Dave vs. Goliath

Dave Ullman has been in and at the top of this game for so long we tend to take him for granted. That kind of talent doesn't come easy, even if he often makes it seem so. We caught up for a quick update - Enjoy.

How is the sailmaking world from Ullman Sails' perspective?:

DU
We are having the start of our very best year. We are the busiest we have ever been.

How have you remained competitive in a global corporate sailmaking environment?

DU
We stress local service. Each customer is very important to us - we convey that and I think people responded very favorably to that. They are the foundation of our business.

You guys now have a string sail, Fiberpath. Tell us about it:

DU
Fiberpath is our entry into the string sail market. The main difference in our product is it is laminated on an industrial laminater. This has solved the delamination problems as it is laminated under many tons of pressure instead of a vacuum (60 lbs of pressure). We have picked Technora as our fiber of choice. It has a much better tolerance to UV degradation than Kevlar, which. Carbon is on the way, however!

What new projects are you currently involved with?

DU
I have been working with the Genuine Risk group and will do the upcoming Cabo and Transpac races with them. That is a great looking boat and I am excited to sail with them - (maybe build some sails too - Ed) Also I am putting a Melges 24 project together for the December. Worlds in Florida. I still sail almost every weekend with our local customers. Some things never change!

And the America's Cup will find you where?:

DU
I have been talking to a group about coaching, but nothing formal at this time.

Ullman Sails have always been at our near the top of a ton of OD classes. How do you explain that?

DU
Ullman Sails has had a long commitment to One Design. We see this as the true hot bed of sailing. It is the only place to truly test designs. The information we learn spurs the rest of our development. For us, it's been a long pattern of success.

The word is that Ullman big boat asso's are fast. Why?

DU
They are so fast because of our years of One Design development. Since I do a majority of the design work, all I learn from one design goes into our big boat Assos. This allows use to have a real test platforms in the real world. I think we have a real-world advantage there.

Tell our readers about the new Inshore Series regatta that you guys are not only sponsoring, but actually running:

DU
We saw a need to get more PHRF boats out sailing. After looking at the entries for the four major regattas in So Cal last year, it was apparent most boats were not doing all the regattas. We talked to many of the owners and found a high point series would get more people sailing more races. We were happy to run it as it is a scoring regatta.

Why do this - aren't there enough regattas for people to do?

DU
There are too many regattas actually. This way maybe more boats will pick less regattas and a few will have a much better turnout.

In your opinion, where is the next development in the sport?

DU
The next development need to be a new and good rating rule. I do not see it around the corner. For the time being PHRF is the best around.

Thanks Dave.

DU
Any time. We all read your site, btw.