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2008 HIGHLANDER NATIONALS
Congrats John Bauer.. 1,2,3 powered by North Sails!

Report by Greg Fisher

Two weeks ago the Highlander Nationals were held at Lake Norman Yacht Club in Charlotte, NC. Light winds greeted the fleet with only two days of sailing and 6 races. We were proud to hear that the 2008 Midwinter Champion, John Bauer, with his Dad Harold and Sarah Paisley won the championship in convincing style.
Second was Bruce Busbey and third was past champion Ed Spengeman... All three had complete inventories of North!

For more information on North's fastest Highlander sails contact our Highlander experts.

2008 HIGHLANDER MIDWINTERS
Congrats John Bauer.. powered by North Sails!

Report by Greg Fisher

North Sails perform at the 2008 Highlander Midwinters held by Lake Norman Yacht Club in Charlotte, NC May 10-11. John Bauer with his Dad Harold and long time friend of North, Rob Spring won the event held in a wide variety of conditions. North Sails were also sailed by the 3rd, 5th and 6th place boats!

Results:
1 John Bauer 1959 1 4 5 1 1 12
2 Skip Webb 979 2 1 4 4 6 17
3 Bruce Busbey 500 4 2 2 6 3 17
4 Jamey Carey 1002 7 5 1 3 2 18
5 Tanner Shultz 911 3 3 7 2 4 19
6 Ken Hopkins 333 6 11 3 5 7 32
7 John Wigney 879 9 6 9 7 5 36
8 Kirk Shultz 912 5 9 8 DNS DNS 60
9 Chris Kafsky 874 15 15 14 8 8 60
10 John Gibbon 924 12 7 6 DNS DNS 63
11 Bryan Hollingsworth 876 8 8 11 DNS DNS 65
12 Patrick Rykens 926 10 12 13 DNS DNS 73
13 Peter Dolby 923 14 13 10 DNS DNS 75
14 Chris Doyne 891 11 14 12 DNS DNS 75
15 Berkeley Hollingsworth 906 13 10 15 DNS DNS 76
16 Dennis Kafsky 874X 16 16 16 DNS DNS 86

Don't hesitate to contact us if you need any assistance with your Highlander program. Our Highlander experts can help!

2006 HIGHLANDER NATIONALS
Congratulations Ed Spengeman!

Report courtesy Ed Spengeman

Edgewater Yacht Club provided the perfect setting for this year’s Highlander National Championship. Each day started with a pleasant 10mph breeze that quickly built as the day went on. All three days brought breeze off the shore giving us fairly flat conditions for Lake Erie.

We’ve historically had good pointing in most conditions so we decided to rake the mast to max forward according to the North tuning guide. This got rid of most of our helm and kept the boat easy to drive as the breeze came up. The top diamond wires were dropped off to the point where they just barely registered zero on the loos gauge. This depowered us by spilling air out the top of the sail. This was crucial since we’ve always sailed well below the recommended crew weight for a Highlander. We also played the mainsheet straight from the block and vang sheeted throughout each race. We’ve found that cinching in the vang and playing the main constantly kept us sailing at a much higher angle than just dumping the traveler.

We were able to move the jib cars all the way back in the flat water, which allowed us to sheet the jib much harder without closing the top off. In large gusts we would dump the main 10 to 15 inches to keep the boat flat while the jib stayed strapped in to keep the boat driving. Trimming the jib in hard and blowing the main is typically supposed to drive the bow down, but it seems to do just the opposite in big breeze. We’ve used this technique for the past 7 years and it consistently proves to be very fast while maintaining a fairly high angle in relation to our competitors.

Thanks to Greg Fisher for helping us tune up before Cleveland Race Week. I also want to thank my beautiful wife Erin and our good friend Barret Rhoads for making it a memorable week that we won’t soon forget!

For more information on Highlander sails, contact the North Highlander experts.