As we know, sailing contains many different elements and over the years P&B has grown from its sail making roots of the early 1980’s into a firm that offers a full service across the different areas of sailing. Following hot on the heels of another championship success for P&B last week (3 out of 3 National championships for 2013 so far.). We thought it an opportune moment to highlight some of those services that all lead on to this  ‘360 degree pathway to success.

The 2013 Wayfarer championships were held at Parkstone yacht club in Poole. With a variety of winds throughout the championships the  full range of sailing skills were needed. The P&B Zhik race team (and our sail loft manager ) Dave Wade, crewed by Alex Davies ran out comfortable winners:

Dave was using a full P&B the RS4 Mainsail and has been developing the sails (one of the major components that go into the ’360 degree pathways to success’.) over the past 12 months.Our work here at P&B is always done in conjunction with the classes that the sails represent and after discussions with the Wayfarer class P&B are making two versions of the Wayfarer mainsail. One using the RS4 and the other using a Dimension Poly prop cloth.

Whilst the RS4 is fast and lightweight, the new cloth is strong, durable and as well as performing well it is also built to last.

For the majority of classes that we work we offer differing versions both in the cut of the sail and the cloth that is supplied ranging from the Dacron sails through to the Laminate sails. For any questions on this and which is correct for yourself please contact Dave Wade on 01604 592808 ext 210 or e-mail:- sailloft@pinbax.com.

As part of our ongoing support to the Wayfarer class we were pleased to be asked to become one of the sponsors for this event and  were delighted to be able to present Ian Clarke (pictured below) with a brand new wayfarer jib. So congratulations Ian do hope you enjoy using it.

Dave attributes part of his success to the coaching that he received, back in time, from the likes of Ian and Alan Bax and these days is a recognized coach himself. An often underestimated and under worked tool it is one that the P&B team offer as part of the the ’360 degree pathways to success.’

Dave is coaching this Thursday at Northampton sailing club in the Fireball and next week in the Wayfarer at Haversham sailing club. However it is not just Dave and Ian that offer the coaching,we at P&B have a number of multi class, National champions sitting alongside World and European champions who are available for coaching either on a one to one basis or for class specific coaching days.With a number of championships coming up in the not too distant future now is a good time to pick up those tips that would get you through the fleet.

For any more information please call Ian or any other members of staff that will be happy to talk through what and how we can help.

Boat ‘fit out’ , rig set up and tuning remains one of the most important components of the 360 degree success route, as well as adding to the enjoyment of our sport we all know it can get a little soul destroying when the majority of time is spent wistfully looking at the boats on the water, whilst you repair another broken rope, replace another cleat or try and re rig a system to one that actually works smoothly and efficiently!

P&B have a long history of fitting out not only new boats but also repairing, re-moulding and in some cases offering a total refit of existing boats.

Our expertise in this area has never been in doubt. Aside from the legendary fixer and head of repairs Pete Jackson…

who has been with us for over a decade, his team  have been further complemented by the expertise recently brought over from Selden. P&B can also boast a real depth of knowledge within specific classes and because of this we are able to offer suggestions and advice on the fit out and redesign re tuning of the boats as well as fine tuning of layouts.

Recently at the Northampton site, as opposed to the Fareham branch (J9/M27) that is now open, we have had an on-going  project to bring back to life one of the iconic sailing dinghies… the Flying  Dutchman. This dinghy was once owned, we believe, by Keith Musto and is registered as FD number 5 so a real classic! After weeks of hard work and some interesting times and designing of fittings we are finally at the tuning and set up stage (and frankly a nice way to end this weeks blog!)…  it will be great to see this boat back on the water.

That’s all for this week we have covered most of the areas in the ’360 degrees pathways to success’ ranging from yourself to the boat hull and fit out through to the sails, obviously lots more that we didn’t have time to mention. There were some other notable successes last weekend with top spot at the Fireballs at Staunton Harold. The Scorpions taking the top 4 places at the nationals warm up venue, Sidmouth and success at Pevensey with the N12′s.

Following hot on the heels of lasts weeks championship success in the National 12’s we have more ‘tall tales’ of success to tell this week.

A couple of weeks ago we highlighted the  beautiful and extremely tall Thames A- Raters. In particular the sails we had been asked to design and re-shape for martin Hunter and Jeremy Kearns in time for the Bourne End week regatta and prestigious Queens cup…

I am pleased to report back that not only did Dave Wade our Sail loft manager manage to pick up an award during junior Bourne end week..(something to do with capsizing a Topper with his 7 year old daughter sat on the front! and evidence of Dave’s award was kindly supplied by an anonymous source , if proof is needed this can be seen by clicking on the link below…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31616428@N03/8921475923/in/set-72157633871690547  )

However, and  perhaps, more importantly,  the newly designed P&B sails sailed by Martin Hunter & Jeremy Kearns had a successful week. Winning not only the prestigious Queens cup but also the Bourne end regatta week. Martin and Jeremy decided to have a new set of P&B sails for this year having used the previous P&B set over the last three seasons.

