Ian Wilson with Flattens is 9th out of 164 boats at the J70 Worlds

After a hard few days sailing, with almost every wind strength possible to race in, a massive well done to Ian Wilson, Ben Saxton, Marshall King and Adam Brushett on @Soakracing (bow 246) for their 9th place at the #J70Worlds, using our FL015 #FurlingFlattens in his Jib. The only boat in the 160 odd fleet with Horizontal Furling Battens....

And equally important, now that a lot of other boats are asking about the #Flattens was to get an email from the Class Measures before the event saying "I can confirm that the battens presented for use on Ian Wilson's boat passed inspection this morning at the 2017 J/70 Worlds...."

#audij70worlds  #myj70worlds #j70

What we did in 2015....

In short, 2015 was a quiet year for us. And although that's not good, it was all "our own fault" as we just had too many other things we had to do, such as various World Championships, national and International events for Simon Fry, working with Acro Aircraft Seating and Land Rover BAR for Dan Primrose and a whole host of other projects for Oscar.

But now, in 2016, our first aim is to follow up on all the fantastic reviews and inquiries we have had about out Flattens specifically for the smaller sports boats, such as the J70, M20 & 24.


The FL015 was something that Simon and Dan started looking at sometime back so when we were given the opportunity to put a development set on the top UK J70 we were only too happy. That boat, with the Flattens in, came fourth in the World and won the UK championships. They have also been used by various sail makers around the globe, all of whom are very interested in "putting them on their shelves", with one major sail maker considering making them the standard item for their whole group. Very exciting times!

Moving offices once more.....

We have now moved our office a few metres down the road (its a long story...) to:

4 Lippen Cottages
West Meon
Petersfield
Hampshire
GU32 1JW

All the contact numbers have remained the same.

Many thanks

Dan

A set of Flattens revives a J100 Jib

At the end of 2013 PFT  installed a set of Flattens into a "tired" J100 jib.

Along with the fantastic news that the Flattens appear to have given the jib a new lease of life PFT were extremely excited that the existing internal pockets were used for two of the Flattens. The upper batten had to be external as the sail originally had a vertical batten.

Here is a short clip of the sail taken in November 2014 in the Solent, UK.

How to Roll Flattens and How NOT to roll Flattens

Now that the Flattens are becoming more and more public, Dan and Simon thought that they should show a few clips of the Flattens so that everyone can see the technology first hand.

This first clip shows a standard Flatten (FL050, for boats from approx. 30 to 55ft) rolls. The key point here is that as the leading edge splays open (as it does when it comes toward the headfoil) the Flatten naturally wants to roll up.

Once rolled, you can see that the Flatten is stable. This means that the furled sail is held tighter than it might be with no battens at all, and certainly tighter than it might be with a furling batten that wants to straighten out.

With the Flattens in their open state, they are stiff in both directions. The main difference to the Flattens and a traditional batten is that they if they bend more than a certain %, they simply fold up.

For this reason, the Flattens are only used in the flatter sections of the sails. In this clip you can see the bend characteristics of the FL030 Flatten (for yachts of approx. 20 to 35ft).

And like any non-furling batten, if the Flattens are rolled the "wrong way" or if you "fold rather than roll" by hand, then the performance could reduce. In the next two clips they show what might happen if the Flatten is folded at the leading edge (rather than "splayed" as in the previous video) or, in the very unlikely situation, that the Flatten is rolled the "wrong way" the Flatten is obviously not perfect after, but can still be used in the sail if no others are available.

 

METS 2014

Now that we have managed to catch our breath after an amazing METS 2014 and having been delighted to be nominated for a 2014 DAME award, although we were disappointed not to have received further recognition for our Flattens, the rest of the show could not have been more successful.

At times we had people standing three deep on the Contender stand wanting to hear more about the Flattens and how they work. And perhaps the greatest compliment came when one of the most prestigious suppliers of the current furling battens said that they felt that “the Flattens might finally be the first furling batten that really does perform as well as a non-furling batten, yet holds the furled sail as tight as having no battens at all”.

So, after our initial disappointment in not taking home an award, both Primrose Fry Technologies and the Contender Group came home feeling extremely confident that the Flattens really are the first batten that can give the sailor the ultimate performance of a non-furling batten when sailing combined with the ability to furl the sail tightly when not needed.

All in all, a fantastic week….All that remains now is to start processing all the enquiries from various sailmakers around the globe

Moving Office

As of the end of October 2014, our office will be moving a few miles down the road to:

Primrose Fry Technologies Ltd
2 Lippen Cottages
West Meon
Petersfield
Hampshire
England
GU32 1JW

Until we get all the office landlines installed, please contact either Dan on +44 (0) 777 864 875 or Simon on +44 (0) 7775 758 794