Details: Open to fast dinghies and catamarans, the East Coast Piers Race is a major charity event raising funds to support “The Cirdan Trust” to further support their important work with socially or physically disadvantaged children. The race is based at Marconi Sailing Club on the River Blackwater in Essex and goes all the way up the East Coast to Walton and back again. There are three-course options available, the Bradwell Race – 13 miles long and open to fast dinghies. The Colne Point Race – 27 miles long and open to fast dinghies and Catamarans. And the Endurance Race, the full ECPR which is 48 miles long open to Catamarans only. Saturday features a round the cans shakedown race with an excellent party in the evening.
There are new product launches, personal appearances by Team Allen sailors and on-stand promotions for visitors to the Allen stand, C82 at this year’s RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show on March 3-4 at Alexandria Palace, London.
At 10:30am on the Class Association Stage in the Great Hall, the results of the 2017 Allen Performance Challenge will be announced as part of the presentation of the GJW Direct Winter Series and a new championship, the Allen Endurance Series will be announced.
At 3:00pm on Saturday 3rd, on the Allen Stand C82 in the Main Hall, Team Allen sailors who tested the pre-production prototype of the new A2345 and A2360 Autoratchet blocks will be describing how they perform. There will be three other products launched, the new A2020XHL and A2040XHL additions to the highly successful Allen eXtreme High Load (XHL) family and the new A5266 angled mainsheet jammer.
The new A5266 Mainsheet Jammer from Allen Brothers is an ingeniously simple solution to a common sailing problem. Most people who have sailed a dinghy with a centre mounted mainsheet system will have come across the age old issue of the mainsheet jammer not rotating to the correct orientation after a tack or gybe therefore causing the mainsheet to get wrapped or twisted. This hardware malfunction slows the manoeuvre and can lead to a lost race or, in rough conditions, a capsize.
Standard mainsheet jammer systems usually have the block centrally located above the swivel meaning there is no turning force to swivel the block and jammer to the correct angle. By moving the block outward from the swivel and angling it away from the cleat, the new A5266 mainsheet system creates turning force on the block and jammer meaning the cleat will always be forced to point away from the boom and towards the helm. This prevents the sheet from wrapping round the block and gives extra control for fast, smooth tacks and gybes.
“It is one of those ideas which is so simple you wonder why no-one else thought of it”, explains Liz Adams, Managing Director of Allen Brothers. “Our design team has been busy this year with a range of new products coming off the drawing board and into production.”
The Essex, UK based manufacturer will also be launching its eagerly awaited new auto ratchet blocks, the A2345 and A2360. Allen has redesigned the auto ratchet and the new range will be the first to use the “X2” twin locking pawls, the British company claims “it will combine outstanding holding power in strong wind conditions with exceptional light airs performance.”
The performance sailing hardware manufacturer’s design team has been working on the project for over a year and the prototypes have been tested by Team Allen sailors. In fact the prototype 45mm auto ratchet already has several world class wins to its credit.
Visitors to the Allen stand, C82 can enter a quiz to win a pair of Allen branded sunglasses. By simply completing the quiz, based on information in the Allen Performance Sailing Magazine inserted in the free show guide, each completed entry gets a cool pair of shades.
To find out more, you can follow Allen Brothers on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/allen sailing/ or you can go to the website www.allenbrothers.co.uk/dinghyshow
Allen Brothers Is Hiring
Due to high and growing levels of demand, Allen Brothers has vacancies for:
Welder / Fabricator
Assembly staff
Part Time Driver (Transit Connect)
Working from its factory in Southminster, Essex, Allen Brothers manufactures high performance sailing equipment for domestic and export markets. Allen products are used by individual members of the British Sailing team and numerous National, European and World Champion sailors. Quality and precision are demanded by our customers and we demand it of our staff. In turn, we offer interesting work and competitive remuneration.
Wednesday 26th of April Team Allen Skiff sailors made a big impression at Hyeres. Following their Win at Miami in January, Dylan Fletcher and Stu Bithell are looking to maintain their winning streak coming first in races 3, 4, and 6, allowing them to hold on to first place and regain battle honours against team mates Fynn Sterrit and James Peters who are currently residing 5th in the 49er class.
New pairing for 2017, Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey in the 49er FX are working their way up the fleet and intent on learning lessons from the first two events. Following a promising 11th for the new pair in Miami they are now second in Hyeres and hot on the heels of first place with two wins in races 4 and 5. Speaking to Charlotte earlier this week she stated “The forecast looks like we could see some big easterly days with great waves so we are resting up today ready to come out firing tomorrow.”
