[Rhodes22-list] Doyle UPS

[Peter Nyberg]

Before I bought my Rhodes 22, I spent many hours looking through the archives of this email list, and since I’ve owned Silverheels, I usually spend some time during the long New England winters going back again to look for nuggets of wisdom or inspiration. Which is what I’ve been doing lately.

Back in the winter and early spring of 2003, there was much discussion of what I think was a fairly new type of head sail from Doyle.  At least it appeared to be new to the people on the list at that time.  It’s called the ‘UPS’. That stands for Utility Power Sail. It’s still available from Doyle, otherwise I wouldn’t be bringing it up now. (http://www.doylesails.com/cruising/downwind/ups/index.html)

It’s a large sail, probably a bit larger than the 175% genoa. The sail fabric is lighter than used for the genoa.  It does not use the head-stay for support, instead it requires an eye on the fore-deck and a halyard. In recent searches I’ve seen it referred to as a ‘code 0’ or a ‘code 1’, if those are terms that mean anything to you.

Back in 2003, not everyone who showed an interest explained clearly why they were interested.  But at least a few where thinking then along the same lines that I’m thinking now.

I want to be able to sail better in heavy weather.  

There’s a bit of a bank-shot in my thinking here.  The UPS is not a heavy weather sail.  But then, neither is my 175% genoa.  The big genoa can be reefed in higher winds, but a bit of reading on the Internet reveals that I’m not the only person who feels that it really doesn’t perform that well.  So, step one would be to replace my old and tired 175% genoa with something like a 135% genoa.  But then for light air sailing (i.e. most days) supplement that with the UPS.

As I said, back in the archives there’s lots of chatter in Winter and early Spring of 2003 about the UPS.  Several people claim to have ordered one, a few people claim to have received one, there are one or two initial installation reports, and then for the rest of the year there’s nothing.  

My primary purpose for this post is to ask if there’s anyone out there using a Doyle UPS (or something similar) who would be willing to enlighten us about the pros and cons and ins and outs and hows and whys.

But, if there’s anyone interested in having a new conversation about this subject, or anything related (or really anything at all, except politics), I’m certainly open for that as well.

When does the ice thaw?

Peter Nyberg
Coventry, CT
s/v Silverheels (1988/2016)