. Whilst not a new problem it is made worse by tougher control lines such as ones using Technora in the cover which are more abrasive. Southeast Sailboats had been discussing this wear issue with Harken and we shared the above photos with them. Harken are now going to be producing the fairlead from a harder material which should make it more resilient to initial wear, as well as reducing wear once the shiny surface layer is worn away. Southeast Sailboats have the first batch of these improved bullseye fairleads arriving next week. At just £3.60 it’s an economical, class legal way to help reduce wear in your kicker/vang system. You can pre-order now. Traveller Wear Protection Pads - available now New from Southeast Sailboats is our traveller wear protector pads. 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:
At just £14.95 per pair this is a great way to protect your boat. Class legal and available now for immediate delivery exclusively from Southeast Sailboats!
It's a hard life being a traveller! Although the traveller line itself doesn’t really move, as you are constantly steering with your tiller the traveller gets more movement over its surface than any other line on your Laser. This would be fine if your tiller was absolutely perfect with zero friction over its wear plate but that isn’t quite the case. In the development of a new traveller it is clear that on some Lasers the tillers and their wear plates are not perfect. Let us point out some of the things to watch out for to maximise the life of your traveller. Have a look at your wear plate and inspect for any imperfect edges, particularly on the forward end of the wear plate. The hardest wear on the traveller occurs when you are sculling as not only are there sharp repeated movement but the tiller is having to force the traveller line upwards as you move the tiller out towards the corners. This compounds the wear as the traveller line is having to make a sharper angle over the edge of the wear plate, compared with the shallower angle when your tiller is in the middle of the boat.
Sculling zone - the traveller is right at the end of the wear plate The ‘sculling zone’ is also the area where your traveller could be rubbing over the forward transition of your wear plate to the tiller, or onto any tape that may be there. There are a number of tolerances involved which may result in your wear plate not being in the perfect place. One of these is how far your tiller is into the stock which seems to vary considerably. So, check that when your tiller is hard over, that it is still fully on your wear plate. If it isn’t, depending on the make of tiller consider moving it, or at the very least putting some tape over the transition. The photos below show the same type of tiller on two boats. There is about 1cm difference in how far the tiller is in the stock, so in the left hand photo the wear plate will be 1cm further after than the right hand boat. Tolerances mean that the tiller may not be in the same place on every boat Some sailors have done away with the wear plate completely, relying on the carbon fibre itself. Here is what Team GBR sailor Michael Beckett has to say on that particular subject… “I spent years trying to have a feasible tiller setup that didn't include a wear protector, all that I really learned is that wear protectors should not be dispensed with. It is tempting to remove it - to reduce weight and reduce tiller height, but doing so causes 3 problems. Firstly, the carbon of the tiller will groove which will cause a rapid deterioration of the traveller rope. It may take 6 months but the more pronounced the grooves the more it will saw through the rope, so the problem only gets worse. Ropes with an outer core will suffer more than D12, but even the latter will deteriorate unreasonably fast over any kind of rough/grooved tiller. The second problem is that the grooves, scratches and dents (these arise from the traveller block smacking the tiller in windy gybes) will disrupt the travel of the tiller under the traveller as you steer, ruining the feel of the boat or forcing you to sail with a loose traveller. Thirdly and finally, depending on the tiller you use, the tiller will eventually snap. This happened to a few team-mates of mine a few years ago, snapping in a race at the 2017 Worlds (interestingly they both
snapped their tillers in the same race). No wear plate. You can see the chafing on the underside of the traveller In conclusion, if you're prepared to regularly (and I'm talking every few months) change your tiller and/or traveller rope, then you can dispense with the wear protector, but it's bad practice. Use a metal wear protector that is long enough to protect the tiller through the whole range of steering, and tape over the front end of it if it's not flush with the carbon.” The other wear zone is where the traveller line passes around the traveller eyes. The old plastic eyes were gentler on the traveller line but frequently broke, and virtually all boats now have the stronger aluminium versions fitted. These aluminium fairleads are more abrasive and whist the traveller line doesn’t really