As the second World cup event of the season gets under way at Hyeres, 23-30 April, nine Team Allen sailors are representing British sailing and each of them has a story to tell. Chris Rashley’s foiling experience was intended to drive his campaign in the foiling Nacra 17, but as supply issues mean the new foiling boats are not ready, he will be looking to improve on the creditable 13th place he achieved at the Princess Sofia. Similarly, Martin Wrigley and Taylor in the 470 will be looking to put behind them the bad luck which has dogged them in the opening event of the season at Miami and Palma.
Both teams in the 49er and 49erFX classes are currently using the A4866FX swiveling jib cleat designed and developed by Allen specifically for Team Allen and now available to the public. Similarly when talking to Charlotte about the new products she stated “Our particular favourites are the new lightweight thimbles which first of all look great but have allowed us to do some cool upgrades to our control systems. After a couple weeks testing out the new boat we will be going to the World Cup Final in Santander in June.”
Allen Brothers MD Liz Adams added, “As a company we have a long track record of working with sailors to design and deliver innovative products to the market. As we work together I am sure we will contribute to achieving each other’s goals. We are excited to see all our team doing so well at these events. We all at Allen want to wish our Allen sailors the best of luck in the final round of the world cup in June.”
This year’s RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace will provide a showcase for a range of new products from Allen Brothers, the leading UK manufacturer of performance sailing hardware.
Two new boats have pride of place on the Allen stand, C82. The International 14 from Composite Craft and the new Solo from the Boat Yard at Beer. Both feature full Allen fit-outs and custom fabrication. Composite Craft’s International 14 features Allen track and traveler systems for the jib and kicker. It is a sister ship to Katie Nurton’s Hollom mk 2 design which won the Prince of Wales trophy in 2016. Gavin Tappenden at Composite Craft also built the spars and foils and described the design as a natural progression from the last, which won 2 World Championships in the hands of Glen Truswell.
The Solo from The Boat Yard at Beer also uses Allen hardware throughout. Kevin Driver explains, “Every aspect of the Solo was considered in the search for improvement. New foil moulds were CAD designed and 5-axis CNC machined to ensure trueness and consistency of build. In combination with the enhancements to the rig this means the boat’s overall handling and speed of the hull is an improvement over earlier designs.”
The Allen stand will also be the place to meet Team Allen sailors such as reigning World and European 2.4m Champion Megan Pascoe (Sunday Noon). The winner of the Allen Most Improved Award, run over the SailJuice / GJW Direct Winter Series will be presented with his prize at 10:30 on Saturday Morning in the Coaching Area.
Mainsheet systems figure large, with a big cat dedicated 60mm system featuring the A2069/A2169 “Quint” pairing will be on show on the stand. There will also be a presentation by Vince Horey, Head of UK Sales for Allen Brothers, on the Osprey stand.
Deck fittings are not forgotten either with a colourful range of anodized aluminium deck bushes, “Dog Bones” and Thimbles to help identify individual rope systems. Examples can be found on the nearby Ovington stand with the 29er and 49er Skiffs.
“We have now become a regular fixture at the Show”, explained Managing Director Liz Adams, “with our new boats, Team Allen sailors, giveaways and quiz complementing our new product launches it is always busy and makes for an enjoyable but hectic start to the sailing season.”
Allen Brothers at METS Trade 2016
Allen Brothers will be exhibiting at METS Trade in Amsterdam.
Allen Brothers is proud to support the Wayfarer class and sponsor the Wayfarer Worlds in Heeg, Fiesland from 16-22 July. http://worlds.wayfarer.nl/en/race/
Team Allen at the RS Feva Nationals
Dylan Collingbourne at the 2016 Feva Nationals
The RS Feva National Championships 2016 were held a Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. This was the event that mattered, as this was the major event practice before the Worlds that are being held in Santander, Spain. We made good progress in the qualifying, in 8th overall out of the 110 boats.
In the morning we got a 29th, 15th and a 14th. But in the afternoon, near the front of the fleet, our jib halyard snapped. At the end of the Monday we were laying 16th overall and 22nd at the finish. Although disappointing, the result was an improvement on last year.
After this event our aim for the worlds is a definite top 10 finish, podium if the winds favor us. The thought we take away from Weymouth is that we still need to get more practice in the heavy wind sailing, as as a team we haven’t done many races in heavy winds, conditions which should prevail in our next event, the Grand Prix in Brightlingsea. Dylan Collingbourne, Team Allen
What Has Chris Rashley Been Up To This Year?
Chris Rashley Moth Worlds 2016
What Have I Been Up To? This year I have mostly been:
boat handling, racing and equipment testing at Stokes Bay and Weymouth With Ben Paton and Dylan Fletcher. Training hard at Pinnacle Gym in Hamble 5 days a week.
Queen Mary GP 1st
Datchet GP 3rd
Parkstone GP 1st
Japanese Moth Nationals 2nd
2016 Moth World Championships Japan 2nd Chris Rashley, Team Allen
