Wednesday, January 28, 2009

GEELONG WEEK

The Moth Nationals was a part of Scandia Geelong Week.
RGYC is a nice club with a big compound of hardstand and slips, marina, plus a newish club/bar building and an old boatshed/sailing building. Its mostly run by volunteers.
But for the early moth regatta days it was a construction site, all the hardstand boats were packed up back, slipways covered and huge marquis erected.
From monday to Friday the mothies rigged on the adjacent beach, had our boats stored in a temporary compound in the car park and transitted to the boatshed for sign on/off and showers but few ventured through the works to the bar.
By saturday the building was completed and the food and drink outlets installed, sponsors banners and flags everywhere. By the time we returned from Saturday's late racing the place was full of people, thousands of them. The marina was chock a bock with yachts, not just the few sports boats and trailer yachts we saw during the week but everything from 50 year old 22ft Bluebirds to 100ft Skandia and state of the art Loki. There was a band on stage which could barely be heard over the crowd. There was an aerobatics display then the Moth dash for cash.
And outside the club compound which you need a club issued pass to even get into, the local council has a similar festival all along the water front, more stages and bands, lots more food stalls, and thousands more people.
Not a normal Moth regatta!
And despite all this apparent chaos, we walked casually into the club bar, waited only a few seconds to be served and then pulled up a chair at a table and has a nice chat with some other visitors.
The next night after packing up we had aerobatics again and after dark a fireworks display to backdrop our presentation night.
Amazing, well done RGYC, Scandia and other sponsors, City of Geelong, and all the sailors and locals who were just having a good fun time.
I will have to amend my aversion to big combined regattas after this one.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Where to Now?

Lots learnt at Geelong. I got the Tiger going faster than ever, always finishing just behind a few boats by about what I lose in one or two poor tacks or gybes. I probably should just practice and get fitter but that sounds like hard work and not as interesting as boat development for my mind. And I have people interested in buying the Tiger so its on with progress on Karma.

So using as many good ideas from others as I can adapt here is where I am going:
Foils:
I have John Ilett foils, and I have already installed a piano type hinge from carbon tubes, this should reduce drag somewhat like the gap closure design on the Mach2 foil.
I have an Ilett aft foil buat may also build another symetrical one. My previous one is bigger and thicker than Dave's so I might be able to improve it.
The verticals are molded and ready for finishing, as light as I have made, proven laminate, but with the top end tapered to reduce weight of both foil and case. Makes for a neaster no-jam fit too.
Either way the foils are interchangeable as the slip in Tees are working and I am comfortable with the sesign and laminate now. Will make packing for US Worlds easier.
Hull:
In the light stuff the old Tiger hull was still fastest. I just did not get a race where nonone foiled so could not prove it is still the best. Even AMAC commented during one of the prerace drift offs that it moves well through the water. So I am comfortable with Karma's Hungry Tiger heriatage. It will be fasts when no one foils.
But everyone else is getting lower, but not as low as Karma. And I will have less windage still with curved decks and as the gap between hull and trampoline will eliminate the wind brake. So it should be good when foiling too. It weighs 8.5kg, on pace with the lightest.
Wings:
Smaller: The aft wing is forward 400mm from transom. The forward wing is back a bit and both are simple Vs set on struts above the deck, like Greg K, Fuzzy Logic, Hobiecat, C Cats. The wings are only 1600 apart so the outer tubes are smaller and lighter too. Should save a few kg here on the old boat.
Rig:
I have the new KA and CST so I have to adapt these to suit the ustayed or minimum stayed rig.
I have some 50m and 60mm tubes coming to extend the mast to max moth length and to plug into the hull. I have no issue with strength at the deck having learnt from Chainsaw and the Canoe. Initially I will try using forward raked diamond on the mast to manage mast bend above the deck. Worked for the other two boats enough to encorage a more refined development of the idea. I may get lucky enough to get the mast to match the bend on the conventional satyed rigs so the sail will not need adjustment but thats proabbly unlikely. It may be close as the KA is not much different to the luff curve on the canoe sail.
I am keen to avoid stays for two reasons. Safety, I have had some bad collissions with wire and seen some a lot worse. Efficiency: In light stuff the modern sails can not be squared out because of excess depth and very hard battens against the stays. The unstayed rig will go right out and the boat will run fast. Also there will be less windage from wires and struts by 30%..
Comfort:
I have a few shin abrasions but not as many as some prople. With the full width trampoline it is very soft on the body. And running side to side is juat as easy.
More ideas:
I am planning to rig the wings flatter and higher than on Tiger, one reason is to avoid the drag of the aft corner at take off, but also to minimise the windage of the leward wing when healed to windward.
Wand and Linkages:
I like Luka's adjustable length wand, Not sure about all of Dave's strings, I like to keep things simple. I have swithed the belcrank from the top of the fin to the hull and changed the orientation so the wand pushrod now acts in tension and hence will be a piece of 2mm vectran line. And I will have another version of the quick engage system I have on the tiger.

