Why Not

Butch Ulmer tells us why the UK/Doyle merger ended up a No Go:

Based on what I read on Sailing Anarchy, I guess some comments are in order so here goes: Given the size of the UK and Doyle groups, there was a wide divergence of opinion among the loft owners regarding the benefits of the merger. That said, the geographic fit seemed good and the aspirations of the management of both groups were complimentary.

That led to the signing of the "Agreement in Principal". However as the saying goes, "the devil is in the details". As we got further and further into those details, issues that originally seemed insignificant became significant and in some cases reached a difficult level. At this point, we reevaluated things and made the decision that was announced yesterday. Our "parting of the ways" was businesslike and cordial.

Best regards,

Butch Ulmer

12/16/04

Off Again

The on again, off again, on again merger between UK and Doyle is, well, you guessed it, off again. We have heard some inside scoop, but we'll wait until we hear from Butch Ulmer before we give some details. Jeez, you'd think these two companies could get this a bit more together, yes?

12/14/04

2 Up

There are two confirmed orders for the new Donovan 37, a project put together by Novis Composites, C&C Custom Yachts and designer Jim Donovan. We believe they need five orders to get the ball in play. Unabashed fans of Donovan's talents, we think this is going to be a superb boat, capable of doing a lot of things very well at a very resonable price. Let's go people!

12/14/04

West to Worst?

When you announce that your new CEO was most recently CEO of the professional football San Francisco 49ers, arguably the worst team in football, what do you expect?

We keed, we keed. West Marine announced Peter Harris, indeed from the Niners, as their new CEO. Here's the story.

We wonder if he'll sign off on West employees sending negative e-mails to our advertisers too?

12/10/04

The Future

Butch Ulmer of UK Sailmakers and Robbie Doyle of Doyle Sailmakers signed a letter of agreement to merge their companies into a new sailmaking company to be called Doyle-UK Sailmakers.The goal is to provide a more comprehensive network of lofts to enhance customer service, improve productivity, and bring new products to the market.

11/19/04

Name Game

TPI Composites, builders of J-Boats and Pearson Yachts is now known as Pearson Composites. This comes from the sale to the Landmark Capital investment group based in Boston, Massachusetts, which also bought the rights to the TPI name. Read more.

11/18/04  

Bush Good for Boating?

According to the folks at National Marine Manufacturers Association, the Bush Presidential win is good for business. Great, so now in addition to the Jesus freaks, the anti-abortionists, the homophobic, and the anti stem cell research morons, the boating industry is happy. Hallelujah.

11/04/04

Makeover - Update

We hear of a new 32 under way at Melges. It is based on the 30 hull (which is 32' actually), and seems like a fine place to start. They are going to add a canting keel and a new rig with non-overlaping jibs. R/P has done the design work and this should be one quick boat. We'll be curious to see where they price it and of course will get you what info we can.

Look for the new 32 to be seen at Key West Race Week this upcoming January, then again at the Strictly Sail Show in Chicago. We hope to get you some drawings soon.

10/28/04

Composite Attack

SP Systems is widely recognized as the best composite engineering and technology solutions company in the marine industry. Now it looks like Uncle Sam needs their help in the Defense industry as well.

10/26/04

Must Be Nice

Sure, 2004 was a good year for many, but it looks like 2005 might be better, for some at least 144 more new luxury boats are on order than there were for this year. That is something like over one billion more dollars of Livin' Large by the wealthy elite. Granted that number includes power boats as well, but still the numbers are huge. Read the full story here. Thanks to IBI News.

10/21/04

TP 52 Uber Alles

The Farr boys have orders for at least four new 52's (Med bound), and we know of a number of other designers, both big name and not so who have a 52 on the boards for a client. By 2005 there may well be 19 of these things roaming the planet. This is now the de facto class for big boat sailing and as we've always said, this is the way it should be.

10/18/04

Training Wheels

The new Bruce Kirby designed Pixel, a small OD designed for beginner and intermediate junior sailors, has just been launched. We're far too lazy to actually write an article, so we'll do what a "competitor" does every single day - we'll just link to someone else. Ah, here's to doing almost nothing and actually admitting it!

10/14/04

New and Better?

We've got some pretty exciting news about a brand new 37' that not only should be fast, versatile and good looking, but is going to be built and sold by a new and creative group that might really be on to something. Details to follow shortly.