The 2013 result made this the 4^th successful year in a row for the partnership between Martin & P&B and interest has been sparked by this. The roads between London and P&B’s Northampton HQ are (apparently)awash with Thames A – Raters dropping making the trip.

Due to the height of these carbon rigs the A- Rater masts all behave in slightly different ways. In order to make sure the sails behave in the perfect way they have been designed to we advise the owners to bring their A-raters  up to our Northampton HQ thus giving us the ability to  tailor the sail to that Carbon mast one that is specific to that boat.

The resulting process and build (as with 100% of our sails) is kept in house from that moment on so the quality is assured, designed, shaped, produced and finished here in our Northampton loft under the watchful eyes of Dave and Alan Bax.

As the pictures below show these boats are a thing of beauty and producing classic longstanding sails that consistently help to produce winning performances is a complex and through process.

Congratulations to Martin and Jeremy for their continued success in these classic dinghies and we look forward to working with more of these classic baots.

With Ben Ainslie hitting the headlines for his record breaking,  Round the Island ‘assault’  the loft was also busy last week making No.1 Genoas for the Beanateau 31.7’s   and these were seen in evidence at a classic round the island race 2013, again proving our versatility in the sail making and design process.

Moving swiftly from one of the larger classes we work with right down to one of the smallest but most nimble (an an awful lot of fun to sail) we here at P&B took possession of the new FRP Streaker. With a slightly changed hull design and some extra little tweaks this boat,  built by Butler Boats  and by Dave Butler himself,   for P&B  will be showcased at the upcoming Streaker nationals at Northampton Sailing Club on 29^th/30^th June. However for now we are keeping the design changes under the hull so to speak:-

P&B still have, for sale the National Championship and Inland championship winning boat from 2012. So if you are looking for a proven,  fast boat that can be on the water in time for the Nationals on the 29^th now is the time to snap it up. If not this boat will also be at the Northampton sailing club for the national championships so you will have a chance to view it in all its glory there.

Finally we end this week by mentioning further Phantom success for  P&B. The Scottish national Phantom championships were raced in conditions ranging from a  F4-5 on Saturday through to light and fickle breezes on the Sunday and our congratulations go to John Wayling sailing his P&B ODL06 sail.

With many of the P&B staff travelling to events this weekend please do check our FB and website to see where the team are we are more than happy to deliver items to these events should they be needed.

For P&B the first National Championships of the year started with a blast, literally! with strong winds in the prestigious Burton Cup blowing Zhik/P&B  race team members Tom Stewart and Andrea Ralph to first place, not only in this the classic race of the National 12 UK Championships but also helping them to first place overall. For P&B the week was an unqualified success with P&B sails filling the first 5 places.

Special mention should go at this point to P&B sailors Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne.  Throughout the final race Graham and Zoe did look to have the championship wrapped up (with Tom sitting out the final race due to a black flag) until some interesting wind patterns during the final moments changed the face of the race moving them Graham and Zoe from 1^st to 4^th  and unfortunately dropping them to 2^nd overall.

Moving  further around the country the Flying Fifteens were in action this week at HISC. The current European champions and P&B sailors Greg Wells and Mark Darling were in fine form. Scoring 2 wins out of 4 races to take a convincing first overall in the light breezes.

With a number of other fleets in action this week our congratulations go to P&B youth sailor  Arran Holman on  his selection to the Cadet World championship winning the final section event at Burnham on Crouch. Having recently moved into the fleet Arran is sailing strongly and looking forward to the Worlds later in the year in Belgium.

We end this weeks condensed blog with a new top tips section. Over the next few months we will be featuring ‘top tips’  from some of our race team sailors, so what better way to start off than to have Tom Stewart newly crowned N12 2013 national champion giving us his top tips:-

-          Keeping calm, during the hectic start periods and keep your focus on where you want to be.

-          Have a plan, prior to the start not only of where you want to start but also which side of the beat you would like to go!

-          Especially in light, tidal conditions do not move too far away from the start line!

Some of these may seem obvious  but there is nothing  worse than that sudden moment of panic as you realise there are 2 minutes to go and the tides pushing you back and suddenly you are struggling to make the line at all!