Enough free ideas for now. I know a lot of other mothies will be doing similar. Thats what keeps the class moving forward.

Back to the shed I do not want to be without a boat for too long.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Whats New?

North sail won even though 90% + used KAs. So we now have a viable alternative race sail.

Mach2 stayed in one piece, except for a wing tramp. It goes fast in Simon's hands and survived a few test sails from AMAC so must be strong. I see it as a refinement of the Bladerider rather than a revolution. It has styling changes at each end, new foil sections, different wand linkages and is built very well, it looks very neat with no painted patches, all clear carbon. There are some subtle but important details, the foil flap has a gap closing overlap like model gliders use, not unlike my experiment last year. The main foil strut is enlarged slightly at the boat and foil ends to increase strength at critical zones. (done that too) The wand linkages and tensioning system is hiden in the foredeck. There are some neat designs in the wing tube connections to the hull and each other.
All nice stuff.

Meanwhile the new Bladeriders had some issues with the new manufacturer, some soft resin, some joint failures and lots of patches and paint before and during the regatta. Nathan had none of this as he sailed an old X8. Be sure that they will get this sorted before they let too many boats out of the shop. They will have learned a lot from the problems with the firts 50 X8s two years ago. About half the fleet were X8s who all survived in good condition save a couple of accidents.

CST high mod masts were popular up front. There are several stiffnesses now and the stiffer seemed to be best. Brownie had a Southern Spars small dia high mod mast to compete with the CST and the Mach2 has a McConaughy version too.

Dave had the gadgets, adjustments to cable length, wand bungee, wand rotation limits and he tilted the whole gantry rather than the ASTEVO tiller tilt per Bladerider etc. He has a different rudder foil too which I am sworn to be silent about. All too complex for us to actually know when and what he adjusts on the move, but he has an excellent understanding and makes it all work.
I learnt enough by mid week to make some wand adjustments and greatly improve my light wind flying. It all comes slowly.

Luka had an adjustable length wand. But it did not last to the regatta end. Good idea though, might try one.

Geelong Results

Details are on http://topyachtsoftware.com/results/2009/sgw/series/moth/SGrp1.htm
Re my predictions, I think I got 8 or 9 of the top 10. And 16 of the top 20, so my result of 22 was about on target but one short of my longstanding ambition of top 50%. And i missed master (over 45) to my Pommie/Bladerider/Balmoral team mate Martin Cross. We were close at least some of the time in most races.
At the middle of the fleet we had the oportunity/embarrasment of a swim, coming up to then be racing against a different group of boats.
My boat was going very well, I lost out due to a few swims and some bad tactical decicions, my excuse is age and agility. I used the new KA MSL 13 and CST mast purchased for Karma.
My best race was 14th, one light day when I rounded the last mark with a bunch including 3rd place Scott, leaving Luka and Dave behind. Not all bad, I just could not quite stay with the bunch downwind.
The top sailors are very good, a few full timers but some fast weekenders too. Lots of variety in boats and rigs which is good for the class. While the top BR or Mach2 would need a mortgage on your first born, some home builts are up there too. More comments on the new stiff coming in another specific post.
Suffice to say, Nathan on Bladerider proved the best regatta sailor, Simon on Mach2 won the most races, but Dave's home made boat with Prowler foil had the fastest downwind speed once there when the wind was up.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Nationals training and form guide

I have spent real some time on the water over the past three days. A late afternoon on the harbour with Les for nearly 2 hours on Friday, A couple of hours with the St George crowd on Saturday and back on the harbour this afternoon with Les, Alan and Marty.

I am knackered, which I account not to the sailing but to moving over a half ton of concrete from yard to barrow to trailer and then to tip, all by hand on Friday AM. I need a few days R & R.

Only one small issue with the boat when the vang mount detatched form the boom, all fixed, improved and tested today, boat is ready for the Geelong. Since boat is about to be sold I have to keep it all in good condition.

I am happy with my speed. In a straight line I am pacing it with boats I shouldn't, my corners are still dubious but I am now making almost all my Gybes without a splash, so certainly things are faster and smoother than when I last raced a regatta (SIRS). The new KA MSL13 is an improvement as is the new Ilett aft foil. I thought for a few years that the KA would not suit my very stiff Thorpey mast but after seeing everyone else getting stiffer and stiffer masts I took the plunge and it seems to be good. High and fast.

