The early summer sailing season has kicked off with impressive results for UK Chicago sails in various small one-design events. From dominating the first Women’s MC National Championship to excelling in the COLORS Regatta, UK Chicago customers consistently lead the fleets, showcasing superior speed and racing skills. Here are some highlights:

Woman’s MC National Championship Regatta

The first-ever Women’s MC National Championship Regatta took place at Lake Beulah from June 7-9. Although high winds led to a Friday clinic by John Porter being held as an indoor chalk-talk, the racing continued in shifty conditions on Saturday and big puffy breezes on Sunday. UK Chicago customers excelled, with Andrea Jarecki taking first, Christine McNeill second, and Vicki Clayton third.

MC Scow Wisconsin State Championship

UK customer Chris Kubicek dominated the MC Scow Wisconsin State Champs at Pewaukee Yacht Club on June 22-23, winning three of the four races. His remarkable speed and ability to read the shifts kept him consistently in the lead pack.

Flying Scot Egyptian Cup Regatta

The husband-and-wife team of Toby and Dan Moriarty achieved a commendable second place at the Flying Scot Egyptian Cup Regatta. Their excellent speed allowed them to recover even when their starts were not optimal.

Pewaukee Yacht Club E Scow Fleet

Team SILK E, skippered by Jonathon Bailey and Cole Schweda, has been dominating the competitive 26-boat E Scow fleet at Pewaukee Yacht Club. They took an early commanding lead by winning four of the first seven races and securing additional high finishes.

UK Sailmakers Chicago are happy to announce that they are now a dealer for Vakaros Instruments. Vakaros Instruments are used by both small and large boats and are quickly becoming the standard for top racing teams. Contact the UK Sailmakers Chicago loft for more information.

Mike is also a competitive racer in various one-design and offshore boats, as well as a sought-after coach. Pat is no slouch on the racecourse either. The brothers have worked together for 30+ years developing race-winning sails for their offshore racing customers. They now are applying the same structured, data-driven approach used for offshore sails to one-design sailmaking and are sharing their successes throughout the UK Sailmakers global network.

Many one-design classes have their go-to sailmakers, but those sailmakers often get locked into one basic sail design and don’t make adjustments. Some are still using old-school sail panel patterns, whereby making any adjustments or modifications to their designs can be a guessing game. Pat and Mike’s objective is not merely to match the performance capabilities of other sailmakers’ sails but rather to design and produce better, faster sails. The result is that many UK Sailmakers’ one-design customers have had great results on the race course very quickly, sometimes immediately.

UK’s structured analytical process includes an assessment of all the factors that go into winning races: the boat itself, the available sail shape controls, how and where the boats are sailed, and current sail design thinking for the class. Only after all those factors are fully understood do the UK designers turn their attention to actual sail design.

UK starts the design process by taking their own measurements of the boat, its rig, and where all the sail controls are located. This data is then entered into the design software. The class’s rules on sail measurements and limitations also will be put into UK’s computer design program to ensure any new sail designs are class legal. Additionally, Pat will run the sail designs through an FSI finite element analysis to check stress, strain and flow, and see how the shapes will change at different wind speeds. He will use this analysis to make minor adjustments to shape design and panel layouts and assist in cloth selection. In the loft they will inspect and measure existing sails to establish a baseline from which design improvement concepts can be formulated.

UK also reviews recent photos of the boats on various points of sail and in different wind conditions. They aren’t looking at the beauty of a photo, but rather, they are looking at sail shapes, how the mast and boom bend, headstay and luff sags, leech twists, etc., all critical data points that help inform new designs.

Having a preliminary point-of-view on new sail direction for a class, UK then goes out and sails the boat evaluating various existing sail designs and putting the boat and sails through the full range of sail and rig adjustments. Usually, these on the water tests have onboard a knowledgeable, competitive sailor(s) from that class who sets and trims the sails to their standards. UK records sail shape data photographically after which Mike and Pat will analyze these shapes using UK’s Accumeasure sail shape analysis tool. To accurately evaluate these sails when creating the models in the design software, the digital concepts have draft stripes in the same locations as the existing sails for apple-to-apple comparisons. Again, the objective is to create better performing sails…not just replicating existing designs.