Light breezes and tall sails

After a winter of heavy breezes, icy conditions and stretched faces the last few weeks have seen a move to the fickle light breezes and even some of the sunshine getting through at last.

We start with a successful weekend for the new Enterprise mainsail first showcased at the Enterprise masters. Following up that weekend P&B/Zhik race team member Steve Graham was sighted at Hunts sailing club on the 11^th/12^th of May  for the Enterprise Eastern Nimbus Series sailing in consistently light and fickle breezes (if you can have such a thing) Steve and Julie Moore showed excellent boat speed to take the overall event.

Steve’s run of success continued last weekend despite changing classes to the fully inventoried P&B  Albacore. Joining the Scorpion fleet for another  light wind weekend in the beautiful bay of Lyme Regis. Sailing in tricky conditions only three out of 6 races were sailed for either fleet.  Steve and Rob Lyne, (obviously feeling very close to home, given the name spelling, sorry Rob!) were the consistent act on the Saturday. Leading overnight with a 2^nd and a 1^st place they consolidated this on the Sunday whilst the snakes and ladders game was played around them to take a comfortable overall win.

The lesser known game of Scorpions and ladders was being played out across the race course for the Scorpion fleet. P&B teams took the first three places overnight with Tim parson and Alex Hayman leading from Steve Hall and Oli Wells. With only one race possible on the Sunday consistency again paid off with  the P&B race team of Tim and Alex taking the overall win. Giving a good solid demonstration of how to stay with the fleet and ‘keep in the mix’ whilst it’s fair to Steve and Oli  were doing the exact opposite. Ending the no discard weekend with a DL (as its shortened name is known.) Still a strong weekend for P&B taking 4 out of the top 5 places.

Keeping it ‘in the mix ‘at Northampton P&B HQ the range of workshop boats we are currently fixing up is more diverse from ever with a number of wooden boats in the workshop complementing the fiberglass work.

Peter Jackson,  our workshop manager has been with P&B for well over a decade now (although I’m sure he won’t thank me for mentioning it!) and has vast experience ranging from GRP to carbon through to wooden repairs and finishes. This team has recently been complemented by the addition of P&B South and the experienced team based at Segensworth.

With the latest addition to the workshop being a rarely seen Falcon dinghy we can continue the  somewhat tenuous theme (anyone spotted it yet?) ‘flying’ through this weeks blog, with a move upstairs to finish this week with the new Sharpie sails.

Having been approached by a couple highly active Sharpie sailors,  P&B ‘s hugely experienced loft team  set to work tweaking and redesigning the  sails looking for that improvement in design to give the edge over the competition.

Several re-cuts and seam alterations followed. All designed to improve shape whilst not losing speed or height and P&B’s crack team of designers were seen standing deep in conversation as the sails were analysed, re stitched and finally rigged back onto the boats to a chorus of approval.  However the proof as they say is in the pudding and  with Sam Neill due to be sailing again soon we will be ready with the updates.

Finally, we end this week with a compare and contrast – P&B founder Alan Bax was recently commissioned by Ozzie Stewart to rebuild his Thames A rater mainsail (Over the years the Thames A raters have developed extraordinarily tall masts – 45 meters,  and high aspect mainsails to meet the local conditions, and catch the wind above the trees and other obstructions along the banks.) and has consequently been seen on his hands and knees all week… With a mainsail area of 32.5 meters, not including the 28 meter spinnaker, ( by comparison the Enterprise main and jib is 10.7 meters) this sail barely fits in our loft…

However it has taken a week of work by Alan to turn this sail from a number of panels as per below… to where it is the finished article used on these classic boats…

Good luck Ozzie hope the sail goes well.

After a successful weekend, again for P&B boats and sails, culminating with a dominating performance at the Mirror National junior championships. P&B enjoyed a clean sweep of the podium and an additional prize for Imogen Wade (seen below trying everything to get her dad, P&B sail loft manager  Dave Wade to hike out and not look quite so scared…)  for being the youngest helm. These budding stars of the future thoroughly enjoyed the gusts and bouncy castles at Northampton sailing club.  (for a full report click on the mirror website ) www.mirrorsailing.com

As Emma Grayson the overall winner commented:-

“The P&B sails were absolutely awesome, and with the huge gusts coming through they reacted extremely well and as the results show are definitely quick!!”

However all the talk onshore was of the Mirror World championships which are approaching at a rate of knots…Often reported, high, on the list of elements that make up a successful championship campaign are not only personal fitness but also (and hugely important) boat preparation and obvious but true, the sails that power the boats.

