Windrush & Prindle Catamaran Association of NSW Inc

2012 has marked the 20th anniversary of the mylar sails on Windrush 14.  Windrush Yachts have taken the initiative to modernise the mylar sail plan with the now popular and common square top sail.

The jib with its full battens has had only minor detail changes. The luff tape detail changing to be a continuation of the sail material and removal of the hanks formerly inside the zipped on luff tape. Batten angles have also rotated slightly to make them look less droopy now the mast rake has settled into a fairly std angle and battens are now fixed in with Velcro for easier removal and changes .

The main and jib are to be made from : DP Flex08 , a mylar which has a slightly higher weight per square metre than the previous material and includes fibres in the +-45 deg angle to improve the cloth stability.  Main sail battens have been spaced out more evenly and the number reduced to 6 in total.

Colours are now standard with all mains and jibs being framed in black Sticky back and with “wobble “used on the leech to reduce hard points at the edge of the tape and white batten pockets across both main and jib.

Prices will remain the same as the past years with no changes to the retail price of the mainsails since Aug 2007 and jibs since Dec 2008 !! Windrush Yachts have absorbed several price rises in the last years and the new design has allowed us to continue to sell the sails at a very reasonable cost. Batten sets too remain the same.

Windrush Yachts have also developed an asymmetrical spinnaker kit which is available as a complete package including all ropes, Harken hardware, Alloy pole, fibreglass chute mouth, Chicopee chute bag, spectra halyard, retriever and tack lines. The complete kit, ready to go including assembly instruction will retail for $1990. This will make a super fun upgrade to recreational boats and if the association decides there is a way to utilise them in racing then that would add another dimension to the sailing.

Brett Burvill
Windrush Yachts

Brett Burvell from Windrush Yachts attended the WA State Championships over Easter, where he announced new sails for the boat.

The main will be a square top as  shown in the photos at the bottom. He’s said it is the same area and will not be much different  speed wise than the current sail. The feeling is that it will be a little faster in light air. The WA guys seem interested and several are likely to buy one over winter. The price is unchanged but a new batten set is needed, $1550-1600 to change over.

The jib is the same size with a small clew plate on the foot and there are no clips so the jib tape is tight against the forestay.

Brett demonstrated a”cruising” spinnaker kit, nearly $2000 to set up. It is not being promoted for racing and there was not a lot of interest from WA.

He also announced that sale of the current mast will continue. There’s only one in stock and new dyes will be made to produce the new masts.

The West Aussies had 30 boats at the states which was much higher than expected. They also had nine old heavyweight boats in a fourth division.

There is no interest from anyone to come to a nationals at Mannering Park on the Australia day weekend in January.

For anyone who’s interested a few of us will be doing the Bayview Marathon from Pittwater around Lion island on the 6th May. See the website www.byra.org.au, get there early as parking is limited.

Warren Pfeffer
President – NSW Windrush Association