bg sails & design

June/July 10

Over the past 2 months things have quietened down somewhat since the IOM Nationals, letting us concentrate our focus on sail orders, IOM design and some further new items to be included in our Rigging range. We have added our new version of a slimline M3 Rigging Screw and soon will be making available IOM Goosenecks, Spreader Kits and Hales Micro ball raced pulley blocks. These are all items we use on our own boats. We have recently completed a new IOM prototype and have another 'new toy' arrived from Australia that we hope to take a closer look at when time permits. Plenty happening! The coming months see plenty of sailing coming up with the UK RA Championship late August, European IOM Championships in Pierrelatte, France late September, US IOM Nationals in Texas October and both Victoria and myself traveling for the Australian National Championships Jan 2011. We would ask that any customers check with us to confirm dispatch dates on any new orders placed before or over these periods.

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st GBR IOM Ranking Race - Milton Keynes - BG
2nd AUS IOM NSW Grand Prix Rd 2 - Scott Condie, BTL

May 10

New sail lead times have been slightly reduced over May but we would ask that you check with us for lead times if you are planning on having your new sails for a specific event. After quite a lot of tweaking our new lines plan is now available. "SKA" has evolved from our "Reggae" design of early 09 after many hours of trial and refinement. With a more balanced rocker profile and careful re-distribution of buoyancy, we feel that "SKA" will show improved downwind performance over her predecessor. Our rigging page has been updated listing tried and tested products that we have used for many years.
On the racing side the good news continues for our sails with Olivier Cohen having taken out the French IOM National Championship using his BG A suit to get off to a commanding lead after days 1 and 2. Zvonko Jelacic came from behind to claim the Croatian National Championship with a wide range of conditions over two days. To continue the trend BG Sails placed 1st, 3rd and 4th in the UK IOM National Championships held at next years World Championship venue, West Kirby. After trailing the well sailed heavy weather specialist Lintels of Tushingham, Priestly and Walsh for 2 days, World Champion Zvonko Jelacic CRO came from 5th place with a last day score turnaround of 21 points over 3 races in light conditions to claim the title proving once again that consistency over a full event is what wins trophies.
That now makes 4 IOM National Championships wins so far in 2010 for BG Sails!

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st FRA IOM National Championship - Olivier Cohen, (A suit)
1st, 2nd & 3rd CRO IOM National Championships - Zvonko Jelacic, Marko Matic (A jib and lower suits), Ante Kovacevic (A main and lower suits)
1st, 3rd & 4th UK IOM National Championship - Zvonko Jelacic, Derek Priestly and BG

March/April 10

It's been business as usual at BG over the past couple of months with a steady flow of sail orders going out the door. With summer approaching, our new release of 2010 BG Polo Shirts and Caps have now arrived and are available from our new clothing page. After a winter of development with 'SKA' (modified reggae) we will soon be looking to offer what we have learnt in the form of a new IOM lines plan, along with developing a new prototype for anticipated UK production. A new rigging page will also be online during May where we aim to make available various items used on our own boats that are not easily sourced. Finally as the weather warms up here in the NW, ranking seasons are now under way both in the UK and across Europe with BG sails performing strongly, whilst back in AUS results have been very pleasing. Most notable was Scott Condie's performance in the first round of the NSW IOM GP series. After day 1 sailed in A and B rig conditions Scott was on 8 points after 7 races with Paul Jones back on 16 points in 2nd. Day 2 saw Paul claw his way back and take the event from Scott on a count back, with Jeff Byerley back in 3rd. Scott was sailing his own new design "BTL" in its first major outing against quality opposition and we will be following further results with keen interest.

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st ESP IOM Copa De Espana 2010 - Guillermo Beltri, V7
2nd FRA IOM Tricastin Cup, Pierrelatte - Olivier Cohen, (A suit) Pikanto
1st & 3rd GBR IOM Ranking Rd 1 & 2, Scotland - BG, Widget
2nd AUS IOM NSW Grand Prix Rd 1 - Scott Condie, BTL
1st AUS IOM Nth Qld Championship - Col Cameron, Eclipse

