Hey All ,

I've not posted for a couple of days and suddenly realized this might create the illusion that I live a rich and varied life rather than one of F16 obsessiveness... So, here's a vainglorious preview
of my trip to Long Beach for the Midwinters Regatta (i sailed Really well and then Really badly and then pretty good and then i capsized and then pretty good again and then well,two more capsizes and then...) and my day at Glaser Sails.

Hanging with the Glasers was really cool - they've a truly high tech. loft , will spend alot of time designing exactly what you want and made me a sail that is not only MUCH faster but is way easier to use (plus the shorter foot makes the sail easier to avoid if you capsize three times in one regatta). Check 'em out (www.glasersails.com ) if you're looking for more boat speed !

And the sail...

sorry for the unnatural angle - parking was really tight in the dingy park so I rigged the boat on the wall of the yacht club.

last one and then some pictures of my family's trip to Brooklyn last December...

Paul,

The Fresno Yacht Club has its Frostbite Regatta this Saturday, 2/24 (The East Coasters would laugh at what we call frostbite). It's a one day event on Millerton. Three races planned. No entry fee for us. Can you come?

Cool water but spectacular views of the snow-capped Sierras. Plus, I need to hear the insider tuning tips you got from the Glasers.

We'll be breaking in our new skateboard ramp Friday night under the lights too.

So you finally upgraded to a fully optimized F16 sail !

Good on you. That standard Taipan 4.9 mainsail is getting a little outdated now; seen to much development in the way of F16 sails. Afterall the basic design of the Taipan 4.9 OD mainsail is of the 90's.

Best of luck in the upcoming season!

Wouter

Does anyone have any thoughts on the comparison of Glaser and Ullman sails? Or any other maker in the US? This is in consideration of being used on a Blade (mostly sloop).

LUV teh pics of Jay's new F16 sail you posted (USA 300) Can you tell me how it is different from Ullman and what is teh width of the head/ (50 cm?)

Why do you feel the sail is faster?

I am interested in purchasing and would LUV to know....

Thanks doc i'll be there !!!

PK

Wouter ,

I wished you'd have been with me at the Glasers loft as I felt as if i'd been granted an audience with the Pope but had left my Bible back in the hotel !!

bummer - cool pic. too...

I'm very happy to see you pull the Glasers in to F16 sail design. This is how it starts, now it will only grow. We did the same thing with Ashy and Landenberger in the past; Both are making a good number of F16 sails now.

Thank you.

Wouter

I don't think anybody has. I think Paul is the first to have ordered a Glaser suit of sails for a F16. We'll just have to wait a little while before we can expect Paul to share his experiences and compare these with those of others.

Sorry,

Wouter

Asabar and Jamie,

I'm told that until pretty recently, Ullman sails were designed / developed by Jay Glaser for several of the cat classes...

Initially, I was set to write a check to one of the aussie sailmakers because they've done alot of the development work
on the F16 sails and word of mouth on this site has been positive.

Ultimately, I went with Glaser Sails because three seperate
sources whom I trust, and frankly , these are guy's who'll buy what's fast and loyalty be damned, said - if Jay will do your main it will be faster, easier to use and will stay fast longer...

I've now raced the sail and when i wasn't swimming around in the Pacific noticed an undeniable speed improvement relative
to the other boats (particularly in the real light stuff and the higher winds in day two...).

Regardless, the F16's are getting faster thanks to the involvement of some pretty well respected "big names" !

Pk

Wouter,

The F16 Gcat has Glaser sails and I understand went well at Tradewinds sans foils....

PK

Paul-
Hard to tell from the pics and mayhaps it was just gravity since the boat was hanging on the wall but it appears the sheeting angle on this sail is considerably different from a "stock" T sail. This makes sense since you commented on the shorter foot- However- how does this affect your mast rotation? Especially in light air- Seems your foot would always be flat regardless of the outhaul unless you now utilize an inhaul to compensate for this?
Was this sail constructed as a cat rig, sloop or "both"?

Thanks!

Kirt

Did Jay quantify/explain what he meant when saying the sail would be more user friendly? How would it be easier to trim?


Jay is a well known Tornado sailmaker, he has been at it for ages. A friend who sailed the olympics in Los Angeles on a Tornado said that Jay was the technical guy while Randy did the marketing when they cooperated. Knowing how good Randy is at saildesign, I guess that speaks volumes about his respect for Jay.

Hey Rolf ,

The problem I face is that , frankly , at 145lbs. i'm not fast to windward in the F16 in anything but moderate to light conditions( i think the new sail has changed this) and beam reaching. i'm just going backwards compared to boats with more meat on the wire.The F16 is a very light , very powerful boat for a vertical hyphen like myself. The stock , sloop cut F16 sail I had was a problem because I could never get it shaped advantageously.

The Glasers are nice people - when I described the sail I thought would be fast they didn't say , " yes , this'd be a fast sail for Pete Melvin or Glen Ashby or Pease, but you'd be slow because you're not good enough yet..." Instead, Jay told me a story about ____ _____ who cut these increadibly fast sails for the ____ ____ Worlds - which he won. Consequent to this victory, he sold a gizzillion of these sails to the fleet.Punchline: nobody else could make the sails go , they were just too far to the right of the bell shaped curve for most of the fleet...

This sail is easier for me, because I can find a "groove" approximating a "set it and forget it", shape rather than the puppeteer on crank tweeking
I was doing w/ my last sail. I'd still like to weigh about 175 - 185lbs. though...More practice is another target as well...

Pk

Hey Kirt ,

A couple years ago I was racing motocross and hadn't a clew... The Glaser main was raced in five knots. where I was probably winning on PN previous to pulling my kite sheet into the main block and capsizing (hey , it happens...), and in 17 - 20 knots.. I never detected a problem w/ rotation or foot tension...

PK