For over a quarter of a century Pinnell & Bax have been supplying a wide range of dinghies to the sailing community, both in the UK, Europe and throughout the globe and with a hugely experienced team including not only the founders Alan and Ian but also nearly 20 years service each for Tom Stewart and Dave Wade alongside numerous other highly epxerienced members we, P&B, have built an  impressive track record of success during this time

In 2012 alone P&B enjoyed first place finishes in over 15 major World and National championships and numerous top five and podium finishes as well as a number of podium clean sweeps.

During this time we have formed trusted Partnerships with builders that are known in the  marketplace – Such as Ovington,Winder, Nautivela, Butler boats and the ubiquitous Winner Optimist as well as working  and forming close ties with the likes of Allen  Brothers, Harken and other fit out specialists. All this has given us an ability to assist in the final preparation of boats as well offering advice and tips pre championships to give you that winning edge.

However this year P&B are able to offer an even more impressive service:-

Not only has our staff list increased to include more specialist staff, (and more National/European champions)  with highly experienced industry members joining from Selden complementing our longstanding team here at Northampton HQ. The  official opening of P&B South this weekend means we now offer  a full service both at the Midlands HQ and also in the popular Southern region of Southampton/Fareham/Portsmouth /Hamble et al.  This ranges from large scale repairs to touching up of hulls (GRP or wood), re fitting of boats  sail repairs, spars and rigging(carbon and alloy)  covers and ordering, purchasing, designing of new sails

P&B South invites you all to its offical opening:-

This Saturday on the 18th May P&B will open its doors and invite you to come celebrate with us. With talks from likes of former World Champions Ian Pinnell and Alan Bax on boats and sails and with some expert input from Current I14/Contender and Multiple nationals winner Ben McGrane and Dave Wade (Previous European and multiple national Champion)  on tuning the day promises to be both informative and enjoyable.
Enjoy either a glass of champagne, orange juice or a mix of the two perhaps… whilst taking a look around our new shop. Whether you want to browse through our huge range of yachting and dinghy products or you just want to find out what we do in our workshops be sure that the P&B team will be on hand to answer any query.

Follow the event on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/events/528478757216055/>  or keep an eye on Yachts&Yachting <http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/>  for a schedule of the days events. You can even contact us at info@pinbax.com <mailto:info@pinbax.com?subject=Grand%20Opening>  or call us on 01604 592808 to find out more!

Barbados and Salcombe form the crux of the sailing venues for this week’s blog. Alongside a congratulations to Vita Heathcote for her selection for the Optimist Europeans Squad.

Hello everyone… The good news is that the world has decided to go sailing again and following a bank holiday weekend, with sunshine, P&B have reported a huge increase in orders from both the Northampton HQ and the new store in Segensworth (J9/m27 in case I haven’t mentioned it previously and would like to pay a visit) and with a number of  discounts available online (www.pinbax.com) stock is flying off the shelves.

With the increase in orders P&B has had a recent increase in staff,(  just in time some would say!) With new members in the sailoft complemented by the arrival of Éanna (pronounced  Ay-na)  in the downstairs hub of retail and mail orders.

Moving onto the sailing side there are a number of obvious reports from classes around the country and abroad. So without going into too much detail this week we start with Ian recently returned  from Barbados and the 505 worlds. For a full report please follow the http://www.sap505worlds.com/  However just for the record,Ian finished 7^th overall and won the  Thursday placing 5^th and 2^nd on the day. The fact that Ian came back grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat is perhaps unsurprising given some of the photos we have seen…. http://www.sap505worlds.com/gallery/

So it is, we move from probably one of the most technically complex dinghy’s, through the scale to the Optimist and the stars of the future. As you may be aware P&B sponsor a team of sailors alongside Winner boats and its congratulations to Vita, using her P&B sail, who has gained selection to the Europeans championships for 2013.

Our impressive string of results continues in the Solo’s, with Mike Sims building on his success at the Winter Championships and Burwain open meeting with an impressive Welsh Championships. Counting  a 1,1,1,2, almost the perfect score line.

Our sail making depth is shown by a fantastic weekend at Salcombe, with P&B’s director Tom Stewart showing the way for the fleet and the P&B sails of Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantine enjoying a second overall and a last race win to round off what some described as a perfect Salcombe weekend, with the breeze blowing and the sun taking its hat off to say hello and Saint Fran in residence apparently.

I’m afraid that’s where we leave this week’s blog, however before I go I would just like to mention a personal thanks to the Lark class (http://www.larkclass.org/ ) during what was an excellent weekend in Rock, Cornwall.

