Seldén Mast dominated at the Solo Class National Championships at South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club in Abersoch, Wales (15 – 19 July), with each of the top three overall winners carrying a Seldén Solo specific D+ -22 spec dinghy mast and Seldén Olympus boom.
In first place was Tom Gillard, followed by Steve Cockerill in second and Richard Lovering in third. With hulls from Winder and Rooster, and sails from North Sails, HD Sails and Hyde Sails, none of these winning sailors had the same sail/hull combination, demonstrating that Seldén’s D+ -22 spec is the right choice for Solo sailors, irrespective of hull supplier or sail manufacturer.
Approached by Tom Gillard and Richard Lovering last year, Seldén has been developing its D+ based on the feedback of these top-flight dinghy sailors. The developments included reducing the mast’s weight and having a less aggressive taper to promote a more even bend throughout the section.
“We monitored the Solo Class results in 2021, and decided the balance needed redressing,” says Richard Thoroughgood, sales manager at Seldén Mast. “Tom Gillard and Rich Lovering were doing the same and looking for a performance gain, which was a great opportunity for us to work with them, which is always a great experience. They’re sailors at the top of their game and pushed us to look at every detail.
“Over the winter, we conducted extensive bend tests and weight analysis on numerous mast sections. Earlier this year, we pooled the data and concluded that the trusted D+ was actually not that far off what was needed, and only required a little tweaking to get the weight down to the minimum that class rules would allow.
“We saw early on that the re-jigged mast spec was hitting the mark with Tom and Rich bringing in a first and second respectively at the Solo Spring Championships in May and Tom has not lost a regatta this year with the new rig. And then when Steve Cockerill called, it was a great opportunity for us to test the new D+ with another great sailor with all the experience you could ask for across multiple classes – giving us even more confidence in the mast’s potential for the Solo Class.
“Monitoring the daily results at this year’s Nationals, it all started to come together with Steve winning after day one, and Tom taking the lead after day two. Those paces held with Rich joining them on the podium at the end of the regatta. We could not have asked for a better outcome.”
Supporting the Solo Class, Seldén is sponsoring the Southern Area Series with a new D+ mast and Olympus boom for the demo boat, providing sailors with the opportunity to try the new mast for themselves.
The new Solo specific D+ -22 spec is now available from all Seldén dinghy product stockists. Solo Class specialist information is available from P&B (https://www.pinbax.com) and Rooster (https://www.roostersailing.com)
To find the nearest Seldén dinghy dealer visit: https://www.seldenmast.com/dealer-list/
To find out more about Seldén Mast visit: https://www.seldenmast.com/
