The one design aspect of the series class was something that
seriously appealed to me when I made my decision to buy a pogo 2 for the mini
transat.

Though there are several different designs of boat within
the series class we all have similar and specific features; fixed keels, no
ballast, aluminium spars.

This makes perfect sense to me, the race is played out more
on the water and less in the design office before hand, which is better for me
as I have already mentioned, I am not a great tweaker, so all the innovation of
moving keels and ballast and tweaky rigs would be wasted on me until I have
learned a bit more.

However one aspect of the series class that is open to
development and new designs is the sail wardrobe; and this is something I have
greatly enjoyed working on over the last couple of months.

It has been a great privilege once again to team up with
John Parker, sail designer from OneSails GBR on this project.

I already worked with John for the OSTAR when he guided me
through the decisions I needed to make to convert my 39ft round the cans racer
cruiser, to a single handed ocean racing boat.

This time we are working with a very different beast but
John has bought with him a wealth of knowledge from past solo projects,
including the mini transat campaign of fellow East coast sailor Nick Bubb.

What I have learned over the past 10 months of training in
the mini is that there is a great data bank of experience floating around from
the many years the pogo 2 has been around.

This I find is a double edged sword as at times, people can
be a little too prescriptive over things like sail design; and sail makers will
offer a ‘pogo 2′ package which of course is a result of development and careful
design and is the best sail plan in their opinion for the boat; but leaves
little room for input from the sailor.

With OneSails, I have been involved in my sail programmer
from the start; John has come sailing on my boat, has listened to my
experiences and taken note of the way I sail and my thoughts on what is
important.

I have gained a lot of knowledge through our discussions of
the various sail designs and though at times I am sure John has artfully
steered me away from any stupid ideas, ( ‘well Pippa in my limited experience
of these things, you ought to think carefully about that.’) I feel I have been
an integral part of deciding my sail plan and as such I own these decisions and
I am setting off to race across the ocean with a full knowledge of what is in
my wardrobe and why.

So here it is………. The sail wardrobe.

Click the next page to start…