A Q&A with Ed Furry about Sail22 and regatta support

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 6 Feb 2017 If you travel to regattas, you know how difficult it can be to find replacement gear, especially if the event is breezy and everyone in the fleet is suffering from equipment failures, busted cordage or broken spars. Ed Furry and his wife Becky, of Culver, Indiana, are both highly experienced sailors who have traveled to plenty of destination regattas and know full well the frustrations of having to race an event with sub-par gear, so they founded Sail22 with the goal of serving the niche on-site needs of regatta sailors.

I first crossed tacks with Ed on a flight from Puerto Rico to Antigua for the 2008 Antigua Race Week, and it was instantly obvious that the guy just loves sailing, sailing culture and the opportunity to help his fellow sailors to better enjoy their racing. So, I wasn’t surprised to start seeing him at a variety of regattas on a variety of coasts and lakes in the following years.

This past fall, I ran into Ed at the 2016 Alcatel J/70 Worlds, hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club, where I got to learn more about Sail22, the sailing concierge service that he and Becky provide to countless sailors at various regattas across the country. In fact, the following interview took place in the Sail22 trailer as Ed and his crew was getting ready to fix a spar that fell victim to San Francisco’s world-famous breeze.

Can you give me an overview of Sail22? How do you support sailors at regattas?
We call ourselves a sailing concierge service. No matter what you need, we basically can help you get it.

With certain classes, like the J/70 class, people come to us and say, ‘well wouldn’t this [idea] work [well] on the boat? We see if it makes sense, and [if it does, we] make it happen. [For example, for the J/70 Worlds on San Francisco Bay,] we use a heated Dyneema [cordage] rather than [using] just a standard Dyneema. Basically, [sailors] come to us saying [that they] need something and we make it happen.

So is your business mostly mail-order or do you travel to events?
We [travel to] events [to offer] onsite support, and [we rely on] word of mouth and social media [to get] our name out there. [Over the years,] we have a lot of people that have relied on us to get custom parts and pieces. So we have basically turned into one design specialist. Some of this [involves custom work] but some [orders] are just parts and pieces [for] the J/70 class [or the] Melges 24 class, we ship a lot oversees. We created a website which is obviously always evolving, but that has helped our business a lot as well.

Key West Race Week because it’s a big event, Miami Sailing Week, [and] Charleston Race Week is [also] a big event. Annapolis NOOD is usually a big event. Then, regionally the biggest ones [are the] Chicago NOOD [and the] Detroit BOD, so we try to hit [those] types of [events, too].

Do you have a brick-and-mortar storefront on someplace?
We don’t have a storefront. We do have a [work]shop and we have what we call our speed barn, where we work on boats. Then we have a new barn, which we call Big Red. If you live near us [in Culver, Indiana], you could come in and order and buy things there. But because our customers are [based] all over the U.S. and all over the world, it’s not necessary.

How many regattas do you do in a year?
That’s a good question. It’s got to be 20 or more. It’s a lot. I mean [we typically spend our time] between the Florida circuit in the winter, the coast in the spring [and fall], depending on where the major championships are [taking place] and then [we spend] in the summer in the mid west unless there happens to be a major championship.

So I’m gathering that you mostly focus on national level and international level events?
Yes, North-Americans, Nationals, Worlds and then the winter circuit.

Key West Race Week because it’s a big event, [and] Charleston Race Week is [also] a big event. [The] Annapolis NOOD is usually a big event. Then, regionally the biggest ones [are the] Chicago NOOD [and the] Detroit NOOD, so we try to hit [those] types of [events, too].

So what kinds of boats are we talking about? Mostly sportboats, or will you take on keelboats as well?
We specialize in small One Design classes. J/70, J/80, Melges 24, Melges 20, Viper, VX Ones, Etchells and then we also do some stuff for big boats like TP52's. Melges 32', IRC Boats, but not as much, [as] that’s more specialized so if we are doing something for these clients it is very specific.

Do you also sell boats?
We work with a lot of the industry and we help sell J/70's. We work with international teams as well, and we are starting to [sell] the Melges 14's and O'pen Bics.

So with all this work and travel, do you still have time to get out sailing yourself?
I do. This year, it’s been really good. That is the one thing that I’ve [got to] make sure happens. So we try to hit the events. [Also,] we will charter our boat for major [events], but [at] the smaller events I race my own boat.

Anything else you need to add about Sail22?
I think we’re just really lucky that we’ve been able to work with a lot [of] the industry, [including] top industry companies like Harken, Ronstan, Gill, Helly Hansen, New England Ropes, Alpha Ropes, RBS Battens and all of the major sailmakers.

I think we try to separate ourselves by working with all the top companies in our industry but also great owners. We don't limit who we work with which allows us to work with pros and industry professionals. They come to us a lot because being smaller it is easier for us to do more specialized projects which big companies don't have the time to handle. No project is to small for us.