After learning all they can about the boat, the sail trim controls, rig tuning, class rules, and existing shapes, Pat will develop his initial designs on the computer…but this is unlikely to be their final design. To make sure sails are competitive out of the bag, UK Chicago starts by building and testing full-size prototypes of their designs. For each prototype concept, specific performance output goals are set. These performance criteria all can be evaluated on a computer, but UK believes the real test is how a sail performs on the water.
Some sailmakers get by with “creating” a new sail out of paper or inexpensive mylar to evaluate in their lofts. UK creates actual full-size prototypes. To do this economically, whereby multiple prototypes can be built and tested, UK makes these test sails out of quality laminates that may be outdated styles or have minor cosmetic flaws. Battens may be taped on rather than stitched into batten pockets, again to enable multiple prototypes to be built and tested economically. Then Mike takes the prototypes sailing!

Referring back to the specific performance criteria set for a particular prototype, Mike puts the sails through the full range of trim adjustments. He takes photos of the sails’ flying shapes and records performance data so he and Pat can compare the actual sail vs. the computer design using Accumeasure. After evaluating the sail shapes of these first-generation prototypes, Pat will make any adjustment to the design and then second-generation prototypes are built and fully tested in the same way.

This is not their last step. After going through the preliminary testing process, UK builds the first set of “production sails” to class specs for a final set of on-the-water testing. Again, they take pictures of the sails from on and off the boat, they put the sails through their full range of adjustments and do two- and three-boat testing. After this process they evaluate the sail shapes on the computer yet again and discuss the feel on the boat and the speed in two-boat testing. At that point, they make any final changes they feel necessary and either test another generation of prototype or, if satisfied, begin production of actual race sails for the class.

The final/ultimate test is on the racecourse.

This painstaking design/testing/refinement process may appear overly elaborative and structured, but by the time the sails are in the fleet they are championship level. This process has allowed UK to produce sails that have won regattas immediately. In John Porter’s first two events using his newly developed UK’s C Scow sails he won with impressive fashion. In UK’s MC Scow sails major debut regatta, their sails won five of the six races. And the sails are still fast, recently in the 2023 November MC Southeast Regional Championships regatta, Ron Baerwitz won the 47-boat fleet with 11 points to spare over second place.

Recognizing that sail design and materials will evolve, UK continues to analyze their one-design sails and their competitors’ sails to make sure UK Sailmakers’ one-design sails remain at the championship level. To learn more about UK’s ongoing one-design development process, contact Mike Considine at Mike@uksailmakers.com.

Unfortunately, there have been a few times where I have not had a great start or sailed a bad first beat and have found myself in deep positions in the fleet. In most cases, I have been able to magically leap up to better positions, but it took some keen tactical thinking to do so. In this year’s 2023 MC Scow Trainwreck regatta, I occasionally found myself in the cheap seats and but was able to claw back into the race. In the final race, I had to comeback from a “wrecked” first beat of my own; I was deep in the teens at the windward mark. Yet, by keeping my head in the game I was able to come back and finish a respectable sixth. Here are some tips to help make comebacks.

Windward Mark Layline Comeback hacks: Don’t overstand! Often boats will sail too far to the right, beyond the starboard layline, and end up reaching into the mark. They have sailed further than they need to. You can make big gains on those overstood boats by not making the same mistake as they did. Try not to get into the starboard tack parade until you are four to six boatlengths from the mark. Do not try to tack onto starboard so close to the mark that you risk getting protested for tacking in the Zone (Rule 18.3). In big, tightly packed fleets, coming into the windward mark near the port tack layline can be a low probability move, but if you are still to leeward enough to find a gap in the traffic, you can make a big gains.

On the other hand, if you end up approaching the windward mark on port and will have to tack inside the zone, here is how you can avoid getting protested for breaking rule 18.3. Instead of tacking in front of or to leeward of a startboard tacker, sail beyond any starboard boat and then tack to windward of them. Yes, you give up one boat, but you will not risk getting pitched. This video that explains rule 18.3.

