We are back in the workshop today (9th Jan) for the first time and will be working through all the festive period orders. I would imagine that all shop orders placed over the period will be ready to ship either today or tomorrow at the latest.
Batten material update – we have made enquiry this morning with our supplier and they are reckoning that they should have the material before the end of this month which should see us back to sail production. As soon as we have further confirmation we’ll let you know.
Other than that we still have some tx covers and all our other sticker sets, numbers etc available on the shop.
So, we had a great week away seeing family and friends, travelled home on Friday and walked into a bit of a disaster movie. As you can see from the photo the dining room ceiling made an appearance on the dining room floor. A burst pipe has cost us Christmas at home and it looks like we’ll be out of the house for a good few months whilst the repairs take place.
Still no batten material so no sails just yet but we might have a couple of rig bags and tx covers to keep you entertained.
Looking at the mountain of work to do at home and with Royal Mail on strike once again this week I have decided to suspend any further shipping until the new year. I have shipped all but one order this morning with all UK orders on a guaranteed before 1pm service which should ensure that they are with you as quickly as possible.
I’ll let you know how things are going early in the new year when I’ve got a bit of straighter edge at home.
For now though please enjoy a peaceful and restful Christmas and New Year. Thanks again for all your support over 2022.
So, we had a great week away seeing family and friends, travelled home on Friday and walked into a bit of a disaster movie. As you can see from the photo the dining room ceiling made an appearance on the dining room floor. A burst pipe has cost us Christmas at home and it looks like we’ll be out of the house for a good few months whilst the repairs take place.
Still no batten material so no sails just yet but we might have a couple of rig bags and tx covers to keep you entertained.
Looking at the mountain of work to do at home and with Royal Mail on strike once again this week I have decided to suspend any further shipping until the new year. I have shipped all but one order this morning with all UK orders on a guaranteed before 1pm service which should ensure that they are with you as quickly as possible.
I’ll let you know how things are going early in the new year when I’ve got a bit of straighter edge at home.
For now though please enjoy a peaceful and restful Christmas and New Year. Thanks again for all your support over 2022.
As is now tradition at this time of year I am taking a little time off to go and see family and friends back in Yorkshire. The workshop is now closed and will remain closed until the 19th December when we will try to fulfill as many orders as we can before the Christmas break.
The shop will be open to take your order for any item other than sails as we are still awaiting batten material.
It’s not often over the last few years that we’ve had to stop production of our sails and I’m not a big fan of it. However we’ve hit on an issue that means we will have to stop production of all our sail offerings for the time being. Our batten supplier has run out of batten material which means we can’t produce any sails at all.
Rather than allow you guys to keep ordering sails from us with no idea of a manufacturing date doesn’t seem quite right to me so I have removed all the sails from our shop for the time being. Not ideal timing with Christmas looming but there isn’t much I can do. I am trying to find alternatives that will keep the quality right up there but this is taking a little time too.
As soon as the issue is solved I’ll put the sails back on the shop. In the meantime please check out the shop for all your other little stocking fillers. We have limited stock of transmitter covers.
Apologies for this but the issue is out of our hands.
Another Postal strike is happening over the next two days here in the UK. No point in posting stuff into s system that is broken so we’ll let it sort itself out and we’ll resume shipping on Monday.
Hello again, hope you’re all well and looking forward to the festive period which is just around the corner. Here at Soch Sails we have been beetling along and are not far off being up to date with all our orders which is great news.
It seems that the Post Office are striking again here in the UK over the 24th and 25th November so our only posting this week was yesterday (22nd). No point in piling stuff into an overcrowded system. Our next post will be on Monday.
I have decided that I’m only working four days a week through the winter months which will allow me a little more time for home stuff and family time. I’m confident that I can cope with the reduced hours, and having worked seven days a week all summer it seems sensible to strike some sort of work / life balance.
Coming up to the Christmas period I’m taking a little time off too beforehand to go over the Yorkshire and see family that I haven’t had time to see this year, the workshop will be closed from the 8th December until maybe the 15th. So, if you want Soch Sails Christmas goodies under your tree then best order sooner rather than later.
Cut off date for overseas posting is around the 10th December. If it isn’t out the door before I go away it won’t be with you before Christmas I’m afraid.
