[harryproa] some more Elementarry data points

Sailed on Sunday, 10 knots of breeze, went past a Hobie 17 and a Nacra 18 sq downwind, was matching them upwind for speed, but pointing higher, although they were a fair distance off, so not sure how much. They were trapezing, I was sitting in the middle of the tramp. Got some photos which I will post soon, including some of a shunt. Looks pretty boring, took 40 seconds according to the camera clock, but I had a sheet jam. Best so far with the single rudder is 20 seconds from dump sheet to sheeted on and sailing straight on the other tack.

Today, 8-12 knots of breeze, I tried my 40 sq m Outleader kite. Got it up, but not for long. I am not as good with these babies as I thought I was. Need to start with the basics and then try the tricky stuff. Be awesome when I get it going, though.

Then went for a sail. Shunted behind a 49er sailing downwind in a series of broad reaches, both crew on trapezes These winged skiffs are fully powered up in 8 knots of breeze with 22 sqm of main and jib and 38 sq m of spinnaker. I was creamed. With only 11 sqm of sail, I could not get enough apparent wind to justify sailing to apparent wind angles. They had a few control problems and I pulled back a little, but basically I was not in the same ballpark, not helped by 20 kgs of wet kite, strings and temporary winches..

They eventually dropped the chute and headed back upwind. I waited for them to pass me, we exchanged pleasantries, then they sheeted on, both trapezing and took off, looking very fast. I was behind and to leeward and expected another drubbing. Sheeted on, sitting in the middle of the tramp, not flying a hull, ignored the top batten which was stuck on the other tack and concentrated on going as fast and high as possible. Felt really slow and underpowered. A mile later, they were behind and beneath me. I waited and repeated the exercise, twice. They then bore away, hoisted their chute and took off. I sailed dead down wind and did better than previously, but was still a long way back.

The skipper came over afterwards for a look at the boat and confirmed that they had been trying hard and that El was a rocket upwind. Very satisfying. Can't wait to build the wing mast and see how much difference a well set up rig makes.

25-30 knots forecast for Sunday, should be fun against the Tornados. Now that my wife thinks she takes photos like Beken I may get some shots of the boat in a breeze and to practise my capsize/righting techniques..