The only time to overstand is when you are approaching the starboard layline and you see there is a pile up ahead with boats pinching to make the mark. Overstand just enough to have clear air — perhaps a boat length or two — and sail around the slow pileup while you’re still at full speed. Note, if you are rounding the mark from this position you will also be sailing slightly higher as you round the mark. This has an added advantage as it will position you to windward of boat(s) that you can blanket on the run.

Rounding windward mark comeback hacks: If you have clean air as you round the mark/offset, use that pressure to sail lower than the fleet (see photo above). Typically, the pack ahead of you will sail higher as each trailing boat takes a line just higher than the boat ahead. Use this pressure to sail lower, get separation from the boats ahead, and sail less distance. Sail your best VMC/VMG, which is usually lower than the boats sailing in a pack that are trying to get on each other’s wind.

Rounding leeward marks: Of course, do not overstand leeward marks by always sailing your fastest VMG to leeward mark. Make sure to keep jibing to stay on the knocked jibe. Big gains can be made by playing those last shifts while everyone else is just thinking about their rounding.

Stay in phase on the beat: Part of sailing the shortest distance is always being on the favored tack. Identify shifts upwind. Sometimes following everyone is ok if you are on the favored tack and in clear air. Use the fleet ahead of you to read the shifts, watching the angles the lead boats are sailing. Anticipating the shifts can increase your leverage. Being set up to be on the inside of the next shit will pay big dividends. The lead boats are usually tacking on the shifts, watch them and their angles to the mark.

Know when to bang a corner & not (Increased leverage): With persistent shifting conditions or large immediate shifts, it may be ok to hit a side hard to make a big gain. Significant wind increases on one side or the other can be reason to bang a side.

Mark Rounding Tactics

Leeward Mark roundings: You can use mark roundings to make big gains, especially when there is a pack ahead of you. Anticipate the pack and set yourself up to have an inside tight rounding even if you have to slow down…use the pinwheel in front of you to make gains. Whatever happens, don’t get overlapped by inside boats that force you to the outside of the pinwheel. Again, this may necessitate your slowing down to break an overlap. You can pass boats that have bad roundings and gain distance on all the boats going slow from the congested rounding. And, if you find a gap and can make a full speed wide and tight rounding, you will stand a better change of maintaining clear air going upwind. Check out this video of a J/22 making a big gain by anticipating the pin wheel. 

Gate Roundings: If the gates are aligned evenly and there is no favored side, position yourself to round a gate with less traffic. All the boats rounding a crowded gate will be going slower. Sometimes the further downwind gate may be faster even if you sail more distance to get to it or it is not on the side of the course you want to sail on. Getting around a gate with clean air can be a huge part of your comeback.

Sail faster: Sail in clean lanes upwind and down. Upwind, stay away from large packs of boats sailing downwind that will blanket your wind.  

Stay away from packs and do not get in any fighting matches with other boats. 

Look for the puffs upwind and sail to them. Downwind, look for puffs and align yourself under them gybing if needed. It is good to have a crew person look aft when sailing downwind. They can tell you to head up or sail low in order to hook up with a puff coming down the track.

Slow other boats down: Sailing downwind, try to blanket other boats by sailing on their wind.

Perhaps the hardest part of a good comeback is attitude. Don’t give up! Instead of swinging for the fences to try to pass ten boats at once, work on passing one at a time. And, even if you don’t make a miraculous comeback, turn the race into a learning situation. Hopefully, there will be many more races to average out your finish and still do well.

Windward Mark Laylines: Don’t overstand! Often boats will sail too far to the right, beyond the starboard layline, and end up reaching into the mark. They have sailed further than they need to. You can make big gains on those overstood boats by not making the same mistake as they did. Try not to get into the starboard tack parade until you are four to six boatlengths from the mark. Do not try to tack onto starboard so close to the mark that you risk getting protested for tacking in the Zone (Rule 18.3). In big, tightly packed fleets, coming into the windward mark near the port tack layline can be a low probability move, but if you are still to leeward enough to find a gap in the traffic, you can make a big gains.