It’s been a long time out of these boats (not since Uni. days!! so yes a long time) however the fleet made me very welcome,  now looking forward to the Nationals at Brightlingsea.

 oh and also thanks to Steve Hall for putting up with me in the front end!

 Right, that is me finished for this week. The ‘good’ pressures of making sure customers have sails in time, boats fitted out/repairs made good and clothing to wear is calling so must dash.

Apologies to those who were looking for a little more depth however we will be back to showcase different elements of the P&B business, next week and ideally with some superb sailing pictures to boot.

With the busiest weekend of the sailing season so far I slightly bizarrely, decided to take time off to go trotting round some Yorkshire hills whilst the rest of the sailing community were spread to all four points of the compass….

So, for this week’s edition we shall start by moving northward (and slightly East) from our central UK base before veering sharply off to the West Country. We then move gradually Southward with a brief dip into the bay of Weymouth and a cold breezy stop at the Island of Hayling. Finally finishing as locally as possible to P&B HQ at Northampton with Grafham Water sailing club. (Ok, so we missed out the true East coast but I’m calling on a little poetic licence here folks)

Oh, and we may jump on a jet plane to mention, briefly, the 505 World Championships in Barbados, however  we start with the breezy shores of Hykeham Sailing Club in Lincoln  and the National 12 National under21 Championships sponsored by Pinnell and Bax.  

With strong breezes on both the Saturday and Sunday the fleet were given some testing times in what is always a strong class for P&B sails congratulations go to 3528 Nick Copsey and Matthew Mcrobbie and Tom White and Matt Smith. A succesful event from a P&B perspective with a clean sweep of the leader board on both days.

Our flying visits of the UK sailing scene take us next to the West Country and the Enterprise Masters championships.

With P&B’s Steve Graham showcasing the new enterprise mainsail there were 33 ‘beautiful’ (visitor spectator comment) sets of blue sails gracing the water at Bristol Corinthian YC for this prestigious event.

With winds ranging from flat calm on Sunday morning (Y&Y report) through to unexpected force 3-4 gusts  it was, for P&B sail designer Steve Graham  a perfect test for the newly developed radial mainsail.  Pleased with his final race win and a strong 4^th overall Steve commented on the sail:-

“We had plenty of height, strong upwind speed due to the refined shape and radials in the head and base of the sail. I think this was borne out by the final race success although it’s obvious that all the P&B sails are quick in this fleet as shown by the ‘Salt Dog’ successful return to the fleet…)

Salt Dog, for the uninitiated is the former P& B employee Richard Sault who sailing with Tim Sadler, are the new Enterprise masters 2013 champions sailing with a full P&B inventory.

(It is at this point that I shall mention that the current Sail loft sale of 15% off most sails (for the next two weeks only) includes this new Enterprise mainsail)

P&B’s Ben Mcgrane,our Southern based head honcho (P&B South located J9, M27  for those of you that weren’t yet aware!) starts our Southern leg of this tour. Sailing out of Weymouth and using the full P&B inventory, Ben and crew James Hughes kept their consistent record of success in the International 14 managing to claim the rare honour of a perfect score line with a bullet in every race.

Moving along the south Coast a number of miles we arrive at the island of Hayling (or more normally referred to as Hayling Island Sailing club.) Scene of many a race tears and smiles over the years. This weekend it was the turn of two of the UK’s major fleets to battle with the Hamble bar, with 43 Merlin Rockets playing alongside the high class fleet of the Fireballs. Showcasing the current World, National and European champions as well as many past winners.

As with the International 14’s P&B have a strong track record of success in this fleet and are currently showing the way. The continual developments and commitment we show in this case is demonstrated in the results. Long days on the water combined with squalls passing through of up to 30 knots and a “stiff Northerly breeze” had many wishing for the dry suits that were left behind. It’s tight at the top of the Fireball tree with P&B teams of Chips and Vyv sharing two race wins with Tom and Simon over the weekend. However overnight leaders were Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff (again P&B!)

Unfortunately in the final reckoning the second race OCS counted decisively against Chips and Vyv , swinging the pendulum back in favour of Tom and Simon with Matt and Richard finishing third overall after a slightly disappointing (for them) last couple of races.

Just as importantly from a P&B point of view, was the next three places… all P&B…. So for the first of the major Fireball events of the year Pinnell & Bax sails finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th overall without a hint of controversy in sight. (again another unashamed plug here for the 15% off the F/B and Merlin Rocket sails, two weeks only…)

That same Northerly wind now blows us back up the country, passing by P&B’s HQ in Northampton (where there is currently a 15% off sails (apologies if i have already mentioned that!)  to conclude the round up at one the Uk’s major inland waters; Grafham Water Sailing Club.

