New Allen Products at The RYA Dinghy Show

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

Aaron Evans Joins Team Allen

I am a competitive Topper sailor and now a part of Team Allen. I have been racing on the national circuit for two years and have been selected to join RYA Topper National Junior Squad.

My home club is Silver Wing Sailing Club based near Heathrow and I also train at Queen Mary Sailing Club. My recent achievements include: coming 5th at Poole National Series 1; winning the South East Topper Zone Champs and winning both the Queen Mary Sailing Club and Bosham Sailing Club Topper Open events.

Allen Brothers generously support me with high quality racing equipment for my Topper so I can rig my boat effectively with the knowledge that the products have been rigorously tested by some of the best sailors in the world.

Last weekend I trained with national squad at Rutland Sailing Club. There was a good breeze and we sailed both days with the aim of improving tactics and strategy.

My ambitions for the coming year include achieving a top ten place in the upcoming Topper National events. I hope that I can win some of the regional Topper Traveller events but there are some very good sailors in the region. I will be attending the Topper Worlds, to be held in China, which will be a fantastic sailing opportunity and even better if I get a good placing.  Here’s hoping that I will get some good results in 2018.

James Peters and Fynn Sterrit 2017 Review

2017 has been a breakthrough year for Fynn and I. The Princess Sofia Regatta in April of this year was our first major regatta win.  The style of sailing was typical of that in Palma; the thermal winds there demand consistent starts, clever positioning for clear air and the capitalisation of any small gains on the fleet. It was a tight finish but we nonetheless came away with the trophy.

June brought with it the World Cup Final in Santander. Once again we used our strength on the startline combined with an ability to manage the risk associated with changeable conditions to come out on top by the end of the week.

Come July and the European Championships in Kiel were upon us. We sailed a solid week and came away with an Open bronze and European silver medal. With no sailing on the final day, we unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to fight for the gold, but nonetheless, we were very happy with this result.

September brought the climax of the year, the World Championships in Porto. Fog and light winds made for a very relaxed (yet somewhat restless!) start to the championship with no racing for two whole days. When we finally got going, we once again kept our nerves at bay, sailing convincingly and coming away with a silver medal.

2018 will be a year closer to the Tokyo Games, the competition will be tougher, but obviously we intend to rise to this and challenge for the top once again. We are lucky to have an incredible support network around us. Allen Brothers is very much part of that team and we are very grateful to everyone at Allen Brothers to have their support going forwards. Our 49er quite simply has to be kitted out with the best hardware on the market. Working with Allen certainly ensures that box is ticked.

Jamie Harris 2017 Summary

Jamie Harris has had an exciting year. Winning the Cadet Worlds and then transitioning into the 420.

Here is a short summary by Jamie of his year.

2017 started with leaving the Cadet class after winning the World Championships in Argentina in January. Then I fully transitioning into the 420 as a helm, I qualified with my crew Harry Chatterton for the Europeans which were to be held in Athens, whilst also qualifying for the RYA Summer Youth Squad. My summer was absolutely jam packed with sailing, starting with the 420 French Nationals and Europeans which were both extremely tough events and although I was not successful, I learnt a lot and had a huge amount of fun. Then back in England for the RS200 Nationals in which I finished a solid 40th. Whilst I was in Tenby, my sister Bettine Harris, won the Cadet Nationals in Abersoch, granting her entry into the Endeavour Trophy 2017, it being our third Endeavour as a sibling team, however this time I was in the front, the highlight of the event was definitely overtaking Steve Cockerill and beating Ben Saxton to the Windward on the Sunday!

This Autumn, I chose to give crewing a go, and teamed up with Tom Collyer, for our first 420 event as a pair we qualified for RYA Youth Squad, since then there has been a lot of training with our focus being the Summer overseas events next year! Next week I will be heading out to Palamos for the 42nd Christmas Race.

 

All the Allen kit I have used has been absolutely superb and I am extremely proud to be an ambassador, I have relied on Allen shackles and blocks and they have never let me down, especially the blocks for my kicker which runs very smoothly under the extremely high forces. One of my personal favourites is the Allen Aerovane which is slick and smart whilst also staying put on the top of the mast even after a capsize.

Megan Pascoe Update

2017 has been the first year where I have spent more time on dry land than on the water. Coming into the Christmas season it is nice to look back on a successful year as part of Team Allen. The year centred on the 2.4 World Championships in Sneek, Netherlands in which I finished 4th. I was very happy and content with this as it was a very competitive fleet. It was also great to meet up with old friends and new.

2017 also saw some good UK events on some interesting waters including Fowey, Tewkesbury and the Norfolk Broads. Throughout the season I have learnt that a bad day on the water is better than a good day in the office and that good friendships, fun, competitive sailing and cold beer is what sailing is all about.

I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time back club racing at Frensham and being quite like Weir Wood where I grew up it is very much like coming home. 2.4s puddle sail quite well as we can point high and as long as there is wind the keel weight keeps us going. Frensham is the biggest 2.4 club in the country and having so many 2.4s on the start line keeps you on your toes week in week out. I also have been really enjoying getting back into handicap racing especially on a Wednesday night, I can’t think of a better way of spending an evening than messing about on boats.

In the middle of the year I decided to buy a new 2.4. It was a great to be able to choose where I wanted everything on the boat and to look through the Allen catalogue to decide on the best layout. Luckily, as I had run out of holiday time, my dad helped me put my boat together in time for the Antwerp City Cup. A great end of season event in a city that I have grown to love, taking a relatively untested boat into a tough fleet was going to be interesting. There were ups and downs during the event but I managed to come away with the win. The new boat seemed to be going well! The socials added to an already superb week and were as good as always.