On the other hand, if you end up approaching the windward mark on port and will have to tack inside the zone, here is how you can avoid getting protested for breaking rule 18.3. Instead of tacking in front of or to leeward of a startboard tacker, sail beyond any starboard boat and then tack to windward of them. Yes, you give up one boat, but you will not risk getting pitched. This video that explains rule 18.3.

The only time to overstand is when you are approaching the starboard layline and you see there is a pile up ahead with boats pinching to make the mark. Overstand just enough to have clear air — perhaps a boat length or two — and sail around the slow pileup while you’re still at full speed. Note, if you are rounding the mark from this position you will also be sailing slightly higher as you round the mark. This has an added advantage as it will position you to windward of boat(s) that you can blanket on the run.

Rounding windward marks: If you have clean air as you round the mark/offset, use that pressure to sail lower than the fleet (see photo above). Typically, the pack ahead of you will sail higher as each trailing boat takes a line just higher than the boat ahead. Use this pressure to sail lower, get separation from the boats ahead, and sail less distance. Sail your best VMC/VMG, which is usually lower than the boats sailing in a pack that are trying to get on each other’s wind.

Rounding leeward marks: Of course, do not overstand leeward marks by always sailing your fastest VMG to leeward mark. Make sure to keep jibing to stay on the knocked jibe. Big gains can be made by playing those last shifts while everyone else is just thinking about their rounding.

Stay in phase on the beat: Part of sailing the shortest distance is always being on the favored tack. Identify shifts upwind. Sometimes following everyone is ok if you are on the favored tack and in clear air. Use the fleet ahead of you to read the shifts, watching the angles the lead boats are sailing. Anticipating the shifts can increase your leverage. Being set up to be on the inside of the next shit will pay big dividends. The lead boats are usually tacking on the shifts, watch them and their angles to the mark.

Know when to bang a corner & not (Increased leverage): With persistent shifting conditions or large immediate shifts, it may be ok to hit a side hard to make a big gain. Significant wind increases on one side or the other can be reason to bang a side.

Leeward Mark roundings: You can use mark roundings to make big gains, especially when there is a pack ahead of you. Anticipate the pack and set yourself up to have an inside tight rounding even if you have to slow down…use the pinwheel in front of you to make gains. Whatever happens, don’t get overlapped by inside boats that force you to the outside of the pinwheel. Again, this may necessitate your slowing down to break an overlap. You can pass boats that have bad roundings and gain distance on all the boats going slow from the congested rounding. And, if you find a gap and can make a full speed wide and tight rounding, you will stand a better change of maintaining clear air going upwind. Check out this video of a J/22 making a big gain by anticipating the pin wheel. 

Gate Roundings: If the gates are aligned evenly and there is no favored side, position yourself to round a gate with less traffic. All the boats rounding a crowded gate will be going slower. Sometimes the further downwind gate may be faster even if you sail more distance to get to it or it is not on the side of the course you want to sail on. Getting around a gate with clean air can be a huge part of your comeback.

Sail faster: Sail in clean lanes upwind and down. Upwind, stay away from large packs of boats sailing downwind that will blanket your wind.  

Stay away from packs and do not get in any fighting matches with other boats. 

Look for the puffs upwind and sail to them. Downwind, look for puffs and align yourself under them gybing if needed. It is good to have a crew person look aft when sailing downwind. They can tell you to head up or sail low in order to hook up with a puff coming down the track.

Slow other boats down: Sailing downwind, try to blanket other boats by sailing on their wind.

Perhaps the hardest part of a good comeback is attitude. Don’t give up! Instead of swinging for the fences to try to pass ten boats at once, work on passing one at a time. And, even if you don’t make a miraculous comeback, turn the race into a learning situation. Hopefully, there will be many more races to average out your finish and still do well.

Learn more about smart racecourse tactics at uksailmakers.com/how-to-resources/