Again we are ‘dual’ fleeting here starting with the F15’s and a strong fleet, featuring the current European champions and past national/world champions in abundance.  With P&B teams Greg Wells and Ian Cadwallader finishing  3^rd and 4^th overall its another strong showing in this class for the ever popular P&B sails. With P&B’s founder Alan Bax finishing inside the top ten we are still hugely attuned to the needs and wants of this fleet.

We end today with the Scorpion fleet and further success, with P&B claiming the top two spots.  Race team members Tim Parsons and Alex Haymen ended the regatta second overall However overall success went to the P&B race team of Andy McKee & Chris Massey (Dovestone)who  kept up their storming performance from Day 1 with a further two victories on Sunday to end the regatta with a full suit of firsts.

Great work from this pairing and a chance to use a past photo from Grafham of this Scorpion to end the day…

Just to conclude, we have reported on over 7 different major events and classes from last weekend. P&B sails celebrated overall wins in 5 out of these 7 classes.  and clean sweeps of podiums in some classes, allied to even more impressive clean sweeps of the first 5 overall in other classes like the Fireballs.

Showing again that the effort/pride and continual work put in, both in Northampton and at our Segensworth branch is rewarded on the race track. The consistency of the production of our sails our sails is seen by the depth of the results (as shown this last weekend) and as we start to enter the season fully we believe that we are in good shape producing consistently fast sails and well fitted out boats at a competitive  price. Any queries or questions please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01604 592808.

We have not even had time to mention the 505 Worlds in Barbados, where Ian (despite barely stepping into the boat over the past 8 mths. ) is nudging the top 5 overall and the leading Brit by a distance going into the final couple of days. Anyone that wishes to see photos of this event  or further news follow our Facebook page (not that I’m too  jealous to allow more pictures on here, it’s just that it would ruin the ‘compass’ theme to this week’s blog!…)

Next week should include the final results from the 505 worlds and hopefully some sunny days on the Cornish Coast from Rock sailing club.

Goodbye for now and well done to all for last weekend.

An intriguing title perhaps… but one that can only mean we start this weeks blog with the blue sails of the Enterprise class.

P&B’s resident Enterprise ‘master’ Stevie Graham,  has been putting his considerable skills to developing a new Enterprise mainsail during the quiet hours of this dark, (and hopefully distant) winter.  Sitting alongside many of our other successful designs, this new sail now incorporates radials in the base and the head of the sail; thus giving less distortion through the medium and upper wind strengths adding an extra dimension to what is already a championship winning sail from the successful P&B loft.  This sail will be used in anger at the Enterprise masters this weekend where Steve will also be sailing. (Pictured Below)

To celebrate this we are offering a whopping 20% off Enterprise sails this week and a 15% reduction on Enterprise covers.

Call Steve or Dave on 01604 592808 Ext 210 or e-mail :- Sailloft@pinbax.com

Our ability to share information between the classes and the diversity that this brings to our sail making,  is shown by the  sails that have gone out of the sail loft over the past week or so. Orders ranging from Optimists through to the Ajax, Hunter Formula 1 and Shrimper class yachts and sports boats have all been designed and built in our Northampton sail loft.

The diverse abilities of the P&B team is also shown in the range of boats that are currently being fitted out, repaired, re-varnished or just simply being given a new lease of life in both the workshop and the new boats side of P&B.

These boats range from the :-

Flying Fifteen’s that are being prepped ready to be shipped around the globe. One to Ireland, one to Hong Kong and another on its way for a UK customer.

The ever popular Solos,  two currently being prepared for UK customers and more on their way to us for fitting out.

Mirrors, for Australian customers again both tailored to meet the needs of the Australian /Irish market in the build-up to the worlds.

And despite the 5o5 world championships currently taking place in Barbados, this has not stopped the flow of 5o5s coming through P&B. With a gracious Green hull being fitted for a German customer.

The full house is completed with a couple of Phantoms and Fireballs on their way to us, to sit alongside the new Enterprise,  Albacore and Scorpion that have just been prepared/unleashed. This is proving to be a busy time for P&B in the preparation and tailoring of new boats.

This theme continues across the workshop side. The major projects include the complete refit of a 1950’s FD (pretty much taking it back to the bare hull) and following on from the windy weekends we have experienced recently, we have  seen a number of gel coat repairs from classes ranging from Optimists to Phantoms to 29ers to Tasars currently in residence in the workshop whilst our head of Workshop Pete Jackson and some of the team are up in West Kirby repairing the world famous firefly’s of the West Kirby Yacht Club  and preparing the boats for the prestigious Wilson team trophy.

