Alex aboard English Braids
|
One Dream - One Mission when called Kingfisher
and raced by Ellen MacArthur in the Route Du Rhum
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Peter Holmberg (blue spinnaker) leads the field
at the Colorcraft Gold Cup
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A view of Hoodlum's new Banks Checkmate Kevlar
Sport Light/Medium No 1 Genoa
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Dragon
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Blaus III
(3/4 tonner)
|
VM Materiaux (Globe 50)
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Quickbrew
(Dehler 39)
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Thunder 2
(Mills 37)
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Celavie
(X-332) |
Pindar
(Open 50) |
|
10.12
"Fantastic sails!"
Tim Gabriel recently took delivery of a new
set of Banks Sails Kevlar Smoke sails
for his J 105 Moontiger III, and promptly took second place
in the Bowsprit Class at the Hamble Winter Series!
"The new main and jib have been fantastic sails, we are
very happy with the way they performed", he said.
26.11
Transat Jaques Vabre Victory For Alex Bennett
and Banks Sails
At 0424 GMT on 22 November Alex Bennett and
Paul Larsen sailed the Thompson-designed One Dream - One Mission
into Bahia, Brazil to win the Open 50 Division of the Transat
Jaques Vabre. This was a very impressive win against some formidable
opposition sailing much newer designs. Alex was last in the
limelight as a skipper back in 1999 when he sailed English Braids
(left) to a fantastic fifth in the 1999 Mini Transat, powered
by Banks Sails.
One Dream - One Mission, now seven years old, is the famous
yellow Open 50 which was called Aqua Corum when sailed by Pete
Goss in the Vendee Globe (left, below). At Banks Sails we have
been involved with the boat since it was first launched and
through its many subsequent changes of identity.
A few hours earlier Richard Tolkein and Robert Wingate had finished
aboard the Open 60 This Time which was equipped with a new Banks
Series 2000 All Purpose Asymmetric for the race. Richard and
Robert successfully achieved their objective of arriving in
Brazil aboard the now relatively aged This Time within 48 hours
of the first boat in their division.
9.11
Peter Holmberg wins Colorcraft Gold Cup
Peter Holmberg (left below) won this year's Colorcraft Gold
Cup which was held from the 14th - 21st October at the Royal
Bermuda Yacht Club. The event, which is part of the Swedish
Match Tour, was sailed in IODs flying Banks Sails.
17.10
Moontiger wins with new Banks sails
On October the 5th we delivered a new Checkmate Kevlar Mainsail
and Class Jib for Tim Gabriel's J105 Moontiger. As Race 1 of
the Hamble Winter Series was cancelled due to very strong winds
Tim hoisted the sails for the first time just prior to Race
2 on Sunday 12th. Moontiger then went on to win the Bowsprit
Class by nearly two minutes on corrected time. Banks Sails -
fast straight out of the bag!
2.8
Hoodlum wins with new Banks sail, too!
I joined Peter Jones and crew aboard his X-332
Hoodlum (left) for Race 2 of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club
Summer Series. As well as participating in the Race we also
wanted to evaluate the new Checkmate Kevlar Sport Light/Medium
No.1 Genoa we had just built for the boat.
Conditions were ideal for checking out the sail with a light
south-westerly breeze of around 5-8 knots. We hoisted it prior
to the start, it looked great and we registered good boatspeed.
The race itself was a succession of short beats and runs across
Southampton Water as well as a couple of spinnaker reaches.
After plenty of mark roundings to keep the crew busy we managed
to be first across the line, beating the Prima 38 Serendip by
a couple of minutes on the water!
This left us with a win on corrected time from the Laser 28
Blazer followed by the Hunter 707 Touchdown.
26.7
Breathe fire with Banks' new Dragon sails!
Over the past year our chief sail designer Hugh Myers has been
working with Andy Cassell of sister loft Ratsey & Lapthorn
to develop our Dragon designs (left).
At the recent Edinburgh Cup regatta at Falmouth Andy showed
good speed with the new sails, the Mainsail and Spinnaker in
particular receiving favourable comments from many of the fleet.
Following on from the experience gained at the regatta Hugh
and Andy are now fine-tuning our Genoa design.
To find out more contact Hugh Myers
at Banks Sails on 01489 582444 or Andy
Cassell at Ratsey & Lapthorn on 01983 294051.
19.7
"We don't give them a chance!"
From Pedro Arsenio's (Blaus III) recent e-mail
to Banks' Hugh Myers...
"We won another great regatta last weekend. It was the
IX Volta ao Algarve / Andaluzia, one of the most important regattas
in Portugal.
It was our fifth regatta this year and - guess what? - we've
won all of them!
The boat is sailing very fast because we sail against the X
3/4-ton MKII and we don't give them a chance!"
28.3
Top-ranked FD sails!
Banks FD sails are on top of the world! Following a super-successful
year in 2000, Banks customers find themselves well placed in
the Class's World Ranking List. Top-placed of all is German
sailor Kai-Uwe Lüdtke who won the German Championship and
a number of other major European events using Banks sails.
Don't forget also that British pair, John Best and James Cole,
were placed third at the World Championship and that Banks customers
took all of the podium places at the British National Championship,
Peter and Andrew Weeks filling the top spot once again, chased
hard by the Best and Cole pairing.
All of the Banks FD sails are the work of our designer Hugh
Myers, himself an FD sailor, former National Champion and Olympic
Coach. For more information contact Hugh
at the loft.
In Germany contact our agent, Marco
Haase.
28.3
Banks takes you "higher and faster"!
...and while we're in Germany, we recently produced a Cuben
Fiber No.1 Genoa for the German X-332 Fix Oder Nix. During his
first race with the new sail, owner Alex Kruger commented that
his boat was "...going higher and faster than ever before...".
To discuss how Banks Sails can give you the edge call Roger
Cerrato at the loft.
27.2
Banks Sails for X-Yacht UK's X-332
Following on from our extensive sail development
programme carried out in the
X-332 class over the past couple of seasons we are very pleased
to have been selected by X-Yachts UK to produce sails for their
latest works boat.
More
21.2
Banks Sails in Vendee Globe race
Read what Patrice Carpentier onboard Vendee
yacht VM Materiux (above left) had to say about how his Banks
Asymmetric spinnaker coped with the worst the Southern Ocean
had to offer...
More
5.2
2000 in focus: yacht racing (see
pics, left)
A chance to take a look at some of our most
memorable moments from the past year.
More
5.2
Market grows for Banks in Germany
Having developed a strong relationship with
our new German agent, the future for our Banks Sails in Germany
looks promising.
More
5.2
Banks at the Paralympics
Powering the Sonar fleet at the very highest level...
More
1.2
Carbon sails legal!
Carbon sails are now allowed without penalty in IRM, IRC and
IMS racing.
Contact us now to see how you can
gain the competitive advantage!
29.1
Boat Show 2001
Even with attendance slightly down, this year's
London Boat Show was one of our best for years.
More
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