Bull Sails. Sailmakers

Wake up and Go Racing Go for a walk around any marina on a Saturday afternoon and you will be struck by the numbers of boats sitting idle in their pens or swinging on their moorings. It always surprises me that these craft sit indolent weekend after weekend. In my line of work I come across all the spectrum of boat owners. From hard-core racing sailors to long distance cruisers, but easily the biggest group would be the recreational sailor. This individual or couple that own the boat see themselves as fun sailors who wants to have a bit of a jaunt with friends on a leisurely afternoon sail or even partake in the odd twilight race. Mention weekend racing and they recoil in horror, no way they can deal with all that angst and screaming with boats crashing and bashing. Let alone the cost of keeping up with the true racers and their arms race mentality as they turn up with their paid hands and the latest genetically engineered tungsten fibred 6 th dimensional mainsail. Not for me the...

  Bull Sails Is pleased to announce the release of our new V5a range of cadet sails designed specifically for crews in the 95+ kg range, following the success we had in the recent world championship in Belgium where half the Australian Team used Bull Sails including the top Aussie placegetter, Darcy Baranowski and Dominic Randall in "Brothers in Arms". The V5a set perfectly compliments the V4 which has proven to be very fast for lighter crews and heavier conditions. Get in for the season ahead. Contact us at tony@bullsails.com.au

  It was a pleasure to be involved with the Australian Cadet team in the recent world championship in Nieuwport Belgium. An extremely good group of parents and kids and team managers along with fellow coach Shane Hughes made it a very enjoyable experience.

Introducing our new Touring range of sails.    Coastal Sails are Cross Cut Dacron Cruising Sails built from Blue Water Cruise Dacron (BCD) a cloth originally developed for charter fleets that needed a long lasting durable material that could stand up to daily use in the Caribbean. Providing high standard of finish but without our normal customisation. Custom options are limited and cloth weight is fixed. By keeping the sail production standard and based on proven design templates, CSF are able to streamline production and therefore minimise labour and material costs to provide amazing value whilst still maintaining CSF’s renowned standards for quality and durability. The Coastal Range offer the ultimate value for Dacron sails for yachts from 6m (18ft) to 13m (45ft). The sails are available in the following types Mainsails Headsails Standard Mainsail with one full top batten and three short lower battens Furling Headsail In Mast Hollow Leech Furl...

Our Traditional Cream Dacron is available in two weights, 275 grams per square metre (6½ sailmaker ounces) and 350 grams per square metre (8 sailmaker ounces). The cloth uses our low aspect APD cloth and has been specially dyed to a subtle yellowy cream the colour of traditional canvas. TCD is heat set and finished in house with a medium hand and is treated with anti mildew and anti UV additives.

USING YOU STORM SAILS   Whether we like it or not, on occasions the sport of yachting can be dangerous, anyone who has ventured into or been caught in extreme conditions can vouch for this. We always talk in yachting circles of the value of practice and preparation, yet one area that we tend to ignore is the art of survival in extreme conditions. Several years ago it became quite common for a lot of ocean race organizing committees to insist that prior to the start of the race the competitors sailed through a set of buoys with their storm sails set and drawing. This is a great initiative as I am sure that on a lot of race boats this would be the only time that these sails are brought out of the bag. Even so; I am always amazed at the bungled and botched attempts that ensue when the setting up of the storm sails is done on these occasions. I have even been on a boat where the trysail has been set upside down in broad daylight and light winds, imagine the confusion if th...

29 Jun 2011 Australian Sailing - April/May 2011 Tony Bull looks at the fine-tune controls used to fly a symmetrical spinnaker off a pole . When a complete novice first steps on board a racing yacht, invariably the first response is amazement at the number of sheets and lines that run along the deck and up the mast. They find it hard to comprehend that all these ropes have a role in the sailing of the boat. All top sailors will tell you the difference in the relative speeds of similar craft is the ability to constantly adjust the setup of the boat to counter the wind and wave variations as they are faced. This ability to change gears and keep your boat sailing well through the oscillating conditions is what sets the top boats apart. All these various lines and sheets each have a role to play in these alterations. I see so many boats sail around the course with a very token approach to changing gears. I had a recent experience of doing some two-boat sailing with a couple of ...