Add to this flvoursome mix, the P&B South workshop (J9,M27)  is up and running,  with a number of Carbon repairs underway and the measuring of an International 14 completed last weekend for a new P&B  customer. More details of this to follow in the P&B South newsletter,  which sees its inaugural offering this weekend, however just a small picture to tide us over for now…

The diversity within P&B  is obvious and is complemented by the full  and complementary range of chandlery and clothing that we have in both of our store’s  and available on line.   www.pinbax.com

Any question queries or general enquiries about any of the above please feel free to ring or e-mail on 01604 592808 or info@pinbax.com.

Thats all for this week folks. However with a busy open meeting calendar this weekend I just want to wish good luck to all the people out there sailing and competing.

April 13^th/14^th  Weekend status report:-

Gales and gusts…     Killer gusts…     Temperatures in double figures…     Strong breeze forecast…     Gusting 25 knots…    Gusting 35 knots…      Spectacular planing…    Strong winds curtail racing…    Should we be sailing?      And….

P&B South set fair to open its doors this weekend.

These are just some of the words from the racing reports around the country last weekend.

So what a weekend it was, not to mention a “crazy man with a chainsaw”… (See the Scorpions at Chew valley for more details on that one,  having been in the establishment myself at the time I can confirm that this was a rather extreme response by a local character being refused service at the hostelry the Scorpion and Fireball sailors were frequenting at the time.)

..and so we start with Chew Valley (minus Chainsaws) and the joint Fireball and Scorpion open meeting.  West country racing at its best.

On the Saturday, three breezy races back to back and on the Sunday a howling average wind speed of 32 knots,  a good early decision by the PRO to cancel by 10:00am. Leaving enough time for the travellers to store  a few brownie points for future events.

We start with Fireballs which were were dominated by the Zhik/P&B race team of Tom Gillard and Simon Potts. Putting together a perfect score, winning all three races against a high class fleet.

Different story in the competitive Scorpion fleet. With the top three ending the event tied on 6 points. Strong news from a P&B perspective though with full P&B race teams of Andy Mckee/Steve Graham and Tim Parsons/Simon Mcguire in 3^rd and 2^nd overall and the title going to the ZhiK/P&B race team of Steve Hall and Oli Wells launching their new Scorpion, 2030…

This boat was only recently finished by the P&B  team and speaks volumes  for the quality of the work done on it.  That it not only ‘survived’ the strong, gusty breezes, but without time to do any pre-regatta tweeking it was quick through the water and  worked beautifully.  So a small personal thanks to James/ Bernie and Dave and a good advert for our work.

A similar success story comes from across the border at the Scottish N12 championships.  where P&B was again to the fore with P&B sails taking the first three places overall.

The ‘killer gusts’ were in evidence at Banbury where the always high quality Merlin Rocket fleet had at times, an interesting sail.  A strong showing from Mike and Jane Calvert using  P&B sails saw them finish 2^nd overall.

Finally a brief stop off at the the ‘Gales and gusts’ of Burwain with further P&B Success for Michael Sims in the Solo taking the overall title. The Solo’s are a strong class for P&B and a class we should be in a good position to continue to support with our P&B South Store (J9, M27 ).

Which, very obviously leads me onto the main news of the week.  (One that the whole of the dinghy world is talking about, almost non-stop, so I am led to believe!)

P&B South, opens its doors on  April 20^th….

As every good store does on its opening (prior to the official opening) we are offering great discounts across the range of hardware, chandlery and clothing. Go to   http://www.pinbax.com/docs/PB%20South%20Flyer_web.pdf   to download the flyer and then simply take it in when you visit the new store to claim the discounts.

Headed up by Ben Mcgrane..Ben has been competing since he was 11 and won his first national champions in 1999 in the Topper class. Following University Ben turned professional as part of the RYA Development and Olympic squads before joining Selden in 2007. Ben can now be found racing in numerous classes each season recent success includes:-

Int 14 POW Cup 1st – 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Contender National Champion – 2011, 2012
Fireball National Champion – 2008, 2010
RS 800 National Champion – 2006, 2008, 2010

505 National Champion – 2012

The South store has a full complement of staff with some superb experience in the workshop coming from Darren Maple (see last weeks blog for further details)  and heading up the retail side is the highly experienced Adrian Hamlett. Having worked in retail since 1987 Adrian’s previous role was leading the retail side of Shamrock Quay.

