kSail KnowHow

Firefly Pre-Cut Rope Package

10/01/2023 11:13 By Hebe Hemming - Comment(s)

Fireflies are everywhere, at most universities and schools due to being the ideal boat for Team Racing.

Our aim is to support your university, school, club or centre to ensure consistency throughout all the Firefly fleets, making it easier for new people sailing the boats and ensuring the boats are a...

British Keelboat League HISC

14/07/2022 09:37 By Hebe Hemming - Comment(s)

An overview of Hebe's experiences at the British Keelboat League Qualifier at Hayling Island SC

RS Feva Pre-Cut Rope Package

06/12/2021 15:24 By Justin - Comment(s)

Fevas are popular across clubs, centres, and schools and are also increasingly proving to be a good choice for Junior Team Racing.

Our aim is to support your club or centre to have consistency throughout all the different fleets of boats you may keep. Our new Feva Pre-Cut Rope pack therefore ma...

Sanitising Boats and Equipment

16/03/2021 10:43 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

A brief overview of the challenges that have been overcome to provide a quick and simple solution to sanitising boats and equipment between users.

Face Coverings

08/10/2020 14:07 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

Following a series of discussions on Facebook about the relative challenges of wearing a face covering while sailing. Keith had a fun morning with James Oborne (Spinnaker Sailing Club's Chief Instructor) to experience first hand what it could be like to wear different types of face coverings when sa...

Spare Parts at a Firefly Team Racing Event

13/11/2019 18:49 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

When you are running an event, it is possible to collect a reasonably modest set of spares, parts and tools which will allow you to fix nearly everything; particularly if your boats are well prepared and maintained.

With the priority at a Team Racing event to get a boat back racing; repairs often nee...

Preparing a Firefly for an Event

29/11/2018 00:08 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

We thought we would put some flesh and bones onto our Firefly Pre-Event Checklist and provide more details about how to best prepare your fleet of Fireflies for your Team Racing event.

There is no substitute for a well planned maintenance routine - checks shouldn't be left so late that spare pa...

What sort of Rope...?

28/11/2018 18:19 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

What type of rope should you use to rig a Team Racing Firefly...?

There are lots of choices out there, however before purchasing rope for your Fireflies, there are a couple of general rules which are worth considering.

Team Racing Fireflies get a lot of heavy use, rope should be hard wearing. All ro...

Scoring a Team Race - RRS D3

28/11/2018 02:12 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

The rules that govern how to score each individual Team Race is given in the Racing Rules of sailing Appendix D - specifically Rule D3.1. The following provides some basic interpretation as to what each section of D3.1 actually means for whoever is scoring your racing.

D3.1 (a)Each boat finishing a r...

Firefly Hints and Upgrades - Gunwale Protection

31/10/2018 19:00 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

There will always be bumps and scrapes in Team Racing, while we are committed to being a non-contact sport it is inevitable that there will be contact at times. As a fleet manager or owner, you will want to ensure that your boats are able to deal with the every day wear and tear with minimal damage ...

Hints and Upgrades 6 - Tiller UJ's

19/03/2018 22:30 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

Where ever possible, try and be consistent with your Tiller UJ’s across your fleet. This means you can quickly and easily replace a tiller extension without worrying about whether the UJ will fit.

Consider a UJ as a consumable item; make sure you carry spares and know how to replace them. Some people...

UK National Team Racing Championships - Seeding

18/03/2018 23:15 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

For the 2018 UK National Team Racing Championships the race committee decided to run a trial to determine if it was possible to use competitor crowd sourcing to establish a ranking for seeding ahead of the event. Each team was provided details of all three helms and then invited to submit ...

Scoring a Team Race - OCS

19/02/2018 02:57 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

Everyone knows that in a team race, the boat in 1st gets 1 point, the boat in 2nd gets 2 points, (etc.) and the team with the fewest points wins.

However, what happens to boats that are OCS, do not start or retire? Looking at the rule book you will find:

D3.1 (a) Each boat finishing a race shall ...

Hints and Upgrades 5 - Jib Halyard Tails

17/01/2018 23:50 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

Help prevent the rope tail of your Jib Halyard from fraying and becoming detached by avoiding catching the rope between the wire and the hook block when hoisting the jib. There is nothing worse than finding the spliced loop breaks just before you go sailing.

When replacing a rope tail, take the time ...

Event Hints 1 - Number Boards

08/12/2017 22:58 By Keith Sammons - Comment(s)

Clear display of numbers on Start Boats is really important so sailors and umpires know what is happening. You may also have a need to display race numbers ashore, particularly if transferring sailors out to boats using changeover ribs. There are several options that you can use for displaying numbe...