G'day,
Not sure the kite would have helped much as the
apparent was well forward of the beam. Still intend to try it because they
are such great fun. Interestingly, the Tornado was strapped in
hard, traveller on the centreline, whereas i was quite eased on the same
point of sail and at the same speed. Lots to
learn...
The last thought I had before pitchpoling was about
the stern extension! Will be interesting to see if 2 crew make much
difference.
Most of the scope for improvement is all the little
stuff, which I am traditionally hopeless at. The rudders need fairing,
finish coating and polishing, the masts need replacing (both have ugly repairs
which make the pocket luff look very ordinary), the top battens need tapering,
the hulls need top coat and polish, the tramp needs replacing, the sheet cleats
need rearranging, the beams need fairings, remains of sundry tested
fittings need removing and other bits and pieces I see when I am
sailing, but forget when I come ashore.
The problem is that I want to build new wing masts,
try a una rig, try different rudders, have yet to find the ideal trampoline
material (non stretch with holes big enough for my fingers and toes) and
hate painting, sanding and polishing so all the fine tuning just
gets put on the back burner. Gotta admit, though that the downwind
performance will probably be enough to get the rudders undercoated and fine
sanded and the sheet cleats sorted before next weekend and see how it
goes. The beam fairings are a design challenge for telescoping beams so I
will probably sort out at least one of them this week as well.
The biggest improvement would be me. Not as
supple as I used to be (not helped by the saggy tramp which makes movement very
slow and clumsy), and certainly not as dedicated (once a week for a few hours,
whereas once upon a time I would race at 4 different locations on a weekend and
two or three afternoons during the week), although the competitive juices do
seem to be stirring so who knows.
El 1 looks a lot better than my boat. It is
meant to be sailing regularly on Pittwater this summer. Owner likes
it so much he wants a Harry as soon as Bain's boat is launched. Apparently
it is out of the shed, all the major bits are complete (including diagonally
braced rudder brackets) so launching is not far away.
regards,
rob
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006 8:32
PM
Subject: [harryproa] Re: sailing
Elementarry
Sounds like lots of fun. I've been watching the kite
boarders out and
it reminded me.
There is still a kite to go and
possibly fold out wings set up at 45
degrees to the ww hull so you can get
your weight back as well as
out. There is plenty of scope for extra speed.
Saw Elementarry #1 at Eden when visiting my mother It looks very
swish
but unfortunately didn't see it sail or manage to talk with the
owners but
heard from others that it was moving very nicely.
Robert
--- In
harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au, "Rob Denney" <proa@i...>
wrote:
>
> 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
>
Yahoo! Groups Links