Glaser Sails are 1, 2, 3 at the 2006 International 14 World Championships!

Jay first got involved with designing International 14 sails when Trevor Baylis and Zach Berkowitz were ramping up for the 2001 Worlds in Bermuda. Trevor wanted to try some new jib designs and asked Jay to help turn those ideas into a sail. The T5 jib and its unique plan form was part of Trevor and Zach's World Championship-winning package.

In late 2005, over a burrito lunch near Santa Cruz Harbor, Trevor and Jay hatched a plan to build a complete rig for the 2006 Worlds in Long Beach. Jay spent the end of 2005 building paper and monofilm prototypes as Trevor and Larry Tuttle got closer to completing the new B5 at Waterat. In March, Tina and Trevor took the new boat and rig with the first set of sails to the Pacific Rim Championship in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The mast was the latest Beiker, with some modifications by Trevor to make the bend more even. The main was derived from Jay's experience with square-head cat sails and his experience helping develop Howie Hamlin and Mike Martin's latest 18 Footer mains. The jib was a development of the T5 but with a new profile to maximize overlap and optimize twist. The spinnaker was a combination of the fastest cat spinnakers with input from various skiff sailors to determine optimum luff, foot, and leech lengths. Tina and Trevor's second-place finish in Hawaii was promising, but we all knew we had a lot of room for improvement in every area.

Howie Hamlin and Euan McNicol launched their sistership in time for a local regatta in Santa Barbara. With Version 2 sails they finished first in extremely light air. We were getting closer, and with the added input of Howie and Euan we made swifter progress. In developing sails with a completely new rig there is no substitute for lots of time in every condition, sailing with good people to get a feel for the relative weak and strong points. Tina/Trevor, Howard/Euan, and later, Shark Kahn and Paul Allen, were all able to put their extensive skiff experience to work and give accurate feedback. After a few more changes we came up with the models that these three teams sailors used to win the U. S. Nationals, the Labor Day Regatta, and the 2006 World Championships.

The Worlds saw a variety of conditions, and the sails were consistently at the front of the fleet. Howie and Euan were able the win the regatta with a race in hand, finishing third in the sixth race. That race saw the top three boats with Glaser Sails round the first weather mark 1, 2, and 3, and extend on the rest of the fleet throughout the race. Shark/Paul's and Tina/Trevor's 1, 2, finish in the windy last race (photo, right) proved that the concept was working.

We are very proud of our Worlds results and look forward to working with 14 sailors around the world, helping them get the most out of their cool boats!