Lessons Learned with Andrew Weiss

This is the second podcast in UK Sailmakers Lessons Learned series. This 21 minute video is a discussion with Andrew Weiss, owner and skipper of the Italia 11.98 Christopher Dragon, which had an incredible year with wins in the Bermuda Race, the Block Island Race, the NORT and Tuna trophies and many more. Andrew answers questions on sail upgrades, ORC rating optimizations, why he sails with a friends, specialty sails, the origin of the name Christopher Dragon and much more. 00:00 - Introduction to Andrew Weiss and his Winning Season 01:32 - Assessing the competition on Long Island Sound 02:59 - Backstory of the 12-boat Dragon history 04:05 - Why he is a UK Sailmakers customer 06:37 - Why the Italia 11.98 was chosen 07:25 - Changes and Upgrades 08:56 - Optimized for ORC rating and ease of offshore racing with an A3 11:18 - “The A3 has been a very versatile sail” 12:26 - Fun story about symmetrical spinnakers 14:16 - The A3 is the boat’s only “Specialty Sail” 18:42 - Andrew’s “Top Three” for a winning program