That about sums it up for this week I think, a highly successful week on the water. Some fantastic sailing all over the countr, success from P&B sails and boats, a new store to browse and a season to look forward to… Everyone happy?

Back next week for the initial reports on the 505 worlds in Barbados amongst other news.

Finally apologies for the lack of pictures this week, it seems it was just too darn windy for the camera man to make it out… maybe. Any contributions greatly received.

Well where to start this week is the question?  Although we are a UK company and continue to make all our sails in the UK. P&B’s reach gives us an option to start with the warmer climes of the Australian Western States and the Flying Fifteens, or the light breezes of Salcombe.  Or potentially to move further along the UK Southern coast with news and movement on the opening of P&B South. ( Junction 9 M27 for those that were still wondering.)

As we have come to realise 2013 is a busy year for the Flying Fifteens  with the continuing build up to the World Championships in Hong Kong later in the year. P&B’s record in this class is second to none spanning across the globe, we actually retain the ability to tailor the sails to suit ‘local’ conditions, as we can do for any other class of dinghy.

With the Australian  Western States championships taking place recently, P&B again claimed overall success and a clean sweep of the podium to back up our credentials. Here at P&B HQ in Northampton we are busy fitting out a clutch of new Flying Fifteens which are off to Hong Kong and Ireland as well as a constant stream of new sail orders from these and other clime’s.

With the boats at the stage of fitting the keels we are looking to book the containers and see them leave the shores from one of  our Southern ports…

and this, all be it a rather tenuous link,  lets me move neatly on to P&B South.

Some of our more observant readers may have seen the new P&B van around the South Coast:-

Progress is going well with the new store in Segensworth, with much of the retail stock arriving this week the team are busy getting everything sorted for opening on the 20th April. While not officially open yet, the workshop is fully up and running to meet the already high demand. An International 14 mast repair, merlin gel coat repairs, and in keeping with the Flying 15 theme of todays blog a F15 sole board and keel fairing all on the list for this week and next.

Heading up the Workshop repairs is Darren Mapple, a highly experienced shipwright with years of carbon, GRP and wood new builds and repairs to his name. Darren is one of the most diversely skilled boat builders in the UK, from simple gelcoat repairs to complete XOD rebuilds and I14 one-off productions, his work is top class!

The retail side of the store also boasts a full clothing and chandlery range  allowing us to offer the same level of service that we offer in Northampton on the South Coast.

Our full address for this store is:-

Unit1

Mitchells Close

Segensworth

Fareham

PO15 5SE

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=PO15+5SE&hl=en&hnear=Fareham+PO15+5SE,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&t=m&z=14

For more details or directions phone Ben Mcgrane on  01489 577748 or feel free to contact us here at P&B Northampton.

Nest week will see a full profile of the new staff at P&B South  with some strong headline names and some vast experience within the staff.

Outside of P&B south the sailing continues apace,  with another Silver Tiller event for the Merlin Rocket fleet. This time at the hugely popular venue for this class of Salcombe, which plays host to the infamous Salcombe week later in the season  regularly attracting over a hundred boats and the headline sponsor of Doom bar…

However we digress, so back to this weekend,  45 Merlin Rockets  took part. This is a class which we  at P&B  have spent an enormous amount of time developing the rig and sails for. Results are showing well for P&B with the P&B race team of Dave Winder and James Dawes losing out on the overall title only on count back. However strong evidence of the consistency of the speed of the sails was shown this weekend  with Chris Jennings and Ally Martin arriving at the event and pulling up a set of  P&B sails for the first time….

As Chris remarked :-

 “ We found the jib easy to use, it wasn’t too sensitive to over tightening (and stalling) the leech… We didn’t get any chance to do any “measured” tuning so everything was by feel – and we hardly touched the lowers”

This all contributed (alongside some fine Salcombe sailing im sure!) to an excellent top 5 overall for Chris. As an acknowledgement to this class we are offering for a limited period of one week only 10% off P&B merlin rocket sails. Please contact Dave at sailloft@pinbax.com  or phnoe 01604 592808.

That just about concludes this week’s blog. However thought we would end with this rather natty looking hull:-

P&B are undertaking a major project to keep this Dutchman flying, this is one of the most extensive repair works undertaken for a while almost a complete rebuild and fit out but we love the almost camouflage appearance of the hull as it is at the moment.

Hot off the press:-  My reliable inhouse weather guru (aka Charlotte Farmer) has just informed me that we are looking at sunny and breezy being the offical terminology! Rumour has it 17degrees no less on Sunday (and wind to match) So time to dust off the rash vests/light shorts and buy the new sunny’s…Enjoy the sailing