move, when the traveller block moves from one side of the boat to the other the traveller line moves upwards in the fairlead slightly when the block is up against the fairlead. Over time this small movement results in wear in that zone of the traveller line. A new traveller that we are perfecting has been in test since July with some of the worlds top sailors. Look out for more news shortly! ILCA 4, 6 and 7 Sails in stock - contact us for some great deals! We have stock of the new ILCA 4, 6 and 7 sails with free delivery in the UK/EU! Plus, if you don't like attaching the sail numbers/country codes we offer a full sail service from just £24.95, professionally attaching numbers/country codes with with a sign-off sheet confirming the correct positioning so that you know they are fully class legal. Contact us for special pricing not on the website! Micky Beckett - 2020 wrap Southeast Sailboats sponsored sailor Micky Beckett writes.. "If I remember all the way back to March, and it feels like long enough ago, I was in Palma a few weeks ahead of the Princess Trofia Regatta. This remained the plan for about three days after arriving, and then our intentions evaporated on the 14th March. We had been following the terrifying progress of COVID-19 through the international population with as much disdain and disbelief as anyone else, but this was the day when our world turned upside down. Princess Sofia regatta had been cancelled and the international calendar was being haemorrhaged of events, local restrictions on travel were appearing everywhere. It was time to go home. It was six long and slightly strange months until I travelled abroad again, I spent the entire time like everyone else; at home. I didn’t do anything too interesting, once we were allowed (from May) I did a lot of sailing out of WPNSA. It wasn’t the summer I had planned, but I’m sure the same is true for the majority of people. I’m not sure I’ll ever do another six-month training block, but if I did I probably wouldn’t do it that differently. To begin with, when we were first out of lockdown in May, it was just Elliot Hanson and I chasing each-other around without even any marks to direct us. As national travel restrictions were slowly eased we were able to have some coaching, then more and more sailors arrived to join our training group. Every time I could feel myself getting bored of the same training environment week-in week-out, some more guys would arrive and the races felt a little harder and a bit more real, it was great. When there’s a global pandemic causing untold chaos and making ‘unprecedented’ everyone’s favourite new word, I felt lucky just to be able to spend the summer sailing. The UKLA Nationals were held in Weymouth in August. Understandably there was a reasonable amount of apprehension about the event actually going ahead in the circumstances. It is of course cliché to sing the graces of event organisers, however the event that WPNSA and the UKLA organised and conducted in the circumstances was just awesome. I’m sure I’m ignorant of the majority of the effort that went into it, but even so it was particularly impressive as it was the first major dinghy event in the UK, if not Europe, since Spring. Micky Beckett at the 2020 Nationals - photo credit Sam Pearce www.square-image.co.uk The racing itself was tough, everyone was remembering how to deal with a fleet and a proper start-line, as opposed to two half-sunken lobster pot buoys lying vaguely perpendicular to the wind. I sailed around the course giving it full gas but seemingly stuck just behind Elliot. There was quite often a healthy gap behind me to the boat in third which usually lead us to some match racing. I finished second overall and took a few days off hiking. Only a few weeks later, after such a long wait, it was finally time to go abroad for an international event! Kiel regatta was going ahead.... 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! Southeast Sailboats 'Away Dates' Southeast Sailboats competes at events in the UK and in Europe. As a result, occasionally the 'away sailing' banner is put up on the website. With a lockdown in the UK for November we will be staying at home. International Shipping and Tax Free Sales INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING - Yes, we have shipped our systems to all the above countries! Our international shipping options start at just £4.00. In addition to our normal and tracked postal services, we have added express shipping using UPS to our wide range of international shipping options. Flat pricing for UPS express shipping is £16.95 to mainland Europe and the Republic of Ireland, and £26.95 to the US and Canada. Delivery is typically 2-4 days. Pricing is fixed irrespective of parcel size/weight. For other countries please contact us for an instant quote. All our international shipping options are listed on the website (link below). TAX FREE SALES - If your delivery address is outside of the European Union you can now benefit from Tax Free sales. Click on the button below for more details of how you can save the 20% UK Value Added Tax that is included in our web prices. |