January/February 10

Happy New Year from BG Sails & Design!
Over the past two months the weather in the North West of the UK has seen our Birkenhead Lake frozen over for the most of January, and quite cold for the Club Winter Series IOM racing. I was quite lucky to be able to build my Reggae IOM molded hull and deck that was sent back in October from Australia. After some modifications the boat has now been on the water for 3 race days and is performing well. The new name given to this boat is 'Ska', being a derivative of the Reggae style of music. Should this design continue to show improvements, a new lines plan may be offered soon. Pictures in Gallery.
The Australian Nationals for the four International Classes were held over January with no surprises in the four individual class winners. Once again the skippers who have put in the most effort with their boats both on and off the water shone through. Congratulations all!
With the new season in the Northern hemisphere about to get underway, we look forward to continued results of skippers using our equipment.
Lead times for sails are still extended and we would ask that any skippers looking to purchase for a certain event contact us to avoid last minute disappointment.

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st ESP IOM Trofeo Invierno Malaga - Guillermo Beltri
1st,2nd,3rd & 4th CRO Kup Sv. Vlaha, Dubrovnic - Ante Kovecevic, Zvonko Jelacic, Marko Matic (jib), Mirko Ukas

November/December 09

November saw the unfortunate demise of our PC and although 99% of all data was backed up, re-configuring our new equipment has taken a little longer than expected. Thankfully we are now able to update our webpage.
Orders lists are currently on the large side which is nice but unfortunately the downside is longer delays on new orders which we do apologize for. We do ask that you contact us to determine current lead times well in advance of when your sails are required.
New developments at BG see the arrival of our new cutter for sail corners and deck patches along with a new YOT SIGN service for all boat names and numbers. This is a service we first offered back in 1998 and are now happy to once again provide. Enquiries should be direct to Victoria at : yotsigns 'at' live.co.uk
As our old domain address will be disconnected through January, we would ask that you save our new domain address so as not to 'lose us' shortly.
Sailing in the UK has slowed a little with the colder weather taking hold and the odd race being cancelled due to ice. With the the Australian National Championships taking place in January we wish all competitors the best of luck and fair winds. Website

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st & 3rd ACT RA Class Championship - Gary Declauzel & Pat Obrien

September/October 09

The past 2 months have been busy ones for us with plenty of racing being had and a lot work to be done. We have finally stepped forward and secured our own domain name for our website as you will have noticed. Our old provider will be switched off at years end and all BG news will only be here at www.bgsailsanddesign.com
Our current lead times have now stretched to 10-12 weeks on IOM sails with other class sails lead times to be quoted at time of enquiry. We do apologise for any extended delays. The 2010 BG Sails & Design catalogue will soon be available along with a few new items for the new year.
On the sailing front we have been steadily getting the best from the new Arrival. The design is proving to be a well balanced IOM after its launch at the recent Aylesbury ranking races. Some BG designed Reggae's are starting to hit the water with some good initial reports. The winter months will see us put a provided hull & deck kit together from Australia which will be something else to look forward to. Thanks OJ!

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st FRA IOM Class Ranking Race - Olivier Cohen
1st West Australian IOM Championship - Roger Paul
1st New South Wales RA Championship - Gary Declauzel
1st New South Wales 10R Lexcen Trophy - Maurice Fletcher
1st UK IOM Ranking Race Aylesbury Day 1 - Graham Elliott
2nd and 3rd UK IOM Ranking Race Ayelsbury Day 2 - BG & Graham Elliott
2nd New Zealand RM Championship - Tony O

August 09

August has seen a continuation of our results with BG winning the UK IOM Championship at Eastbourne. The 3 day race was held in gusty A rig conditions for days 1 and 2. Day 3 saw some very light A rig conditions and a zig- zag style course that made consistency difficult. Despite a poor last days results using up discards, BG took the event from the fast finishing light air flyer Yannick Rosignol of France with Martin Roberts taking 3rd sailing the new Mark Dicks design "Viper".
In Australia our sails have had ranking race results in WA, SA, Qld and NSW continuing our presence at the front end of the fleet.

We have received some encouraging feedback of the first Reggae IOM's to hit the water and look forward to reports on a number of new builds close to completion.

