Seldén dominates at Solo Class National Championships

Seldén Mast dominated at the recent Solo Class National Championships at South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club in Abersoch, Wales, with each of the top three overall winners carrying a Seldén dinghy mast and boom.

In first place was Tom Gillard (pictured above), followed by Steve Cockerill in second and Richard Lovering in third, all with a different sail/hull combinations which, Seldén says, demonstrates that its new Solo specific D+ -22 spec mast is the right choice for solo sailors, irrespective of hull supplier or sail manufacturer.

Seldén has been developing its D+ dinghy mast based on feedback from Gillard and Lovering, who approached the Gosport-based mast manufacturer last year. The developments include 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. 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 places held with Rich joining them on the podium at the end of the regatta. We could not have asked for a better outcome.”

Seldén is sponsoring the Southern Area Series with a new D+ mast and Olympus boom for the demo boat, which it says will provide sailors with the opportunity to try the new mast for themselves. The new Solo specific D+ -22 spec is available from all Seldén dinghy product stockists and Solo Class specialist information is available from P&B and Rooster.