10/14/04

Merger Ahead!

Good bet that a couple of the big names in sailmaking are going to merge, with a pretty significant technology change as well. Look for ownership and controlling interests to change too. Stay tuned.

09/07/04

Inside

The J/100

Much talk about the new J/100 on the forum prompted me to ask Jeff Johnstone about the boat, specifically why no sprit. Here is his reply. -Ed.

We actually started without a spinnaker (which is the class rules config), trying to keep the sailplan simple to reinforce the solo-sailing aspect of the boat and not take anything away from the J/105 program. Then we thought it would be a cool option to be able to pre-rig a rolled up asymmetrical off the stem, before leaving the dock, so that by yourself, you could easily deploy/roll the big sail without leaving the cockpit. As long as you’re not trying to maximize the size of the A-Sail for the sprit length, there’s not a huge difference between taking a smaller kite from the stemhead and the same kite from an extended sprit. If an owner wanted to seriously PHRF race the boat, using a spinnaker, the current set-up would allow the flexibility to go with A-sail off the stem head, A-Sail off a long pole, or conventional.

As you know, we have many sprit and non-sprit owners, and we thought it would be fun to create a performance boat that might aspire to both as a great family day boat, whether one wanted an A-Sail, a conventional kite or no spinnaker at all.

Thanks,

Jeff Johnstone
J Boats, Inc.

01/30/2004

There Might One For You!

The usual trend in boatbuilding is to overseas for production - labor and exchange rates usually result in a less expensive boat. In a bit of a role reversal, we were surprised to hear that a company that we hadn't heard of, Whittley Cruisers of Melbourne, Australia, had purchased an old power boat production facility in Willacoochie, Georgia. The plan is to "fill the lack of affordable small cruisers, 25 ft. and below, available to the US market."

Hey who even knew such a market existed, but we're always interested to see the latest in Aussie cruisers. So check out Whittley Cruisers, there might be one for you. Ha!

01/23/2004

The Latest

Mast Men

We are super stoked to announce Novis Composites as the newest advertiser to land here at SA. Headed by Dave Hulse, one of the most dedicated and knowledgeable spar builders in the industry, Novis is already making impressive strides, building carbon rigs for the Farr 40 Class, Tartan and C&C, along with some high profile custom projects. Novis brings a new approach to the art and science of building in composites, and you need to see what they are all about. We'll present more detail about Novis soon. In the meantime check out their website and tell 'em you saw it here!

01/22/2004

The Replacement

Out here on the West Coast, one of the founders of Quantum Sails, Norman Davant, is leaving his post in Frisco (while still retaining his investment with Q) to become the J/Boat dealer in No Cal. The question is, who will replace Davant? They are rumored to be bringing in somebody of note, but that likely means they'll be stealing someone with good credentials from another loft. (We understand that the new guy is not from another loft. Even harder to establish oneself as a top level "sailmaker" when you weren't one before. - Ed). And they'll have to pay him more too. Guesses, anyone?

01/20/2004

Worth A Look

We are putting together a couple of different groups of sail comparisons - one for so-called (by us at least) string sails, and another for what are now thought of as conventional sails, that being paneled construction. One interesting consideration is Cuben Fiber, a fabric that would seem to be thought of as outside of the realm of most people's consideration. Like any smart business man and company, RJ Downs, President of the Cuben Fiber Corporation, contacted us right away, asking to be thrown into the ring, and of course it makes sense to look at what Cuben Fiber is about. As a sidebar, I am constantly amazed how many people in a similar position as Downs, not only fail to show some enthusiasm and aggressiveness by getting our attention with their products or services, but actually don't even bother to respond when we send out queries. Incredible. Regardless, here is what Downs wanted to share about their material. Of course keep in mind that these are his opinions and his statistics, but are interesting enough to pay attention to. -Ed.

I read your piece on sail technology comparisons. Although we are not sailmakers per se we feel we have technology that that is relevant and that merits consideration. We would like to throw our hat into the ring and be part of the shoot out. Contrary to popular misconception Cuben Fiber technology is neither overly expensive nor is it restricted to paneled sails. It has been proven to combine both very high performance and exceptional durability. For example Mega Catamarans such as Playstation, Team Adventure and Geronimo have had Cuben Fiber sails that have went around the world and came back in near new condition despite the fact that sails weighed at least 40% less than competing technologies. Read on.

01/19/2004