The coming month's will see BG involved in an exciting new IOM project currently in its infancy.
Designed by the well known David Hollom (sails etc fins, AC Designer) and built by the UK's premier model yacht manufacturer Phil Playle (ex sails etc), the new "ARRIVAL" design is likely to attract plenty of interest over the coming months. With the "Widget" now on the shelf in a safe place, BG Sails & Design look forward to working closely with both Dave and Phil on producing a top quality IOM package capable of competing at the very highest level.
Further details can be found on Phil's website at:

www.pandpyachts.com

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st UK IOM Class Championship - BG
1st and 3rd South Australian IOM Championship - Ralph White, John Gratton
1st West Australian IOM Ranking Race - Roger Paul
3rd Nth Queensland RM Championship - Col Cameron

June/July 09

The past 6 weeks have seen the 2009 IOM World Championships come and go in Barbados, along with a good number of national and regional championships worldwide in many classes. Unfortunately after leading the IOM Worlds for 3 days, I was not able to hold off Zvonko Jelacic of Croatia to defend the title won in Marsaille 07. Congratulations to Zvonko on a polished performance worthy of the title "World Champion". I promise to show up on day 5 and 6 next time big guy! :)
Once again our BG Sails were at the very front of the fleet finishing 1st, 2nd and 5th being used on 2 very different design concepts. After working closely with Zvonko for the past 15 months on rig setup and sail shape, this was a great reward for our efforts.

At the same time of our arrival in Barbados, Peter Stollery due to work commitments, was able to single handedly decimate the UK RM Championships. Peter was using his BG A Stollery swing rig in all but one heat to take the championships for the 6th time I believe. Congratulations Peter.

Early July had the 2nd IOM UK ranking race of the year. Being the week after the IOM Worlds a few prominent skippers had different borrowed boats after the "fire sale" that usually happens at the end of big events. Saturday saw Peter Stollery take the day in flicking light A Rig conditions from BG and new kid on the block Greg King from a 40 boat field. Sunday saw BG reverse saturday's result against Peter, with Martin Roberts 3rd.

News from Portugal has seen that Jorge Camilo has won the Sao pedro IOM Championship for 2009. Congratulations Jorge on a fine result.

Australian news shows us that once again Bill Wright has dusted off his very fast NRW10 design to convincingly win the Sth Queensland 10R Championship. Congratulations Bill.

Currently Victoria and I are working hard to complete our patch up of an old Stollery design "Lollipop" vane A Class design in time for this years National Championship in Fleetwood starting August 1 and stretching over a full week. This is a fantastic mode of sailing model yachts with a high emphasis placed on boat tune and sail trim to gain good results. A good amount of luck once the boat has left the hand can also play its part at times, making it a great week to be part of.

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st, 2nd and 5th IOM World Championship 2009 Barbados - Zvonko Jelacic, BG, Marko Matic CRO
1st UK RM Championship - Peter Stollery
1st, 2nd and 3rd UK IOM Ranking Race Fleetwood - Peter Stollery, BG, Greg King
1st and 2nd UK IOM Ranking Race Fleetwood - BG, Peter Stollery
1st Sao Pedro IOM Championship Portugal - Jorge camilo
1st Sth Queensland 10R Championship - Bill Wright

May 09

After a very busy past couple of months, we have been able to reduce our lead times once again for IOM sails and most other classes. At present lead times for multiple IOM sail orders are again down to a 3-4 week turnaround with single sail suit orders available on a shorter lead time.
May has seen some very good results for our sails.

Over the recent May Bank holiday weekend here at sunny Poole in the UK, BG scored a close 2nd placing in the RA Class Championship. A near record fleet of 40 boats saw a close 3 day battle between Graham Bantock, Peter Wiles and BG with no more than 5 points separating them throughout the event in light shifting winds. With 1 race left to sail, the small lead held by BG was lost after GB received redress from a bad start line entanglement giving him a 5 point lead for the final race. GB went on to record an all the way victory in the final heat leaving BG and Peter to sail each other for 2nd. 4th place for the event was taken out by Andrea Roberts who along with BG, borrowed an Australian designed Venom using BG sails from David and Linda Munro. After being involved with the very first Venoms back in 03 through until now, it has been a load of fun to see this design come along and be able to compete at the top level through steady refinement and development.

The RM Race of Champions here in the UK has been held with Peter Stollery mastering the unusually fickle winds of Birkenhead to score a convincing win with his Crazy Tube design and BG A Rig Sails. Congratulations Peter. BG managed 2nd place with a borrowed Starkers design using non-bg sails.

