October 2021 Newsletter

Micky Beckett - European Champion! 

A massive congratulations to Micky Beckett on absolutely smashing it at Varna, Bulgaria.  Over 6 days of windy, wavy and cold conditions Micky triumphed to become ILCA7 European champion. 

Micky has been sponsored by Southeast Sailboats since 2016, and has been key to initiating and rigorously testing some of our unique solutions.  At Varna, Micky was using some new products which we will be releasing soon. Look out for a write up of the event by Micky and more details in our next newsletter.

Customer Spotlight - Sebastian Kempe 

16 year old Sebastian Kempe’s home club is the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, and he is currently attending the Royal Hospital School in Holbrook.  He started sailing at the age of 5 in Bermuda and had a long successful career in the Optimist, representing his country at 10 Continental and World IODA events, before transitioning to ILCA6 in the late 2020.

While his parents have been based for the past two years in the UK, Sebastian has been participating in ULKA training while he has also been sailing with the Royal Hospital School.  Early in 2020 Sebastian set his sights on competing at the 2021 ILCA6 Europeans and Youth Worlds held in Croatia and Italy respectively this summer.  He placed credible 25th in Croatia and a very impressive 3rd at the Worlds.  The photo below shows Sebastian at the UK Nationals where he sailed magnificently, finishing 4th overall and 1st U17 out of the 120+ fleet.  Next stop is Oman in December for the WS Youth Worlds, representing his home country of Bermuda.

Southeast Sailboats has from the very beginning been a part of his ILCA6 sailing, using the 6:1 downhaul and Allen’s extreme high load block in the kicker.  Complemented by the quick release outhaul system Sebastian has confidence in his settings and reliability of his equipment every time he hits the water.

Sebastian comments .. “From the very first order I immediately recognized that the service and the quality of Southeast Sailboats products would allow me to have the peace of mind of my equipment that would let me focus on sailing fast around the course.” 

UKLA National Championships 

Southeast Sailboats were again one of the sponsors of the 2021 UKLA National Championships held at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.  A week of truly great wind and weather!  Amongst the many prize winners were the ILCA 4 and 6 silver fleet winners Henry Smith and Rory Ferrier who took away Southeast Sailboats star prizes of Allen XHL kicker top blocks!

UKLA Masters Nationals

Held at Pevensey Bay, the Master's Nationals in July was another great event with the usual amazing hospitality from the host club.  As well as great sailing and evening entertainment, we were given a very moving speech from Nick Harrison about his memories of Andrew 'Bart' Simpson and how Bart's memory is living on through the Andrew Simpson Foundation.  

To find out more about how the Andrew Simpson Foundation is transforming the lives of youngsters visit andrewsimpsonfoundation.org or click on the link below.

Welsh Championships 

Southeast Sailboats were proud to sponsor the Welsh ILCA Championship held at Fishguard Bay Yacht Club on the 4/5 September. Many thanks to Jonathan Morris for this report.…"We had 23 youth and junior entries to what proved to be a very challenging weekend for the sailors. A very shifty 6 knots of South Easterly wind on day one made sure that sailors were awake to line bias and windward mark shifts and the confident sailing of Jack Graham Troll saw him come in 1, 2 and 1 with his run of bullets being broken by Arwen Flur.

On day two the wind dropped from 12 knots to 4 knots and due to the shifts only one race played out after 90min of course setting. The final race was won by Jack Graham Troll which made him the Wales ILCA 6 male Winner 2021 followed by Arwen Flur in second place who finished as the first Female and Welsh ILCA 6 Welsh Champion.

Fishguard YC ran a fantastic event and with the sun, scenery, fresh crab sandwiches and live music this years event was a very memorable event for those sailors familiar with and those new visitors sailing at this West Wales gem."  

New Travellers

We have just launched two new travellers - Zero-Kink and ProMAX99 DURA, to take our range up to four, suiting all levels and budgets. Our new traveller range is:

• SK78 Dyneema D12:  Our default traveller.  Uses Marlow 5mm D12 SK78 which cleats well.
• Zero-Kink Covered traveller: Spliced Robline SK78 Zero-Kink covered traveller for excellent cleatability, plus the smooth cover gives great feel on the tiller.
• ProMAX99: Developed for Team GBR sailors and used at the Olympics this is our ‘ultimate’ traveller in terms of performance with a thick SK99 core for minimum stretch and a very thin super smooth cover.  This traveller is quite ‘delicate’ and prioritises performance over durability.  It will also not tolerate any sharp edges on your tiller wear plate, or tillers with no wear plate.
• ProMAX99 DURA:  An SK99 core for minimum stretch, but with a thicker cover for longevity, this is our recommended elite level traveller (photo below).

