Mark Slats and Susie Goodall in the AZAB

The weather in the Netherlands has been great lately. We left the workshop for a while to experience the pleasures of sailing with an Aries ourselves. The Dutch isles in the Waddenzee are perfect for a little retreat! Now we are back in the workshop to make sure others can enjoy the Aries too.

Mark Slats and Susie Goodall Racing have finished first in their class overall in the Mailasail AZAB Yacht Race 2019. A wonderful result, congratulations! Slats told us that the Aries on board ‘Maverick’ has steered half of the time during the entire race. It ran perfectly according to Mark and we were happy that we gave it the love it deserved, earlier in the workshop.

Golden Globe Race sailor Istvan Kopar Solo Circumnavigator sold his Tradewind 35 ‘Puffin’ and has bought back his previous boat ‘Salammbo’, a boat he built himself. Salammbo was equipped with an Aries Vane Gear and it is still onboard. Istvan sailed with a few other types but is very pleased with the performance of his Aries. Istvan has got some awesome plans: “I did get my Aries in 1989 and sailed about 60,000 nautical miles with it. That includes my solo, one stop circumnavigation in 1990-91. The Aries was my most reliable and seaworthy wind vane, and I’m planning to keep the Aries on Salammbo. I might need a complete overhaul on it since I did not have the boat for 15 years. I am planning to keep Salammbo on Lake Balaton for a while because I have a bigger project there but there might be another nonstop, solo circumnavigation on the remote horizon, this time West bound?”

Our mailbox is full with lots of very interesting requests and testimonials. It is an honour that so many people choose to sail with an Aries to the outskirts of this planet. The stories people come up with are awe-inspiring. Keep the stories coming! We love them.

Besides all the good news, we were very sad to hear about the passing of Willy Ker, the famous sailor that sailed his Contessa 32 ‘Assent’, built by Jeremy Rogers Limited, to a lot of remote places, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Fair winds,
Lean