Some pleasing news also from North Queensland is that long time supporter of BG Sails, Col Cameron has finally landed the Queensland RM Trophy. Col has used our BG Sails since 1999 on boats of his own design and has gone close on many occasions and now finally has the chocolates. Congratulations Col.

Chris Stokes has once again shown his class in winning the 10R class Mazda trophy in NSW against a strong field of 19 boats. Chris is still unbeaten since his nationals win in Queensland 07 in the 10's!

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
2nd and 4th UK RA Class Championship - BG and Andrea Roberts
1st and 2nd NSW 10 Rater Mazda Trophy - Chris Stokes and Maurice Fletcher
1st and 3rd UK RM Race of Champions - Peter (A Rig) and Roger Stollery (A Rig Jib)
2nd and 3rd AUS EC12 Championship - Yeoman Sands and Gary Declauzel
1st AUS RM Queensland Championship - Col Cameron

March/April 09

With the weather slowly starting to warm up here in the UK, many classes have now started their ranking seasons. Early results for the new season have been encouraging and we look forward to the full program ahead.

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st BEL IOM National Regatta - Pierre Parent
3rd CRO IOM National Championship - Zvonko Jelacic
1st UK RM Mermaid Trophy - Peter Stollery
2nd UK RA PRACC Series Rd 1 - BG
3rd UK IOM Chelmsford Ranking Race Day 1 - BG
1st and 2nd UK IOM Chelmsford Ranking Race Day 2 - BG and Peter Stollery
2nd AUS 10 Rater NSW Ranking Race - Owen Jarvis

January/February 09

After now having a month in our new place in New Brighton, things are now getting back to normal. We now have our new IOM lines plan "Reggae" and new Marblehead lines plan "Jive" available for home or professional construction and look forward to watching her performance unfold with early interest being received from prospective builders. We are working hard to catch up with existing sail orders and would ask anyone looking to place an order to confirm present lead times.
Our full contact details have now been updated.

December 08

Our sail production is now in full operation at our new workshop on Merseyside. We are working through existing orders with a dispatch turnaround of 3-4 weeks on all new orders at present due to a backlog of non-IOM class orders to be completed. Please contact us for an estimated dispatch date.

November 08

With our arrival in the UK on November18, all pricing has now been converted to GBP.
We envisage to be back in full production by mid December once our new workshop has been set up.

Brad and Victoria will both be attending the MYA AGM and Trade Show on Saturday the 29th of November at Dickens Heath Community Primary School, Birmingham from 10.30am. On display/sale we will have a limited number of IOM sails, TX Covers, 2009 Catalogues and full information on all of our products. Feel free to come and have a chat with us both.

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st Queensland 10 Rater Championship - Bill Wright
1st and 3rd NSW RA Championship - BG and Daniel Wiezman
1st and 3rd NSW 10 Rater Championship - Chris Stokes and Owen Jarvis
3rd and 8th European IOM Championships - Marko Matic CRO (jib only) and Zvonko Jelacic CRO

October 08

With a recent influx of orders due to our relocation back to the UK, we have had to suspend any further orders for completion until when we are back in the UK. All orders currently on our list will be shipped before our departure from Australia. If you are wishing to place a sail order, please email us for an expected delivery date and to reserve your place on our list.

August - September 08

Much has happened here at BG since our last news update. Our business has undergone a name change to better reflect our services to the radio yachting community. Along with the new name change, our website has been revamped for easy navigation through our products offered and to give a more detailed background of our model yachting history. In the new year we will also be offering new designs as lines plans for the home builder or production under license. We hope you enjoy the exciting changes.

The date of our relocation to the UK in mid November has been set and we are working hard for a minimal disruption to production this time around. New contact details will be posted as they come to hand. Please keep an eye on this site for any changes. We would ask that any skippers looking to place orders for Nov/Dec delivery to get in early to avoid any disappointment

On the racing front, our sails and products have continued to perform on the race course in all 4 of the International classes.

Some recent Results of skippers using BG Sails
1st and 2nd Queensland RA Championship - BG and Daniel Wiezman
1st and 2nd Nth Queensland RM Championship - Col Cameron and James Finch
1st and 3rd NSW Ben Lexcen 10R trophy - Colin Court and Maurice Fletcher
1st and 3rd NSW IOM GP Round 3 - BG and Scott Condie
1st ACT EC12 Regional Championship - Gary Declauzel
1st WA IOM Championship - Roger Paul