PRISM Compasses - Back in Stock/Minor Design Update

At last we have the PRISM compass back in stock.  Velocitek have done a few design tweaks and this latest version now shows the battery charge level when you first turn it on.  The charge state is shown as a number between 0-100.  It should be noted that the battery capacity is very big compared to both the PRISM’s power consumption and the solar panel output.   As a result, it takes a long time to run down the battery (about 100 hours running with no sun), but also a long time to charge it back up from empty (about 50 hours in full sun).  A common cause of PRISM problems has been due to inadvertently running the battery down to empty and then assuming the device is broken when the battery indicator still shows empty after being left in the sun all day.

PRISM Battery Replacement

Note that the early PRISM models had replaceable batteries and if your battery will no longer charge (after leaving it in sunlight for 50 hours or more) we offer a battery replacement service.  You can see if your PRISM has a replaceable battery by looking at the rear orange panel.  If it has a cover and two small screws then it has a replaceable battery. Due to restrictions on what can be posted, we aren’t allowed to post unconnected lithium batteries.  However we have batteries in stock and if you need your battery replacing return it to us and we can turn around your PRISM in 24 hours.

Centreboard Strop

This simple strop can help keep your centreboard/daggerboard down and more...  Micky Beckett explains...

"Unsurprisingly this is a little bit of rope that has almost certainly been overlooked. I had this idea about a year ago, that by ensuring the string loop at the top front corner of the centreboard sat on top of the board – rather than inline with the hole, it would be a lot more effective. The benefits of having the loop attaching to the bungee slightly higher up are twofold. Firstly, it means the centreboard elastic is pulling the board downwards as well as forwards, meaning the board is less likely to do that really annoying ‘pop-up’ upwind. The next advantage is that it means the downhaul & outhaul control lines can pass under the centreboard elastic, this means that grabbing and adjusting the leeward line is much easier, and in general it’s easier to keep the lines tidy and free running. A big improvement from a small bit of rope!

In terms of the loop itself, it needed to be quite a precise self-tightening loop, to make it easy to apply. Southeast Sailboats have made the loop incredibly neatly, making it the easiest task to put on the board and the loop sitting in the perfect place.”

For more information etc. Micky explains in this video..

For sale - my own Ovington ILCA - 218860

Immaculate ILCA new May 2021.  Totally pimped rigging.  Allen kicker high load block.  Carbon tiller/extension, new cover, foil bag, trolley.  Carbon top section.  Choice of mainsheet ratchet blocks 40/57mm and Rooster/Zhik toestraps.  Available with a choice of rigs as follows:

Radial aluminium lower (unused in packaging) and lightly used main - £6250

Radial carbon lower and lightly used main - £6750

Standard rig with a brand new lower section/mainsail - £6750

Available for viewing Whitstable, Kent or at Masters Inlands at Grafham on 16/17 Oct, at Weymouth Qualifier 23/24 Oct, or at Inlands at Rutland 30/31 October. Contact me for more details.  UK sale only.   Another great Ovington ILCA on order for my 2022 season! 

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

International Shipments - Typical Delivery Times

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, post 12 days

Republic of Ireland – typically 3-8 days

France - typically 6 days

Belgium - typically 7 days

Netherlands - typically 6-14 days

Spain – typically 14 days

Italy – UPS typically 4 days.  Post typically 14-21 days.  

Greece – typically 9-11 days

Poland – typically 6 days

Hungary – 10 days

Sweden – typically 10-14 days

Germany - 6-8 days

Portugal – approx. 28 days 

Other destinations:

Switzerland -2 days (via UPS)

USA - UPS 2 days.  Post typically 5-8 days. 

Japan – typically 7 days

Singapore – typically 7 days

Canada – UPS 2 days. Post typically 7-12 days.

Norway – typically 14 days

Australia - typically 21 days

Southeast Sailboats 'Away Dates'

Running a one person business isn’t easy!   I am designer, splicer, packer, despatch clerk, web master, book keeper etc. etc.!  Plus I have to try and juggle working with sailing, and other activities.  So occasionally I reluctantly have to put up the ‘shop closed’ sign when I am away for a sailing event or holiday.  After a very very long time due to COVID-19 travel restrictions I finally have an international event that I am competing at – Master World’s in Barcelona – and the Southeast Sailboats shop will have the ‘shop closed’ sign up from the 11th to 21st November.  As a ‘heads-up’ I intend to have a longer three week break in January and the store will be closed during that period.  Your understanding of the above is really appreciated. 

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!