G'day,
Sailed Elementarry again today. No
experiments, just went for a sail. About 12 knots, gusts a little
more. Took an hour and a bit to get ready as I had to extend the righting
stick and rerun some lines after the nosedive incident.
Got out there and tweaked the sails for the first
time. As in see how it is going, pull a string and see what happens
relative to the boats around me. Max on luff and leech downhauls seemed to
work best as they stiffened the masts appreciably. May put on a bit more
leverage and see what happens. . Managed to fly a hull non stop for
about a minute, also played with 2 rudders vs one for upwind work and decided
two is definitely better, as long as there is not so much wind that you have to
play the sheets as well.
The local tornado fleet was racing so I lined up
well to leeward of their line and took off just after the gun went. They
were all 1-2 trapezing, I was occasionally flying a hull. They were not a
lot quicker, nor pointing much higher. I was still in contention when they
tacked. I stuffed the shunt (couldn't handle the excitement) and they left
me for dead. I met them coming downwind, lifted the for'd board and
amazingly held on to them, going just as fast, sometimes a little higher on the
run. They had spinnakers up and were sailing with one hull out of the
water the whole leg. Very impressive to watch. I flew mine
occasionally, but have a problem shifting my fat self around quickly so was not
as good. They gybed and left me while I messed about with lifting/lowering
the rudders.
No way was this beating Tornados, but it was close
enough, especially downwind, to let me think that with a bit more skill, a
little less weight (the production boat will be about 30% lighter than mine),
masts which have not been broken and (badly) repaired, and sails and gear
equivalent to theirs, we may be a chance, especially in long course races in
moderate to fresh breeze. Bring on Texel this summer!
Congratulating myself instead of concentrating
while power reaching home and bore away when I should have luffed to
get round a mono. Capsized. The 4m fall onto the relatively
unforgiving sail does not get any less painful, (must work out some steps to get
down). Hooked up the extended 4x2 pine righting stick, walked along it and
nothing happened, needs to be still longer. Fortunately there are power
boats everywhere and one comes along and flips the masts up. Gets to about
45 degrees and stops! The booms were both pointing towards the centre of
the boat and the bottom one would not go out far enough to let the top one out,
the equivalent of sheeting on hard. While I am wondering about this, there
is a splash and Mr powerboater joins me on the stick and up it comes. Nice
guy, offered to take him sailing next week. No damage (pride apart),
sailed back in to check the gps. Max speed for the day 16.2. As
always, felt faster but who cares, we can compete with a spinnaker flying
Tornado down wind! Feeling good enough that I may wet and dry the foils
and hull this week.
Regards,
Rob
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