Hartley Boats Blaze Ready to sail £13995 incl VAT

It was always Hartley Boats ambition to have a good strong range of boats for single-hander sailors.  With the success of the Supernova and then the Byte we had been looking for several years for the right boat to extend our choice to customers. 

The day we received the phone call offering the sale of the Blaze Copyright and tooling we jumped at the chance to acquire this boat.  We had observed this class grow and watched the boat sail on the water and, we were excited at the prospect of taking this boat into the future. It was an alternative to the Supernova and was a great fit for our range.

With this knowledge and after talking to owners of the boat, we would be able to improve further the boat in the construction and quality. We believed that the already very quick Blaze would be made even quicker, with a stiffer floor and hull and a complete re-faring of the tooling.

We were aware that the boat had high stress areas, these in time caused cracking, the wings also could be improved by a design update, this together with many other improvements and benefits could bring to the boat to make the Blaze more appealing and in-turn become an even more successful class.

Appoint a Naval Architect of the moment, his experience and design knowledge would take this boat to the next level, to spend whatever it takes to produce the best Blaze that money could buy. Peter Hobson was approached and he was very pleased to join the team and believed he could improve the boat and give it a great future.  Having examined and tested an existing Blaze and following six months research, the new Hartley Blaze improvements and benefits plan was ready for the final Hartley Boats Board meeting to review.  Following a full day of discussion, approval was given for the project to begin.

The improvements and benefits for the new Hartley Boats Blaze were headed by the main objective, to improve the stiffness of the boat and stop the flexing. This would be achieved by removing the heavy frame used to stiffen the boat with a fully moulded bulkhead system, this would not only stiffen the floor but also in-turn make the hull lighter, saving weight that would be used to stiffen and strengthen stress areas.  With a complete re-fairing of the hull tooling this would give us an outstanding performing Blaze, that is capable of winning the National Championship with any capable helm.

Re-design the wings to function easily and smoothly.  Change the finish from powder coating to anodised to make them hard wearing and longer lasting.  Improvement to the slot gasket recess to ensure the new hull does not lose any of its advantages, finally fit continuous control lines with elastic.  Soakaways will improve and make the boat more user friendly.

And, changing from a gunnel hung launch trolley to a twin cradle trolley thus making launching and recovery a much simpler task to complete the whole package.

Why buy a Hartley Boats Blaze?

STABILITY

With its length of 4.2m and its very wide beam and recently introduced sealed mast you have a very stable platform which gives every sailor confidence and the desire to sail the boat in even challenging conditions. The boat is not only loved by the mature sailor who gains by the massive benefits of having the racks to balance the boat rather than the hard work of hiking out but, the boat is also loved by the young and experienced sailor for its speed, responsive helm and how easy the boat is to sail especially when you make that daft mistake. The boat design gives you that extra time to correct the mistake without being thrown into the water.

Yes, the boat is a dream to sail, it fly’s and is exciting to sail up-wind, using the wings to keep the boat flat is a comfortable and enjoyable sail.  Yes, the Blaze is a high-performance boat but the Blaze is designed with a wide beam to give the boat stability so the boat offers sailors speed and comfortable sailing coupled with a very stable boat.  I am pleased that all of the objectives and benefits for the Blaze have been achieved and the Hartley Boats Blaze soon became a winner at the Nationals.

The Blaze has a full class association who are very welcoming and helpful and a great class of sailors, you will be made most welcome by the class.  They have a full racing calendar and they have a well-attended National Championship every year. The Blaze sails very well to its handicap and any good Blaze sailor can do well sailing the Blaze at local club handicap racing.

When we sell a new boat Hartley Boats likes to complete a full boat handover to ensure that you fully understand how to rig your new boat but most importantly that you get the best from your new investment.  We also tune your new Blaze and we go through the boat set up for a beat, reach and run.

We at Hartley Boats are very proud of our standards and build quality, to demonstrate that statement we are the only manufacturer to offer a 4-year guarantee. Should it be needed we are able to deliver.