Im still getting used to the new boat and I’m learning my new systems and some new Allen parts that I’ve been able to try out. The Allen high load thimbles are my favourite new toy as they seem to have endless uses. They are nice and compact whether tied on with string or inside an eye strap and they fit into tighter spaces than a block.

 

2018 is mostly in the diary now The big one in the calendar is the 2.4 Worlds in Gavle, Sweden. We haven’t been there for 14 years so going back to the country where the 2.4 was invented is always special. Big open sea’s in a beautiful area, it’s all set to be a good event. The hope is also to go to the German Nationals in Berlin which is arguably growing into the toughest fleet.

I’ve also got a few UK based events lined up especially our Nationals which are part of Poole Regatta. Poole treats us well and we always enjoy sailing in the top triangle. I am also planning to get back in the Merlin, hopefully for the end of the Sail Juice series and the Nationals in Lyme Regis where I started our Merlin sailing so it will be nice to go back having now gained more skill in that class.

 

First Sail In the 2.4

Launching The New Boat

Measuring the New Boat

Antwerp City Cup Winner

Ben Hutton-Penman at the Endeavour Trophy

Below is a short summary of the Endeavour Trophy by our Team Allen RS Feva sailor Ben Hutton-Penman.

The Endeavour was a very tough event which I found to be a great experience and learning curve.  It was practice day on Friday with a series of races taking place.  The winds were gusting 30 knots and Lucy and I only suffered one capsize and the practice served to strengthen our resolve and settle our nerves.

The competition took place on Saturday and Sunday with eight long races in testing conditions with winds between 15 and 20 knots and strong tides.  The event got off to the worst possible start for Lucy and I with a breakage of a mainsail halyard forcing us to retire on the start line of the first race.  As you can imagine I was extremely upset but a temporary repair was done and I refocused to lead off the start in the 2nd race with Ben Sexton (2015-16-17 Champion).

We put together seven very consistent races and were never out of the top 20 with a best result of a 10th to finish 16th overall and top junior.  I absolutely loved the whole experience, rose to the challenge, learn’t a huge amount and desperately want to take part next year.

 

To see a full review of the Endeavour trophy go to – http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/199076/Endeavour-Trophy-2017-overall 

 

Ben and Gabe Hill at the Enterprise Youth Nationals

it was a very close and exciting event for the Enterprise Youth Nationals with only 1 point separating each of the top 3 boats. Team Allen’s Ben & Gabe Hill managed to come away with second. for more details about the event follow the link below

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/198781/Noble-Enterprise-Youth-Nationals

Team Allen At the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra Europeans

Team Allen Sailors set down a marker at last month’s European Championships at Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Sailing Centre. In the Skiff classes, European Champions Dylan Fletcher and Stu Bithell took 49er Gold, 49er FX campaigners Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey backed them up with Silver. James Peters and Fynn Sterrit completed the virtual podium, taking Bronze overall in the 49er Class, however after removing the non-European Competitors they also placed 2nd.

Describing their week, Dylan Fletcher explained, “The conditions this week have been tricky, we’ve seen lots of different wind strength and directions but it all made for very close racing”. Stu Bithell agreed, “It was extremely close racing, in one race we saw the whole fleet finish within 50 seconds of the first boat! It’s the closest 49er sailing I’ve ever done.”

Allen Brothers Managing Director Liz Adams sees the results as important for the company’s product development, “We have strength in depth in the classes where gear quality makes a difference. Alongside Dylan, Stu, Charlotte, Saskia, James and Fynn, we were also represented by British Youth Americas Cup and 49er helm Chris Taylor, who is a long term Team Allen Sailor, as is Chris Rashley, who recently transitioned to the foiling Nacra 17. With feedback from sailors of this quality, you can see why Allen performance hardware is the choice of top level sailors world-wide”.

James Peters and Fynn Sterrit have had a strong year, with their first World Sailing Golds this season. James commented after the event “Since we have become part of Team Allen, we have gone from strength to strength, winning two major regattas (Palma and Santander) as well as winning a European Championship silver (and open bronze) medal. The support that Allen has given us really does make a difference. The blocks are world class.” Peters then went on to explain “As i’m sure you’ve guessed, Fynn and I don’t intend to stop here. Our immediate challenge is the world championships in Porto at the end of August. After that we will be thinking more long term at the 2018 events, and of course Tokyo 2020.”

Allen Brothers based in Essex England has been manufacturing sailing hardware since 1956. The business now exports world-wide and employs nearly 40 staff. The company gains much of its feedback for product development from Team Allen, its sponsored sailors. However, the company also supports grass roots sailing, with a programme of support for events throughout the country. To keep up to date with Team Allen news register at http://allensail.com/team-allen/ or follow Allen Brothers on Facebook www.facebook.com/allensailboathardware/

 

Optimist Nationals Report

Thank you so much for the new sail and boat. It is a RACE winning boat because some of my results included a 1st, 4th, couple of 5ths, a 6th and a 7th.

I learnt a lot at Weymouth, especially about what I could do if I put my mind to it  and not to be deterred by strong winds, as I came from 72nd on the first day to 8th overall by the end of the week, and 3rd British Junior boy. I’m looking forward to my next big event which is representing GBR in the junior team at the Irish Nationals next week.

Nick

GBR 6425

 

If you know someone who could benefit from being part of the Allen Academy Team then go to http://allensail.com/team-allen/allen-academy/ and fill out the Contact Form. Alternatively you can email us at marketing@allenbrothers.co.uk

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