Cuore Sportivo (Beneteau 25)
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Penguin Power
(Beneteau 25)
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Thunder 2
(Mills 37) |
Blyth Spirit (X-332)
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Celavie
(X-332)
|
Pindar
(Open 50) |
Roaring Meg
(Ker IRM 10.7m)
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Quokka
(IRM 9m)
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Quickbrew
(Dehler 39) |
Fandango
(First 40.7) |
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2000 in focus: yacht racing
Beneteau 25
2000 was another great year for Banks-powered Beneteau 25s, with many
wins across Britain and Europe. Between them, Nigel Biggs' Dickies
Yacht Sales, Geoff Gibbons' Penguin Power (left) and George DuPuis'
Cuore Sportivo (left) accounted for the following victories, each
time with our sails on board!
Red Funnel Easter Challenge
Tarbert Scottish Series
Primo Cup, Monaco
RMYC Spring Series
Welsh Sportsboat Championships
Rolex Cup, Malta
Two-Handed Round Malta
Abersoch Keelboat Week
Thunder 2
In May, Robbie Boulter launched his new one-off Mills 37 (left). Thunder
2 sports a full suit of Banks sails, including a Cuben
Fiber upwind inventory.
With its non-overlapping carbon rig and asymmetric spinnaker, the
boat has already shown its potential in short-handed races as well
as finishing third in class at Cowes Week and a fifth in the Hamble
Winter Series. Plans for 2001 include the Fastnet Race.
X-332
With this extremely popular class growing in numbers all the time,
Banks Sails has been working hard to keep our customers at the front
of the fleet.
Ian Dawson's Xplorer showed great speed at the Nationals with her
new Banks sails, but lost out when a sail from another loft let him
down! Roger Lean took Celavie (left, below) to a second successive
win at the Torbay Royal Regatta
in August, and during October Malcolm Blyth sailed Blyth Spirit (left,
above), the first X-332 in Scotland, to victory at the Carl
Dyson Regatta. Malcolm is now adding to Blyth Spirit's inventory
with a Checkmate Kevlar Light No 1 and Series 2000 Runner for 2001.
Pindar
Congratulations to Emma Richards, who sailed the Banks-powered Open
50 Pindar (left) to victory in Class 2 of the Europe 1 New Man Star
Singlehanded Transatlantic Race.
IRM successes
For 2000 we had a new rating rule - IRM. Starting with the Warsash
Spring Series and continuing at major regattas around the country,
IRM fleets have generally been relatively small but the quality has
been very high.
Some of the best domestic racing took place in the English
Team Trials for the Commodores Cup. In this mixture of inshore
and offshore racing the Banks Sails-powered IRM 9m Quokka (left, below)
clinched selection as the small boat in the England Blue Team.
The most talked-about boat of the regatta was the Ker IRM 10.7m Roaring
Meg II (left), which was shaping up to by the top boat of the event
until losing her rig at the start of the long offshore race which
was eventually won by Quokka.
Roaring Meg's inventory was a development of Quokka's, and in the
light breeze at the beginning of the event she was often seen racing
around the course in the middle of the much higher rated Farr 40s!
West Country Regattas
Late August heralded the traditional end-of-season regattas at Torquay
and Dartmouth. Banks Sails-powered boats are regularly in the results
here and 2000 was no different.
The Torbay Royal Regatta
saw the first competitve outing of Alan Meredith's new Dehler 39,
Quick Brew (left), which carries a full suit of Banks sails. Lacking
in running time and with a new crew, Alan managed a very creditable
third in IRC 1 behind an IMX 40 and an HOD.
For competitors in IRC 2 it was an all-too-familiar story as Roger
Lean's local X-332 Celavie repeated her win of 1999. For 2000 Roger
had added a Series 2000 Runner to his inventory, complementing his
existing Banks Sails wardrobe.
At Dartmouth, Banks boats
were even more dominant! In the large Class 1 fleet, David Scanlan's
First 40.7, Fandango (left), showed good speed across the variable
conditions to win with a day to spare. Fandango's inventory included
a new Checkmate Kevlar Mainsail and PBO Medium/Heavy No 1.
IRC 2 was won by Peter Johnson's X-302 Blues Xtra, whichwas equipped
with a new Banks Sails Kevlar Sport Mainsail and AP No 1.
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