Category Archives: Sails

Sail Numbers – Putting Them in The Right Place…!!

If you have new sails, you’ll be wanting to get the numbers and insignia on them – and if you race internationally then you’ll want your country code as well.

Where is this all defined? Read through your Class rules first, and then for at least the international classes, you’ll need to check what it says in the Radio Sailing Appendix (E) of World Sailing’s rules…. subsection “G”.

Most of it is there I think, letter size(min max), gaps, which side is highest (starboard), distance between rows and all of that.

You can use stick on numbers if they comply, but I feel most people use an indelible pen. BG Design does great stencils in the correct size (if you tape them together, you have the correct gaps) and can supply an appropriate pen. In the end, I went to the local stationers and bought two indelible pens – a superfine and a chisel ended felt pen (much more versatile than a round point).

I taped the BG stencils in place, traced around with the superfine. The error to avoid is ink leaking under the stencil, so keep the pen moving quite quickly. Then I removed the stencils and used the chisel ended pen to “colour in” the outlines. Worked well. There are some good hints and tips on the Sailsetc website. Worth a read.

https://www.sailsetc2.com/index.php/products-by-class/international-one-metre-class/sails/sail-identification/stencil-for-rg65-insignia.html

Take a look at Rules Appendix E here:-

The Rigs is The Expensive Bit? Well, …Start with Fewer Rigs Maybe??

In One Metres we have three rigs – big, medium and small. Easy to get your head around ! In Marbleheads, there seem to be …loads of them. If you are buying a used boat, simply take what’s on offer and get going. If you are buying a new boat, what do you do?

Wise people in the Fleet say:-

  • for Club racing, have three rigs (A, B and C) and that will be fine
  • For racing Open Meetings maybe four
  • For National and International, maybe five

In the current times, the fashion seems to be that A is a swing rig (just starting with the class? don’t worry…), and then B and C’ smaller rigs are conventional rigs. So really …big, medium, small just like the IOMs…. What else is there?

Well, you can get C2 and C3, which are based on the C rig geometry and C2 and C3 have progressively lower rig heights for windier days. You can, from some sail makers, also get B2, B3 which are based on the B rig but with progressively lower rig heights. Plus I’m told that B2 is even smaller than C3…. At least, I think that’s it!! Head spinning???!! Don’t worry!!

There is quite a good explanation here:-

http://www.docplayer.net/21859555-Choosing-Rigs-for-Marblehead-Class-Yachts.html

Hilariously, I always tell people that our club has 80-90% of its race days at 12mph breeze and below. So a sail wardrobe of A,B & C will be fine.

As I write (July 2023), the last four sundays have had enough breeze to blow your head off. Probably C3 days… all of them… Terribly exciting with Marbleheads. Anyway, you can only be wrong!! For myself, I’ve decided to start on A,B,C.

For the F6, we get our rigs from here, Red Ant Yachts. They supply A,B,C,C2,C3 :-

http://www.redantradioyachts.com/sails-and-rigs

If you are in UK, there is a UK Red Ant distributor in the shape of the fabulous K7yachts.