Round The island

Well it's a record breaking year for Round the Island with nearly 2000 boats expected to be participating in the event this Saturday (25/06/2011).

Some of our staff will participating as normal and we wish them luck, we'll be posting results on here as soon as we know them!

Just a quick reminder that anybody entering the event may well have forgotten some essential products for the weekend, so our Port Hamble store will be extending their opening hours on the Friday (24/06/2011) before the race - 09.00a.m - 21.00p.m and our Deacons Chandlery will be open late as usual from 09.00a.m - 20.00p.m.

Best of luck for all those entering!

Happy Sailing

Captain Loz

Useful Information on Life Jackets

Types of Life Jacket Inflation (Guide Purposes Only):

Automatic Lifejacket Inflation. These life jackets work on the principle that an element in the inflation mechanism reacts with water (in most cases this ia a pill/pellet that dissolves in water), automatically triggering the gas cartridge, which in turn inflates the air chambers of the lifejacket.
Automatic Lifejackets are a popular choice due to the reassurances of an auto firing mechanism, ideal if you're knocked unconscious when you hit the water.
Automatic Lifejackets will also have a manual inflation mechanism as well.

Manual Lifejacket Inflation. These lifejackets work by operation from the user, the lifejacket will have a pull chord or string that needs to be pulled firmly, this fires a pin triggering the canister to inflate the lifejacket.

Oral Life Jacket Inflation. The third method of inflating your lifejacket is by means of you manually blowing up the lifejacket. Located in the lifejacket where the lung is will be a mouth piece, this can be used as a fail safe to blow up the lifejacket, or to top up the air in an already inflated lifejacket.

Life Jacket newton ratings (Guide purposes only):

Life Jacket Buoyancy is measured in Newtons (N), 10N = 1Kg of Flotation.
There are Four European Standards for lifejacket buoyancy. All Lifejackets must have an Approved CE Mark.

50 Newton Buoyancy. Standard Newton rating for Bouyancy Aids, recommended for usage for swimming in sheltered and attended waters, with assistance close by. The buoyancy level does not guarantee to self right a person in the water.
Buoyancy Aids are popular with people who find their activities always have them in the water! Examples being windsurfing, dinghy sailing and water skiing.

100 Newton Buoyancy. A lifejacket suitable for those who are likely to be in calm and sheltered waters. It is unlikely to provide enough buoyancy to protect someone who can't fend for themselves, and crucially it may not be strong enough to self right an unconscious person onto their back, especially if the person is heavy in weight, or wearing lots of heavy items of clothing.

150 Newton Buoyancy. A suitable lifejacket for inshore and Coastal sailing. The buoyancy level should also mean that it can cope with general offshore sailing and rougher weather. It should self right an unconsciuos person onto their backs, and crucially keep their face out of the water. It's performance may be affected if the user is wearing heavy and waterproof clothing.

275 Newton Buoyancy. A suitable lifejacket for offshore cruising and commercial sailing. Suitable levels of buoyancy for the most extreme weather conditions out on the water, and they're designed to work with people who will be wearing full foul weather clothing. The lifejacket will self right the wearer onto their back, and keep their face out of the water.

>> View our complete life jacket range

Experience The Shockwave with Henri Lloyd

New! Exciting Offer from Henri Lloyd available in all of our shops that runs until the end of July.

Free set of Henri Lloyd Deck Armour worth £30 when you purchase a Henri Lloyd Shockwave suit.

This is a shop only promotion and expires 30/07/2011

What is Henri Lloyd Shockwave sailing gear?

Shockwave is the world's only fully integrated and modular system of protective foul weather clothing for Offshore to Round the Cans racing. One system that lets you choose and modify the level of performance you require from the elements and impact protection.

Henri Lloyd Shockwave sailing clothing features the revolutionary and integrated modular Deck Armour Impact Protection System (IPS)

3D Waterproof breathable fabric technologies for improved comfort and performance.

What is Henri Lloyd deck armour?

For the first time in any sailing clothing internal pockets have been constructed at critical areas to allow the incorporation of various Deck Armour mesh inserts. These flexible and highly breathable mesh panels provide impact protection at the knee, seat, and stomach areas. The Silicone based ‘open structure’ pads custom mould around the body so as not to restrict movement whilst allowing air to pass freely through them. The molecules within the Deck Armour inserts engage upon impact to defend the body from uncomfortable collisions by absorbing and dispersing forces across a greater surface area, so lessening their intensity.

• For use in Shockwave Hi-Fits and Salopettes
• Impact Protection - Absorbs energy, reducing the forces transmitted through the body
• Long duration pressure point relief
• Flexible and moulds around the body customising fit
• Flexibility allows the wearer to move freely
• Hydrophobic - Non absorbent

Available in Hiking and Seat & Knees options.

Click here to see a list of all of our Force 4 chandlery & Sailing clothing shops.

Facebook your Boat!

Just skimming through the always excellent Practical Boat Owner magazine and i've spotted an article titled Facebook your boat. It's about Jelly who lives aboard a Colvic Victor 34, you can see their Facebook page by clicking here.

So has anyone else out there got a Facebook page for their boat? If thats a yes, then get on over to our Force 4 Chandlery Facebook page and put the link to it on our wall, it would be great to see what you're all up to.

Plus if you'd like to create a Facebook page for your boat it's really easy, just follow these steps (Thanks to PBO for these):

1. To create a page for your boat you do first need a personal profile. Don't worry, it won't be publicly linked to your boat's page. If you don't already have a profile, go to www.facebook.com and fill in the short form to easily create one for free.
2. Once you are signed up and logged in to Facebook, type 'Create Facebook Page' in the search bar at the top of the website. Click on the 'Create new Facebook page' link that appears.
3. You are presented with a selection of categories to assign to your new page. Facebook doesn't have an option for boats so you can choose 'entertainment'. Whichever you use won't really matter and can be changed later. So choose a category, enter the name of your page, check (tick) the box, and click the button.
4. All done! Very easy. Now check out the article in PBO for suggestions on what to add to your page.
5. To switch between using your personal profile and the boat's page, click on 'Account' in the top right corner and choose 'Use Facebook as...'

Best of luck, and remember when you've done it, come and show it off on the Force 4 Facebook page.

Happy Sailing Captain Loz