Maui Monday: 11/28-12/5/11
by Graham
Testing a new sail on a taka.
Maui now is racing forward into the winter. We’ve had big swells already, and more are forecasted for the end of this week. Fingers crossed for wind.
With the close of November came an end to a month of filming with umi. That time was wonderful with days centered on sailing and getting footage. i.e., going to the beach at 11am, sailing till dark, and going through footage basically every other waking minute. Lots of fun with equal parts work.
umi has a lot in the works at the moment. One example is the Bonaire editing competition: http://www.umipictures.com/promotions/bonaire11/. The winner wins a trip for 2 to Bonaire, so if you’ve got any interest in editing, check it out.
As the winter wears on, the winds get less consistent here on the rock. But at the moment, the conditions are still good enough to test sails. And boy are there sails to test! My dad and Kevin Pritchard have been doing a ton of testing while I’ve been filming and now I need put my time in. With new designs every week, there’s a lot of work to do. But it seems to be paying off; I really loved the prototype I tried on Saturday.
Some site maintenance: now there is a “films” section that features some of my collaborations with umi. Also, the “Pro Tips” heading was remove but the tips can still be found in the archives. If anyone has a specific request for Pro Tips (or anything else), let me know via the comments.
I found this photo below from a magazine scan of Apple products available in the 80s. Enjoy:
I wonder if they tested this sail much? Lots of luff curve and 2 battens? Hmmm...
This seems to be a four batten panther or tiger? It must be light for sure but is it stable enough in gusty top end conditions?
I’ve used it in strong, overpowering winds, and it’s perfectly stable. It seems to have the ability to adjust itself in a micro way so that it always feel light and easy in the hands. We will NOT make a 4 batten sail that is a compromise. If an Ezzy 4 batten will go into production, it will be better– in every respect– than the 5 batten sail.