Not much to report on the sailing front, I did the UK RC Laser Nationals which was fun, fourth spot finish, should have done better but didn’t! Other than that I’ve not sailed at all since. It’s the MYA AGM on Saturday so I’ll have a day trip to that which will be fun I’m sure.
Nothing more to report really, orders come in, things get manufactured and things get shipped out. it seems to work well enough.
We are now into what should be the final disruptive postal strike here in the UK. It’s another 24 hour one but it’s really messed our shipping up because we had one last week too. Our next shipping will be tomorrow, Wednesday 26th October. We should get 99% of our orders out the door then, but if you don’t get a shipping notification from us tomorrow afternoon then it’ll be next week.
I’m out the door on Wednesday evening for another road trip, this time it’s back to Barton’s Point on the Isle of Sheppey for the RC Laser Nationals. Two more long drives, broken up by some racing. It’s a better entry this year for the event with 15 skippers on the entry sheet. I’ll be carrying a number of spares with me but don’t plan to carry any sails with me unless requested.
Otherwise all is well, our friends at RC Yachts have sent another order, this time for 25 suits of sails and some accessories. With the boatyard being quieter I don’t feel that I need to close the shop and I’ll chew my way through the RCY order alongside my other orders.
I’ll probably have a day or two off next week too as it’s half term for Phoebe and I’d like to spend some time with her and Emily. It’ll be November by then and we’ll be turning our attention to Christmas. If you’re from far flung lands and want some Soch Sails goodness for a stocking filler then I’d urge you to order early to avoid disappointment.
To that end the shop remains open 247 to take your orders. Anything ordered after this evening (Tuesday 25th) will not be looked at until early next week.
Here are some of the sails we have produced recently.
I don’t have an out of office thing for my emails, but if I did it would be on right now. I’m away on a mission tomorrow on my way to Barton’s Point for the weekend.
As such anything that hasn’t been sent out today will not be shipped until Tuesday. There was a postal strike in the UK today so we didn’t post anything with RM but there were a number of UK orders that shipped with our courier and a couple that have gone in the back of the van to be delivered this weekend.
We’ve restocked our RC Laser section of the shop and now have most items ready to ship out to you.
Last weekend was a nice reintroduction to IOM racing and I very much enjoyed catching up with a bunch of folks I’ve not seen in a while. I remembered how to do it and took a mid fleet finish which is about where I am with my IOM.
We’ve had a busy week here at Soch Sails HQ since we reopened for sail orders with lots of orders, from IOM sails to RC Laser parts and all manner of DF65 and DF95 sails from all over the world. We’ve shipped all but three orders to yesterday evening and have produced 20 odd suits of sails so far this week. I have another 15 still to manufacture but this will now run me into next week.
Full hit of IOM sails.
I’m off yachting on Sunday, to Lincoln RSC, one of the friendliest clubs here in the UK for The Clive Hand Memorial race which is always well supported, this year is no exception. So I’m dusting off my IOM which hasn’t seen the water since this time last year.
It’s back to work on Monday for a short three day week before I head off to the last of this years DF Racing UK TT events on the Isle of Sheppey which will no doubt be a bucket of laughs with a crew that I haven’t seen peoperly for nearly six months.
So, these two outings will have a knock on effect on our lead times for manufactured items such as sails. The shop will be open to take your order but realistically any sails ordered after today ( Friday 7th October) will not be looked at until my return from Sheppey on the 17th October. Orders for stock items will be processed as they come in when I’m here.
To add an additional spanner into the works we currently have a prolonged period of strikes from Royal Mail which take us from now until Christmas. We’ll try and avoid them and will certainly not post items out on strike days or the day before or after. We’ve already had a bag of mail disappear and have taken the decision to post UK parcels out on special delivery. Large letters will go as usual with proof of delivery but no tracking. Apologies for this but it seems like the right course of action.
Finally, our shipment of RC Lasers and spares is due with us today, this should restock everything we don’t have and bolster our stock to take us into the new year. As soon as it’s with us and unpacked and checked it’ll appear on the shop. Thanks for your patience with this.
In summary, some racing, lots of orders, some time out of the office, postal strikes and an RC Laser delivery.
Soch Sails 