So how do the Sydney boats rate? The fastest boats I raced against were Dave Lister and Luka Damic, They were noticably faster than me. I seemed at least some of the time to have upwind pace (height really) on Les, Lea, Steve, and when they got ahead it was not by far. So I am in tier 2 of the fleet which with any luck will be better than my 50% target.

Anyway while we were sailing at St George on Sat, Les and the Woollahra All Stars were out racing. Reports are that Les was quite competitive, so if I am with him maybe the two St George hotshots have an edge.

Form Guide: I will not pick places but based on observations and reports, plus past regatta cudos/strategies/craft, here is my go at the top 10 in no particular order:

Best from Sydney:
Dave Lister (Alpha) has been the gun boat for over a year. He has had some niggling gear failures but will be looking at all details as he packs up for the trip south.
Luka Damic, (Prowler) as fast as Dave, newer boat so less likely to break, but has a habit of kacking it if he gets a bad result early.
Scott Babbage, same boat as Luka, but has better regatta record, probably better prepared in terms of fitness but speed reportedly a little off.
John Harris, Bladerider VRX, proven regatta record, world champ, very little time in a moth since, new untested boat , which may be too light to last the regatta out.

Best from rest of Aust:
AMAC of course, if the Mach2 is as good as the hype and if it stays together, same problem as John except I do not know if its even been in the water yet? He drives hard, so if the boat is up to it he will win races.
Only other one is Rod Ray from QLD who seems to get as much from an X8 as anyone. His last bout for a while as the boat is for sale in aid of a marriage home.

Thats only 6, so what foreigners have a show?

Bora (X8) the explorer has the best publicity campaign courtesy of Mr Block from Sailing Anarchy. At SIRS he was fast but got upstaged by the other yanks who have now gone home. (As instructed in traditional Aussie greeting)
Arnaud from Switz, (X8) proved un expectedly fast at Weymouth so will be faster now, I take this on report of others, I have yet to met him.
Simon Payne, the token pom, will have same issues as AMAC except he will be gentler on the boat and will go faster when the wind is light.

Thats 9, I have 1 left and I will pick someone who has never sailed a moth regatta. But he is 49er WC, stared in the best sailing TV program ever in not winning an Olympic medal last year and just placed 11th in the ACat WC with bugger all preparaton or cat experience. I have watched Nathan Outteridge race since he was about 11 and there was always something special. He has had a Bladerider to play with for a while and will be getting 110% from it, he knows his way around the wind.

I have left out the posibility of Rohan competeing as even if he was a secret late entry I understand the second VRX will not be ready and I doubt he will sail an FX.

OK pundits pull that apart.

edit: In the interest of scoring Blog points I should have mentioned Andrew Brown from the broken isles, because he beat the yanks in Melbourne before Chrismas. The other Aussie who almost made the list is from our other forgotten island, Rob from tassie who won a race at Sirs and was showing good speed.

That would be 12 so to round out the top 20 I should consider:
Alan Goddard, Steve Donovan, Lea Sitja, Greg Wise, Andrew Stevenson, Les Thorpe, Mark Robinson. Thats 21 so I see my target of making 50% in a fleet of 43 pretty daunting.

Weather for Geelong? The summer pattern has started. Looking like light in the mornings, 0-8 followed by 15-25 in the afternoons. With a good mix of am/pm it should sort out the all rounders. Can't wait.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Holiday fun

Christmas New year is traditional holiday time in Aust, but for the retired we get to go to work on a voluntary basis.
I spent the last week manning the mark laying boat for the Mirror Nationals, good company, nice scenery off Middle harbour, but not a lot of action with a fleet of mirrors. I was just helping out a group of good friends from Hunters Hill and Balmoral clubs.
After day one, one of these people really asked for trouble by saying honestly that the photos from the rigging park were more interesting than the sailing photos. She was relaxed enough to not anticipate my reply: "thats where all the action was", but I got away with it alive.
There was one day where a good SE and a little sea swell allowed the leaders to surf, and I honestly had not seen mirrors go that fast before. They had fun.
Anyway I have now made a contribution to our sport and will feel thankful to those who will be running our Geelong Nationals, knowing what they have given up for us.
On the only morning I was able to get the moth in the water there was only 5 to 8 kts and I spent most of the time with the hull in the a water. I was sailing with flyweight, Allan Goddard and his brand new Prowler and although he was noticably flying sooner, I thought my speed once up was reasonable.
I will get a more runs in the next few weeks before we all go to Geelong for the Nationals. Mostly practice turning corners.